bguppies

We did an independant excursion and where we were I had to keep kneeling down to get my chest in the water. Might have been deeper where the ship excursion was as they were in a much bigger boat so they may have needed a little bit deeper water.

Not sure about things to do for two 18 year olds at Nachi, but as to the other stuff. Same beach as Mr. Sanchos (right next door to the north) Occasionally if the tide is going out, it can build a bit of a shelf to step down a bit. Good seating options with palapas strewn about the beach with 4 loungers per underneath each. Also covered beds by the pool and chairs and loungers surrounding the whole pool. (just google the millions of pictures of Nachi on the web to see the spacing.Vs. goggle Paradise Beach or Sanchos or Playa Mia and see the rows of chairs lined up beachside there) Space between the seating unlike what I've seen at the other beach clubs where they line the chairs up in tight rows like going to a show. I've had shrimp tacos many times for my lunch choice. Not a huge drinker so I can't speak to the quality of the alcohol,(I know some people want a certain brand of scotch or rum or vodka) but the drinks I've always gotten at the swim up bar in the pool have been very good. Hope that helps answer some of your questions. We prefer it for its non-crowded 125 person limit and non-18 vibe.

I can vouch for this. On our last Pride cruise, it was full, and when we boarded, there was a wet spot with a large fan blowing on it in the entrance hallway to the room. (Seemed more like after a deep cleaning of somebody yacking or something in the hallway or something else. If it had been the bed, would have been a different story. ) DW had chosen that particular cabin for its proximity to everything we like to do on a cruise. Just before dinner I get a call from Guest Services saying I had requested a cabin change. (which is hilarious, as I have zero say in which cabin, or even which cruise we are on) I guess our cabin steward had told his supervisors that we had requested it, due to the fan in the hall of the cabin. (we hadn't even met him yet) I appreciate the thought he had , not wanting to inconvience us, but the cabin the wanted to move us to, would have been much more logistically difficult for DW to get around with her walker. We wound up staying in our chosen cabin and dealing with the fan for another day and took a couple of free meals in lieu of changing cabins. (thanks to our steward I guess)

Looks like my experience in Costa Maya in April 2014 in Mahahual. Even had it happen in Cozumel once, just not nearly as bad. With the size of this year's bloom, that might be a light day.

Thta was my first thought. Stingray City in Grand Cayman. \

I feel for the beaches in Mahahual because they get clobbered year after year once the Sargassum belt starts up each year. This year just looks insane. I wish I kept a link to the video from Krazy Lobster a couple of years ago (before it got as bad as the past few years) where a 2 foot long, 10-15 pound Iguana was easily walking on the Sargassum floating on the water, it was so thick in June/July.

Right click on the picture and hit copy link address in a search bar and it'll take you to the original article it came from. A simple google search will take you to many articles with different satelitte maps of the sargassum "blob". (The one i posted just showed the clearest)

If no one has any new suggestions for you, may I suggest doing what our groups do when we have a large, diverse of intrests group in Cozumel. We've had some go do Dolphin or other excursions and then meet us at a beach club later. Maybe have the part of your group with kids, go to Playa Mia and the happily childless couples go to their beach club of choice. (Nachi, Sanchos, whatever) Then meet up for a late luch or drink before heading back to the ship. Best of luck in your quest for a beach day.

If they're expecting Florida will get clobbered this year, the Bahamas will have it worse. (the same general area as the Miami/ Keys beaches, just a tad easterly) At least Florida can load it up in dumptrucks and haul it away. Where do you take this much Sargassum on an island? (barge 1,600 dump trucks a day, away?) And for those thast say it happens every year don't worry. Its been getting worse the past few years. From the reports I've been watching, alot of scientists think that fertilizer runoff from South America where they have been converting rainforests to farmland has been feeding the natural yearly bloom of Sargussum that flows from Africa to Florida/Mexico each year. (Kind of looks like it grows bigger off the South American coast)

Anything shorter than 7 days tends to be a bit more "lively". But more so when its a weekend cruise that people take a long weekend to blow off some steam. We are getting older and prefer the "quieter" cruises also. (late 50's) Living in the Charleston suburbs, this is a go to for us, when DW needs a quick break from work to tide us over to our next longer cruise from Florida. (Pride-Dec.-Tampa) I'll say we have a less than ideal terminal like the Florida ports and the ship is older and shows her age. Not sure how long its been since your last cruise, but the downgrade to the Carnival product from before the shuitdown and after the restart is a bigger concern to me than the port, the ship or partying onboard. (our two cruises last year were nowhere near as good as before, but decent) If it is one of the weekday cruise, to fill in between weekend cruises I wouldn't worry at all. If it is over a weekend, maybe slightly.

All the beaches will be affected by Sargassum like this. Maybe try an educational Mayan Ruin excursion. (not as much to do in Costa Maya, as in Cozumel)

Heald posted on his popular Facebook page, “So I would like to add my congratulations to Mike Pack who along with one other Cruise Director has been promoted to Fleet Cruise Director. " Sounds like it is going to take two people to do Heald's job.

It'll be heavy in Costa Maya soon. Plenty of Sargassum this year to make compost for all the farmers on the planet. Hopefully when we go in early December, there won't be so much since the fertilizer runoff from Brazil that has been making the Sargassum worse the past few years won't be there since they will just be starting their spring/summer down there. Best of luck to you. Costa Maya and Cozumel are no fun when its heavu. (done both once each and it was terrible)

Florida is gonna look like Costa Maya most days. As bad as Costa Maya usually gets hit every year, I can't imagine how bad its goinna be this year.

Just saw a report on the Today Show, I believe Wednesday morning talking about the threat to Florida. Showed a Satelitte shot and the Sargassum "blob" stretched from The South American coast all the way to Key West. Pretty wide blob too. Apparently they think that the Brazillian Farmers converting their rainforst to farmland are dumping lots of fertilizer into the ocean which is feeding the Sargassum. Hopefully they can definitively ascertain if that is true and find a way to put a stop to it.

I'm pretty sure its a Mexican Riviera problem, niot a Caribbean problem.

This was us in December and will be again this coming December. I think it was $18, so the two of us just planned on a $20 each way.

Thanks for all your input... It is incedibly helpful for everyone to have their best possible vacation.

This seems like pretty close to perfect for me, I just can't find a similar cruise for 2025 yet. Sky Princess Apr 27-May 5, 2024 Sat London (Southhampton) 'Sun Sea Day Mon Haugesund Tue Geiranger Wed Olden Thu Skjolden (SogneFjord) Fri Stavenger (Lysefjord) Sat Sea Day Sun London Is this cruise, 4 Fjords out of 5 days or is it a possible 5 out of 5? (I know nothing about Haugesund)

Mr. Sanchos is right next door to Nachi, so exact same beach, but a more lively atmosphere for the kids. (DW and I are in our 50's, me pushing 60, so we prefer the peace and quiet and less crowds at Nachi)

DW is now debating between 3 different Norwegian cruises., 1) In Search of the Northern Lights (no dates yet for 2025 but she was looking at the itinerary for the 2/17/2024 sailing as an example.)(my personal LAST choice) Sat. Feb. 17 - Bergen Sun. Feb. 18 - Bergen Mon Feb. 19 - Scenic Sailing: Norwegian Inside Passage Tue Feb. 20 - Scenic Sailing:Norwegian Inside Passge Wed Feb. 21 - Alta Thu Feb 22 - Alta Fri Feb. 23 - Tromso Sat. Feb. 24 - Tromso Sun Feb. 25 - Narvik Mon Feb 26 - Scenic Sailing : Norweigian Inside Passage Tue Feb 27 - Sail the North Sea Wed Feb 28 - Amsterdam Thu Feb 29 - London (Tilbury) OK judging by the days, it seems that Alta and Tromso must be in the Artic Circle and staying 2 days to allow for night watching of the Lights? Not sure how good any of those ports are. Is the Norweigian Inside Passage just like the Intercoastal Waterway on the US East Coast? I'd personally prefer to cruise a deep Fjord (which I know this cruise has none) even if you could 100% guarantee me seeing the Northern Lights. 2) Viking Shores and Fjords - June 22- 2025 Sun June 22 Amsterdam Mon June 23 - Sail the North Sea Tue June 24 - Skagen Denmark Wed June 25 - Oslo Thu June 26 Krisitiansand Fri June 27 Stavanger (my birthday) Sat June 28 Flam (wish this was my birthday) Sun June 29 - Bergen I know Flam is in a deep fjord. Are any oither fjords accesible from any of the other ports via excursion? Any other must do's in any of these ports? 3) Into the Midnight Sun - June 23, 2025 Mon June 23 Bergen Tue June 24 - Bergen Wed June 25 - Geiranger Thu June 26 - Sail the Norwewegioan Sea Fri June 27 Lofoten (leknes) (Again my birthday) Sat June 28 - Tromso Sun June 29 - Honningsvag (Nordkapp) Then the Norwegian Sea to Scotland and eventually London I know Geiranger is a deep water fjord. I'm assuming Lofoten, Tromso and Honningsvag are all in the artic circle to see the midnight sun? Reading through this thread I've seen alot of other cruises that seem to have more fjord stops. I just need to see if there are any around my birthday on June 27th. (DW is determined to try and have it over that week) What would the weather be in southern and northern Norway in the last two weeks of June ? Would a few weeks earlier or later improve the experience much over thye end of June? Thanks in advance for any help anyone could give.

When we were there in December we stayed on the ship that day and it was the second worst rocking we have experienced in over 20 cruises, the other was passing through the tail end of a hurricane on the way back to Florida from Nassau. We were down sitting at pier level watching the Allure of the seas next to us bobbing up and down crazily, while us on the Pride were banging repeatedly into the pier and watching waves on the oceanside splashing over the windows all morning. It was pretty windy that day and four ships docked that day.

Been to Nachi 6 times from 2007-2022 and will be booking it again for this December. If you want a super relaxed atmosphere, with a nice sit down 4 course meal (either in the restaurant or delivered to your palapa) and unlimited alcoholic (or non) beverages all day (again delivered to your palapa or via swim up bar in the pool) well kept grounds, a super nice pool (hot tub next to it) and nice loungers stretching all the way down the beach (under palapas) and beds and loungers poolside. With the 130 person limit per day, you never have to worry about overcrowding like at some of the other similar beach clubs. (as the ships get bigger and bigger, the amount of passengers in Cozumel per day has skyrocketed, even if the number of ships per day has not) I have never been disappointed in my meal there ever. (only once ever made it to dessert) And have never found the service lacking. The four main beach clubs talked about in the boards are all along the same stretch of beach on the west side of the island, so not much to differentiate them geographically They mostly differ in the clientele they cater to. Nachi is for people who want a quiter, more relaxed beach day. Mr. Sanchos is for a more lively atmosphere. (livelier music and water toys, etc) Playa Mia with water slides and nicer kiddie pools more geared towards familys. Paradise Beach which seems to cater to a mix of all of the above. All of them have had decades of good reviews, so you probably can't go wrong, but just try to pick the one which most closely meets your groups needs.

Just an idea of the kid friendly pools at Playa Mia. Plus I think most f the cruiselines offer an excursion there if you don't want to do it on your own. (I would always do it on my own and save a ton of money, but some people fear taking the chance more than saving money)