itssunforme

Following - Going On Virgin Voyages and would love updates on this.

thanks....any budget recommendations or cheap beach days or booze cruises for college kids?

My goddaughter has asked for help planning a cruise port day in Nassau. I have done the Blue Lagoon Island and Atlantis. She is considering doing the Comfort suites, Paradise Island deal to return to Atlantis but will likely need to find a budget option that is fun for a college Spring break.  Any suggestions are much appreciated!

I am cruising with Costa and will arrive at 9am in Santorini - There are 5 other cruise ships in port that day. I know booking with the cruise ship can get me on the tender boats faster - however, their excursions don't specify times and may not be the earliest.... we are there until 8:30 pm and could possibly swing a sunset of Santorini but I have a goal of seeing the picturesque Oia. What is the best way to spend the day there and accomplish this with 6 ships in port? book the Oia experience or arrange boat to Amoudi bay a specific tour?

Just got back from a trip to Progreso on the Carnival Elation. I'd booked a tour through Autoprogreso's website to Dzibilchaltun, and discovered a couple of minor factoids after we got to port that I'd wish I'd known before. So here I am, posting them for future readers.

 

NOTE: This information only applies to tours offered directly through Autoprogreso; tours offered from Carnival left from the dock itself. I can't speak to any other cruise lines' tours, but I imagine they would function similarly.

 

First, the bus from the ship takes you to Autoprogreso's terminal, where you can purchase a tour (if you haven't already) or board one you have purchased. It's about four blocks from the beach (though I didn't realize this at the time, and wouldn't have felt great about walking there), and there's not a lot to do. There are some vendors hawking their wares (cigars, sunglasses, jewelry, the normal things), but there's not much to eat. There's only one ATM nearby, and it only provides pesos, so bring plenty of cash for any shopping you might want to do.

 

Also, the tours leave at different times of the day. I think the schedule is based on the distance for each destination, with Chitchen Itza and Uxmal trips leaving first. Since Dzibilchaltun is so much closer, that tour didn't leave until later in the morning, which meant that my wife and I had to wait around in the bus fumes for a while. If I'd known about that, we wouldn't have rushed off the ship when we docked.

 

In case you're wondering, here are the departure times they had posted (as of 1/22/15) for each tour:

 

Chichen: 9:30

Uxmal: 10:00

Combo: 10:30

Tecno: 10:45

Merida: 11:00

Dzibilchaltun: 11:15

Flamingos: 12:15

thanks Bahbert - great info!