LaShelle2

Beach and snorkel, or some kind of nautical activities

You don't need to pay for a tour. Get a $3 taxi and have them drive you to the beach. About a 10 minutes drive. There are numerous places that will offer free chairs with food or drink purchase. :cool:

Are there any restaurants in the port area or just bars?

You will need to ride the free bus to the town side of the pier for a better selection.

Do the tours booked directly with Autoprogreso pick up at the cruise ship, or do we need to ride into town first? The Dzibilchaltun tour listed is more than $20 cheaper than Carnival's offering of the same tour, but I don't want the headache of tracking down a depot off of the pier. Of course, that may be why it's considered different.

Carnival will match the price if it's offering the exact same thing. You will receive 110% of the difference in obc. The form is on Carnival's website.

Btw. We did self disembark option. Fttf got off seconds, not minutes, seconds before us.

I was on Fantasy last week . I was of the ship by 7:30am WITHOUT fttf. I honestly believe fttf is not needed for this tiny ship. Save your money. Cancel it. We were on the ship within 20 minutes of arrival to the port. Luggage arrived early. Never more than a few people at guest services. Fttf on Fantasy would be a waste. Save it for larger ships.

It's a waste of money anyway. If you get stressed standing in line. You will have your fttf money to buy yourself a drink! :D

You have ytd so why not do both? Dine alone a few nights and with others if you are feeling sociable other nights.

Why don't you call Carnival?

I would definitely make this a no cost beach day my next visit to Roatan.

We recently visited Turquoise Bay Resort. They specialize in diving. We did the horseback Riding package. The price was very reasonable. We were the only ones at the resort for several hours. A beautiful experience. Definitely a hidden gem. They include transportation to and from the port.

We visited here and it was amazing. There's no charge to get in. Our chairs were free with use of the restaurant. Definitely worth the drive. Make sure you arrange transportation back. It's far from the port. Do not pay until they come back for you.

They are normally in the liquor store area. They do not hold them until the end of the cruise, so you can enjoy them on the ship.

It's on the buffet and the main dining room. My friend said it was better at the buffet.

Liquid hand soap. Bar soap is yucky.

Definitely wait to see what Carnival offers.

Thanks, c-leg5!

My family are avid snorkelers who enjoy clear waters with sea life. Do you know if Blue Kay/Key fits that bill? I'm concerned with all the seagrass I've read about at Costa Maya...is there an abundance of that there, too?

I did not find the beach at Blue Kay pretty. And there was sea grass when we were there. We didn't get in the water.

There were no pads on the loungers and everything seemed run down .

Hello,

We are searching for a nice beach day at Costa Maya. Has anyone done this excursion at the Jungle Beach Club?

Thanks!

There's no need for a ship excursion in Costa Maya. A taxi to the beach is only $3. There are numerous beach clubs. I recommend Tropicante. Great prices. Free chairs. Great service.

I also loved Tropicante. I made a huge mistake of going to Blue Kay after reading a review on here. Tropicante was definitely better.:cool:

I did not enjoy this place. It's dirty and run down and creepy. We ended up leaving and went to Tropicante. The beach was much cleaner there.

Thanks for the reply. I know it probably wouldn't be as nice as the pools at some of the beach clubs, but we are doing a b2b and need to have some of the ports be very low cost in order to do some of the more expensive excursions at some other ports.

A taxi is only $3 to the beach. Most of the beach bars offer free chairs with purchase of food or drinks. Everything on the beach was super cheap!

How about hiring a driver for the day? I would not try to drive there. You would probably spend the same $$$, and a driver can point out interesting facts.

Carnival has a lowest price match gurantee. Find the excursion you want from a private company that matches Carnival's. That way you get the lower price and the security of traveling with the ship. BTW the ship excursions are done by local contracted companies and not the cruise lines.

We took the local bus for $1. It was a real cultural experience. It will not save tome, but gives you a feel of the island. We opted for the water taxi back. They will not leave until it is FULL. Thus was a drag in the hot sun.

Thanks LaShelle2, we are going to be there in the Thanksgiving week. Do you know if the pool is heated ?

 

Also how is the quality of the ocean water there? I heard the water in Progreso is murky/cloudy

 

Thanks

I'm not sure if the pool is heated. You can email the resort and ask.

The water was a beautiful pale aqua but not clear enough for snorkeling.

They keep the beach clean.