mitsugirly

Although it's been awhile since we've been to Bermuda, one of our favorite things was what Brighton Line said...rent a Boston Whaler and cruise around to the shipwrecks, snorkel, go to an inhibited island. (We also did the jet skis with the same company right before renting the whaler). HERE is our jet ski tour Then when we went back to the dock, HERE is my review with the Whaler Boat. There's tons of pictures included.

I think I just answered my own question...it looks like there's one right across from the cruise port. Winning....

Well, I think I have Deer Island figured out. They will pick us up at the port and take us to the marina and go over. We will get around 3 hours on the island and then they will bring us back. (They are at the marina right by where the cruise ship docks, so we won't even have to go all the way over to the Golden Zone). It would be nice to get some drinks/snack somewhere to take with us. Is there an OXXO close to the port?

Aqua Sports finally answered me and said that it's about 5 minutes away from their place and should cost about $10-15 by taxi. It looks like they go out of a boat dock in an area close to the cruise ship. I'm just trying to see if it's worth it to pay for a taxi there, taxi back, then the trip over to Deer Island $20/pp. My goal in taking a private boat over there was to be able to stay longer on the island since people reported they only spent about 1 hour there of their time listed because the rest is travel time. However, they said it's a 3 hour tour, which still isn't the amount of time I wanted to stay and probably also includes the ride there and back. $20/pp plus $15 there $15 back would be around $110 total for our group of 4. Seems reasonable. To book Carnival it is $89.99/pp, but includes lunch and it does say 5 hours (including transportation). I'm not sure why you would only get 1 hour at the beach. Did that review fib a little bit? They state it's a 30 minute bus ride and then another 40-50 boat ride over. Are they getting on the boat somewhere far away??? The Golden zone? So basically this tour, using Carnival, would cost us $360.00 BIG difference. What would y'all do?

Aww, thank you so much. I try to be as helpful as I can. I appreciate your comment.

Our cruise on the Panorama shows both being done. We have been to the Green Eggs & Ham several times with the kids and it was sold out for our cruise. We really wanted to go again because we will have a "newbie" on their first cruise coming and was bummed. However, I just noticed the Thing 1 & Thing 2 Birthday Breakfast showed up and we were able to book! I'm excited now.

Yea, our first cruise went there 14 years ago and we loved it so much we went back to stay there on a land vacation and loved it even more. Have been back a few times. We even tried to do a before and after picture located in the same spot lol

Thank you for your response. So 4 people would not fit it in? We have 2 adults and 2 teens, all fairly thin.

Do you know about how much it cost for the cart to the Golden Zone? Do they charge per person? Once you get to the Golden Zone and the beach, do they have people with boats that would take you over to Deer Island and then come and get you at a certain time?

I have ask this question for years about the Caribbean. When we started cruising, it was with NCL and sailed mainly with them for years (and then branched out to Carnival and RC because we wanted new ports and experiences). NCL seems to pull out of the Caribbean in the summer months with only a few limited cruises to the same old places during the summer months. I just don't understand it myself when someone says they don't make money in the Caribbean in the summer. That's when kids are out of school and families travel. 🤷‍♀️

Dang, I didn't realize you could do a search that way and put in Cruise Critic. I'll have to remember this. I looked at everything on that list and most things are really really old or it's just people asking about going there and people telling them to go to Stone Island instead. Ugh! The struggle is real in trying to figure this out. I did contact Aqua Sports Mazatlan who has a listing on their website for a trip over to the island, but it has taken them days to respond and when they did, they ask me for how many people. I responded back and it's been days again with no response...which of course makes me nervous. Anyone know how much a taxi/uber to the Golden Zone would cost? I'm beginning to wonder if it's just too much of a hassle to do it on our own and just book with the cruise line...therefore giving up a lot of precious time of being on the beach because it says 5 hours, which of course includes travel time and people giving reviews about only actually getting about an hour on the beach.

That first one has a link within it that goes no where and from 4 years ago so the cost would probably not be right. I have read that snorkeling isn't the greatest in Mazatlan but I snorkel everywhere people say that you won't see anything and always manage to find something. LOL We are also going for the beach and a nice place to hang out. It looks a lot better than Stone Island or anything else I can find.

Here's my list with reviews and tons of pictures. You can check them out and if you have any questions, feel free to ask ST THOMAS

One was in July and the other was April. I've always seen it reported that since this is a cove type area that it tends to be a little calmer...than like Sapphire or Coki. You grew up in the Caribbean? I wanna be you! 🙂

We've been there a few times. Very pretty area, snorkeling isn't as good as the other places. LINQUIST LINQUIST

I have plenty of reviews with TONS of pictures from snorkeling/diving along the same area that you snorkel. SAPPHIRE BEACH SAPPHIRE BEACH SAPPHIRE BEACH AREA COKI BEACH COKI BEACH SCUBA ALONG THE WALL AREA COKI BEACH SNORKELING COKI BEACH SCUBA ALONG THE WALL AREA SECRET HARBOR SECRET HARBOR SCUBA ALONG SAME WALL

We love Secret Harbor for snorkeling, calm water and crystal clear water. HERE and HERE are a few of my reviews with tons of pictures of the area (although one of them we also went scuba diving and it was a disaster because it lasted maybe 15 minutes and that's not normal, but you will see the same thing snorkeling since it was up and down the wall).

Are you sure you're not talking about Mahogany Bay in Roatan?

We loved Taino Bay. (We did an early morning tour to the waterfalls and then spent the rest of the day at the port). Here's my video of our day there. We had a great time. And here's my review of it, starting at post #108

Yes, Taino Bay is the port and is very nice with several pools, a lazy river and surf board machine. If you wanted a cheap day, this is the place for it because it's so nice. HERE is my review of the area with pictures. The post of Taino starts at post 108

While I can't answer you about the liquor, seltzers or another beach, I can tell you that Taino makes for a nice "free" day of swimming and hanging out at the port. There's 2 pools (one is quiet and the other will have music and dancing) and they are LARGE. Then there's the really nice (and quite long) lazy river with a lot to see during the float. They also have a little splash area where the water comes up out of the ground. (Surfing as well in another area). The port is very large and beautiful. It's a great port to hang out in. There's no beach there though. HERE's my review with tons of pictures if you are interested. (We ended up doing the waterfalls that day and then came back and stayed at the port the rest of the day). The port review part starts at post 108.

I also did not see any lifts into the pool or the lazy river. I went back and looked at all of my pictures and video's I took for my review and there were none in any of them.

A lot of people recommend Iguana Mama (and we almost went with them) but we ended up booking with Marysol (also recommended). Just know that whoever you book with, they all go to the same place and do the same thing. Even if you book with one company, they combine with others on the tours and you're in a larger group than just your party. The falls were a lot of fun and I highly recommend it. There is a lot of walking up stairs involved, but it was worth it. My review of that portion of our tour can be found HERE. The walking portion starts at post #85