AmyHernandez

This would be like only taking a copy of your drivers' license with you and leaving the original in the safe. There is no point in having a passport if you don't take it with you off the ship. If the ship leaves without you for whatever reason and your passport is on the ship, it will not help you at all. We have taken ours with us for years and have never had a problem. We now use them for IDs on domestic flights instead of DL, it's just easier.

For what it is worth, I have been to Nicaragua twice on extended stays due to the fact my husband is a Latin American professor and was doing research there. Thus, we had a land-based trip and were not on a cruise. However, we went to Leon and I have to say it was one of my favorite cities in all of Nicaragua. The people are VERY nice and welcoming and the town is very walkable and full of history and sites.

We hired a local guide to take us on a walking tour. The link is: https://vianica.com/tours/176 It was very well done and was just our family. We have 3 children - all teens.) We all learned a lot.

The most amazing place was the Leon Catherdral. If you google images of it and then scroll down to about the 5th row, you will see people walking on the top of the church. It looks pure white. It reminds me of Greece. You can see for miles and miles from the top.

Pls do not be scared to visit Nicaragua. Honestly, the first time we went, I was a bit scared too, but I know now that is from going somewhere I am not familiar with, not from a real threat. It is fabulous. Do not miss it!

We did a day sail with High Pockets and it was fabulous. They will work around the cruise ship schedule (or they did for us). Good luck!

I don't remember them having lockers, but honestly we did not look because the guide just sat with our stuff. It seemed a very safe area....

Granted, we went with a local guide (Victor Bodden tours) but he arranged for us to use a beach chair & facilities at Paradise for $2 per person and we had to buy some food there. It is about a 2 min walk to the great snorkeling area and Paradise was very nice. They do not have a pool, but we spent our time in the ocean.

We booked a driver through cozumel insider dot com but we have a large group going and also wanted to stay longer. He was very helpful and found us a bus that would take all of us. I was also concerned about the limited amount of time actually spent there. Let us know what you decide. We will be going in June.

Did you all book directly thru the 80s cruise website or is there a cheaper way to book?

Hi! I haven't done this yet, but plan to on our June cruise. I have been emailing them back and forth like crazy bc we have 20 people and I was hoping they would do a special transportation thing for us bc we also wanted to stay longer. However, she told me today it could not happen. It is $14 to get the park, but $20 to reserve at Papitos w/o transportation and yes, you have to contact them ahead of time to reserve. The $20 includes the $14 and it is $14 per person not per car. The $20 includes chairs and umbrellas but that's basically it as opposed to the $35 rate which includes the guided snorkeling and 10 min massage, but I'm with you the big thing is the amt of time. Bc we have so many people, I'm just going to book the excursion w/ the transportation. It's too messy to try to have everyone stay together etc in different taxis etc. Just too much effort. Oh I forgot the $20 also includes the kayaks and paddleboats so if you are going to do that it might make a difference.

Go to cozumelparks dot com and then click on English in right hand corner and then Punta Sur at top and it shows you what the park offers and the price. The park itself has chairs and hammocks so you may not even need Papitos if you get your own transportation.

Then go to papitosbeachcozumel dot com and you see the resort directly. Hope that helps!

It does look fabulous and less people sounds good to me!

I have been researching Papitos as well as we did Paradise Beach last time and it was ok, but not great. We have a group of 20 and so I have been emailing back and forth to see if we could get our own transportation and stay longer, but it appears that the best financial option is to book thru shoreexcursioneer dot com Cozumel Punta Sur Marine Park Snorkel and Papitos Beach Break which provides transportation. Oops - just realized the reason it is cheap for us is the number of people. Maybe you can post on your roll call and get others to join just to reduce the cost? Anyway, all of the independent transportation options I looked at seem cumbersome and just as expensive if not more. We were trying to maximize our time there but they do say you get 3.5 hrs (plus travel time) so then we can just explore the port area when we get back.

Let us know what you decide. We are on Navigator's June 7th cruise if you want to join our group!

Thank you for all the great ideas! Off to $ Tree I go!

Thank you all for your input. It is very helpful in planning! I will surprise everyone with door decorations! :D

Thanks! I didn't even think about the cabin phones. LOL! sometimes, I over think these things...Thx!

Thank you! Do people on Royal decorate their doors?

Thank you so much.

Hi! We will be cruising in June with a group of 20+ people to celebrate my son's graduation from HS. We have previously cruised on Disney, Carnival and Norweign and have had different door decorations at each. I have read lots of info about NOS, but I cannot find anything about people decorating doors or putting magnets or leaving dry erase boards for messages. Can you tell me if the doors are magnetic or what kind of items people usually use to leave messages? We will have 5+ staterooms so leaving them in the room is not helpful. Thanks so much!!

I was wondering the same thing about adding on the boat portion. We did VB Tours last year and were VERY impressed, but did not do the boat portion. This year we have more time on Roatan and I am thinking of adding it, but was hoping to go further out than the previous poster described. We did find great snorkeling as the PP also said by going all the way down to the "left" on the beach until there's almost a rock wall. That is where there is GREAT snorkeling in about 4-7 feet of water. It is past the Paradise Beach and Infinity bay beach resorts. I think this part of the island is called West Bay and the shopping portion West End but I could be wrong (we never went to the shopping portion). Thx! IF you decide to try the boat, let me know - we don't go til June. Thx.

Thank you for the info as it is certainly helpful! Can I ask you how the food was and how much you spent on food while there? I am trying to figure out if we should just buy a la carte or should do the all inclusive. Thanks so much!

I have been researching this too for our cruise in June and I think we are going to do the Beach Break or the All Inclusive at Punta Sur. Go check papitosbeachcozumel dot com and the info will come up. It includes transportation, but as FYI I saw on another thread that the standard cab rate is $16 RT per person here. There are lots of reviews on tripadvisor also. Looks like it used to be a cruise passenger ship excursion only but now they have turned it over for public use and it is inside the national park of punta sur. We will be taking teens and it looks like there is great snorkeling, kayaks and paddleboats so I am hoping this is the right decision.

We did Paradise Beach before and it was okay but there's a reason I'm looking for something else. The pool at PB was fabulous, but my kids and I prefer the ocean and the ocean floor at PB was riddled with rocks under the inflatables and on the way to them. That being said, the resort itself was beautiful and the food was AWESOME!

Have fun whatever you choose.

I have been researching snorkeling in Coz too and came across Punta Sur which is also a national park but appears to be way less crowded than Chaknaab (sp?). You can schedule it yourself (taxi, pay fee to get in etc) or book an all inclusive thru Palpito's which is located inside the National Park. I am still researching this, but appears to have great snorkeling, be fairly cheap and lots less people.

Mamawilley - I have been researching these same options for the same aged teens today! (My son's HS graduation present). On shoreexcursioneer dot com itn looks like you can add an AI to the Papalito's although it is confusing to me what each price includes. I have emailed an inquiry to them as we don't sail until June. If you go, pls let us know how it is! Thx!

I just want to say thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread. We went to Roatan in May 2014 and used all of this info. I just want to add that we did the Victor Bodden driver and loved him for multiple reasons. First, we had reliable transportation (a van for 7 of us) and he took us anywhere we wanted to go and talked to my husband all about the history of an island (my hubby is a history professor at the univ.). But most of all, what we loved the thing about him that we did not pre-arrange. He knew we wanted to do the monkeys and iguanas (we had 3 young kids with us who loved both!) and knew we wanted to go to the beach but not until we arrived did he know we wanted to snorkel. He took us to Paradise Beach (btwn Bananarama and Infinity Bay). It does not have a pool, but we wanted to swim in the ocean and have beach chairs (and restrooms!). They charged us $2/chair and the best thing of the whole day was that he sat there and watched our stuff and told us exactly where the "kidney" was and where to go. It was fantastic. I also want to add that the little ones we had with us were able to see fish right off the shore bc of how close the reef is in places. They LOVED it. My teen boys went further out and ran into the kayak guy everyone talks about (but who I had not heard of before our trip) and he offered to take them out and show them the best parts of the reef. Being totally honest, I thought he was a con man and was going to ask for $ so I just outright asked what it costs and he explained he is paid by the govt. to show tourists around, to make sure they are safe and to have a good time. He kayaked with us out to the shelf and boy, was that as far as I went! It is amazing to look that far down, but it wasn't for me. However, my boys went with him and I felt 100% safe. He spent probably 45 min with us and we saw tons of fish. So, if you see him in the orange/reddish kayak, swim up to him and talk to him bc he will truly help you navigate and enjoy the reef. We are going back in June, but with a different group and I intend to do the exact same excursions again.

Thanks you all!!!

Where do you suggest leaving your "stuff" if you don't pay $40 at Infinity for a chair? Just wondering what to do with it while we are snorkeling or where is a cheaper place to rent a chair but still close to that area? Thanks in advance!