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Western Caribbean Ports with Infant


ckhagen
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Hi there!!

 

I’ve done lots of cruising over the years but this will be our first cruise with a baby and first Western Caribbean cruise on Carnival.

 

This wasn’t my first choice as far as boat and ports considering the baby, but we had very limited options on dates and departure port, so I’m kind of stuck with it.

 

We will be stopping in Costa Maya, Mahogany Bay, and Belize as well as Cozumel. Cozumel is the only one I’m familiar with.

 

We will have a 10 month old baby with us. We will also have my two teen sons.

 

If anyone has experience with bringing a baby into these ports, please let me know what you chose to do at each stop and if it worked out ok with a little one!

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I’m really no one to be giving advice, since I’ve never been there but my parents say there are terrible sand fleas (or maybe it was sand flies?) in Belize.... they go there often for diving and said they were eaten alive. Also I think the tendering can be a little rough ( based solely on what I have read) so maybe stay on the ship for your Belize port of call?

 

 

 

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I’m really no one to be giving advice, since I’ve never been there but my parents say there are terrible sand fleas (or maybe it was sand flies?) in Belize.... they go there often for diving and said they were eaten alive. Also I think the tendering can be a little rough ( based solely on what I have read) so maybe stay on the ship for your Belize port of call?

 

 

 

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Thanks for chiming in!

 

We live on the beach in Florida and occasionally have both sand fleas and sand flies (can also be known as dog flies here), so I’m familiar with that. Good news is that’s usually seasonal and not an all the time kind of thing so hopefully we won’t encounter that. I can see how tendering might be a tad challenging with the baby though.

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Mahogany Bay is a Carnival-made port, easy walk to the beach. Places to buy food, free loungers or you can rent a cabana. Not as nice as HMC, but then, what is?

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There is also an area with shops

 

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There is a chair lift to get to the beach, as well as walking. Not sure I would want to do it with a 10 month old. EM

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Mahogany Bay is a Carnival-made port, easy walk to the beach. Places to buy food, free loungers or you can rent a cabana. Not as nice as HMC, but then, what is?

There is a chair lift to get to the beach, as well as walking. Not sure I would want to do it with a 10 month old. EM

 

Thanks! So it looks like Mahogany Bay will be pretty simple to handle. We probably won't get off the boat in all four ports, so I'm trying to figure out which will be least fun/most difficult with a baby so we can plan to make that a boat day!

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Tendering shouldn't be too "challenging"...as long as one of you can hold the baby while boarding the tender. In most cases, it's calm and an easy walk-on thing.

You may want to research your ports via a guidebook or googling....just to see what's available near the port...then decide what, and how to do that!

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When we've tendered with a two year old, the rule on both Princess and Cunard is that the parents need to assist the child. However, on both ships the crew quite wisely told one parent to get on the tender, then picked up our two year old, then handed him to the other parent. We've never had any difficulty with tendering with young children, although we do realize we may need to carry the child across the tender, as it is the official regulations to do so.

 

In Costa Maya, we took a two year old on this tour which we really liked: https://www.thenativechoice.com/tours/mayan-experience-tour . It was 5 years ago, but the only problem is that their office isn't that close to the port. They said you could take a cab, but none were available. We were able to push a stroller to the office, but it was a little tiring. That was 5 years ago, so hopefully they've resolved that issue. Aside from that, it was an excellent tour of native ruins and a wonderful lunch.

 

In Roatan, we've used Bodden adventures twice, and they've done a great job of providing private transportation wherever on the island you want to go. Your 10 year old would probably love meeting monkeys and other animals at Bodden's house. There is also the iguana farm (note: you're not supposed to take bananas off the ship, but the iguanas and monkeys both love them so maybe stop somewhere and buy some). There are beautiful beaches they can take you to.

 

In Belize, the belize zoo is very small, but well laid out and quite lovely to visit.

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If you are going to stay on the boat for one port, I would choose Belize. I haven't been there since 2009 but when I was researching that port, you basically have to do an excursion. The port area is nothing exciting and the things to see are a pretty long bus ride away. For example, we did tubing and zip line. I would personally just enjoy the emptier boat.

 

We have cruise since my son was 11 months old. Its really an easy way to travel. Just be advised that your baby will not be able to use the pools (unless there is a clearly marked splash area that allows a swim diaper on your ship).

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Thanks! So it looks like Mahogany Bay will be pretty simple to handle. We probably won't get off the boat in all four ports, so I'm trying to figure out which will be least fun/most difficult with a baby so we can plan to make that a boat day!

 

Here is what I would do:

Costa Maya - beach for the whole family

Cozumel - stay on the boat. It's just not worth it (we were there last November). Florida beaches are a lot better. Maybe, venture out to port for funzies.

Belize - one parent stays on the boat with the infant, another parent takes the teens on the cave tubing excursion. We went with this operator in 2009 and loved it: http://www.coralbreezetours.com/Tour.Cave_Tubing_Adventure_Tour/tours_add.html?t_product=17

Mahogany bay - beach for the family

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In Roatan, we've used Bodden adventures twice, and they've done a great job of providing private transportation wherever on the island you want to go. Your 10 year old would probably love meeting monkeys and other animals at Bodden's house. .

I meant the teen siblings who she said were also coming along this trip, which is what most of my recommendations were written for.

isn't Roatan in Honduras?

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In Roatan, we've used Bodden adventures twice, and they've done a great job of providing private transportation wherever on the island you want to go. Your 10 year old would probably love meeting monkeys and other animals at Bodden's house. .

I meant the teen siblings who she said were also coming along this trip, which is what most of my recommendations were written for.

isn't Roatan in Honduras?

 

 

 

Yes. It's confusing because there is a Mahogany Bay in Roatan, and another in Belize. I was assuming she's stoping in both Roatan and Belize from her original post, but could be wrong about that. Carnival stops in Mahogany Bay, Roatan.

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