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Feb 13, 2012 Ultimate Caribbean Celebrity Equinox

moosa

By moosa,
in Celebrity Cruises

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moosa

moosa

Posted
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I am booked on this awesome cruise but am having a hard time with a few things and would appreciate any help I can get. I'm already on the roll call but that thread is silent for now. I guess the holidays and all....

 

the cruise leaves Ft. Lauderdale on Feb. 13th but we fly in on the 11th. having never been to FL I have no idea where to stay. since we have a few days to explore on our own I would like to be in walking distance from any attraction but also will need a ride to the cruise terminal from the hotel. what is there to do in FL??? and where should we stay??? :confused:

 

we love Celebrity but their tours are mega expensive. we have been to a couple of places on this itinerary and would love to do city tours, old town and off the beaten path type of thing. we love food, ruins, history and architecture. we are a little scared because we hear it's better to do in numbers in some of these foreign countries. any tour guides you all have used, liked and would recommend? we are in our late 30's and in fair physical shape. we don't, however, like water sports and are somewhat chicken :p

 

here is a list of where we're going:

 

Cartagena- seen La Popa, the Fortress and museums. really want a city tour to see the old buildings.

 

Cozumel - interested in the Mayan Ruins

 

Roatan - never been here

 

Grand Cayman - never been here

 

Panama - would love a city tour, something historic

 

Puerto Limon - never been here

 

thank you so much to anyone responding

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WisCruiser2

WisCruiser2

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If you haven't checked the Florida board in the Homeports section, you'll find lots of info re Ft. Lauderdale & places to stay. It's not that big a city, no matter where you stay you're an easy cab ride to the port. One place we really like to eat (breakfast or lunch) is La Bonne Crepe on Las Olas Blvd.

As for the ports, there's also a lot of info on the boards here, too. A fun excursion in Grand Cayman is Stingray City with Captain Marvin (don't know if he's still around but I would think the tour still is). They have other tours, too. Don't know much about the other ports but I'm sure other CC members can help you out. Looks like a great cruise - enjoy!

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dkjretired

dkjretired

Posted
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If you haven't checked the Florida board in the Homeports section, you'll find lots of info re Ft. Lauderdale & places to stay. It's not that big a city, no matter where you stay you're an easy cab ride to the port. One place we really like to eat (breakfast or lunch) is La Bonne Crepe on Las Olas Blvd.

As for the ports, there's also a lot of info on the boards here, too. A fun excursion in Grand Cayman is Stingray City with Captain Marvin (don't know if he's still around but I would think the tour still is). They have other tours, too. Don't know much about the other ports but I'm sure other CC members can help you out. Looks like a great cruise - enjoy!

 

In FLL, very easy to get around with the taxis, especially to hotels, airport and pier. Everything is very compact. I would take the water taxi for a good tour of the city.

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Azulann "Live from...." Rare

Azulann

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Moosa,,

My suggestion is to get some quotes from private tours for Cartagena, and Puerto Limon and post on your roll call. if you offer to organize a tour others will sign up.

I have organized tours for my roll call twice.

 

Cozumel is an island. You would need to take the high speed ferry to Playa de Carmen and then a taxi to Tulum the nearest Mayan ruin. It would be a long day. The other option is to explore Playa De Carmen. It is a great town with lots of shops, beaches etc.

 

Once you offer a private tour on your roll call you will easily find 2-4 other couples to join you. I organized an Ephesus tour about 6months before our sailing. Within two months before the sailing , another four Ephesus tours were organized.

I would book your hotel now and not wait . There will be thousands of others who will leaving from FLL on a cruise ship at he same time.

 

Have a great time. You will love the Equinox

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Lsimon

Lsimon

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In Ft. Lauderdale we liked staying on the beachfront strip of hotels. Nice scenery and restuarants, nice walking the sidewalk bordering the beach for our morning exercise, and nice shopping along nearby Las Olas. But of course you pay more for being near the beach. Second nicest area for cruisers is one of the hotels on 17th street. These are very near the port and there are grocery stores, wine shops, drug stores, and restaurants nearby.

 

You can travel by cab, hire a taxi cab for a tour or buy excursions on the dock at most of the ports you mention. The two possible exceptions are Puerto Limon and Panama where I'd recommend having something lined up ahead of time. Once you get past the shops by the port the area around Panama is kind of seedy - at least by the pier we were at. I know there is another port a mile or two away where you might be but don't know if that is nicer or not. In Cartagena we had a great tour arraigned as we exited the port terminal with a taxi driver soliciting tours there - visited the fort and the Old Town area.

 

Be sure to check out the Cruise Critic Port of Call forums for each of your stops to find recommendations for port activities. It is a great source of information.

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elena7seas

elena7seas

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As far as hotels are concerned, Fort Lauderdale is a great city in which to use Priceline. If you have not used Priceline before, you can find help to do this on the East Coast departures board that includes Fort Lauderdale. Also look at www.betterbidding.com and www.biddingfortravel.com. Don't be scared away by these websites, however. It took me five years to try Priceline because it looks so intimidating on these websites, but I use the "Name your own Price" option all the time now, and have never been disappointed. Using Priceline is not nearly as complicated as it seems to be at first. I always book 4 stars and above in Fort Lauderdale, and have paid between $70 and $90 for a great room in great hotels.

 

Twice when I have been in Fort Lauderdale and not used Priceline, I booked hotels (a) once into the Il Lugano Suite Hotel at a terrific deal ($119 for a suite), and (b) another time into the Hyatt Place North which was very convenient. You can check these hotels out on Tripadvisor.

 

When we were at Il Lugano, we had rented a car for the two days after the cruise, because we wanted to do some driving up the coast. Il Lugano is not in the heart of the action, so to speak, but is well situated for driving about the area. On that particular trip we took the opportunity to go to the Sawgrass Mills Factory Outlet Centre.

 

The Fort Lauderdale area is extremely easy to drive around, and there are wonderful places to see driving north along the coast. We have rented cars twice in Fort Lauderdale at very good rates, and were picked up by the rental car company (Enterprise) from the airport in one case, and in the second case were driven to the airport by the rental company (Enterprise again).

 

If you are staying at the Hyatt Place North ($99 per night booked on a special) or the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel ($70 per night on Priceline May 2011), you are very close to the port and taxis will not be expensive ($10-15 per trip, with gratuities included). The Renaissance was practically at the gates to the port, and the shuttle provided an excellent service for $6 one way.

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handsome_jay

handsome_jay

Posted
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I am booked on this awesome cruise but am having a hard time with a few things and would appreciate any help I can get. I'm already on the roll call but that thread is silent for now. I guess the holidays and all....

 

the cruise leaves Ft. Lauderdale on Feb. 13th but we fly in on the 11th. having never been to FL I have no idea where to stay. since we have a few days to explore on our own I would like to be in walking distance from any attraction but also will need a ride to the cruise terminal from the hotel. what is there to do in FL??? and where should we stay??? :confused:

 

we love Celebrity but their tours are mega expensive. we have been to a couple of places on this itinerary and would love to do city tours, old town and off the beaten path type of thing. we love food, ruins, history and architecture. we are a little scared because we hear it's better to do in numbers in some of these foreign countries. any tour guides you all have used, liked and would recommend? we are in our late 30's and in fair physical shape. we don't, however, like water sports and are somewhat chicken :p

 

here is a list of where we're going:

 

Cartagena- seen La Popa, the Fortress and museums. really want a city tour to see the old buildings.

 

Cozumel - interested in the Mayan Ruins

 

Roatan - never been here

 

Grand Cayman - never been here

 

Panama - would love a city tour, something historic

 

Puerto Limon - never been here

 

thank you so much to anyone responding

 

I did the exact cruise in April of last year. The Equinox is a beautiful ship. You will love it.

 

Everyone will tell you -- book your tour of Tulum via the ship. You don't want to get left if the tour is late. The lunch/beach break is nice.

 

Book private tours for Cartagena and Puerto Limon. We booked with Oscar Brown for a zipline/banana plantation/lunch/etc. tour of Puerto Limon and loved it. We saw more of the area and did more (plus spent less) than we would've had we booked with Celebrity.

 

I can't speak for Colon. One of my tablemates booked a taxi to go all the way to Panama City.

 

Watch your belongings in Roatan if you decide to walk around. The port area is well--dodgy. The folks are nice, but they aggressively vend. The same could be said for Colon.

 

Grand Cayman is the only place on the tour where the US dollar means little. They don't negotiate, but the place is safe and beautiful. Enjoy.

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Milhouse Excellent Advice! Rare

Milhouse

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We're on a similar cruise that departs on Dec 12. Not an expert so please take my suggestions with a grain of salt as others may have more experienced information...

 

We were in the same boat and struggled with figuring out where to stay in FLL too. In the end, we used Priceline to find a pre and post cruise hotel. The areas we targeted were downtown, beach, and Hollywood because those seemed to be the most lively yet close to the port. Unsure if we're going to rent a car yet but places we're looking to focus our visit are: Sawgrass Mills Mall, the beach, Los Olas Blvd, the canals in general, and possibly Hollywood.

 

Check out Google Hotel Finder to get an idea of hotels in certain areas.

 

In terms of excursions, it seems like we have similar interests.

Cartagena: We've opted to do Cartagena on our own just to be adventurous. However, going on a tour with one of the well know guides (eg. Dora, Claudia, etc) appears to be quite reasonable if you can group of at least 4-6 people. Others on our cruise are going with Dora. They appear to have a group of 10 and the pricing is potentially comparable versus touring on your own depending on where you end up going and seeing.

 

Grand Cayman: Highly recommend the Stingray tour. The water is shallow and, when we went, calm. This part of the activity (I think a lot of the tours add a scuba component too) is fine for even non-swimmers.

 

Panama & Puerto Limon: We love walking and touring towns. However, from what I've read, the better activities in Panama and Puerto Limon are to get out of the cities and take advantage of the eco-tourism type activities.

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