question for dawn cruisers

[vols_159]

What excursions did you do?

 

Belize

Rotan

Cozumel

Costa maya?

[bostongal965]

We used Native Choice for their Chacchoben Ruins tour - $50 per person, 12 people max per group, private air conditioned van, free bottled water, knowledgeable guide. Our guide took us away from the large groups and we did the ruins kind of "backwards" - we got great photo opps w/out a lot of people around. I booked online to pay the deposit, and paid the remainder in cash the day of the tour. It was my first privately booked tour, and I was really pleased with it :D

[Loucat]

What excursions did you do?

 

Belize

Rotan

Cozumel

Costa maya?

 

Belize- Fifth time there; no excursions, just hung out for lunch at the Wet Lizard and shopping at the Belize Loom. Past included ship snorkeling tour, city train, Bannister Island, Caye Caulker twice.

Roatan- Victor Bodden tour of the island and lunch at a water front restaurant:)

Cozumel- shopping; past includes Chankannaab park twice, individual small you drive car tours of the entire island; rented a van and ate on the seaside side of the island; shopping and lunch in town and a small boat ride tour where we almost capsized!

Costa Maya- Maya Chan twice; snorkeling ship tour and pre-Dean lunch at lovely places like the Cats Meow. I do not like the current port area-it is overcrowded sells alot of junk.

[darbs7]

Belize...in 3 weeks we are doing the ship's tour to the island beach break, because there is not much in port (shopping...which is the same old same old) and some good food/bar places. But we did the cave tubing in the past and that was a blast. We have been to Bannister before with a tour company ashore ($30 per person) and it included snorkeling which was awesome. We also took the water taxi to Caye Calker before and hated it. I think the ship's tour we signed up for is to Bannister also.

 

Roatan...we are doing Victor Bodden (the man to book tours with her) the zip and dip (I am way out of my comfort zone, but oh well). Last time we did a spa day and it was very relaxing.

 

Cozumel, this time we are booked with an independent company for the day at the Cozumel Palace for an "all-inclusive" day (activities, drinks, food). But we have done the cooking class in Cozumel twice and it is the best tour we have ever done (great food, lots of drinks), we have also done dune buggies which was fun, and we did the salsa and salsa class which we really didn't care for (too many people).

 

Costa Maya, this time we are booked independently to go to Nocha Key private beach club all inclusive ($40 per person), last time we did a 4-wheel in the jungle thing...to bumpy, but fun

 

Enjoy

[alrichards4003]

We will be on the Dawn in 3 weeks and are doing the following:

 

Roatan-Spa Baan Suerte

Belize-Lunch at Wet Lizard and Choc. Factory

Costa Maya-Maya Chan all inclusive

Cozumel-Mr. Sanchos all inclusive

 

Previously we have done the following:

 

Roatan-Maya Key and Swimming with Dolphins/Beach

Belize- Altun Ha Ruins and River Cruise

Cozumel-Playa Mia, Speed Boat, Chankanab- Swim with Dolphins, Chankanab swim with sea lions, ruins, tequila tasting.

 

This is our second time to Costa Maya and 2nd time to Maya Chan. When I was giving my husband options for vacations, he picked this cruise specifically to go back to Maya Chan.

 

Chankanab is a great day. Last year we did the AI at Mr. Sanchos and the Tequila tasting. I loved that yu could order whatever food you wanted off the menu.

 

Maya Key is enjoyable, plus I loved the animals, the mayan relics were interesting.

 

Altun Ha were great ruins and saw lots of monkeys etc. in their natural habitat on the boat ride.

 

I can't wait for the cruise, just 21 more days.

[clean1owner]

We just did the Dawn 1/13-1/20.

 

Roatan - Horseback riding with Barrio Dorcas Ranch. It was a real good ride. Then to Fosters for the beach, where we went parasailing.

 

 

Belize - We just stayed in the pier area and shopped.

 

Costa Maya - We booked Maya Chan independently. It is an excellent way to spend a lazy day at the beach.

 

Cozumel - We booked the NCL tour to the Tulum Ruins. A real good tour but, we only had 40 minutes of free time to shop before the ship departed.

[shelly11]

I have a review in my signature.

 

Roatan--we did a private tour of the island by van and boat--enjoyed it

Belize--we did Altun Ha tour---nice short tour

Costa Maya--went to Maya Chan private island---highly recommend!!!!

Cozumel---just shopped and then enjoyed the ship

[biker@sea]

Belize = Lamania

 

Cozumel = Nachi Cocum & shopping for Vanilla

[bostongal965]

I didn't think to add my past excursions from my western on the Sun - both were NCL excursions:

 

Belize - cave tubing - lots of fun. We had a great guide on the bus and another on the walk to the river and float down it. We did get to free-float for awhile (I know that's a common criticism - not getting to free float - of the ship-booked excursions). That was our first cruise and we booked with NCL for peace of mind. In Belize, between the tendering and the length of the day, it was worth it for me - I know others have used private companies and been very happy.

 

Cozumel - Fury catamaran, snorkel & beach party - a good time for the non-serious snorkeler. Again, first cruise, booked with the ship (although I don't know if Fury will book you privately). We had a good time - we're not experienced snorkelers - someone who was a serious snorkeler might be disappointed. We snorkeled for about 45 minutes, and then went to a beach for about an hour. They had free beer and margaritas - not very strong. They also had hamburgers for purchase, but we didn't get one. They had loungers on the beach and water toys in the water. We enjoyed it and it's only 4 hours, so you still had time to do something else in port. Dawn is tendering sometimes in port, and you do get priority tendering if you book and NCL excursion - if you're not platinum or in a suite, it's something to consider.

[bostongal965]

I wanted to add that on my recent Dawn cruise, we ended up just going into the Belize port - the cave tubing excursion was so long the first time that we didn't really see anything in the port. This time we walked around, shopped a little, enjoyed a Belikin beer, and lunch at the Wet Lizard (good tacos - not cheap however).

 

We were going to do the same in Cozumel, but once we heard we were tendering, we just decided to stay on the ship - that turned out to be a good plan, too, as they didn't start open tendering until after 1:00.

[omc329]

Roatan - Several times we have simply shopped around the port area, both in and outside the immediate port area. Those were my favorite days there. Last time we went with a Victor Bodden tour. Unless there is something specific you wish to see or do, it is not that exciting or interesting. The place we stopped for lunch was nice, but in my book more expensive than I would have liked. It was an ok day, but I wouldn't rave on it.

 

Belize- We have done Altun Ha, Lamanai and cavetubing, all booked through the ships, all enjoyable. Lamanai was my favorite, though cavetubing was a different sort of fun.

 

Costa Maya - Walked the port once. It was crowded, pushy and uncomfortable. Went back to the ship. We did Chacchoben and the Mayan Experience through Native Choice, one of our favorite excursions!

 

Cozumel - We've shopped around the port area and down the road a bit once. That was sort of fun. We went to the Money Bar the last time and bought packages of various sorts. Ds and I went snorkeling. That was great. Dh, ds, and sis all got massages, they RAVED about. The food was good and the view great. A very pleasant day.

[fuggles]

Roatan - We took a tour with Victor Bodden Tours and had lunch at a beach front restaurant in West End Village.

Belize - We went with cavetubing.bz, I highly recommend them. Previously, we went zip lining with NCL.

Costa Maya - We went to Maya Chan, fantastic! Previously, we went on a snorkel trip with NCL. It was so-so snorkeling, but fun.

Cozumel - We were booked on NCL's Planacar snorkel and beach break, but it was cancelled due to wind, choppy conditions. We just walked around and shopped instead. Previously, we went to Tulum, definitly, worth it if your into history and ruins. The Dawn docked next to the Star in Cozumel on 1/18, no tendering.

[EviesCruisin]

Roatan we did Little French Key. Belize it rained and so we went to town briefly. Costa Maya we enjoyed another day at Maya Chan Beach - fabulous! And Cozumel we shopped and ate at Pancho's Backyard