Excursion bookings

[sunshade]

Is it better to book port excursions once on the cruise boat or by ourselves (online etc)? Ports are Key West and Cozumel.

[BCguy100]

Key West is pretty small. Just get off the boat and find the trolley that runs around the town. Drivers are good, probably all you'll need unless there's something special out of town you want to go to.

 

BC

[Lsimon]

Key West is a great place to just walk around. We usually just walk the length of Duval Street where you can go to the marker for the Southernmost point in the USA a block off the south end of the street. Lots of neat shopping, bars and people watching along the way. Then back to front street and over to the historic old harbor area for a great fresh fish lunch before heading back to the boat. There are other things to see if you're into museums or historic buildings there too.

 

Cozumel - it really depends on what you want to do. We usually just grab a taxi to a beach like Chankanaab park. There are other nice excursions some of which are better booked through the ship and some private depending on the nature of the excursion.

Edited January 27, 2014 by Lsimon

[wallie5446]

Depends on what you want to do, and see.

[CruiseGirlKS]

Key West is pretty small. Just get off the boat and find the trolley that runs around the town. Drivers are good, probably all you'll need unless there's something special out of town you want to go to.

 

BC

 

Good advice! :)

[Lsimon]

The only thing I'll add is that in Cozumel there are some excursions that you should not do independently or privately and should only do through the cruise line. This would include any excursion going off the island of Cozumel onto the mainland such as excursions to see the ruins at Tulum or any other excursion that involves taking the ferry to the mainland. This is because it is a long trip with the speed of transport dependent on water conditions. Personally I'd worry about the chances of being late back to the ship on a private tour. With a ship's excursion you don't need to worry about that.

 

Normally we don't worry about missing the ship as we keep track of time and plan to arrive with plenty of cushion time before departure. But on full day tours which travel a long distance from the ship we're a little more cautious and stick with ship tours for the most part.