Emerald Excursions

[whynotsooner]

Hey All,

Will be sailing on the beautiful Emerald Princess from March 28-April 5 with calls in Cozumel, Belize and Roatan and am looking for some excursion ideas/recommendations. Hope you all can help!

[skynight]

Hey All,

Will be sailing on the beautiful Emerald Princess from March 28-April 5 with calls in Cozumel, Belize and Roatan and am looking for some excursion ideas/recommendations. Hope you all can help!

 

Roatan: Your ship will dock at Mahogany Bay. This is a very nice pier shopping and beach area constructed just for ships owned by Carnival Corp. If you like the beach no need to go anywhere else. There is a restaurant and bar right on the beach. When we were there you could not use your cruise card. It was cash or CC. There is lots of information and photos on line.

[azgrandmax3]

We have just recently taken this cruise.

The only Princess tour we took was in Cozumel. Did the submarine tour. It was wonderful. Worth the cost. The sights and information was remarkable. Will be doing it again at another port in 2016.

 

If you decide to go on your own in Belize which we chose to do because of weather. Had an all day trip planned with ship but canceled due to nasty weather predicted. Anyway many tours are offered just off ship. We passed those went through the gates and got the same 1 1/2 hour tour much more reasonable. Very nice and informative. Spoke with those that did take the river-rainforest tour we had planned. Said it was good yet they got soaked early on and stayed that way all day.

Be sure to enjoy the embarkment lunch in the Dining Room. So nice to begin the cruise well pampered and NO crowd. On our cruise it was mentioned in the Platter. It is not on all ships. Also no waiting and no crowds.

[JF - retired RRT]

Check the Ports of Call forum here: http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

Lots of information.

Also, we are doing this itinerary in 2 weeks. I checked the website for the number of ships in port for each day and there were 4-5 for 2 of our ports. We decided to use ship excursions almost exclusively to insure that we would get back to the ship on time. Expecting some very crowded ports.

One thing we are doing is Nachi Cocom on Cozumel - private beach, all inclusive, limited to 100 people per day.

Edited January 19, 2015 by JF - retired RRT

[sptrout]

Roatan: Your ship will dock at Mahogany Bay. This is a very nice pier shopping and beach area constructed just for ships owned by Carnival Corp. If you like the beach no need to go anywhere else. There is a restaurant and bar right on the beach. When we were there you could not use your cruise card. It was cash or CC. There is lots of information and photos on line.

 

FYI: Below is the website for Mahogany Bay:

 

http://www.mahoganybaycc.com/

[GradUT]

We were on the Emerald during Christmas week. Here is a link to my review of the ship which also includes my reviews of the excursions we took in each port.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=268694

 

But, here's a brief rundown:

 

Roatan--Private Snorkeling Excursion with Radical Adventures--This was the highlight of our entire cruise. While the snorkeling is not the best I've ever done, we had a fabulous day on this boat. Just do it!

 

Belize--Princess Excursion to Lamanai Mayan Ruins--Because this is a tender port (and the tender takes about 20 - 25 minutes), I would seriously consider doing a ship's excursion here if you plan to go very far from the port area. The ruins we saw were excellent and the tour of the ruins itself was very good, however, any large group tour is going to involve lots of waiting and this one was no different.

 

Cozumel--Paradise Beach--This is an easy port for private excursions or doing your own thing. We just took a taxi to Paradise Beach for the day and had a great time.

[jellyfish39]

We are doing this cruise in February

Roatan we are planning to go to Little French Key

http://www.littlefrenchkey.com/

Belize - we are going to Lamanai but are booking privately with Elio Avila at LamaniaBelizetours.com He has good reviews and we are hoping that it all works out as it is a private tour, so there is some risk, but it will be a small private group

Cozumel - we are thinking of doing Tulum with a beach break and will probably do this through Princess because of the ferry ride

[Garn]

I'll be on the same sailing as you - may sure you join the roll call.

 

A lot of course depends on what you like to do - from beaches to adventure.

 

But here's what we're doing:

 

Roatan - we've booked a private tour with Victor Bodden. We used his service before and it was wonderful. Essentially, they'll take you around the island, and you can tailor what you see to your interests, from beaches to ziplines to zoos to snorkeling. His website has more information.

 

Belize - Last time we did the Lamanai river tour and ruins with the ship's excursion. It was excellent but a long day. This time, we're going to do river tubing with Major Tom, who is very well received on Cruise Critic.

 

Cozumel - we've been a couple of times. The first time we wandered in town and then went to Mr. Sanchos for a nice beach break. The second time my dad and I took an amazing cooking class from a native woman - and then ended up as Mr. Sanchos. This time we're going to go to Chakanaab Park and do the Manatee swim.

 

Good luck!