Excursions on Star?

[dinkydee718]

Question for anyone who has sailed on the Star to Belize, Honduras & Mexico. I have four kids, ages 5,9,11 & 13. Any suggestions on which excursions to book? Are there any I shouldn't miss (even if it means one adult staying behind with the younger ones)?

 

Need to start planning!

TIA!

[Sauer-kraut]

Question for anyone who has sailed on the Star to Belize, Honduras & Mexico. I have four kids, ages 5,9,11 & 13. Any suggestions on which excursions to book? Are there any I shouldn't miss (even if it means one adult staying behind with the younger ones)?

 

Need to start planning!

TIA!

 

I would post this on each PORT OF CALL board for your ports. You can get ideas of what others have done with children. ALSO check out the Family Cruising board under SPECIAL INTEREST CRUISING boards you might get more ideas geared towards children.

[PyrHeaven]

My family will be going on the Star at the end of February. I only have one son who is 5, but have also been looking for family friendly things to do.

 

The thing that stands out to me most as a must do with kids is either Victor Boddens Monkey Business or Daniel Johnsons Monkey and Sloth Hangout in Roatan. These animals are recues and well taken care of. You get to hold the monkeys/other animals and interact with them. You can pair the visit with an island tour, beach day, or snorkeling. We are booked with Daniel Johnson for our cruise. Both of these excursions have to be booked on your own and are not offered through the cruise ship (that I have seen anyway).

 

In Belize we are currently scheduled to go to Harvest Caye, and are planning on a beach day. If we end up going to Belize City, I'm going to look at booking the Shark snorkeling excursion through NCL.

 

In Costa Maya, we will stay on the ship. The port feels way too congested if multiple ships are in that day and not many activities but beach club type excursions from past experience.

 

In Cozumel, we were trying to decide between Xcaret and Dolphin Discovery/Dolphinaris. We ultimately decided against Xcaret because of the massive size of the park and time constraints. I think we will try the Dolphin encounter at Dolphin Discovery this year (not offered through cruise line). Have done Dolphinaris in the past without my son and enjoyed it (can book through cruise line but more expensive), but like the idea of Dolphin Discovery being at Chankanaab Park.

Edited December 27, 2015 by PyrHeaven

[tpnebraska]

Question for anyone who has sailed on the Star to Belize, Honduras & Mexico. I have four kids, ages 5,9,11 & 13. Any suggestions on which excursions to book? Are there any I shouldn't miss (even if it means one adult staying behind with the younger ones)?

 

Need to start planning!

TIA!

 

We leave on the Star in 7 days!! Here are the excursions we have booked, none through NCL. I think your entire family would enjoy all of them. We are a family of 7, although the youngest is 20 :) However, these are all very affordable and we will get to see the local area at each port, as we have never been to any except Cozumel.

 

Roatan - Roatan Highlight tour through roatancruiseexcursions.com

 

Belize City - Cave tubing through cavetubing.bz

 

Costa Maya - CHACCHOBEN MAYAN RUINS TOUR through costamayacruiseexcursions.com

 

Cozumel - Mr. Sanchos

 

Have a great cruise regardless of what you choose!!

[Mom2B&Z]

We did this cruise 4 years ago and we doing it again in 35 days :) Our boys were 6&4 yrs the first time, now they are 10&8 yrs.

Our plans are as follows:

Costa Maya - beach day at Tropicante. It's very easy to get a taxi (but harder to find seatbelts!). The beach is lovely and Steve will reserve loungers and umbrellas for free. Last time the total cost (food for 4, drinks and taxi both ways) was $60usd.

Belize- last time we did the ship tour to Lamanai and loved it! It's a very long day, with at least two hours total on a coach bus and another 1.5 hrs total on a very noisy boat. However, our boys are used to long car rides and love boats. We saw monkeys, crocodiles, birds and amazing ruins. Our boys were 2/3 kids on the tour, but no one made any derogatory comments and they definitely enjoyed it. This time we are cavetubing with .bz based on reviews here and trip advisor.

Roatan- last time we booked a private tour with Bodden tours, doing it again this time. We didn't particularly like the monkeys but many do. Zip lining was lots of fun, and the beach is gorgeous but it started to rain and our beach time was cut short because we were cold (and we are Canadian !!!). Hoping to tour the island and return to west bay beach this time.

Cozumel- last time we walked around the area near port but honestly it wasn't very exciting. This time we are taking a ship tour to Tulum. We love history and it will be nice to compare Tulum to Lamanai.

HTH

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[samsam22]

Last year on Honduras we did possibly one of the coolest things I've ever done. We booked an excursion with the swim with the dolphin place on that island where you got to free snorkel with them. It was very neat - they all swam around in this lagoon area and they would just swim up and play with you. I had never snorkeled before and I loved it. Not sure how it would work with your younger ones but my daughter was 11 when we did it. They have a regular dolphin encounter thing as well if the parents want to split and do two different tours. I can't remember if I booked it through the cruiseline or directly.

[mousecrazy]

Question for anyone who has sailed on the Star to Belize, Honduras & Mexico. I have four kids, ages 5,9,11 & 13. Any suggestions on which excursions to book? Are there any I shouldn't miss (even if it means one adult staying behind with the younger ones)?

 

Need to start planning!

TIA!

 

I've traveled to these ports several times and my kids have been all your kids' ages...so I have lots of experience! Are you looking for budget tours? Or something more of a "bucket list" nature?

[dinkydee718]

I've traveled to these ports several times and my kids have been all your kids' ages...so I have lots of experience! Are you looking for budget tours? Or something more of a "bucket list" nature?

 

Definitely "bucket list!"

[mousecrazy]

Roatan

We loved Maya Key. It's a simple 5 minute boat ride from the dock...the launch is literally steps away from the gangway. (the other popular excursions all involve at least a 20 minute bus/taxi ride which I found to be difficult iwth kids.) The excursion is available only through NCL and includes lunch. Drinks are available for purchase. The lunch was just ok. But the beach and snorkeling were amazing! The snorkeling is accessed via a long dock and there are several employees available to help. Snorkel gear is available for rent. There is also a small refuge of animals and they give a tour in the early afternoon. Included is a quick, private "party" with a couple small monkeys (the little ones with white faces). It was so fun!

 

Belize City

While my family has not done the cave tubing (didn't appeal to me or my kids), we have gone to Goff's Cay two times. It's a super small island (1 acre) and is for day guests only. It costs about $45 per person (we used Island Marketing) and includes water and rum punch. Food is available for purchase on the island...fresh fish (literally just caught), or grilled chicken, beans/rice. Snorkeling is good and can be done from the beach or they will take you on the boat. Nice option for one parent to stay with the little ones on the beach and play in the sand while the others go on the boat for snorkeling. The water is shallow and calm with sandy beach on one side of the island...more rough on the other where you can snorkel and see some small creatures. The ride to the island is about 30 minutes and it can be a little rough.

 

Costa Maya

We've been here two times and both times we went to Tropicante. Steve, the owner, is very friendly and he saved water front loungers for us. We just played in the sand and ate great food, especially guacamole and fresh made chips...yum. Walked along the malecon and shopped...it's all very easy to get too. A 5 minute taxi ride ($2-3 per person) - go outside the terminal - past the entrance to save a buck. Taxis are plentiful for the return. Just a super, laid back day.

 

Cozumel

There are so many options here! We've been to Mr. Sanchos and did the AI for $50. It was okay. The day we were there was very windy and the water was too choppy to access the water toys. If I were to go here again, I wouldn't make a reservation and wait until the day of to decide based on the weather/water conditions. We've also tried Nachi Cocum and that was very chill. Maybe too mellow for kids. I've always wanted to try the Catamaran trip...that would be a fun family adventure for sure!

 

Have fun planning!!! And let me know if you have any questions!

 

Happy New Year!

:)