What to take in ports

[bowman_dani]

My husband, myself and our two kids (will be 12 &10) will be taking our first cruise next October. We will be In Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Not to sure about what excursions we will be doing or if we will be just winging it and doing beach time. Obviously what we are doing will determine exactly what we take with us, but what are the essentials that you take into port? How do you keep your stuff safe when on the beach? So many different factors that I am trying to slowly plan for. Kinda overwhelming:confused:

[George C]

My husband, myself and our two kids (will be 12 &10) will be taking our first cruise next October. We will be In Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Not to sure about what excursions we will be doing or if we will be just winging it and doing beach time. Obviously what we are doing will determine exactly what we take with us, but what are the essentials that you take into port? How do you keep your stuff safe when on the beach? So many different factors that I am trying to slowly plan for. Kinda overwhelming:confused:

 

I would not bring anything valuable, we always have a waterproof money wallet that we keep our cash and cruise cards, bring towels and suntan stuff, also have lots of small bills , not a problem doing your own thing on these ports, food and drinks will be much cheaper in Cozumel. String Ray city is really nice if you want to spend some money on excursion, but much cheaper not to do ships excursion.

[cb at sea]

If we're doing a beach, we take towels (the ship provides), a tote with sunscreen, book, hat...whatever YOU need for the beach...we bring a little cash, 1 credit card, and of course, your ship's card (as you can't get off or on the ship without it!).

 

The cards are all plastic...water won't hurt them, so hubby puts them in his velcroed pocket in his swim trunks. The little bit of cash (which can get wet...won't hurt it), I just stick in my paperback book, and leave it under my tee/shorts/cover up when we hit the water. No one wants stuff like that. We do keep an eye on our "spot" on the beach.

 

If we're just shopping or touring...then Hubby brings his wallet, I bring my purse....just like when we go anywhere!

[shipgeeks]

Sometimes a port will require a photo ID as well as your ship card. We take our drivers licenses rather than passports. Small, waterproof, and not as hard to replace if lost or stolen.

[WupperAV]

We take a credit card, id and copy of our passport (not the passport) You don't need to worry about the safe in the room. Engineering can open them and they are bonded. Never heard of anyone having anything taken from one.

[jeraud]

Google beach vault. Genius & simple.

 

 

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[WupperAV]

Bye Bye Beach Chair google beach vault and your valuables. Why it would take me 3 minutes to break into it, a real pro 30 seconds. :D

[4x4bob]

I take a bottle of water hanging from my belt. You may feel the need for a drink due to heat and no where in site to make a purchase.

 

Bob

[bowman_dani]

Thanks for all the reply's. I think I am over thinking things a little too much..:rolleyes:

[griffy116]

Grand Cayman has tons of different choices for excursions, from turtle farms to Sting Ray city, submarine, semi-submerge sub, town of Hell, beaches, shops. Sit with your boys and decide which things are important for them to see. You should have time to do one of these, plus visit a beach. I carry one of the silky bags that is lightweight. I get the towel from the ship, sunscreen, cash (that I put in two different spots/divided between the two of you), a credit card and my ID (Driver's license).

[kerryincork]

What ever you decide to do I would ensure everyone carries there own water and towel. Or else you will end up carrying everything 😉

 

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[First Aider]

If you are going to the beach, I would bring baby powder. It really takes the sand off of you before going back to the ship.

[Nanny8]

If you are going to the beach, I would bring baby powder. It really takes the sand off of you before going back to the ship.

Never heard of that before. What a great idea though. Thanks

[Athankfulheart]

We bring various things depending on what the activity of the day is, but we always bring our ships cards, driver's licenses, cash, 1 credit card and the section of the daily newspaper that has the contact number of the port agent and the all aboard time. We also bring one cell phone in a waterproof pouch. We often bring our GoPro gear , snorkel gear, or inflatable floaty stuff for a beach day. We never have more with us than fits in our tote bag which is large sized. We use a security tote called the KYSS bag. You can google it. Its tamper resistant and can lock to a couple of beach chairs, a tree or whatever you can find that isn't easily moveable. If our beach chairs aren't close enough to where we are floating then we keep the phone pouch with the valuables on our person as well as the waterproof camera. The rest goes in the locking bag. When we are within line of sight to our bag we feel fine about leaving it all in the bag. The bag is not going to keep out a serious criminal with both the time and privacy to hack into it, but will keep the casual/quick thief from our belongings.

[bowman_dani]

What ever you decide to do I would ensure everyone carries there own water and towel. Or else you will end up carrying everything 😉

 

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I am bound and determined that I will not be the pack mule on this trip, keeping up with and carrying my kids stuff. Our last trip to Disney three years ago I packed way to much in our day bag and it was such a hassle to keep up with. I am sure my husband would have paid 3x as much money as I saved us to keep from toting all the extra stuff around lol.:rolleyes:

[SquishTheWhale]

As well as the beach vault, there's a product called the TanSafe- google 'suncream safe box' and it'll come up with that one and some other similar products. It's just a hollow plastic container that looks like a bottle of sun cream, and you can open it up and put valuables inside. The one I have won't take a phone (unless you have a small one) but is great for cash and cards. I think some products are bigger and would take a phone or camera.

Edited December 20, 2016 by SquishTheWhale

[Cro_and_Swan]

I know this wasn't really your question, but I thought I would chime in and say that we just came back from a cruise with stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel ... beautiful, wonderful and we had a great time ... but I would STRONGLY urge you to look into booking a shore excursion in Cozumel ... like the cruise line's private beach. We did NOT do so and I really regret it. We walked through town a little and then a long long way down the main road and had drinks and a snack at a restaurant/bar near a dive shop that overlooked the port and it was fantastic for us ... but NO beach, probably wouldn't have been much fun for a family with kids. I enjoyed the walk and being outside and seeing somewhere new ... but my travel partner really didn't care for the long walk or the heat.

 

You can take a taxi (cash only) to a public beach ... but for 'next time' if we're going to be in Cozumel, we'll definitely consider booking an excursion through the cruise line or at least doing a lot more research on where we want to go and how to get there. We had a bit better experience in Grand Caymans as far as touring goes ... but still, the whole 'on shore' part of things was a bit lacking for me ... I just hadn't done enough research and planning.

 

On the 'what to take' question ... sun screen and bottles filled with water or ice water are a definite. I packed our water bottles as full of ice on the ship as possible and then had that to sip on as we walked. A back pack(s) with comfy straps are invaluable for carrying things on any excursion ... we always have them for Disney or other vacas and a shore excursion would be no exception.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Cro_and_Swan

[bowman_dani]

I know this wasn't really your question, but I thought I would chime in and say that we just came back from a cruise with stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel ... beautiful, wonderful and we had a great time ... but I would STRONGLY urge you to look into booking a shore excursion in Cozumel ... like the cruise line's private beach. We did NOT do so and I really regret it. We walked through town a little and then a long long way down the main road and had drinks and a snack at a restaurant/bar near a dive shop that overlooked the port and it was fantastic for us ... but NO beach, probably wouldn't have been much fun for a family with kids. I enjoyed the walk and being outside and seeing somewhere new ... but my travel partner really didn't care for the long walk or the heat.

 

You can take a taxi (cash only) to a public beach ... but for 'next time' if we're going to be in Cozumel, we'll definitely consider booking an excursion through the cruise line or at least doing a lot more research on where we want to go and how to get there. We had a bit better experience in Grand Caymans as far as touring goes ... but still, the whole 'on shore' part of things was a bit lacking for me ... I just hadn't done enough research and planning.

 

On the 'what to take' question ... sun screen and bottles filled with water or ice water are a definite. I packed our water bottles as full of ice on the ship as possible and then had that to sip on as we walked. A back pack(s) with comfy straps are invaluable for carrying things on any excursion ... we always have them for Disney or other vacas and a shore excursion would be no exception.

 

Thank you for your feedback, I will definitely make sure to have a plan in place as what we will be doing so we don't wonder around and not really get to experience the port.

[packer99]

A small purse that you can wear across your body. Big enough to hold your phone, id, credit cards etc and your kids cards but not big enough where you only can carry it with a strap on shoulder. You don't need a gigantic purse.

 

 

And a beach bag for towels etc.