Opinions on our plans, please

[Mallefiscent]

Can I get input from you guys on the good, the bad, and the ugly for our cruise plans? In advice you can offer would be appreciated.

 

We will be on Harmony of the Seas in room GT 10644.  Our dining is at 5 pm.  Celebrating two birthdays. We are all adults. 

 

1/23/21 - Fly into Orlando and transfer closer to the port.  Thinking about staying at the America's Best Value Inn Satellite Beach Melbourne.  We've never stayed there.  Just picked a hotel.

 

1/24/21 - Board the ship.  If I can schedule a massage for this day, I would like to get one to start with the relaxation. 

 

1/25/21 - Coco Cay.  I am going to try to get a floating cabana when the reservations for them open up.  Do they sell out pretty quickly? If we get bored, we may go to the water park.  I'm not a big beach person, so I will probably head back to the ship before the others do.   Any suggestions to do on the ship on port days?

 

1/26/21 - Cruising.  I am wondering if this will be a formal dinner night.  It would be nice to get some pictures with the family.   Not sure what we will do this day.

 

1/27/21 - Cozumel, Mexico.  The whole purpose of this cruise is to see the Tulum ruins.  We are planning on doing the Tulum Ruins with the 5th Ave Shopping excursion with the cruise line. 

 

1/28/21 - Roatan, Honduras.  A private tour with Bodden Tours.  It seems a lot of people speak highly of this company on here. We would like to visit his monkeys and sloths, go for a spin in a glass bottom boat, visit Carambola, and see the Iguana Sanctuary.   Is all of that doable in one day?  We are scheduled to arrive at 8 am and leave at 5 pm.

 

1/29/21- Costa Maya, Mexico.  The Mayan Experience tour with Native Choice. 

 

1/30/21 - Cruising

 

1/31/21 - Back in Orlando.  If the Halcyon hotel is open in Disney World by then, I will surprise the kids with it. If not, we'll just fly back home. 

 

What do you guys think?

 

 

[iancal]

If the purpose of the cruise is to see the Tulum ruins why bother with a cruise when at most you will only have a few hours at Tulum.  5th Ave in Playa...lots of trash and trinkets that you can get much better and less expensive in other places....including down the road in Puerto Morales.  Without the endless condo and travel club touts.

[Canuker]

1 hour ago, Mallefiscent said:

Can I get input from you guys on the good, the bad, and the ugly for our cruise plans? In advice you can offer would be appreciated.

 

We will be on Harmony of the Seas in room GT 10644.  Our dining is at 5 pm.  Celebrating two birthdays. We are all adults. 

 

1/23/21 - Fly into Orlando and transfer closer to the port.  Thinking about staying at the America's Best Value Inn Satellite Beach Melbourne.  We've never stayed there.  Just picked a hotel.

 

1/24/21 - Board the ship.  If I can schedule a massage for this day, I would like to get one to start with the relaxation. 

 

1/25/21 - Coco Cay.  I am going to try to get a floating cabana when the reservations for them open up.  Do they sell out pretty quickly? If we get bored, we may go to the water park.  I'm not a big beach person, so I will probably head back to the ship before the others do.   Any suggestions to do on the ship on port days?

 

1/26/21 - Cruising.  I am wondering if this will be a formal dinner night.  It would be nice to get some pictures with the family.   Not sure what we will do this day.

 

1/27/21 - Cozumel, Mexico.  The whole purpose of this cruise is to see the Tulum ruins.  We are planning on doing the Tulum Ruins with the 5th Ave Shopping excursion with the cruise line. 

 

1/28/21 - Roatan, Honduras.  A private tour with Bodden Tours.  It seems a lot of people speak highly of this company on here. We would like to visit his monkeys and sloths, go for a spin in a glass bottom boat, visit Carambola, and see the Iguana Sanctuary.   Is all of that doable in one day?  We are scheduled to arrive at 8 am and leave at 5 pm.

 

1/29/21- Costa Maya, Mexico.  The Mayan Experience tour with Native Choice. 

 

1/30/21 - Cruising

 

1/31/21 - Back in Orlando.  If the Halcyon hotel is open in Disney World by then, I will surprise the kids with it. If not, we'll just fly back home. 

 

What do you guys think?

 

 

"We are all adults".

"I will surprise the kids..."

Can you clarify, please?

[Mallefiscent]

10 minutes ago, Canuker said:

"We are all adults".

"I will surprise the kids..."

Can you clarify, please?

 

Lol.  Sorry.  They are my grown children.   I still think of them as my kids. 

[Charles4515]

I have done Tulum twice. First time from a cruise, the second time staying at a resort on the Riviera Maya. Doing from a land vacation was much better. More time and we also did Coba another day on that trip. Coba has a pyramid you can climb if so inclined. If you do Tulum on a cruise not only not much time there but you also have to take the vomit comet (ferry) to and back from the mainland.


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[navybankerteacher]

I think you are kidding yourself about seeing Tulum from a port call at Cozumel.  Getting across the island and across (and back) to the mainland will eat up so much time —- sort of like “doing Florence” on a Port call at Livorno.  

 

Cruise to cruise - do not wear yourselves out with crazy over-extensions to sample local culture.

[Charles4515]

Costa Maya I have done Native Choice and they were good.

Roatan we did a tour with Victor Boden and saw the monkeys/sloths and then a beach. You probably don’t have time there for all you listed.


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[CPT Trips]

Do you massage on a port day. There usually are specials.

How do you plan to get from MCO to Melbourne and then to the ship?

Have you read the TripAdvisor reviews of that motel in Melbourne?

Chances of the Star Wars hotel opening when you are going are slim to none. With 100 or so rooms, you best call the first day reservations open. 

 

[iancal]

Count on about 4 hours of travel time, an hour extra to make sure you get back across to the ship in time and you are up to 5 hours of travel time.  That is assuming the ferries are running and or running on time.   You can do the math from there.  If you detour into Playa for a stroll on 5th Ave. add in another 30 minutes of travel time.  In reality, my guess is you will be fortunate if you have less than 6 hours of pure travel and or waiting time.  That is after you actually disembark the cruise ship.  Not certain how much port time you will have in Coz but those are the numbers that you should be looking at IMHO.

 

Take a look at rome2rio to see the times for yourself.

Edited March 25, 2020 by iancal

[MCC retired]

Book your Tulum Shore Tour with the cruise line unless you have a late departure from Cozumel .

We once had a bus breakdown and another time a Ferry delay that made us happy that the ship knew we were delayed getting back.

[George C]

Might want to consider dolphin encounter in Anthony key in roatan , have done this several times and always love it, you walk out to about 3 feet of water and dolphins come to you, lots of time with the dolphins. 

[jofifrla]

I don't think that the spa is usually open for treatments (just tours and making appointments) on embarkation day.

[Roger88]

To me the plan seems just fine. Its fully loaded with all kinds of entertainamen for you choice. Unless you want something extra, the plan looks very nice. Honduras seems to me the most entertaining. You can always ask a guy about the duration of the tour and aquire some additional information. There should not be a problem with it. If any, just take another tour 

[sanger727]

I agree that choosing a cruise as means to see the Tulum ruins is not the best or easiest way to see them. An all inclusive trip in Mexico would be lovely for something like that. Keep in mind that no port is guaranteed so be sure you would still want to go on this trip if your Cozumel day was cancelled. If you decide to go for it, do make sure you do the cruise ship excursion because there's a lot of logistics that could go wrong in getting you back to the ship in time. I'll disagree with the others on the 5th ave shopping; we enjoyed that on our last mexico trip.

 

Also, I wouldn't try to do a massage on embarkation day. They spend the day doing spa tours all day and gathering lots of people for give aways and I would be concerned that it would be loud. If you are fine with full price book for a sea day. If you want a discount go on your coco cay day.

Edited March 26, 2020 by sanger727

[iancal]

MCC had good advice about booking with the cruise line for a Tulum  visit (from us who never do ship sponsored excursions).

 

 The Cozumel ferry service can be very iffy.  Most especially if high seas happen to come up after you are on the mainland and ferry scheds are ammended,  

Edited March 26, 2020 by iancal

[Mallefiscent]

On 3/24/2020 at 5:49 PM, iancal said:

If the purpose of the cruise is to see the Tulum ruins why bother with a cruise when at most you will only have a few hours at Tulum.  5th Ave in Playa...lots of trash and trinkets that you can get much better and less expensive in other places....including down the road in Puerto Morales.  Without the endless condo and travel club touts.

 

It is to celebrate my son's birthday, and he wanted to see Tulum.   Not everyone (his wife) wanted to do a land based trip though, so this was the outcome of the discussion. 

[Mallefiscent]

On 3/24/2020 at 6:50 PM, Charles4515 said:

Costa Maya I have done Native Choice and they were good.

Roatan we did a tour with Victor Boden and saw the monkeys/sloths and then a beach. You probably don’t have time there for all you listed.


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Thank you. I was wondering about the time frame.  I'll have them rank them in order of importance. 

[Mallefiscent]

On 3/24/2020 at 6:42 PM, Charles4515 said:

I have done Tulum twice. First time from a cruise, the second time staying at a resort on the Riviera Maya. Doing from a land vacation was much better. More time and we also did Coba another day on that trip. Coba has a pyramid you can climb if so inclined. If you do Tulum on a cruise not only not much time there but you also have to take the vomit comet (ferry) to and back from the mainland.


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I'm kind've hoping we will go see it, and then his wife won't be so nervous about doing a land based vacation in another country.  She's never been out of the US.  Did you see it on the cruise and then decide to go back for a land based vacation to spend more time there?

[Mallefiscent]

On 3/25/2020 at 7:42 AM, MCC retired said:

Book your Tulum Shore Tour with the cruise line unless you have a late departure from Cozumel .

We once had a bus breakdown and another time a Ferry delay that made us happy that the ship knew we were delayed getting back.

 

Thank you for that piece of advice. 

[Mallefiscent]

On 3/24/2020 at 10:56 PM, CPT Trips said:

Do you massage on a port day. There usually are specials.

How do you plan to get from MCO to Melbourne and then to the ship?

Have you read the TripAdvisor reviews of that motel in Melbourne?

Chances of the Star Wars hotel opening when you are going are slim to none. With 100 or so rooms, you best call the first day reservations open. 

We frequently go to Disney World, and I was just going to book the same tranfser company from the airport that we use when we go to Disney World. 

I have not read reviews of the motel.  Thank you for that recommendation. 

I have an amazing travel agent who is a Disney specialist.  At this point though, I think the hotel probably won't even be opened by then. 

On 3/24/2020 at 10:56 PM, CPT Trips said:

 

 

[Mallefiscent]

On 3/25/2020 at 8:01 AM, George C said:

Might want to consider dolphin encounter in Anthony key in roatan , have done this several times and always love it, you walk out to about 3 feet of water and dolphins come to you, lots of time with the dolphins. 

 

That sounds wonderful.   Do you know how long that takes to do? 

[Mallefiscent]

16 hours ago, jofifrla said:

I don't think that the spa is usually open for treatments (just tours and making appointments) on embarkation day.

 

4 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

Also, I wouldn't try to do a massage on embarkation day. They spend the day doing spa tours all day and gathering lots of people for give aways and I would be concerned that it would be loud. If you are fine with full price book for a sea day. If you want a discount go on your coco cay day.

 

Thank you for the info about the spa being a no go on the first day.  Maybe I'll be a massage at a spa in town before we board. 

[George C]

Just now, Mallefiscent said:

 

That sounds wonderful.   Do you know how long that takes to do? 

You spend about 30 mins in the water , you can bring your own camera but they will be taking pictures which we have bought, it’s normally a rccl excursion, about two hours total , we have done a few encounters but this is our favorite by far.

[Mallefiscent]

7 minutes ago, George C said:

You spend about 30 mins in the water , you can bring your own camera but they will be taking pictures which we have bought, it’s normally a rccl excursion, about two hours total , we have done a few encounters but this is our favorite by far.

 

Thank you so much for the info.  🙂

[Charles4515]

 
I'm kind've hoping we will go see it, and then his wife won't be so nervous about doing a land based vacation in another country.  She's never been out of the US.  Did you see it on the cruise and then decide to go back for a land based vacation to spend more time there?

My sister and her husband were with us at the all inclusive and had not been with us on the cruise. They wanted to go so I gladly went again with them since the tour from the resort was a shorter ride to the site and a longer time at Tulum.


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