conquest excursion help

[LeavingVernon]

My DH and I are going on our first cruise on the Conquest 12/17/06 to Cozumel, Grand Caymen, and Montego Bay. We are so excited!!!! Can someone please give me their opinions on the excursions (mainly the bike ride/snorkel in Cozumel and beaches in Jamaica)??? Also, I've heard of some people booking thier excursions through private agencies instead of through the cruise line. Is this really better and can you please give me the name of these agencies? thanks!!

[momof4boys]

:) Welcome to Cruise Critic and the wonderful world of cruising. I am betting you will soon be addicted, like many on this board.

 

We did Dunns River in Jamaica (ship excursion due to distance of the falls and not wanting to be left behind).

 

In Grand Cayman we snorkled with the stingrays.

 

Cozumel--a relaxing for us, blast for teens/young adults at Paradise Beach.

 

We loved our cruise. The Conquest was wonderful.

 

Scroll to the bottom of this page and see Forum Jump. Find the ports you will be visiting and click on them. You will find a LOT of info. Also, look for Roll Call and find your ship under the Carnival Heading. Look for your date a departure and lisgn in. You will meet people and learn lots before you even embark.

 

If this gets moved, it might be under the ports you will be visiting. Good luck and happy sailing!:)

[LeavingVernon]

Thanks a lot! Your info really helped. We're still trying to decide on excursions, but I suppose that's half the fun! Yes, I too feel that I am going to be very addicted to CruiseCritic from here on out! Thanks again!!

[cpayne]

We sailed the Conquest 11/5. You'll have a great time. There is nothing like one's first cruise! You are in total awe!!!

 

Here are the excursions we took:

 

Jamaica: zip line tour

Cayman: aqua boats

Cozumel: dune buggy/beach break

 

Jamaica we booked through the ship. For some reason I THOUGHT this excursion could only be booked through the ship. After the fact have learned that is not the case. Live and learn.

 

Cayman we booked through Nautilus (http://www.nautilus.ky). They offer a variety of different tours. I had friends the following wk that used them for a sting ray/snorkel tour and were also pleased. Our tour was $69/person booked independently. There were people from our ship on our tour with us that booked through the ship and paid $99. Same exact tour!!!

 

Cozumel we booked through Cozumel Homes (http://www.cozumelhomes.com). This was a great tour! It was approx 5 hrs if I remember correctly. It included a fajita lunch on the beach and all the beer, soda and water you could drink for $89/person. The dune buggy tour offered by the ship was $99/person, was only 4 hrs, did not include lunch and did not include any beverages. The tour included the dune buggy transportation, stop at a tequilla "farm", a short shopping tour, 2 hrs on the beach for swimming and lunch, and another short shopping stop. From there we split in 2 groups....those who wanted to go to a snorkeling location and those who wanted to go back to town.

 

As you can tell you can save a great deal of money and/or end up with a better quality tour. You do have to do your research, though. Follow the instructions of the previous poster of how to research tour operators on this forum. If you are surfing the internet and find a particular tour operator you are considering don't hesitate to post on this forum for input.

 

Also follow the advice of the earlier poster....if the tour is a good distance from the ship you may want to consider a cruise sponsored excursion. The further away from the ship, the more opportunity for error and getting left behind! :(

 

Go and enjoy!!!

[hilltopfamily]

Here's what we did on our Oct. 29th Conquest cruise: (hey, cpayne, you got on board just as we had to get off!!):

 

Jamaica: taxi took us on a hour tour of the area around/within Montego Bay, then dropped us off at Sunset Beach Resort (an all-inclusive resort that will, for a fee, allow cruisers a "day pass"). He then came back at the time we told him and got us back to the ship. I arranged all of this privately (i.e. not a ship-sponsored excursion). This one is easily done on your own---Sunset beach is literally less than 5 minutes from the ship.

 

Grand Cayman: On my own I booked us on Captain Marvin's 1/2 day snorkel/swim excursion that went to 2 different snorkeling sites and then on to stingray city, where we had the time of our lives swimming with the rays. Loved it so much we ended up purchasing the DVD so we can "relive" the experience.

 

Cozumel: On my own again I booked us on the Snorkel/Swim excursion with the dolphins through Dolphin Discovery. This is on the grounds of Chankanaab Park, so we took a taxi there and back on our own. Another day having the time of our lives! Such an incredible experience! Very pricey but worth the money once in your life. Again, we ended up buying the DVD because this is one thing our kids want to watch over and over again....them kissing, hugging, and swimming with Musa, the dolphin! Cozumel is frequently a port for most west. caribbean cruises, so if you can't do the dolphins this time, there is usually another opportunity in the future (we had been to Coz 3 times). We had been to Paradise beach on our last trip there and that is a nice place to go also.

[LeavingVernon]

Thanks everyone for your input! It's really helping us out.

 

Penny - how much did the taxi tour in Jamaica cost? That sounds like a strong possibility since all I really wanted to do there was go to a beach! Also, how much was the day pass at Sunset Beach?

 

Thanks again!!!

[big_duck]

Sunset beach is $40 pp all-inclusive. It may be less for kids, and it is a great place for kids. The taxi ride is like $2-$3 each.

[TennisLover]

We went to Rose Hall Beach in Montego Bay and had a great time! We were with our kids, who were probably 8 and 11 at the time.

 

Stingrays in Grand Cayman.

 

Went to the Tulum ruins in Cozumel once (ship excursion due to the distance; kids did not love this). Went to Playa Mia once. Next time, going to Paradise Beach.

[hilltopfamily]

Thanks everyone for your input! It's really helping us out.

 

Penny - how much did the taxi tour in Jamaica cost? That sounds like a strong possibility since all I really wanted to do there was go to a beach! Also, how much was the day pass at Sunset Beach?

 

Thanks again!!!

 

I had asked the taxi people as you leave the port area about doing a short "tour" before dropping us off at Sunset Beach Resort. They said $7 per person for an hour tour, then dropped us off at Sunset Beach. (so $35 for us since we're a group of 5). Just going to Sunset beach without the "tour" was $2 per person and again it was literally less than a 5 minute ride (I know this for sure because 2 people who were in the van with us went straight there and were charged that, then we rode around for an hour and were dropped off there). The "tour" was a decent way to see a bit of the area, both the wealthy and the poorer regions, but was certainly not a stellar excursion by itself. My kids enjoyed all the info we got from the driver about the culture and the island. We stopped at Richmond Hill Inn, which was really pretty and had beautiful views but we were charged a $2 *donation* to look around the place. You can google the place and learn more about it.

 

Sunset beach was $40 per adult and $20 per kid for the day. Included was: use of the waterpark area with water slides and lazy river, all drinks including alcohol, food, several pools and bars including a swim-up one, beach area with lounge chairs, kayaks, and snorkeling equipment. We really had a great time there....so relaxing and really a beautiful place. Well kept up, great drinks, and there was some music and trivia entertainment on the beach. Hubby took a picture of our feet layed out on the lounge chair with the beach behind them---- much like a Corona beer commercial! Nice, relaxing day for us. Hope you enjoy what ever you end up choosing to do while you're there.....we thought Jamaica was really beautiful and I'm so glad we didn't let others' negative opinions keep us from enjoying our time there. When we got back to the port area we did encounter the pushy salespeople others always talk about, but we just were nice to them and did buy a few mementos of our time there, so it was fine by us! It certainly didn't break me to give them a few bucks, and they were so friendly and nice, it was no hardship on us!

[steph7021]

Sunset Beach in Jamaica is great- we paid $4 per person to get there---look for JUTA taxi- make the drivers show you their id. Awesome food---good drinks---lots of water toys to go around.

 

We did a simple snorkel tour in Grand Caymen through the ship---Grand Caymen Snorkal Tour is what the ship calls it---$39 per person. Great tour- very nice crew. There were only 10 of us---as everyone else is looking at sting rays. We weren't interested in sting rays- so the personal attention was great!

[nanuak]

We did Sunset beach in Montego Bay - $40.00 per person, $20.00 for children, but they let our 2 year old in for free.

 

Captain Marvin's Stingray City - $39.95 per person - just google Captain Marvin's for their website.

 

And we just shopped in Cozumel, as we really didn't have enough time in the other ports.

[tkportersat]

Another vote for Sunset Beach, absolutely loved it there and my 12 and 14 year old had a blast as well. Can relax if you want or play if you want. Very nice facilities and so nice to have all the drinks and food you want for the day! Can't beat the price and it is a 3 minute taxi ride from the port.

 

Cozumel we like Paradise Beach, it also has water toys and such. You take a taxi there and it is free to enter the beach. $8 wristbands can be purchased for people to use water tramp, snorkeling gear, kayaks, etc. Great food and bar there as well.

[tkportersat]

Sorry, double post.