Sailing Western on Mariner-Independent Tours

[cruisin4funtoo]

We are a group of 14 sailing to Ocho Rios, Cozumel and Grand Cayman April 8th-15th and are looking to book independent tours (not thru RCCL) to save some $$. Anyone have good experience with particular company? Looking mostly for beach/snorkel activities, would like to do the Falls in Ocho Rios. Even be willing to do private charter. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

[boxer_mommy]

We've done this itinerary twice and both times in Ocho Rios, we've booked with A-Z Jamaica Planners. They are extremely friendly and we've enjoyed them both times. Here's a link to their website: http://www.a-zjamaicaplanners.com/

 

In Cozumel and Grand Cayman, we just hit the beaches. Most of the beaches have snorkeling gear that you can rent once you get there.

 

Hope this helps. Have a great time!

[toonjie]

We just did the Western itinerary over New Years and we used Island Marketing in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. (They also do tours in Jamaica if you like the look of them.) We used Ionie McBeam in Jamaica so we could do a custom tour of exactly what we wanted to do. I heartily recommend both of them!

 

In Jamaica we did a private tour with Ionie McBeam and hit Dunns River Falls before the cruise ship tours got there. (We were done when the crowds were starting to arrive.) Then on to Calypso Tubing on the White River, then sight seeing in Fern Gully and lunch at The Ruins restaurant. (Great food (buffet) and a beautiful setting with waterfall running right through the grounds. (http://www.ruinsjamaica.com/) Then some more sightseeing after lunch before getting dropped off at the pier. We then hit Ocean's Eleven for our Cruise Booze and some shopping at the other pier stores.

 

In Grand Cayman we did Island Marketing's Cayman Outrage Tour and it was awesome! Jean-Michael, our captain, met us near where the tenders drop you off and drove us across the island to the boat dock. We then went to Stingray city and spent around an hour there. Then on to a reef for some snorkeling, then some tubing behind the boat and then my son went deep sea fishing as we returned and he caught a barracuda, which just thrilled him. A short tour of the mangroves ended this great excursion. Jean-Michael dropped us off at 7 Mile Beach and we had a late lunch and a short swim and took a cab to the tender pier. The tour was supposed to be 3 hours, but he gave us 4 1/2 since he had no afternoon tour. (The ships leave too early.)

In Cozumel we did the day pass to the Reef Club, which was really nice. It has a really nice pool area and a nice beach with some floating toys for the kids, but the hurricane has done so much damage that the water line is marked with rocks and it is difficult to get out in the water-this is the case everywhere in Cozumel, basically the beaches were absolutely trashed. The Reef Club has been totally redone since the hurricane and is a beautiful setting and we just relaxed and had the lunch buffet, which is okay, but mostly American fare. We did a snorkle trip in the afternoon with Sand Dollar Sports, which is the hotel's dive shop and we got lucky and had a private boat for just us. (5 people) As we rode along the beach out to Palancar Reef you could see the devastation of the hurricane on any property that had not been redone yet. We spent 2 hours snorkeling and then returned to the Reef Club for a final swim and a few more Pina Coladas before taking a cab back to the pier and doing some last minute shopping.

 

Here's the links:

Island Marketing- Cozumel/Grand Cayman/Jamaica

 

http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/

 

Ionie McBeam- Jamaica

 

http://www.ocho-rios.com/index.php

[Tmmull]

In Jamaica we used ( and highly recommend ) Marva Shaw! http://www.knowjamaica.com/

[mspink98]

We also used Island Marketing in Cayman, and did the Waverunner tour. It was awesome, and I highly recommend it. Our snorkeling trip with Albatros Charters (http://www.cozumel-fishing.com/) was cancelled due to weather, but my parents have used them before and been very impressed.

[cruisin4funtoo]

Anyone know of any private snorkel charters? With 14 i think we could probably get our own boat for a 1/2 day trip!

[kato92]

Hey..we are on that cruise too. keep the suggestions coming.:)