6 Carribean ports - which ones on our own?

[jp2001]

We are going on a 13-night cruise with 6 ports which are:

- Samana, Dominican Republic

- St. Thomas

- Aruba

- Belize City

- Roatan

- Cozumel

 

We don't want to go on an excursion in every port, we want to keep the cost on the low side.

 

Do you have any suggestions about what to do in these ports without spending too much money? I don't want to go to the beach each day but if you have a favorite beach, let me know which one it is and how to get there.

 

I like a little shopping, looking at special architecture, museums, nice scenaries, history, etc.

 

If you have any suggestions of things to do near the ports, bus routes if available, nice places within short cab ride, etc. I would like to hear you.

 

Thanks!

[cb747]

Hi,

 

I booked Sunny Liston in St. Thomas. He does an Island Tour, shopping and the beach if there is time. $25. Don't the the other ports.

 

Have fun.

 

Chantal

[cruise-bunny]

We are going on a 13-night cruise with 6 ports which are:

- Samana, Dominican Republic

- St. Thomas

- Aruba

- Belize City

- Roatan

- Cozumel

 

We don't want to go on an excursion in every port, we want to keep the cost on the low side.

 

Do you have any suggestions about what to do in these ports without spending too much money? I don't want to go to the beach each day but if you have a favorite beach, let me know which one it is and how to get there.

 

I like a little shopping, looking at special architecture, museums, nice scenaries, history, etc.

 

If you have any suggestions of things to do near the ports, bus routes if available, nice places within short cab ride, etc. I would like to hear you.

 

Thanks!

What great ports!

Cozumel is always great for shopping. It is a safe city to wander around for the whole day if you want. A taxi is about $13.00 each way to Paradise beach nice, clean, lively-it is free. Tom asks that you spend a minimum of $10.00 each on food/drink.

Playa Uvas beach is about $10.00 taxi and $7.00 entrance fee which includes a drink. Small, pretty, quiet beach.

 

Belize- my husband and friend found a taxi driver who showed them the city and then ended up in a nice hotel bar for a drink. They really enjoyed visiting with their driver. I do not remember the price of the driver but I remember it was cheap. The rest of us took a very casual boat to spectacular reef snorkeling. about $45.00 per person.

 

Roatan

Beautiful scenery, but no architecture . I love this port and would like to do a land vacation here- but this is not a port to walk around in for the day. You could walk off the ship and shop at street vendors/flea market stands for about 30 minutes. This is the port to get a driver for $25.00 per person and have a great day or reserve a spot at Flippers and Fins for $20.00 per person and have a perfect beach/snorkel day.

I have not been to your other ports but there is quite a bit of info on the other port boards.

enjoy

Sandy

[CRUIZIN SUZAN]

I have only been to 3 of these ports.

 

 

In Aruba, you can check out the casinos (inexpensive? Depends on how well you do!!). We have also taken the jeep tour into the interior of the island and it was enjoyable. The town had some nice shops as I recall. We picked up a coffee at the Dunkin Donuts and bought the travel mugs that say DunkinDonuts Aruba on it as a souvenier and used it on our ship for the rest of our cruise. Interesting dutch architecture as well as gifts can be found here though not much. There are also scooter shops that rent scooters which we are sorry we did not do when there last. We saw how dangerous the scooters were and the driving conditions were when in Bermuda on the Explorer of the Seas last Nov. that in hindsight, we should have done them in Aruba where the landscape and road conditions was much better suited to novices like us.

 

 

I can also highly recommend Sonny Liston tours in St. Thomas. I read about him on these threads a while back and used him for a private group of 26 family members. THe driver was awesome. Reliable and reasonable. Our group still talks about the tour/sights/beach stop as the hightlight of our whole cruise. You can google them or search the boards here (if you are lucky to catch the search function working) for confirmation of their services. They will call you back if you email them.

 

I can also 2nd the Paradise Beach idea as it is our regular stop when calling on COZ. Do not miss the homemade fresh guacamole. Tom runs a great place and also very family friendly. It will be no trouble to meet the requested $10 pp food/drink expendature. The bartenders there make very nice cocktails and the food goes well with the water, sun, lounge chair and umbrella on the beach. Also, they offer a beachfront private massage- $1/minute (20 min. minimum) which is a great way to start or end your beach day. There is a little jewelry hut there as well with some nice pieces to pick up for souveniers. An inexpensive and enjoyable day for sure. You can also do a google search for Paradise Beach Cozumel and check out their website complete w/a list of services and even their menu.

 

Happy planning. SOunds like a great cruise.

[M&M Mousers]

When we go to Cozumel we take the public ferry to Playa Del Carmen ($11 per person each way, don't buy round trip tickets as they limit your return time)

Then we pick up our pre-arranged rent a car, we've have very good luck with this - about $70 total

Then we drive ourselves to ruins and pay the $5 each to tour, if you haven't seen Tulum it's a must see.

Last time we went we partnered up with a couple we met through Cruise Critic and shared the rent a car, so it was very inexpensive.

There are also public busses from Playa to Talum that would be worth investigating.

Have a great cruise!

[jayneca]

We found that Belize was a place you had to have something planned. I would go cave tubing here, hands down. We booked with X-Stream and it was very reasonable... and was a blast and much less crowded than with the ship.

 

St. Thomas, besides the usual shopping etc., a trip up to Paradise Point is well worth it. And make sure to have a 'Bushwacker' at the top.