Very First cruise western carribbean..Help

[stepharredon]

Hello everyone!
This is our first time cruising. I am sure as many of you where, we are excited and nervous at the same time. We will be on the carnival glory Oct 17th, 2009 can’t wait till the day! I do have some questions I hope you all can help us with.

Excursions...Is it better to pay with cruise ship or private website?

Carnival Glory western Caribbean, any suggestions on do's and don'ts?

has anyone sailed in october, hows the weather?

Thank you all and enjoy your cruises!!

 

[Whimsy]

Welcome!

We love cruising in October. Even though it is hurricane season we so far have never had a problem. We have ran into some showers but they don't seem to last. The water is nice and wam, just the way we like it.

What ports are you going to? We do a mix of private and ship excursions, depending on where we are going and how comfortable I feel with what I find when I do my research.

 

[stepharredon]

Thank you!

I am super excited about the cruise. That is wonderful news about the warm water, and some rain counn't hurt. We will be going to cozumel, belize, costa maya, and Nassau. I had thought about the following excursions:

Conzumel- snorkel and sail
Belize- Cave tubing or Island snorkel
Costa maya- One of the Mayan ruins undecided
nassau- ? unsure

I was also wondering about the days at sea, How would you spend them?

Thank you for the help!

 

[Kapnnem0]

Enjoy

Certainly you can usually save money by going with a private tour guide but if these are you first visits to these ports, I'd go with the cruise excursions. It's hard to put a $ amount on the peace of mind knowing that the ship will be waiting for you if your tour is delayed. It only happened to us once (in Alaska) and the ship waited 2.5 hours for our tour train to return. On occasion, when we've been somewhere before, we'll strike out on our own.

Assuming no named storms, October is a great time to cruise. In fact our close friends did get delayed by a storm in October several years ago, but they weren't complaining since their 7 day cruise became a 10 day cruise and returning to work wasn't a huge issue. Glory is a big ship and rides well regardless, unless your cabin is in the very front or back. We once had a balcony stateroom on the back of the Conquest (sister ship) and it was great until the last day when we were heading into a big sea. That was not a "fun day at sea".

Been to each of your ports several times:

Cozumel is easy and fun...favorite activity was a combo SEGWAY/snorkel tour. Although Mayan ruins of Tulum are interesting and it's a beautiful spot.

Belize is the place to snorkel and the Mayan ruins are good.

Costa Maya is still establishing itself as a port. Shopping and drinking are the activities there. Keep your hand on your purse/wallet in crowds.

Nassau is Nassau...not sure if a ship excursion is necessary there. In the past, we've grabbed a cab or the water taxi over to the Atlantis and finished with a walk through town.

In short, there really is no better time to cruise than October. The price is right, the air is cooler than the Summer, but the water for swimming and diving is warm.

 

[janelsvacations]

western carribean cruise

I know a company that does shore excursions I use all the time. They have smaller groups and give you more undivided attention and gaurantee you get to the ship on time.

 

[Cruizer]

Hello everyone!
This is our first time cruising. I am sure as many of you where, we are excited and nervous at the same time. We will be on the carnival glory Oct 17th, 2009 can’t wait till the day! I do have some questions I hope you all can help us with.

Excursions...Is it better to pay with cruise ship or private website?

Carnival Glory western Caribbean, any suggestions on do's and don'ts?

has anyone sailed in october, hows the weather?

Thank you all and enjoy your cruises!!

I was on the Carnival Glory in 2006, however I was on the Eastern Caribbean itinerary. Since this is your first cruise I highly recommend that you take a ship sponsored tour. You will be overwhelmed enough without adding the research necessary to book a good private tour. Sure, you can save some money by booking a private tour, but there are some important other considerations:

1) If a ship sponsored tour is late, the ship will wait for you. If a private tour is late, the ship will not wait for you.

2) If there is a time difference (between ship's time and local time) you have to allow for this as private tours use local time while ship sponsored tours use ship's time.

3) Will the private tour refund your money if the ship doesn't stop at the port for some reason. Some do, some don't. Ship sponsored tours always do.

4) Arranging a good private tour requires that you do research. The main difference I have noticed between the ship sponsored tours and the private tours is that usually ship sponsored tours involve less passengers.

For Cozumel you can go to Chankanaab Park ...

and swim with the dolphins ...

I have never been to Belize.

In Costa Maya I rode an ATV. It was my first time on an ATV. Riding on the flat road and dirt was okay, but I did not enjoy riding over the rocks and tree roots ...

In Nassau I suggest you stay away from Pearl Island. One of the two worst excursions I have ever been on (and I've been on fourteen cruises).

 

[stepharredon]

Thank you all for the help!

Those are some wonderful pictures!! Thank you all for the information. I think its best for us to just go with the cruise excursions. Its just two of us so, the price tag shouldn't be horrible.

 

[Whimsy]

We are doing the Twister Passion Island excursion thru the ship in Cozumel, Last time we were there we took a cab and went to Paradise Beach. I have not been to the other ports.

I think the others have given you some good advice though to go thru the ship your first time. We did that on our first cruise and I was very thorough before booking anything on my own on our second. Now I feel more at ease but I still will do a ship excursion if I have any doubts about getting back in time any other reason that nags at me.