Just got my western excusion booklet!

[tchrmom]

The excursion booklet came this weekend. Anyone have any thoughts on what would be good for a family of four? (kids are 7 and 10) Maybe someone else went to Cozumel/Grand Caymen/ Key West on (gasp!) another cruise line.:pinkbounc

[atigeg]

Ooooo, how exciting!
When is your cruise? We sail May 25th and haven't gotten one yet. We leave tomorrow for our 20th...flying out a day early. Maybe it will be waiting for us when we return home.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.*****************

[Señor Ferrari]

When we went to Key West on the Magic in 2000, we booked the Fury Catamaran snorkel trip. It was great. I highly recommend it if you enjoy snorkeling. They take you about 7 miles out to sea to a reef which is designated as a national park. You anchor there and can snorkel for a few hours. There are complimentary beverages (beer/wine/soda), and the crew is great. The snorkeling was great, also.

[tchrmom]

We leave 6/8/02! Only 72 more days!!!! You are closer than we are, I'm surprised you did not get your yet! Have a blast, and let me know all about it when you return!!!!!!!

[vacationqueen]

We leave June 8th also but I received no booklet yet on the Western excursions.........Did this come through Disney or your travel agent ( I booked through TA)? I am so excited. I hope we get ours soon so I can be planning............ See you on the 8th!!!:smooth:

[tchrmom]

Vacationqueen...........
We booked our cruise directly through the DCL. They sent us a yellow booklet with pictures and a discription of each excursion. Also included is a paper, that gives the price for each. Some are pretty price-y. That is why I'm trying to find out which is the best for our family. By the way.........do you have any kids going with you????????

[chrisn]

My family and I are just back from Eastern and Western Carribean cruises (Disney Magic and Voyager of the Seas) although I can help with Grand Cayman and Cozumel, I can't help with Key West because we went to Jamaica instead. We also sailed with 2 children ages 14 and 4.

On Grand Cayman my suggestions would be Stingray City, the Turtle Farm/Hell and of course 7 Mile Beach. My 4 year old son loved swimming with the Stingrays! Captain Marvin's comes highly recommended if you decide on the Stingrays and they offer 2 and 3 hour cruise passenger snorkel trips (you also get to stop at Barrier Reef and the Coral Gardens. The boats are also way less crowded and you get more time doing it on your own versus on a ship excursion). Their web site is www.captainmarvins.com
We also had time for shopping for souvineers and those yuumy rum cakes.

On Cozumel my suggestions would be to either spend part of the day at Chankanaab National Park or take the ferry over to the mainland (Playa Del Carmen) and spend the entire day at X-caret. We spent our time at Chankanaab and loved it. They have pretty beaches and awesome snorkelling, botanical gardens, miniature ruin replicas and a Sea Lion and Bird show. We also had plenty of time for shopping (which was great) before and after the park. Both parks offer Dolphin Swims if that is something you are interested in (we've done this twice before so decided to skip it this time). The ruins at Tulum are also an interesting and educational option although I heard a lot of younger kids were board with this. Everyone also raved about the Fiesta Party Boat which I believe went to Play Sol Beach. Of course there is also the visit to Carlos and Charlie's but with kids you may want to skip this. We actually took our kids back to the ship then went back out. Cozumel is a party town and we had tons of fun there.

You'll have a great time no matter what you decide to do. They are both great ports!

[tchrmom]

Thank you SO much for the info! This is just what I was looking for.....someone who has "been there, done that, and bought a few t-shirts." HAHAHAHAHAHA! Thanks again!:bounce: