Costa Maya just confirmed for Western Cruises

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Does anyone know the name of the resort that has the pool that is close to the port?

Can anyone point me to the direction of the trip reports to read regarding Costa Maya? I looked at the Trip reports forum and I didn't have a clue which ones to read that had a stop in Costa Maya.

Thank you.

 

[traycie2201]

the pool close to the port is a free to use saltwater pool with swim up bar, it doesn't belong to a hotel and is near shops and restaurants, i've seen some reports on these boards, search under costa maya and some on cruisecritic

 

[jel0511]

Here is the board on Cruise Critic dedicated to the port of call in Costa Maya.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=169

 

[pdarrah]

Could someone post the number you are using to call DCL for itinerary information? My TA hasn't gotten back to me about this yet and the only number I can find is from the short excursion info. I tried calling and it is DCL, but the gentleman I talked to insisted that there has not been any change to the itinerary yet!

I would really like to get some idea of arrival/departure times at Costa Maya so I can start making some plans of what we can do that day.

For any of you that have stopped there on mystery cruises - how long were you in port? Was it a full day or just a partial?

Pamela

 

[Euphscott]

Disney cannot substitute Belize or Honduras because a valid passport is required for these destinations.

That may be true of Roatan, but Belize does not require passports.

I'll be sailing on the Grand Princess there in November (as well as Costa Maya!) and we only require birth certificates.

 

[allears]

I needed to call DCL today to ask a couple of questions. A recording comes on when you dail the reservation number and tells you which cruise dates will be stopping at Costa Maya instead of Grand Cayman. The cast member told me they sitll didn't have arrival and departure times. It will be hard to make too many plans until we know what excursions are available, which isn't supposed to be until we board Saturday.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Thank you for your help Traycie and Lori. There was some good information on cruise critic, alot was repeated but I am a little more excited to go now.

 

[rcomputer]

Some people seem to be thinking of Costa Maya as being like other DCL ports. Key West is probably 500 times larger.

There are no resorts at Costa Maya. It is a pier that can take three cruise ships and a few small shops (perhaps 30 of them mostly about 15ft by 30ft). If you have been with Disney to Cozumel think of the pier and the shops over the bridge. That is the extent of it. There is a restaurant and a pool and some rocky beach. It is smaller than one hotel-based resort. Downtown Disney (just the Marketplace - no hotels) is bigger!!

As soon as we saw how small and isolated it was on the internet we booked an excursion (Aug 28th Magic). We like new ports so it was nice to visit but still very rural and basic.

If you take a cab to the nearest village (population 400) there are several bars/eateries.

 

[lbgraves]

I feel that since this isn't a regular stop on any of DCL's cruises, it will be a unique opportunity to see a new place that I will probably never get the chance to see again. It sounds beautiful from the reports and we wont be off the ship for very long anyway. Life is what you make of it...as is any experience you are lucky enough to have. If we don't see GC this trip, there will hopefully be a cruise for us next year. I have too much stress in my life. When I step on that ship I am not going to let anything bother me.

 

[talicskai]

Originally posted by lbgraves
. Life is what you make of it...as is any experience you are lucky enough to have. I have too much stress in my life. When I step on that ship I am not going to let anything bother me.

I LIKE THE WAY YOU THINK!!!! HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY!

 

[lbgraves]

Thank you. I figure that I wont be able to do anything about it, so why let something ruin our trip.

Now, for the people who just went thru the craziness resulting from the hurricanes...I would be stressed about getting that mess straightened out. That isn't a normal thing though so just open those giant ear doors & let me on the ship!

 

[jenmack]

Pamela,

In answer to your question... Just like allears did, I too called Disney's reservation # that I got off of Disney's website & they do have a recording with all of October's cruise dates (including oct. 23rd) going to Costa Maya instead of GC. The Costa Maya day will be on the same day as GC was. When I talked to someone & she went & got a manager. They said they don't have the port times yet, but they will have them in a couple day's & if they are not posted on the Disney website in a couple day's then to please feel free & call back. They also said that they "think" the port times are going to be pretty comparable to the GC port times. I also spoke w/ someone @ the excursion company that has been mentioned here as well as on your website & they said if you book an excursion w/ them, but you have to change the time do to "port times" than you can change the time w/ them @ no cost. -Hope this help's. -Jen

 

[Disneefun]

Just some things to share. First, dear friends of ours ended up in Costa Maya on a RCCL cruise last week. They were supposed to go to GC (had been there before), but said they weren't at all sorry they missed it. Thought Costa Maya was gorgeous and want to go back and would choose Costa Maya over GC any time.

Last night on our local news there was a piece about GC and how the officials at GC have been misleading the public and US officials about how bad the damage really is, in order not to discourage tourism which is their whole livelihood (understandable, but still). Anyway, the BBC snuck a camera crew onto GC and recorded the damage: it is horrible. 80% of the buildings are damaged or destroyed, cars are still piled up in the middle of the road, mud is everywhere, animals are running loose, there's a lot of places with no power or water. It's really bad.

It may be much longer than the end of october before anyone can go back there and have fun. It's just such a mess. I'd much rather go to Costa Maya and have a nice day rather than tramping through mud with no power or fresh water. GC is nice (or it was) but I'd choose a non-hurricane damaged port any day.

 

[S.S.WILSON]

thx for the info on Costa Maya. Did your friends do an excursion?

 

[DARWIN91]

I was on the ship during Hurricane Frances and we ended up going to Costa Maya instead of Key West. It was very nice. You walk right off the pier and right into the resort area which is only the people getting off the cruise. There was less peddling there than we experience in Cozumel on their beaches. The salt water pool is huge and has a swim up bar as well. It has different levels so there is an area for the kids that is not too deep. There was plenty of chairs and it is all free. No renting of chairs. The volleyball pool seemed a bit scuzzy to me but the regular pool was very nice. The beach is very rocky but I had to go in as the water was beautiful, bring water shoes. Once you got into the water past the rocks it was awesome. There are plenty of shops there too! They also put on different shows right there poolside there is a little outside theatre. They had an outside masseuse as well that prices were very inexpensive. Our friends took a cab and went to a different beach that was not rocky nearby and had lunch there . They said it was great. I thought it was a great day. You can get on and off the ship within a few minutes.

 

[S.S.WILSON]

Anyone know how the snorkling is in Costa Maya? Or can you reccomend an excursion? Thx.

 

[pdarrah]

Just F.Y.I. - I spoke to DCL Reservations a little earlier today and they told me that the expected arrival time is 7:00am and the departure will be 6:00pm.

Pamela

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

S.S. Wilson: Go go www.costamayacruiseexcursions.com. I went to this site to also check out the snorkeling excursions. I e-mailed them questions about the cost and pick/up drop off and they got back to me right of way.

I realize I might be in the minority, but I hope the December 4th Magic makes Cayman.

 

[NancyDVC]

I spoke with a friend at work who usually visits GC with friends every October/November. These people go to GC often abnd have told her that the damage at GC is incredible! There are stioll no schedlued flights in or out just emergency ones. The frequent visitors took thier private jet down with supplies to help out.
From this info I think that GC will be off the itineraries for cruise ships for quite some time!

Since I missed it on the 9/11 Magical Mystery cruise I rebooked for a western late next year. I guess I will see what happens by then.

Have fun all of you who will visit Costa Maya. TYhe reviews up til now have been very positive!

 

[ericnj]

Our family was on the Fraces cruise and went to the Costa Maya port. We took the tour of the Mayan ruins and found it to be very interesting and nice. Bring water on the excursion because as you walk the area around the ruins you do get hot. Free beer and soda on the airconditioned bus on the way back. The port does offer shopping and is a very quick walk. THe shops are nice the area is clean and the water is beautiful to look at. This is a port that has built a pier and is looking for business. I would think that if more than one ship is docked (it can hold three) there would be too many people at the area. If I can scan in the Costa Maya excursion hand out I will post for everyone.