Excursion planning for extended family; feeling the heat all the way from home!

[DisneyMomCT13]

My husband, daughter and I have taken several Disney cruises together and absolutely LOVE all that DCL has to offer. My brother and sister-in-law have asked if they could venture off with us next year on our April cruise and we are all thrilled they will be joining us on the Fantasy's Western Caribbean itinerary (we've done this one only once before). This will be their first cruise ever and we want this to be a spectacular experience for them, and so I'm really feeling the heat, and believe me, it's not from the mid-June sunshine in CT this morning! While we've cruise with DCL many times, we often repeat the 3 and 4 night trips on the Dream as we pair them with time at WDW, and on the shorter cruises we tend to stay on the ship. The excursions we've done on the Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises have mostly been fine, but I feel that it's a bit hit or miss and if it was just the three of us that would be OK, but I can't have any flops when we sail April 2017 and I need your help! I have 3 specific questions for those that have experienced different Dolphin swims, that have snorkeled at different ports and for those that have been to the stop in Jamaica (this was not on our itinerary 5 years ago when we were last on the Western sailing). 1. What is your favorite dolphin swim (we've done one in Nassau - not at Atlantis, and one in Grand Cayman with the turtle farm)? Looking for the nicest/cleanest facility and the best overall experience offered in either Cozumel, Grand Cayman or Jamaica. 2. Have you done the Turtle swim and underground river exploration excursion in Cozumel, and if so do you really see sea turtles from a close distance? Is the snorkeling decent? How long a drive is it to get there? We LOVE sea turtles so that is the draw for this adventure, however is there better snorkeling elsewhere? 3. Dunns River Falls, is this a little cheesy or is it really fun and a beautiful sight? My brother and sister-in-law are quite athletic and active, I know they like adventure, want to snorkel and swim with the dolphins. I'm probably a bit less adventurous than they are but we're all in decent shape and will have a 12-year-old with us. We do plan to hop off the ship at all ports since we'll have 2 days at sea on this voyage and since this is their first cruise. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!!!

 

[MSPeeler]

My husband, daughter and I have taken several Disney cruises together and absolutely LOVE all that DCL has to offer. My brother and sister-in-law have asked if they could venture off with us next year on our April cruise and we are all thrilled they will be joining us on the Fantasy's Western Caribbean itinerary (we've done this one only once before). This will be their first cruise ever and we want this to be a spectacular experience for them, and so I'm really feeling the heat, and believe me, it's not from the mid-June sunshine in CT this morning! While we've cruise with DCL many times, we often repeat the 3 and 4 night trips on the Dream as we pair them with time at WDW, and on the shorter cruises we tend to stay on the ship. The excursions we've done on the Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises have mostly been fine, but I feel that it's a bit hit or miss and if it was just the three of us that would be OK, but I can't have any flops when we sail April 2017 and I need your help! I have 3 specific questions for those that have experienced different Dolphin swims, that have snorkeled at different ports and for those that have been to the stop in Jamaica (this was not on our itinerary 5 years ago when we were last on the Western sailing). 1. What is your favorite dolphin swim (we've done one in Nassau - not at Atlantis, and one in Grand Cayman with the turtle farm)? Looking for the nicest/cleanest facility and the best overall experience offered in either Cozumel, Grand Cayman or Jamaica. 2. Have you done the Turtle swim and underground river exploration excursion in Cozumel, and if so do you really see sea turtles from a close distance? Is the snorkeling decent? How long a drive is it to get there? We LOVE sea turtles so that is the draw for this adventure, however is there better snorkeling elsewhere? 3. Dunns River Falls, is this a little cheesy or is it really fun and a beautiful sight? My brother and sister-in-law are quite athletic and active, I know they like adventure, want to snorkel and swim with the dolphins. I'm probably a bit less adventurous than they are but we're all in decent shape and will have a 12-year-old with us. We do plan to hop off the ship at all ports since we'll have 2 days at sea on this voyage and since this is their first cruise. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!!!

I have not done this cruise but am planning to when our daughter is also 12. Looking forward to the replys.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

My husband, daughter and I have taken several Disney cruises together and absolutely LOVE all that DCL has to offer. My brother and sister-in-law have asked if they could venture off with us next year on our April cruise and we are all thrilled they will be joining us on the Fantasy's Western Caribbean itinerary (we've done this one only once before). This will be their first cruise ever and we want this to be a spectacular experience for them, and so I'm really feeling the heat, and believe me, it's not from the mid-June sunshine in CT this morning! While we've cruise with DCL many times, we often repeat the 3 and 4 night trips on the Dream as we pair them with time at WDW, and on the shorter cruises we tend to stay on the ship. The excursions we've done on the Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises have mostly been fine, but I feel that it's a bit hit or miss and if it was just the three of us that would be OK, but I can't have any flops when we sail April 2017 and I need your help! I have 3 specific questions for those that have experienced different Dolphin swims, that have snorkeled at different ports and for those that have been to the stop in Jamaica (this was not on our itinerary 5 years ago when we were last on the Western sailing). 1. What is your favorite dolphin swim (we've done one in Nassau - not at Atlantis, and one in Grand Cayman with the turtle farm)? Looking for the nicest/cleanest facility and the best overall experience offered in either Cozumel, Grand Cayman or Jamaica. 2. Have you done the Turtle swim and underground river exploration excursion in Cozumel, and if so do you really see sea turtles from a close distance? Is the snorkeling decent? How long a drive is it to get there? We LOVE sea turtles so that is the draw for this adventure, however is there better snorkeling elsewhere? 3. Dunns River Falls, is this a little cheesy or is it really fun and a beautiful sight? My brother and sister-in-law are quite athletic and active, I know they like adventure, want to snorkel and swim with the dolphins. I'm probably a bit less adventurous than they are but we're all in decent shape and will have a 12-year-old with us. We do plan to hop off the ship at all ports since we'll have 2 days at sea on this voyage and since this is their first cruise. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!!!

The only thing I might be able to help with is for Jamaica. While I haven't done Dunn's River Falls, I have done the Tranopy Adventure and it is a ton of fun, especially for adventurous people. We did it when my daughter was 13 and she loved it. I do not like heights at all but I loved it as well. On that cruise we did the Tranopy on Jamaica and Parasailing on Castaway Cay and both of them are equal as far as our favorite excursions of all time, I can't recommend it enough.

On a side note, we just returned from a Mediterranean cruise with extended family and they were looking at me to plan everything, I ended up telling them what we were doing and if they wanted to do it to they would have to sign up on there own. We also made it perfectly clear that we did not have to do everything together but we did have our dinner reservations linked so we could meet up every night for dinner and hear about how the trip was going. It took a ton of pressure off me and I was able to enjoy the cruise more that way. Just my $.02

 

[Little Doe]

I have been in your place. Someone told me one time that the harder you try to make everyone happy, the more disappointed you will be. The planned vacation to please others will never live up to expectations. ( Believe me I have tried-one of the trips there were 16 of us ) Maybe you could show them the excursions and let them decide? I hope you have a wonderful time with family. Remember the thrill you had at your first Disney cruise, may they have that also!! How I see myself in you!!

 

[soniam]

We have done the WC route with DCL and RCCL. I may not be able to help with all of your specific excursions, but here's my experience. We have not done any dolphin experiences.

Cozumel:
I would discourage the dune buggy & snorkel in Cozumel. We didn't enjoy the snorkeling that much. The dune buggies may not be maintained well, ie bad brakes. Plus, they are loud, windy, and very sunny. On RCCL, we have done the Atlantis sub and enjoyed it. We plan to do the Secret River in August 2017. It sounds cool, but I have read bad things about the ferry to the mainland, ie people getting sea sick.

Cayman:
We did the Sail, Reef, &b Kitiwake snorke with DCL and loved it. We will do it again in August 2017. Previously, on RCCL, we did a stingray snorkel on a catamaran. I remember there being a lot of stingray, but that doesn't help you with the specific one.

Jamaica:
On RCCL, we did Dunn's River falls. We will do this in August 2017 with DCL. It was fun, but slick and a little scary. The market afterward was pretty high pressure sales though. We did the Green Grotto with DCL. It was OK, but I wouldn't do it again. I wanted to stay on the ship here next summer, but DS has not done Dunn's River Falls. I think it's worth it.

EDIT: Be sure to get rum cake near the port in Cayman.

 

[LoveTheMouse!]

We just got off the Fantasy yesterday. Our first Disney cruise and we loved it! We did Dunn's River Falls and it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip! It was much more athletic than we expected, but so much fun. You will get completely wet and you definitely need water shoes. We just walked through the market at the top. I would definitely climb the falls again.

 

[belac]

Hi first off how old is/are child/children? Will they be going?

Next loved the stingray sandbar in GC and left time to shop after excursion. Although not dolphins it was a great sea life (natural sea life) experience. Our DS (9) loved that one.

Cozumel we did secret river and that was amazing HOWEVER the ferry ride to get there is like a super roller coster on water. The ferry operators give out barf bags, so if everyone is ok with a potentially sea sick ride over to excursion then go, if not stay away from anything that you need that ferry for.

Never did Jamaica.