FURY CATAMARAN in Cozumel..anyone have advice for me?

[RellingTwin]

We are thinking of booking the Fury in Cozumel. I have searched the trip reports but find no info. Has anyone done this? I LOOKS very nice (but they all do!) but what I REALLY want is advice from someone who has done it!
Some other message boards give it a so-so review. If we do not do this we will just go to one of the beach clubs and relax.
Thanks for your help!

 

[mog]

I did the Fury Catamarans in March in Cozumel on another cruise line. I was a little disappointed at first - they only had 2 catamarans there and they needed three. There was a large group booked and they let them go first, then put a bunch of people on the second one and let them go. We ended up standing on the pier in the extreme heat and sun for quite a while waiting for the 3rd catamaran which they kept saying would be there any minute. Once on board, it was an okay excursion. The snorkeling wasn't too great - way too crowded with all those people in one area. The beach they take you to was kind of nice, though - kayaks, beach mats to use. The margaritas they served on board were very watery.
The biggest bummer was that since we were the last to get on, we were also the last to go back, so an excursion that was supposed to bring us back in plenty of time for shopping, ended up leaving us maybe an hour before we had to be back on the ship - all because we wasted so much time standing on the pier waiting for another catamaran.

All in all it was just an okay excursion - not great.
Hope this helps some.

 

[prymsu]

Shirley has info on the Fury Catamaran for Key West, so this might be something you want to check out for there instead of Cozumel...

 

[rcdisneyfam]

We went on the 6/22 Western cruise and we took the Fury Catamaran Excursion. It was a blast and was well worth the $42 that was charged. They take you out snorkeling for an hour and after you get back on the catamaran, you get beer, soda and margaritas. Then you head out another 35 minutes to the private island and the beach there. They have for $7.00 available hamburgers and 2 side salads, the portions are good and the food there was good too - Angus Beef hamburgers. They have a lady selling jewelry there too. The floating mats, kayaks and beach volleyball are great. The free drinks are on the island too and then you are there another hour and then you head back. The ride back was so much fun. Everyone was dancing and partying it was great. We would do it again definitely. Go for it, it is a blast.

 

[JLSE50]

I wonder if the reason Disney excursions are more expensive than booking it yourself is because Disney pays for the catamaran (or whatever the vehicle is) and limits the number of passengers compared to how many other cruise lines or the excursions themselves would take. They probably want to make a specific amount of money for each vehicle. If they can get that from Disney taking fewer people, why not commit to Disney?

We too felt crowded on our RCCL excrusion in Nassau, but not on the Disney ones. We also noticed a Disney worker on the Disney excursions. She did not do anything to lead the excursion once we were on the catamaran, but she told me that she was there in case of a problem. She had on her DCL name tag so was easily recognizable. If they did that on RCCL I did not know about it.

Jan

 

[I Luv Disney Cruise]

My husband and I did the Fury Catamaran on 5/17/02 cruise and we had a blast!!!!

We thought is was worth every penny we paid for it. Not only was there snorkling and going to their private beach party, but there was a party on the boat to and from the beach. They had great music playing and we were all dancing about.

I would definantly go on it.

 

[mog]

Well, I guess this is proof, once again, (as if we needed it!) that Disney and Disney cruisers are just better all around than other lines!
My not so great Fury Catamaran experience was through another cruise line. Sounds like Disney does it better - glad to hear it!

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Disney charges more for the excursions because they have an Excursion Desk staff overhead that needs to be paid for. And people are often willing to pay a little more for the convenience of having the cruise line do all the planning. And because this is traditionally a major profit center for the cruise lines.

 

[RellingTwin]

Thnks so much everyone! I am really glad to hear all the good reports. Some of the ones I read on other boards were downright BAD!
The price DCL charges is NOT much more the booking directly (2.00 more per person I think)

Another question...where is the Fury, do we walk to it from the Magic, take a bus?

I KNEW I could count o the wonderful people on this board to give me the "scoop"!

Any other opinions? Good or Bad...I'd like to make an informed decision.

 

[llachance]

The teen cruisers walked to the catamaran - I am not sure where they boarded for the trip during the day.

 

[bigpat2388]

Are u guys talking about the teen fury catamaran? Cuz if u are it was soooo much fun and worth every cent it cost.

 

[I Luv Disney Cruise]

We meet up with the Disney Crew Member then he lead us down the plank and the Catamaran Boat was right at the dock, few steps away.

 

[Debbie H]

We were also on the 6/22 DCL cruise and did the Fury. It was a blast! I would definately recommend it. We are cruising again in November and plan on doing it again!

 

[RellingTwin]

Bumping it up!

 

[VondaP]

I'd like to read some more on this also. We don't have anything planned for Cozumel.

Vonda

 

[amcanzo]

I agree with the above posters about this excursion....it was a lot of fun and well worth the money. My ONLY complaint about this was when everyone has to get back on board the Catamaran after snorkeling....All the people on the boat head for the stairs at once, of course you are swimming(in fairly deep water), It's very confusing, people are rather pushy and my kids were a little startled by the whole process(my kids are 11 and 9). Other than that tiny complaint it was a lot of fun and we would do it again.

HTH
Ann

 

[DisneyCruiseluvr]

We went on the Fury Catamaran excursion in Cozumel on July 24th, 2002. The only time we felt it was too crowded was when we stopped to snorkel. It's massive confusion with so many people in the water and it was kind of scary trying to get back on the boat with everyone smashing into eachother. If you do this excursion, try to be one of the first ones back on the boat before they call everyone else ... you'll see why!!!

The boat had plenty of room for a lot of people and the crew was very patient in distributing drinks to everyone. We had a very nice crew that day! The current was very strong, so it was difficult getting to the coral reef from where the boat stopped. Staying together (our family of four) was such a challenge that we never got very far.

The lunch on the island was delicious ($7.00 for angus cheeseburger w/2 sides), but that's it for choices. If you don't like hamburgers/cheeseburgers .. you'll be out of luck for lunch! They do not offer anything else. The beach is really nice. Wish we could've had more time there. We spent half the time eating! There aren't many tables with umbrellas there, so you have to try and claim one of those right away if you want a little shade while you eat. The ride back was a lot of fun! Good music and lots of people had fun dancing and doing a conga line.

Would we do it again? Probably not. I would like to go with a smaller group of people if we ever do book an excursion in Cozumel again, just to ensure a more enjoyable snorkeling experience.

 

[Debbie H]

I'm surprised that you had such a rotten experience. We had a blast. Of course when you have a large Catamaran that fits 60 people, it will seem a little crowded. As far as snorkeling, you can stay close to the boat and see what you need to see.

I have heard that most places cater to DCL. I guess if you want to see how the others live, try Carnival or one of the least expensive cruises. We spoke to some of their passengers in Cozemul and they complained bitterly about their cruise. I was glad we were on DCL.

 

[DisneyCruiseluvr]

Debbie H.

I don't think I gave the impression that we had a "rotten" time on the Fury excursion. The only negative thing I said was that it was crowded when we snorkled. We also wished we had more time on the beach, but I don't think that's a negative comment. The boat was roomy enough for everyone, the crew was great, the food was delicious and the beach was really nice. I don't know how all of that sounds like a "rotten" time, but anyways.

I said we probably wouldn't go on that same excursion again only because we'd rather snorkle with a smaller group of people (like the Captain Marvin's excursion in Grand Cayman ... that is an awesome time ... highly recommend it!).

We love Disney Cruise Line (this was our third cruise and our fourth one is already booked). All I'm saying is next time we'd like to try a different excursion, not a different cruise line.

I hope I've cleared things up.