Grand Cayman or Cozumel?

[misskate28]

We've booked our very first cruise for this coming November!!! It's a 7 night Western Caribbean on the Fantasy. There are 5 of us - DH, Me, DD1 (6), DD2 (4), and DD3 (1). Since I imagine that port excursions with the kiddos may be a bit more work than they're worth, DH and I plan to stay on board for at least one of the days in port. We also want to take advantage of a slightly mellower ship. We've booked a walking food tour in Falmouth, which we are really excited about. It seems to be short, kid-friendly, and well-rated. Castaway Cay is definitely on our to-do list and seems very family friendly. Our question is this:

Would you choose to stay on board and forego touring in Grand Cayman or Cozumel?

Also,

Do you have any recommendations for excursions/activities (with DCL or another company - it doesn't matter) in the port that you would do an excursion?

Any excursion longer than 3 hours with too much shuttling back and forth is out of the question (one reason being my nerves with regards to not having the girls in carseats). We will consider leaving DD3 in the nursery, but I breastfeed her so I can't be gone from her for too long. We also are fans of authentic cuisine and not so much into long beach days (currently none of our DDs can swim).

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Hmmmmm, where is the walking food tour in Falmouth? After being there, I can't quite imagine walking anywhere there especially with three little kids. I do not want to be rude, but I am sure others here are thinking the same thing as me.

We thought Grand Cayman was gorgeous and I would not miss it, but we are water people who like to snorkel. I wasn't too impressed with Cozumel. So, my vote would be to stay on the ship in Cozumel.

I hope some families with young kids will chime in with their experiences. Enjoy your cruise!

 

[IBLarsen]

Do NOT skip Cayman, it beats Cozumel any day! The waters are generally very calm in Grand Cayman (always an exception of course), A highlight is of course Stingray City, and most excursions to the stingrays have snorkel stops with them, and it's been the best snorkeling. Georgetown is a neat little tourist town too, easily walkable from the ship. There are several companies you can book Stingray city with if you don't want to do the Disney one. We were in Cayman for a week, not on a cruise and I loved it! I've been to Cozumel as well, and in my opinion Cayman is the better choice to visit of the two.

 

[My_Pooh]

Hmmmmm, where is the walking food tour in Falmouth? After being there, I can't quite imagine walking anywhere there especially with three little kids. I do not want to be rude, but I am sure others here are thinking the same thing as me.

We thought Grand Cayman was gorgeous and I would not miss it, but we are water people who like to snorkel. I wasn't too impressed with Cozumel. So, my vote would be to stay on the ship in Cozumel.

I hope some families with young kids will chime in with their experiences. Enjoy your cruise!

We went on this cruise last Nov. I totally agree with Carrie in AZ...Falmouth would be my last Choice of all the ports we have visited. Grand Cayman my first for this cruise (I think the driver advised that they aren't allowed to go over 35 mph). Cozumel would be my second (Paradise beach was very nice). You can also buy an Inflatable car seat by the company bubblegum. Try not to stress to much..Have a great time!

 

[misskate28]

Thanks for your input, everyone!

The food tour is with Jamaican Culinary Tours. All of the reviews on Trip Advisor are stellar and there are many that mention bringing young children. They comment on how the guides kept them feeling very safe and attended to. If there weren't so many similar reviews and it wasn't so highly rated, I would definitely be concerned. Carry in AZ - I appreciate you sharing your wariness! It definitely caused me to go back and double check, which I'm grateful for.

 

[bbn1122]

Grand Cayman! The Cayman Islands are like Switzerland. Banks ! banks! It's to me like the Caribbean Bermuda, money, beautiful water, no begging, small but plenty to do. Just go to the beach and relax in the Crystal clear water!!!

 

[mevelandry]

We've booked our very first cruise for this coming November!!! It's a 7 night Western Caribbean on the Fantasy. There are 5 of us - DH, Me, DD1 (6), DD2 (4), and DD3 (1). Since I imagine that port excursions with the kiddos may be a bit more work than they're worth, DH and I plan to stay on board for at least one of the days in port. We also want to take advantage of a slightly mellower ship. We've booked a walking food tour in Falmouth, which we are really excited about. It seems to be short, kid-friendly, and well-rated. Castaway Cay is definitely on our to-do list and seems very family friendly. Our question is this:

Would you choose to stay on board and forego touring in Grand Cayman or Cozumel?

Also,

Do you have any recommendations for excursions/activities (with DCL or another company - it doesn't matter) in the port that you would do an excursion?

Any excursion longer than 3 hours with too much shuttling back and forth is out of the question (one reason being my nerves with regards to not having the girls in carseats). We will consider leaving DD3 in the nursery, but I breastfeed her so I can't be gone from her for too long. We also are fans of authentic cuisine and not so much into long beach days (currently none of our DDs can swim).

Thanks in advance for your help

I'd skip Falmouth (apparently, it's not very safe) and keep Cayman and Cozumel. You don't need to book an excursion for Grand Cayman, as there are nice and unexpensive places you can go to and many choices of fun excursions in Cozumel.

 

[mevelandry]

Thanks for your input, everyone!

The food tour is with Jamaican Culinary Tours. All of the reviews on Trip Advisor are stellar and there are many that mention bringing young children. They comment on how the guides kept them feeling very safe and attended to. If there weren't so many similar reviews and it wasn't so highly rated, I would definitely be concerned. Carry in AZ - I appreciate you sharing your wariness! It definitely caused me to go back and double check, which I'm grateful for.

Anybody can fake an account to rate a company on tripadvisor though.

 

[AngelDisney]

I will be on the Falmouth Walking Food tour this August. It seems that the locals would not bother anyone in the walking tour group. The safest way to tour Falmouth is with a tour group. That's why I have joined the tour but we are two adults though.

We are scuba diving in Cozumel and visiting the turtle farm in Grand Cayman. If I have to skip Cozumel or Grand Cayman, I would skip Grand Cayman. It's a tender port that starts tendering at 10:30 am with last tender at 5:30 pm. It seems kind of rush if we want to have lunch on the ship.

Updated:
A few fellow Dis'ers went on the food tour in the past and enjoyed it. They are not fake.

 

[soniam]

Cayman is our must-do with Cozumel and then Falmouth. We always snorkel in Cayman. We would be staying on the ship in Falmouth next month if DS hadn't done Dunn's River Falls yet. The Atlantis Sub in Cozumel is cool, convenient, short, and very kid friendly; however, it's expensive. Cozumel is an easy port to just walk around. The food, water, and people are pretty safe there. There's some little shops near the port.

 

[SteveMP]

Grand Cayman is a great place to snorkel. Pretty water, fish, and some cool sunken ships to snorkel around. Pretty white sand beaches. If you want a low key cool thing to do the duck boat is a good way to see a bit of the island. There is also my favorite Margaritaville if you want to just chill and have a drink etc. also some nice shopling places walking distance.

Cozumel is fine too, but i live half hour from Tijuana and it kind of feels similar to me there, tjough they do have some nice excursions if you have the money. I usually walk into Cozumel just to grab a few dirt cheap cervezas before heading back to the ship.

 

[JW9DVC]

We've booked our very first cruise for this coming November!!! It's a 7 night Western Caribbean on the Fantasy. There are 5 of us - DH, Me, DD1 (6), DD2 (4), and DD3 (1). Since I imagine that port excursions with the kiddos may be a bit more work than they're worth, DH and I plan to stay on board for at least one of the days in port. We also want to take advantage of a slightly mellower ship. We've booked a walking food tour in Falmouth, which we are really excited about. It seems to be short, kid-friendly, and well-rated. Castaway Cay is definitely on our to-do list and seems very family friendly. Our question is this:

Would you choose to stay on board and forego touring in Grand Cayman or Cozumel?

Also,

Do you have any recommendations for excursions/activities (with DCL or another company - it doesn't matter) in the port that you would do an excursion?

Any excursion longer than 3 hours with too much shuttling back and forth is out of the question (one reason being my nerves with regards to not having the girls in carseats). We will consider leaving DD3 in the nursery, but I breastfeed her so I can't be gone from her for too long. We also are fans of authentic cuisine and not so much into long beach days (currently none of our DDs can swim).

Thanks in advance for your help

I would not stay on the ship for any reason. You can get off in Falmouth and stay in the port area. It's safe.

Grand Cayman was the best and we did the Turtle Farm, Hell, and Stingray City. Definitely highlights.

We also went to Cozumel, been twice and have done the Dolphinaris event.

You really have to step foot on land we feel to say you have been. Even if it's for just 30 minutes. JW

 

[TeaBee]

We took the Jamaica Culinary Tours excursion last summer and my husband and I really enjoyed it. The meat patty was SO good and the tour was really interesting. I didn't have any safety concerns while we were out and about. I do have to add that my 11 and 14 year olds didn't love it. We went in August though and it was really hot. They tried all of the food and were good sports, but three hours of walking around city streets in the heat was a lot for my non-heat-acclimated Pacific Northwesterners.

For the other ports, we enjoyed Grand Cayman more than Cozumel. We did the snuba excursion and had plenty of time left over to take a cab to Seven Mile Beach, then do some shopping in the port area. In Cozumel, if you don't do an excursion and want to get off the ship it's easy to walk to a small shopping area just across from the port.