Help with Western Excusions-Dolphins & Ruins!!!

[mcpaket]

Hi there
I'm trying to keep everyone happy on our cruise-Dolphins for the kids & ruins for the husband! (Remy for me!!!) I'd really appreciate if any folks who've taken this itinery could help.

Mayan Ruins-DCL tours are available from Cozumel and Costa Maya. Does anyone have an opinion of which of these would be best or if it would be best to do this on our own? We are a party of 5 adults & 2 kids (not sure if this would be the most fun for them-ages 5 &7).

Dolphins-I want to give the kids the opportunity to get in the water with & hopefully swim with dolphins. Disney has excursions to do this in all three ports we stop in. Difficult to know which is best. Again would value opinions and as to whether this is best to do through DCL.

Feel free to add any other tips for these ports -we are from the UK so haven't ventured to this neck of the woods before so any tips appreciated.


Thanks in advance.
T

 

[gumbypee]

I did dolphins in first port because I wanted to make sure I got that in ( when I did an Alaskan cruise, which is different, I waited til later port to try to do dog sledding and it got cancelled due to weather therefore I learned to do what I really want to do first in case it gets cancelled I still have another chance in the next port-hope that made sense!)

So grand cayman was dolphin excursion and was amazing!!! Then I did chacchoben ruins in costa maya because it didn't take as long to get to ruins as other port. Good too

 

[clten]

We've done the ruins in Cozumel (both the ones on Cozumel and the Tullum ruins -- which require a ferry to the mainland then a long bus ride) and the ruins outside of Costa Maya. The ones from Costa Maya were our favorite. (The Tullum ruins were nice but if you have kids that you don't think will enjoy, it will probably be too long a trip for them.) If you opt for the Costa Maya ones and you are only in port for a few hours, I would do it with DCL -- that way they won't leave you behind!

As for the dolphin experience, of the ports you are going to, we've only done it in Cozumel. We really enjoyed it. But I think the experience is similar at all the ports so if you have other things you might want to do in Cozumel look at doing the dolphin experience elsewhere. Whether to book through DCL or not depends on the tour operator. If you mention to some of them that you are on DCL, they won't book you directly.

 

[STLEdge]

Just to echo the previous commenters, we just did this itinerary in October. We also chose the Chacchoben ruins in Costa Maya - a one-hour bus ride from the port. We also have two boys (5 and 7). I wouldn't say they LOVED the ruins, but they definitely didn't hate them and they enjoyed getting to climb on some of them.

We also did Dolphin Discovery in Cozumel - we did the interactive excursion (not the swimming one). My youngest was a little skittish, but eventually he was fine enough to interact with the dolphin - he's not great in water, but I held him the whole time. You should know that you'll be getting into an area where adults can stand comfortably but children cannot. They will have life jackets on that will keep them afloat very easily and you'll be able to hold on to them the whole time, but that part was a surprise to us - I thought the area where we were standing would be much shallower. It's right next to a dock so you can hold on to the dock as well. It's really quite fine, but if your kids have issues with water, you should be aware of that.

There is another recent thread about Dolphin Discovery in Cozumel that has some other information about cameras and pictures.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3026738

 

[kihart]

Hi there
I'm trying to keep everyone happy on our cruise-Dolphins for the kids & ruins for the husband! (Remy for me!!!) I'd really appreciate if any folks who've taken this itinery could help.

Mayan Ruins-DCL tours are available from Cozumel and Costa Maya. Does anyone have an opinion of which of these would be best or if it would be best to do this on our own? We are a party of 5 adults & 2 kids (not sure if this would be the most fun for them-ages 5 &7).

Dolphins-I want to give the kids the opportunity to get in the water with & hopefully swim with dolphins. Disney has excursions to do this in all three ports we stop in. Difficult to know which is best. Again would value opinions and as to whether this is best to do through DCL.

Feel free to add any other tips for these ports -we are from the UK so haven't ventured to this neck of the woods before so any tips appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
T

We did the extreme in Grand Cayman and lived it!! My 6 yr old chickened out of the actual swim part but my mom and I loved it!

 

[2disneycruzrs]

I've done DD in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I liked the entire staff in GC much better but there is so much to do in GC that I would probably do DD in Cozumel and something else in GC ie Stingray City and snorkeling.

 

[Chee Chick]

We did the Dolphin Encounter during Thanksgiving with our 2 kids ages 3 & 7 in GC. They were both scared for most of the time in the water. By the time they warmed up to it, it was over. I felt like the whole thing was rushed. For the cost, I didn't feel like it was worth it. I think my kids were too young. They enjoyed the Turtle Farm much more. We did get some really cool (and expensive!) photos.

I did think the facility was really nice and clean. The people were all very nice as well.