No excursions

[fab1976]

Anyone just skip excursions or even getting off the ship at all? Hubby feels we should get off since we are there, I kinda want to explore the ship and enjoy the pool while it's not as crowded and busy! We are on a Star Wars Day at Sea cruise, so other than Castaway Cay only have Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Travelling with a 2 yr old and an 8 yr old, so limited in some of the excursions due to the little one anyways.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Anyone just skip excursions or even getting off the ship at all? Hubby feels we should get off since we are there, I kinda want to explore the ship and enjoy the pool while it's not as crowded and busy! We are on a Star Wars Day at Sea cruise, so other than Castaway Cay only have Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Travelling with a 2 yr old and an 8 yr old, so limited in some of the excursions due to the little one anyways.

We stay on board in some places but usually debark for a little bit to wander around the port. Cozumel has a nice clean mall area at the port, sometimes with live music. Plus you can buy some great real vanilla there. Grand Cayman has a fun duck boat tour for pretty cheap, it's a fun quick (1.5 hours) excursion. But it's also a great time to explore a nice quiet ship. Just my $.02

 

[southerngirl528]

I have done next to no excursions on all my Caribbean and Bahamas cruises. If it's a port I have never visited I always get off and check it out, but if I have already been there, done that and didn't find anything worth (to me) getting off again for, I enjoy just staying put on the ship. There are some excursions to see ruins that I think I would book if I ever do the Western Caribbean. I've done Eastern and Southern several times.

 

[new_cruiser]

We leave for our first cruise on Monday and we aren't planning to do any excursions. We are doing a 4-night sailing with stops is Nassau and Castaway Cay. We plan to stay on the ship in Nassau. Our kids are 4 and 5 and I didn't see anything that would work with them. I am looking forward to exploring the quieter ship that day.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Anyone just skip excursions or even getting off the ship at all? Hubby feels we should get off since we are there, I kinda want to explore the ship and enjoy the pool while it's not as crowded and busy! We are on a Star Wars Day at Sea cruise, so other than Castaway Cay only have Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Travelling with a 2 yr old and an 8 yr old, so limited in some of the excursions due to the little one anyways.

I agree with your DH. In ports where we don't have an excursion booked, we often get a van with a local driver -- there will be a dozen or more parked at the port, right as you get off the ship -- to take us for a private tour of the city. It can be as short or as long as you wish. Sometimes we share a van with another family to split the expense. It's also an easy way to visit a local market to replenish our stash of soft drinks that the ship doesn't carry.

 

[MUN]

Anyone just skip excursions or even getting off the ship at all? Hubby feels we should get off since we are there, I kinda want to explore the ship and enjoy the pool while it's not as crowded and busy! We are on a Star Wars Day at Sea cruise, so other than Castaway Cay only have Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Travelling with a 2 yr old and an 8 yr old, so limited in some of the excursions due to the little one anyways.

Yes, some people stay on the ship the entire time, even at Castway Cay.

 

[jenmiller114]

I agree with your DH. In ports where we don't have an excursion booked, we often get a van with a local driver -- there will be a dozen or more parked at the port, right as you get off the ship -- to take us for a private tour of the city. It can be as short or as long as you wish. Sometimes we share a van with another family to split the expense. It's also an easy way to visit a local market to replenish our stash of soft drinks that the ship doesn't carry.

We do the same. We rarely take organized excursions unless it's something that really interests us. We prefer to just see the island and do things at our own pace. That may be just walking around the port area and taking a few photos. But we often hire a driver, hit the highlights and try to make it back in time for lunch. I would say that if you do anything, visit the Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman. It is something different and I bet the kids would love it. I wouldn't necessarily say there is anything you have to do in Cozumel unless you wanted to go to a beach there. But there is a big mall just outside of the port so you could get off, walk around and check out some shops and be back on the ship within the hour.

The other reason we get off the ship is because we like to get postcards for each stop. Each of my boys picks out a card, writes a note about what he did at the port and then mails it to himself. Then they keep them all in a book so they can look back at all of the places they have been. At first, they didn't really get what they were doing but now when we go on vacation, they enjoy picking out their cards and writing about the trip. And be sure to mail a postcard from Castaway Cay because they have their own postmark. And if you mail postcards from the ship, they have special Disney stamps. Just go to guest services and they will do it for you. But I digress....

We also like staying on the ship and making the most of the quiet time when the majority of the people leave. It's the best time to hit the water slides. But the services and activities are more limited during that time so it's really just taking advantage of a less crowded pool and kids club. That's not a bad thing.

Jennifer

 

[emilyann415]

We are going on the NYE Fantasy cruise this year and aren't planning ANY organized activities at all. We will probably get off at each port for a bit but plan on enjoying the empty ship as the at sea days will probably not allow us to use the pools, etc.

 

[bumbershoot]

We've only done two official excursions in 8 cruises.

I'd have no interest in Cozumel, but the Grand Cayman duck tour was really fun.

 

[Jacq0423]

We are not doing any excursions (just renting bikes and tubes on Castaway) during our 3 stop trip. We still plan to get off at every stop and walk around for at least 1-2 hours so we can say we actually visited the places and saw some sights instead of just sat on the ship in port. We are going to Key West (always wanted to take a trip there so going to see if I should plan it for the next vacation), Nassau and Castaway Cay. If it wasn't our first time to all these places we'd probably stay on the ship at Nassau and Key West.

 

[Sir William]

We like to walk around and explore the town where we dock. Most of the few excursions we do are half-day anyways, so even if we do take an excursion we still have an opportunity to walk around a little. We mostly window shop and sometimes stop somewhere for a drink and/or snack and people watch.

 

[asamklove]

We stayed onboard pretty much our entire cruise when our son was 2 (except CC). No regrets. Two is a hard age for exploring Caribbean ports

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Our only cruise on the Fantasy we didn't get off but for CC. I don't remember what the other ports were, except one was Costa Maya. This was 3 years ago when my boys were 5 and 8. The Fantasy is a big, beautiful ship with so much to do and see. But, for me, it did seem as though there were a LOT of passengers. Especially since we had previously cruised the Magic for the WBTA. And on a daily rate basis, it was an expensive cruise and I wanted to get the most out of the ship. We stayed on board with some friends (fellow Disboarders we have cruised with before) and our kids had the pool and the Aqua Duck to themselves. Those are some of my fondest memories from the cruise.

Honestly, if I wanted to see Carribbean ports there are so many other ships and cruiselines I could sail for 1/2 the price. I chose that cruise and paid the premium to enjoy the FANTASY, and I have no regrets for skipping the ports to maximize that experience.

 

[Ofinn]

We never do excursions, but we always get off the boat in each port. I love the beach clubs in Cozumel it's probably my favorite port for a beach day. I also enjoy 7 mile beach at Grand Cayman. I get bored on sea days so sitting on the ship on a port day would be even more boring for me. I don't know if you have cruised before, but I would wait to see how you feel when the port days get there. It really doesn't take that long to explore the ship you can do that in a of couple hours on a sea day. You don't have to book excursions to have fun there are plenty of cabs at the port that will take you where you want to go for a lot less money than a DCL excursion.
It's hard for me to imagine visiting some place you have never been and staying on the ship. My kids have learned a lot from the different ports, and cultures. I think it's important for kids to see different things that's the main reason we travel.

 

[Sytrace]

We always take excursions on our first time to a location, but then usually stay on board or just leave the ship and wander around the area exploring.
Castaway Cay is always a place we leave the ship at least for a few hours. We don't stay long, but like to wander around and check out the snorkeling and bike on the island. Then we get back on board and go to the Aqua Duck and see how many times the kids can ride without having to wait in line.
The April cruise to Puerto Rico and St. Maarten they were able to ride it 9 times in a row on Castaway Cay day..
This past cruise in September, they only got 2 rides in with no wait. I think folks are on to the stay on board theory. lol

Have a great cruise whatever you decide to do.

 

[iambrink]

We love spending relaxing days on the ship while others are going off to various excursions. But that is a large reason why we like to cruise; we use the ship as the destination. so, yes, we could do that at a resort, but we choose to do that on DCL. or we choose to spend the morning on the ship, have lunch, then get off for a little bit if time in that port allows. kind of the best of both worlds.

 

[Dug720]

We leave for our first cruise on Monday and we aren't planning to do any excursions. We are doing a 4-night sailing with stops is Nassau and Castaway Cay. We plan to stay on the ship in Nassau. Our kids are 4 and 5 and I didn't see anything that would work with them. I am looking forward to exploring the quieter ship that day.

Just my experience, but the two times I've cruised to Nassau the ship, while not full, was far from quiet (still 15-20 minute wait for the AquaDuck, etc.). LOTS of people opt to stay on in Nassau.

 

[WIcruizer]

We've had cruises before with no excursions. Even when we do, it's never more than 1 or 2 on a 7 day cruise. And yes, there have been times we didn't even get off the ship. Jamaica, there was civil unrest one time. Not close to the port, but still, didn't bother getting off. Also, Cozumel. Been there enough, just no desire to get off the last time we were there.

 

[vinotinto]

It's very common to stay on the ship. We stayed in Nassau and plan to do that again. There were many people who stay of the ship, when we stayed.