Review of Western Caribbean port adventures (Fantasy August 2023)

[hbun04]

We just got home from our cruise on the Fantasy on the Western Caribbean route. This was our second cruise; our first was a 5 day on the Dream in Dec 2019. I've always used disboards as a great reference especially when trying to pick port adventures. My group: my husband, sister and me (mid 50's), our son (11), my niece (14). Our fitness level: my husband and I can do a full Epcot walking day but there will be Advil as dessert that night. My sister does spin 3 times a week (we are from opposite ends of the gene pool). Here are my/our thoughts:

Cozumel Beach Break (CZ15): picked this one for the kids; they won't go to the ship pools (kid soup). I don't remember what time we had to meet in D lounge (had to be 8 or 8:30am) but we were on the bus at 9am; maybe a 20-30 minute drive to Playa Mia. There was no other cruise group there until the second wave midday (also from the Fantasy). Lots of chairs to choose from; there were workers in blue shirts that would set up umbrellas from you. We had a very nice attendant who brought us drinks. We liked the buffet lunch and there was plenty of seating. Everyone enjoyed this PA; you could either swim in the pool or go on the beach. The bus left promptly at 1:30pm and you had time to change into dry clothes if you wanted to. There is a restroom with changing rooms on the far side of the canopied eating area. The folks from that midday group seemed more frazzled looking for chairs and umbrellas so I would recommend the earlier time if possible.

Stingray Sandbar & Snorkel (G76) Grand Cayman: met at 10:30am; we took the tenders to the port; we were on the bus at 11am and on the PA boat at 11:26am. My son and I are not good swimmers but it didn't matter as the crew offered life jackets before we left the dock. Expect to see other boats at the sandbar as it's a popular tourist stop. The crew did a great job and everyone was able to take photos with the stingrays. We were there maybe 30 minutes. Then we took a short ride to the snorkeling area; we all agreed we could have used more time snorkeling and less with the stingrays. By the time everyone put on their flippers (maybe 20 people?) and went out to snorkel, we were there maybe 30 minutes total (I didn't write down how long). But we still all enjoyed it. We were back on the tender at 2:15pm and wow we were all hungry. Cabanas had just closed so we all got food from the pool deck windows. On the tender back to the boat I chatted with a father/son (teenager) who had done the G80 Iguana/Kayak PA and said it wasn't worth it. They said they kayaked for maybe 30 minutes and then were told to go shopping. I don't think I would have taken my son on the stingray/snorkel trip when he was less than 10; but again he is not a strong swimmer. The photo on the website shows a woman standing but my son would have been in over his head trying to stand on this trip. Nowhere to change into dry clothes (sitting on a bus in a wet swimsuit makes me sad if you can't tell).

Bobsled Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls (FA10); the bobsled part was not worth it. Met on ship at 7:30am. We got on the bus at 7:45am; arrived at the bobsled place (Mystic Mountain) at 9am; waited for the chair lift for 30 minutes; got off the chair lift at 9:47am. Waited for an hour (it was covered at least) for the bobsled which was like a gentler version of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (about 2 minutes). Then was told by the guide that we had 3 minutes to eat lunch (jerk chicken or a hot dog) before having to leave for the falls. Was later told by a concierge host (she had spoken to the PA people on the ship; I didn't have the energy to go find them) that it can be up to a 2 hour wait for the bobsled; we also heard that other families (on different buses/vans) didn't even get to have lunch.

We enjoyed the falls; definitely more of a challenge for me but the guides helped a lot. The guides took photos and videos which we purchased before we left the park. You download the photos/video (emailed link) after you leave. You will leave all of your stuff on the van for this excursion; anything bigger than a large Lululemon waist pack wouldn't fit on the bobsled (there were lockers but the attendant wasn't always there); and for the falls all we brought were hats/sunglasses (although the falls are shaded, the park is not) and cell phones/cash in waterproof cases. We got to the park at 11:55am and were on the bus at 1:15pm and were back at the port at 2:45pm. Make sure to use the restroom before you leave the ship because that van/bus ride was over an hour. There are restrooms when you reach Mystic Mountain but we had to ask our guide where they were. You will have time to use them while you are in line for the chair lift. We would recommend a PA for the falls but not in combo with the bobsled.

My thoughts for any future PA trips:
- bring more cash for tips (I had a lot of $1's/$5's but I could have used bigger bills)
- bring a tote (lots of families used the large Disney shopping bag) for towels
- bring a light water bottle (I bought the cooler bag/water for Grand Cayman and wow that was heavy)
- I didn't do any shopping at the ports but my sister and niece did; they liked Cozumel and Grand Cayman but said there were too many pushy shop employees in Falmouth.

Hoping to go again on the Eastern Caribbean Fantasy cruise some day

 

[jcarwash]

I was also on this Western sailing (August 12 2023), and wanted to add some of my notes as a reference too.

Cozumel Beach Break (CZ15): This was our third visit to Playa Mia, but we hadn't been since 2015. I was happy that's exactly the same as it was. We were in the midday group that met on the ship at 10:45, but luckily we didn't have any issue finding chairs and an umbrella. At $89 for ages 10 and up, I think this is a great value because of what's included -- nice beach, water activities, pools, water play area, water slide, buffet lunch, and open bar. It's pretty busy, but the place absorbs the crowds fairly well. The attendants on the beach were very friendly and keep us supplied with whatever beverages we wanted.

Grand Cayman - Seven Mile Beach with Lounge Chair (G82): Usually it seems like the DCL website includes the name or detail about which beach or resort you'll visit. This one didn't. So I wanted to report that on our cruise, the tour took us to the Public Beach Park on West Bay Road. This was one of the most crowded beach excursions we've experienced. The depth of the beachfront is very short and there were tons of people in the water. It was a decent beach day, but at $69 for ages 10 and up, this was the worst value of the three port adventures, because it's just transportation, chairs and an umbrella, and a bottle of water.

The tour operators did a good job although there was some odd thing were they were surveying everyone to get a name, stateroom number, and the number of chairs we used. They didn't really explain why they needed this information and one of the tour operators was very determined (and not really that nice about it). Also, they were offering three return times to the ship rather than one time for the whole group. Not sure why but that's what they did.

I like to use the Disney adventures because of the safety/security, but this was one where we saw people from our cruise who took a taxi to the same beach -- seems like I may consider that if I ever visit Grand Cayman again.

Jamaica - Exclusive and Fun Beach Break (FA75): This was our first visit to Falmouth. We enjoyed this excursion, which visits the Puerto Seco beach resort in Discovery Bay. This tour was very well run, with a tour guide and bus driver that were dedicated to each group of about 20 per bus.

The resort isn't as large as Playa Mia, and so it was busy and crowded with multiple cruise groups. The beach itself isn't the greatest, with coarse sand covering a lot of hard surfaces, but the water was nice, there's tons of umbrellas and shade structures, and there's a large pool too. The included lunch was pretty good although because it's so busy, the staff was encouraging people to get in line early.

Like at Playa Mia, there's a floating obstacle course, but you have to really plan your time around it because they take one group at a time, and it took at least 30-40 minutes for each group. You need to sign up early if you want to do this.

This wasn't the most relaxing excursion, but at $79 for ages 10 and up, I felt like it was a good value for what was included. The resort facilities are very nice. And, I liked the professionalism of the tour operators.

 

[sweepy109]

We were on the same sailing and we did two excursions:

Exclusive Dolphin VIP (CZ97) - we had a wonderful experience at dolphinaris. The VIP part was really great. We had a separate section to spend time in between activities. We spent time in the infinity pool overlooking one of the dolphin pools. Our host was wonderful. Drinks, towels, lockers, lunch were all included. Our time in the pool with the dolphins was about 45 minutes and we were in a small group of 5 so lots of dolphin time. Lunch was great. Our whole VIP group was 13 people and we had time to snorkel, swim, have drinks and lunch, and do the dolphin part. Felt it was a wonderful day and hard to beat.

Intimate trip to stingray city and starfish beach with lunch (GB81) - group had about 100 people on the excursion but we were broken into smaller groups. We had about 20 people on our boat. Stingray beach was crowded but we all had time to hold the stingrays multiple times. Captain was great and made sure everyone got a turn. Just a warning that the younger kids were very scared of the giant stingrays. Take your own pictures as they take them but they didn’t come out too great and were on the expensive side. Lunch was a turkey sandwich and stale crackers and there was no place to sit on the beach to eat. Starfish beach was very crowded and people from other boats hoarded the starfish so it wasn’t the best experience. I would do the stingrays again but would not recommend the starfish portion.

In Jamaica we did shop at the port but most of the stores had the same things and everyone wanted to cut you a deal. I would start on the right side after entering the shopping center because that side tended to be less pushy for whatever reason.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

Ha, we were also on the August 12 sailing of the Fantasy, and here's my report of our excursions:

Cozumel - Fury Catamaran - We've done this excursion on every trip to Cozumel, and we love it. We met at 8 and boarded the catamaran directly from the pier. You go about 30 minutes to snorkeling area, much of which is taken up with the introduction/instructions and getting geared up for snorkeling. The snorkeling isn't great, but they go in the direction of the current, so you barely have to swim at all to keep up with the group. The only issue here was that our son accidentally took his phone in the water in his pocket, then dropped it when trying to get back to the catamaran.

Then, you go about 15-20 more minutes on the boat to a private beach. There are plenty of chairs and hammocks, food available for purchase, big inflatables in the water to play on, and kayaks and paddleboards you can take out. Everything except the food and booze is included, so it's a great chance to try stuff out, or just relax. After about an hour and a half on the beach, we boarded the boats to head back, about 45 minutes.

The catamarans are large, with areas in the front, back, and top for people to hang out. After snorkeling, there was beer and margaritas on the boat, plus Pepsi and water. They drop you off right at the pier afterward. It's a relaxing day with a nice mix of activities for people with different interests.

We were back with enough time to do some shopping in the port, which has a decent variety of options and only 1-2 really pushy workers.

Grand Cayman - Stingray City and Starfish Beach - We were on the same excursion as sweepy109 above but enjoyed it much more. We met at 11:30, and were at the boat fairly quickly. The boat we were on wasn't great (loud, no upstairs viewing area), but it was okay. The stingray sand bar was shallow enough that all but small children are able to stand up, and we were able to interact with a number of stingrays. I thought we stayed a bit too long, and the area is fairly crowded, but we still enjoyed it.

We really enjoyed the Starfish Beach. The provided lunch wasn't great, but we walked around a little bit and found an area on the beach to sit. It was fun to get to see and feel the starfish, which were plentiful once you knew where to look. There was also a boat there selling food and drinks, although it was kind of expensive. The trip back to the dock was a bit long and boring, but we had a good time overall. I don't know that I'd do this one again, but I'm glad we did.

The start time and length of the excursion didn't leave a ton of time for shopping in the port, but we went in a few stores. Beware, the line for tenders gets very long from mid-afternoon on. We went back to the ship in two groups - one right after the excursion and one close to all-aboard - and everyone waited at least 30 minutes for a tender. It caused our son to be very late for his Pirate's League appointment, but they still fit him in. DW and I were on the last tender back to the ship, which gave just enough time to be ready for a Remy reservation at 6:30.

Falmouth - We didn't do an excursion here. We've done the bobseld and Dunn's River Falls that hbun04 did before and found it to be too much travel time back and forth. We treat this as almost another sea day and a great time to do things on the ship with smaller crowds.

Some of our party wandered around the port area, which was fine but nothing special. I didn't find the people overly pushy, but agree that every store had basically the same set of items. The best thing I can say about the port is that if you are looking for Cuban cigars, it has a La Casa del Habanos, the only place in the Caribbean you can be absolutely certain you are getting the real thing and not a fake. There are ones in Cozumel and Cayman as well, but it's more convenient here.