Should I change my planned excursions because of heavy port load?!

[Smile2563]

Hi all,

My family will be going on a western carib cruise that stops at Cozumel (17k ppl in port), costa maya (6134) and grand cayman (17k). I was looking at how many ships would be in port at each location and it looks like it will be packed!! In Cozumel and Grand Cayman (esp GC) it seems like this the most amount of people relative to other days that month. I would appreciate any thoughts on if I should alter my port excursions b/c it will likely be to crowded/not as fun...so far we were thinking of doing pretty popular excursions in each port

Cozumel: thinking of doing Chaankanaab national park/dolphin excursion

Costa maya: TBD - any recs??

Grand Cayman: 7 mile beach and possibly the turtle farm

I am open to changing up things to go to farther beaches/less popular activities to have a better experience.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Smile2563]

Any thoughts on this?

 

[jdg345]

Where did you see the port counts? Which cruise?

 

[lbus42]

When I went to Cozumel and GC there were at least 3 other cruise ships in port (including one of RC’s mega-ships). We were still able to do everything we wanted including the turtle farm.

 

[lklgoodman]

We went to Chaankanaab last year. We saw several other ships at the port, the park didn't seem crowded at all. There's a lot to do there, so even if there's a lot of people, it's not like you will all be doing just 1 thing or all in just 1 place at the same time. I would go there. Don't know about the other places you are thinking about.

 

[Smile2563]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I got the info on port load from cruisett.com

 

[mousefan73]

I cant answer your specific questions as we have never a sailed yet. but this was a concern for me and I did look up the pax counts for our ports. but we only have Nassau and there we are simply getting off first thing in the AM walking to Junakoo or whatever beach to say we've been and the day on the ship. My only concern would be how full the beaches are, but I think excursions have a finite limit of what guests they can take regardless of how many boats are there.

What I also looked at was Port Canaveral traffic for our em/dis embarkation days and what times other ships are loading and unloading. This was a factor in deciding if we drop rental off or take Disney transfer

 

[Pens Fan]

I haven't been there personally, but have heard great things about Maya Chan in Costa Maya. Also, they limit the number of guests they take every day (reservations required - often far in advance), so you don't have to worry about crowds.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

My thoughts would be who/ when are you booking your port adventures with and what are the activities? If you already have your adventures (excursions) booked through Disney or directly with the provider and they are not activities that matter the port load (pineapple plantation tour, etc) then you should be all set. If you haven't booked anything yet, and are wondering if things will be sold out via Disney booking or on your own. The answer is yes! Busier port days means things will be full. If your working with a tour company directly, sometimes they will add more guides or squeeze you in, when Disney will just say sold out. If your worried about a port adventure say to a beach, heavier port days means more people, and they are all going to the same beaches that the tours take them too. Maybe do some research and find a more locals only place - if your comfortable with going out on your own and always keep safety in mind.

We ended up in Juneau Alaska on a very busy port day. We had our excursion booked through Disney, and it was a flight plane. There was a limit on how many people could go in our excursion, so the only time we noticed the busy port was when we finished the excursion and were getting coffee at a local place. And when we had to pass 3 ships to get back to the very far off docked Wonder....

 

[CinderellaDream]

I haven't been there personally, but have heard great things about Maya Chan in Costa Maya. Also, they limit the number of guests they take every day (reservations required - often far in advance), so you don't have to worry about crowds.

Maya Chan was wonderful! I highly recommend it. The only problem was that the water was kind of dirty looking due to a storm the night before that washed up lots of sea grass. The facilities, food, and people were fantastic!