Western excursions...again

[nurseb]

Sorry for the redundancy...
I'm starting to book excursions for our western 3/29th cruise.
I'm trying to locate the link for the dolphin swim in Cozumel and not having much luck. Also, is there a preference between Captain Marvins or Captain Bryans for the sting ray/ snorkle tour?
Is there an age limit for these tours? (trying to decide if we should take our DS3 or leave him on the ship)... is 3 hours too long to leave DS? anyone else do that?

This will be our first family cruise (DD12, DS9, DD5, DS3) We are all very excited!

Would anyone have a recommendation for what we can do in Key West? The age difference in the kids makes it a bit difficult to find something they would All enjoy.

Thanks so much in advance. I have loved reading these posts... you all have made it much easier planning this trip!!

Betsy

 

[Wavegirl]

My favorite Stingray CIty trip is with Red Baron Sailing Charter , your own sailboat with captain for up to 10 people. It's a bit pricey if there are only 6 of you but its a great trip.

We've done Captain Bryans too, on the Catamaran and it was really nice as well. Captain Bryans .

You should be fine with your 3 year old, we've taken ours since he was 2. We used to own a timeshare in CAymans.

We also have done the Beach Horse Back Riding with our son when he was that age and it was a real hit. He rode with my husband and our daughter rode on her own, great memories, it was an amazing day

 

[rae519]

Wavegirl - Do you know if that stable originally called "Nicki's" or is this a different one? This is something we definitely wanted to do on our 9/28 cruise that was diverted due to Hurricane Lili, but are planning for our next Western in October.

Rae

 

[laurenk]

Betsy-You are interested in the same excursions as my family! Dolphindiscovery.com is where you can find out all of the info. on the dolphin excursions.

We are going to just check out Key West on our own, maybe hit a beach with our kids. That is their B-day so we will leave it up to them.

Both Captian Marvin's and Captian Bryan's both seem to get reviews around here.

Good luck!

 

[snelsonbrown]

Hi this is shirley,
I can not offer advise on the other ports, but I can on Key West - First please know that Key West is NOT children "friendly" - what I mean by this is that there is very little for children to do - unfortunalty Key West is an adult playground - the aquarium at Mallory Square is pretty good from what I understand - the best beach for children is the Clarence Higgs beach at the end of White Street - South Beach at the end of Duval Street sometimes can be a little risque unless things have changed since I was last there several months ago - At the CH's beach there is a playground that is pretty good for children and an old fort that has been turned into some type of museum - do not know the cost off hand - the other of course is the beach on the Blvd. which has numberous stuff such as hand gliding, renting of surf toys - the water, I believe is cleaner, but then things change so fast down there - Sorry I couldn't be of further help with "things to do" while in my hometown - maybe some day they will wise up and put more stuff for children -
If I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to drop me a note.
Always
Shirley

 

[Padre Disney]

Shirley,
What excursions would you recommend on key west. We are not big swimmers. We have 9 in our group with 6 of them in our family. Excursions can get very expensive real fast for us. I have read how some people walk around. 2 of the others in our group are 75+. They get around real good but we don't want to tire them out right at the beginning of the cruise. We thought it would be best to try the trolley so that we could see many thing and get off & on when we wanted. My sil mentioned bone island. I remember reading some information about it but can't seem to remember the story. Can you please help. Do you still send info on key west with a prepaid envelope?
Thanks
Bev

 

[Wavegirl]

Rae, these Stables (Honey Suckle Beach Rides) are owned & operated by Penny Rivers. They do rides on the same beach though.

We've used Nicki before but found Penny easier especially with the kids as she is located right on the beach so you don't have to ride your horse on the shoulder of the road to get to the beach....you never know if a horse will get spooked by the cars.

You will love her, she has kids and is so great with them. She brought all her horses from the States and they are very well trained and she really adores them, hard not too they are beautiful...

WARNING: This excursion will result in your children asking for a horse for the next birthday or christmas...we just do not have room in our backyard

 

[rae519]

Thanks so much, Wavegirl!
Sounds wonderful!
I've been asking for a horse since I was out of diapers - and I'll probably keep asking when I'm in depends!

Happy trails to you!
Can't wait to go riding!

Rae

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Oh you are soooo right that riding is addictive to kids. My DD's only request for our upcoming cruise is to ride at least once. says she can't go a WHOLE WEEK! without riding.

She takes regular lessons and is in several horse interest groups. The nice thing is her riding instructor also "trains" horses for other people so her students don't need their own. Considering we don't have the space either!

Deb

 

[snelsonbrown]

Hello Bev,
Sorry I didn't write this sooner, but haven't been able to sign on for a few days.
Anyhow it is hard to recommend "excursions" in Key West since I know that many have opened up tourist stuff to do that I sometimes tell myself "how can they do that or where in the heck is the stuff they are talking about" - I am going down next month to check on my family and hope to do some research on it and then get back with just a little more knowledge on things that are offered in Key West - as for streets of bones - many many years ago, Key West was the haven for pirates - the streets of Key West especially Whitehead Street was littered with bones - the aftermath of bounty battles - Key West became known as Caya Hueso (ka-ya wereso) that is the closest I can get to pronouncing it in spanish aks streets of bones - in fact most of the older conchs used this name more than Key West - in my time, we seldom left the island to venture into other parts of the country so we were very innocent as to what happened on the mainlands.
I sincerely believe that the conch train tour is one of the best ways to get around Key West tho the trolley does allow you to get off and back on - I have offered numberous of times to send anyone that wanted information on Key West that all it would cost them is time to send me a self addressed envelope with about $3.25 worth of stamps on it and I would be most happy to send the information to anyone that requested it - right now I am down to almost nothing, but again will be going back in Febuary and will bring more goodies back with me so that I can send them to those that want them - for water sports, I really recommend Key Cat - they are very honorable and a good company - for silver or gold, I recommend Vinny of Touch of Gold for they too have really have some great discounts to those that go in and tell them I recommended them - also again I will mention I do not receive any type of compensation for this - I just want to make sure that those that go to my hometown are treated well -
If I can help any further, just drop me a note ok
As always
Shirley

 

[prymsu]

Hi Shirley! Got to say i have been to Key West now twice, and the conch train is a nice easy and relaxing way to get an overview of the whole island, and the folks that are driving are excellent narrators pointing out all the points of interest. Also you don't get pooped from all the walking you would have to do to cover the area that the conch train does in an hour.