Western info to share, Just sailed,,,

[disneycruiser2820]

Just sailed July 3 - 10 on the Magic, Western
Key West, Mopeds, eletric cars, bars, shopping, getting around,etc...
Grand Caymen, Island Tour with Stingrays, HELL, Turtle Farm, shopping, tendering, etc...
Cozemel, Snorkeling at Chankanaab National Park, shopping, not all good, ask questions......
Castaway Cay, Parasailing, Banna boat, shopping, lunch, best places on beach,
GOT QUESTIONS? I'm Honest,,,,,
Most good,,,, BUT,,,, not all,,,,,,,,

 

[scrapperjill]

disneycruiser2820

Can you tell me about your snorkel adventures at Chankanaab National Park...Did you go on your own or with a tour group?? And on Key West..where did you get the eletric car?? How long did you rent it for and was it worth it....oh and did you have it pre arranged or did you do it when you were there?? Did you enoy the parasailing?? How long was the time you were up??

Thanks

 

[disneycruiser2820]

Snorkeling on Chankanaab Park was NOT good,,,
I have snorkeled on St. Martins, St. Johns, Cancoon, and a lot of other places in the carribean,,,,, The Park and beach itself is good,,, ,,,, The place we got in the water, a beach was discusting,,,, the water was full of human waste,, and smelled really bad,,,, There were other places to get into the sea but they were steap rocked steps,,,, this way was safe for most people,,,,, but the smell, and water was just disgusting, gross!!!! Compared to other places,,,,, The fish, snorkeling experience was way below average,,,,,I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND this Park... Our guides, Manuel,,, and Pedro were polite BUT demanded a tip,,,,, to the point that, Pedro held up part of our party when it was time to get in taxis when we did not give him what he wanted I would not go back,,, the toilet smell of the beach,,,, and Pedro demanding tips.....

 

[disneycruiser2820]

you can get eletic cars and mopeds in a lot of places in Key West,,,, we did not pre book it and had plenty of choices.... They are some what expensive,,,,, but ,,, ytour on vacation,,,, do it,,, its fun. cars,,, and moped can be rented for varios times,,,, 3,,, 4 hours,,,, more if you want,,,, 2- 3 hours is plenty
Parasailing on Castaway key was great,,,,, BUT,,,, book it early,,
AND<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
They back up,,,,,, I booked 1:00,,,,, they told me it would be 2:30,,, or 3:00,,,, I told them I was disapointed,,,,, PISSED,,,,, wanted a refund,,,,, and they took us right away,,,,, I DID NOT LIKE PLAYING the HEAVY,,,,,,,,,, BUT WE were only on the island for a short time,,,,, its fun,,, but expect delays,,,,,,, be willing to assert yourself,,,,,,,,,, hate it,,, but did not want to sit in line all day....................... they need better planning......

 

[disneycruiser2820]

parasailing you are up for 5 - 7 minutes,,,,,

 

[il-gander]

What was your opinion of the Grand Cayman Island Tour with Stingrays? This is what we tentatively plan to do there in October. How deep was the water at Stingray City where you got out? How much time approximately is spent at each place? Thanks in advance!

Carla

 

[Susan Prescott]

How was the weather on your trip? Were there any rough seas? Also, how was the water at Castaway Cay? We've been there in February and found the water to be a bit cool. I figured it must be pretty warm by now. We're from New England so we're used to cold water.

 

[christinou]

I am also interested in the sting ray/Island tour excursion.
Thanks

 

[absame]

Just got off the same cruise. Water in Castaway key was very nice, not cold at all, but a bit cooler than by cayman or cozumel. There was something in the water in the snorkel area, jellyfish or something. My niece got stung/bitten, but we were fine in the next door in the family beach area.

We didnt do the disney stingray excursion. There were 14 of us sailing, so we all chartered a 46' sailboat from sailcayman.com. Excellent trip and costs about the sale. $500 for 1/2 day. There are two stingray areas. The orginal which is about 15' deep and the newer one where you can stand. We went to the older one since you apparently cant get stung by a swimming stingray. They need to be on the bottom. Anyway is wa a lot of fun, and with our own boat we avoided all the crowds and kept our own schedule.

We also went on the dune buggies in cozumel and on Dolphin Watch USA in Key west. Had a great time all around -- frankly better than we expected!!

A

p.s. Had calm seas the whole trip --

 

[disneycruiser2820]

Our weather was perfect, no rain,,, warm,,, water plesent at all locations, but it is July,,,,,

There are several stingray tours,,, we had to book the more expensive one that went to turtle farm and hell... approximately 45 mins. to an hour at turtle farm,,,, that was enough time,,,, about a half hour at Hell,,,, plenty of time,,,,, just small shops,,, not a big deal,,, not much to see,,,, then we boarded a boat for a half hour ride to stingray bar,,,,, water was 3 to 5 feet deep, a small child could stand, no problem,,, stingrays were large and a lot of them,,,,,, best tour of our trip,,, well worth it,
this was on grand cayman

seas were calm all week....

we spent a little over a hour with sting rays,,, plenty of time...
we took earliest tour to be able to shop after tour was over...

 

[markey]

absame - saw you were on the dune buggy. We are booked for 8/18, did you enjoy it? Is bug spray necessary? We were in Cozumel 2 years ago and went to Chankanaab National Park on our own for the day. It sure must have changed. The park and bathrooms were very clean. The water where we snorkled was a beautiful clear blue with no smell or ordor. we walked down the stone steps and saw tons of fist. We thought the park was beautiful and very well kept. We took a tour of the (fake) ruins and the guide was very nice and did not push for a tip at the end, but we did give hime one.

 

[disneycruiser2820]

we did not rent a dune buggy,,,,,,,
rented a moped in Key West,,,,,,,,,,,,
water at Chankanaab was smelly and gross only in place where we got in,,,,, a slow grade into the ocean,,,,, other access was dangerious steps with the waves crashing in,,, tour guides took us this way probably for safty of kids and old people,,,,,
once we got out farther the water did NOT stink,,,, but not a lot of fish,,, I have snorkeled a lot,,,, it was just OK once you got out of the smelly water,,,,
The park is beautiful,,,,, I just would not do it again because for the first 200 feet into the ocean was really bad,,,, people were holding their noses,,, I'm not sure what it was,,,, smelled like human waste,,,,, I agree,,,, it is ashame,,,, Disney should know about this,,,,,
Hope this helps someone.....

 

[cgdmom]

did you honestly see human waste in the water at chankanaub?

 

[disneycruiser2820]

cdg mom,,,

No I did not see it,,,,,,, but the smell was soooo thick,,, smelled like a really bad sewer,,,, trying to be honest about this,,,,, it was gross,,, I would not take my family back,,,, I do not know if it was a temporary problem,,,,, once you got about 200 feet out the smell went away,,, other than the smell,,, the park was beautiful,,,, hope the park fixes this problem, I was not the only one commenting on it,,,, be interesting to hear if others had similiar experience.......

 

[absame]

Markey,

We had a great time with the Dune Buggies. Basically you are driving down a rock/sand/dirt road that runs along the coast. Stop at a nice, almost private beach for an hour or so. They serve a nice lunch with home made guacamole and salsa. Then it's off to a small ruin, then the long drive the way you came. If you're cynical, it's a long drive to the beach, but we had fun. Our 5 and 7 year olds had a great time bouncing around in the back seat (no seat belts). Some cautionary comments, back seat in uncomfortable for adults, and this is a bumpy ride. There are jeep tours that would be smoother. Also, bring your own snorkel gear if you have it. They had some, but not a wide selection. We were snorkeled out and chose to just play around on the beach. Also, we didnt have bug spray. There were some biting sand flies during lunch but no too bad. All in all a good day.

A

 

[mississaugamom]

Our experience at Chankanaab on the 2/28 Western was NOT good! It wasn't the smell so much as the actual snorkelling that bothered us. My 7 yr old DD was given a ratty, torn life jacket rather than a snorkel vest, then was expected to keep up with the guide for our one-hour "tour". No snorkelling allowed alone. We've been to most Caribbean islands (including Cozumel) and this site was among the poorest snorkelling I've ever seen - very few fish and limited coral.

I know what you mean about the guides demanding tips. Ours (Miguel) kept prominently shoving his clipboard at us with US money clipped to it. However, after he yelled at my 7 yr old that she couldn't leave the tour when we were parallel to the beach after 45 minutes and she was freezing, there was NO WAY we were giving him a dime!

Stingray City and Coral Gardens were our favourites.

Glad you had a good trip!

Arlene

 

[disneycruiser2820]

I agree,,,, Chankanaab was among the worst snorkling I have ever done,,,,,, I have snorkeled a lot all over the Carribean,,,

The smell and Pedro demanding a tip was too much,,,, I did not tip Pedro and he heald up the second half of our party from getting a cab, we had 7 people so we needed 2 cabs

I do want to say that 95% of our trip was great,,,,, the smell and bad tour guides at Chankanaab was the only downer....

 

[cathie]

Hi..sorry to hear about your bad experience. Where exactly is this place so we can avoid it? We are not planning any excursions @ Cozumel, only Stingray City @ Grand Cayman. Did you like Key West? We are planning on going to The Hard Rock Cafe At Key West. We leave this Saturday for the July 17th Western. How were the movies on board... Any good ones for teens? Thanks for any info. Cathie & The Gang

 

[absame]

Lots of movies on board -- the ones I can remember from last week:

Around the world in 80 days
Raising Helen
King Arthur
Finding Nemo

 

[disneycruiser2820]

Cathie,

Chankanaab Park is in Cozemel and is one of the snorkling tours offered by Disney,,, avoid it.......
Sting Ray City on Grand Cayman is great and well worth it
Key West is great, rent a moped, eletric car or take a ride on the Counch Train,,, or just walk,,,, everything is close to ship...
movies were
Around the World in 80 Days
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
The Alamo
Brother Bear
Hildago
Pirayes of the Caribbean
Finding Nemo
Home on the Range
The Lady Killers
Raising Helen
Home on the Range
Have fun!!!