Vacation Help - Western Caribbean

[MISSINDI]

We're taking a vacation in February and really looking forward to it. Another cruise, and the ports we'll hit are Key West, Cozumel, Costa Maya and Grand Cayman. Can anyone tell me what are the "must sees" or "must dos" while we're there? Additionally, my dh and one of the people going with us are looking for swimming with the dolphins, most likely in one of the two Mexico stops... any recommendations? I know the ship will have excursions available, but generally it's cheaper to book it separately. Thanks in advance for the help! :D

[ChristyMarie]

I always book through the cruise line so can't help you there.

For Cozumel I'd definitely book something - the town is ok and you can have fun shopping and such but there isn't much to do within walking distance of the port. Don't snorkel though, we found the water to be way too cloudy.

Grand Caymen...so much to choose from! The submarine rides are cool, especially if you don't dive or snorkel but they can be a bit too close for comfort for some people. They have a huge swim with the stingray thing that I wish we would have done. You can take an airplane tour of the island that is pretty cool. If you are looking for upper end shopping this is the place out of all the ports you are hitting.

HTH!

[Peggy]

I stayed on Grand Caymon for a week once for a scuba diving trip. You may want to swim with the sting rays at Sting Ray City while on Grand Caymon. It might be easiest to book that tour with the cruise ship. It is fun and interesting to watch them underwater and feed them. There is also a turtle farm you can tour and a place called "HELL" which is an area of unusual rock formations that are supposed to look like HELL (not sure if this word will print or be sensored out!). You can send postcards from a little store that will have the Hell postmark on them. Both of these places can be done on the same tour, or you can always rent a private car and take yourself. That's what we did.

When I stayed on Cozumel, I spent most of my time underwater. The diving is spectacular there. One day we did take a boat over to the main land and went to Tulum to look at the ruins. That was interesting and easy to do.

Peggy

[cangoss]

I haven't been on a cruise, but I went to Grand Cayman 1.5 years ago - before the hurricane. I loved the snorkel trip with Stingray Alley. I can't remember the name of the company I went with, but it was the one that started the Stingray Alley tours. Definitely skip Rum Point. It was so overcrowded and not worth it at all - we wished we had stayed at our hotel pool instead. We were there for a wedding, and other people from the wedding went to the turtle farm and liked it. Also - even though they accept US currency everywhere, it is a better deal to either use Caymanian currency or charge everything. If you use US, they give you change in Caymanian, and you lose money every time.

[donleyk]

It's a bit pricey but I'd rec. the tram ride in Key West. You get to see where everything is along Duval St et al and it really helps. It's easy then to walk over to see what interests you.

[Veronica]

Oh my! I'm envious of your upcoming cruise. What a great trip to look forward to in February.

My husband was in Cozumel years ago and somehow ingested water (could've been an ice cube or on a salad) and got quite ill. I'm not sure if this is still an issue, but I'd steer clear of the water just in case.

In Key West, Pepe's is a fun place to get an excellent margarita (made with fresh-squeezed limes). I think it's the oldest restaurant in Key West. It's at 806 Caroline Street - I think it's a block or so over from Duvall St. Sloppy Joe's on Duvall Street is fun, too. Actually, there are so many bars and restaurants that it's tough to choose one or two.

There's a lot to see in Key West, but I really enjoyed the tour of Hemingway's home. (Look for the cats with six toes.) The Key West lighthouse is right across the street, so you can see that, too. I believe they charge you to climb up to the observation area.

Oh, and you'll want to snap a picture at the "southernmost point in the U.S." marker. Cuba is only 90 miles away.

The one thing I would skip is a trip to the Dry Tortugas. It was interesting (Dr. Mudd, the doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth, was imprisoned there), but it took way too long to get there just to tour a fort, swim a little and eat a picnic lunch.

[catharine]

I cruised a similar itinerary back in 2003. It was fabulous. I rely on the Cruise Critic Message Boards (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5) for information on what to do at each port. This place has a ton of (reliable) information. And if you can't find what you are looking for by reading through the old posts, you can always post a new question and you WILL get responses.

I remember loving Stingray City in GC, which I booked through an independent tour operator. I can't remember which one, but I got it off Cruise Critic. In Cozumel we loved the beach we went to, but I believe that back in September it was still closed from hurricane damage. Not sure what the status is now.