Western Caribbean- which port to stay on ship?

[Minnie368]

Our first cruise is April 2018 Western Caribbean with 4 ports. We plan to stay on the ship one port day to possibly enjoy a less crowded ship. Excursions we are interested in are a dolphin swim, snorkeling somewhere, and we have some interest in the Falmouth bobsled/zipline excursion. We will definitely get off at CC. So I guess I’m just wondering if we should skip Cozumel or GC? Is the snorkeling at CC good enough for us considering we’ve never done it anywhere so nothing to compare it to? If so I guess it comes down to which port has the better dolphin experience. The port we choose to “skip” we may still want to get off for a very short time just to look around the port to say we’ve been there, so the best port area for that may be a consideration as well.

 

[lorimay]

Grand Cayman is a tendering port, so a bit more of a pain to get to and from the ship.
But I would check out the port adventures on Disney's website and see if there's something in one of these ports that jumps out and you and choose that way.

Have fun!

 

[Minnie368]

It seems the biggest deciding factor for me will be which port has the best dolphin experience...any thoughts?

 

[wanderlust7]

We did Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab in Cozumel. It's our only dolphin experience, so I can't compare, but it was a great experience. If you're willing to go on your own, they have Groupon deals. I paid $50 for the encounter (not swim) and my 5 year old DD was free. It included admission to Chankanaab and they even threw in a short manatee encounter at the end.

There's lots to do at Chankanaab. DH and DS snorkeled there and said it was good. Entry is easy with metal stairs and they didn't have to swim far. We also saw their little sea lion show, which was cute and it's nice that you can get really close with a sea lion kiss photo op at the end. They have a pool too, which the kids enjoyed. All in all, we had a wonderful and full day there!

We stayed on the ship at Grand Cayman and Falmouth. The ship was noticeably less crowded at Grand Cayman. We've been to Grand Cayman before and rather enjoyed the tender boat ride (left a little later, so no crowds) - nice views of the ship. The port is right downtown, so lots of stores if you just want to walk around (think they're mostly tourist traps though).

 

[Minnie368]

We did Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab in Cozumel. It's our only dolphin experience, so I can't compare, but it was a great experience. If you're willing to go on your own, they have Groupon deals. I paid $50 for the encounter (not swim) and my 5 year old DD was free. It included admission to Chankanaab and they even threw in a short manatee encounter at the end.

There's lots to do at Chankanaab. DH and DS snorkeled there and said it was good. Entry is easy with metal stairs and they didn't have to swim far. We also saw their little sea lion show, which was cute and it's nice that you can get really close with a sea lion kiss photo op at the end. They have a pool too, which the kids enjoyed. All in all, we had a wonderful and full day there!

We stayed on the ship at Grand Cayman and Falmouth. The ship was noticeably less crowded at Grand Cayman. We've been to Grand Cayman before and rather enjoyed the tender boat ride (left a little later, so no crowds) - nice views of the ship. The port is right downtown, so lots of stores if you just want to walk around (think they're mostly tourist traps though).

Thank you for this info! So maybe we could do the dolphin encounter and snorkeling both at this one location and then skip GC. I actually chose the western itenerary hoping to turn one of the four port days into a “less crowded sea day”. I had read somewhere that a lot of people stay on the ship at Falmouth- not sure if that’s true- but I think we’ll benefit more by staying on at GC.

 

[ForMyBoys]

We did dolphins at Chakanaab and snorkeling was amazing.

But honestly you are on the boat for awhile, I’d get off on all the ports

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Grand Cayman has some of the best snorkeling in the world. Stingray city is always a big hit but there are other excursions that are just as amazing. We've done both and I just can't emphasize enough how incredibly amazing the Grand Cayman is for snorkeling

 

[JimGA]

Thank you for this info! So maybe we could do the dolphin encounter and snorkeling both at this one location and then skip GC. I actually chose the western itenerary hoping to turn one of the four port days into a “less crowded sea day”. I had read somewhere that a lot of people stay on the ship at Falmouth- not sure if that’s true- but I think we’ll benefit more by staying on at GC.

We did the western last year, only 2 ports, Cozumel and GC, Falmouth was not a stop, I suppose due to the new Star Wars day we had. We enjoyed both ports, GC was the best, we snorkeled.

From my research, I think we are skipping Falmouth and staying on the ship, I have not heard very many favorable reviews, in addition, none of the port adadventures are unique, just mundane.

Hopefully we can get more info from others with your post

 

[JimGA]

Grand Cayman has some of the best snorkeling in the world. Stingray city is always a big hit but there are other excursions that are just as amazing. We've done both and I just can't emphasize enough how incredibly amazing the Grand Cayman is for snorkeling

In GC which snorkeling did you all do? We did the shipwreck one, I think called 2 dives.

 

[Minnie368]

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Cozumel’s dolphin experience at Chankanaab National Park. How are the dolphin experiences at GC? I like the idea of being able to do the dolphins and snorkel at the same place.

 

[RedStars]

We're doing the Dolphin Discovery swim adventure on Cozumel; it seems to get the best reviews out of all of the Western dolphin excursions. We booked it direct. (We did Dolphinaris last time and it was OK)

We'll be doing the stingray Sandbar excursion on GC (through DCL) but probably staying on the ship for Falmouth (or maybe just get off for a little bit of a port walk). I really didn't like Falmouth last time.

 

[Annge]

RedStars

Would you elaborate about why you did not like Falmouth? My family and I will be doing a Western Caribbean cruise next year, and one of the ports is Falmouth.

Thank you for any insight you can share.

Ann

 

[ForMyBoys]

RedStars

Would you elaborate about why you did not like Falmouth? My family and I will be doing a Western Caribbean cruise next year, and one of the posts is Falmouth.

Thank you for any insight you can share.

Ann

We had a fabulous time at Falmouth. I had posted seomewhere very recently about our tubing adventure. It was awesome!! It’s hard to judge a port if you have only been once though. Our first time at Cozumel was a total bust, our second time was fantastic. Now I have better ideas of what we would like to do there.

 

[Annge]

We had a fabulous time at Falmouth. I had posted seomewhere very recently about our tubing adventure. It was awesome!! It’s hard to judge a port if you have only been once though. Our first time at Cozumel was a total bust, our second time was fantastic. Now I have better ideas of what we would like to do there.

Thank you! Tubing is one of the adventures that looked fun! I will search for your post.

Ann

 

[RedStars]

RedStars

Would you elaborate about why you did not like Falmouth? My family and I will be doing a Western Caribbean cruise next year, and one of the ports is Falmouth.

Thank you for any insight you can share.

Ann

We did the horse carriage tour (which is no longer offered) and it was awful. I didn't like the hard press for buying items/etc.

My DH and son did green Grotto caves and said it was OK. They had the same push for buying things when they were on the beach. DH has been 3 times and he's agreed with not leaving the port (it's not a safety thing, it's just not our jam).

I've heard positive things about Falmouth too so I highly recommend you research and make the decision based on the group of info, not just one person's experience.

 

[phinz]

On our last cruise I got off in Cozumel for two hours, didn't bother in Grand Cayman, went ashore for 30 minutes, tops, in Falmouth and not at all at Castaway Cay. Of the four, Cozumel appeals most to me as I do the crew member-type run, going to MEGA for food and drink then La Internacional Cervezaria for a couple of beers. Tendering doesn't appeal to me, so I don't go in to Grand Cayman. In Falmouth I'm only interested in a beef patty and Ting at Patty Port and rum at the Dufry. I was back on board at 9:35 and was at Be Our Chef at 11. Castaway Cay bores me.

My opinion is that I pay for this floating resort. I go to sleep at my resort every evening and when I wake up the view has changed. The ports don't matter to me in the slightest.

 

[Annge]

We did the horse carriage tour (which is no longer offered) and it was awful. I didn't like the hard press for buying items/etc.

My DH and son did green Grotto caves and said it was OK. They had the same push for buying things when they were on the beach. DH has been 3 times and he's agreed with not leaving the port (it's not a safety thing, it's just not our jam).

I've heard positive things about Falmouth too so I highly recommend you research and make the decision based on the group of info, not just one person's experience.

Thank you!

I have heard about the hard sell, so I definitely want to do something organized, if we do go ashore.

 

[Tasmen]

This coming cruise we decided we are going to stay onboard in Grand Cayman. We had a good time there last time but really wanted a ship day at port this time around. It was definitely the port we had less interest in returning to.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

In GC which snorkeling did you all do? We did the shipwreck one, I think called 2 dives.

We're doing 2 dives this time. Next week as a matter of fact! Last time we did Stingray City Reef Sail & Snorkel (G09). It was the deepwater snorkel (15+ feet) just off the reef with the fully mature stingrays. Super awesome.

 

[MnkyGirl]

Our first cruise is April 2018 Western Caribbean with 4 ports. We plan to stay on the ship one port day to possibly enjoy a less crowded ship. Excursions we are interested in are a dolphin swim, snorkeling somewhere, and we have some interest in the Falmouth bobsled/zipline excursion. We will definitely get off at CC. So I guess I’m just wondering if we should skip Cozumel or GC? Is the snorkeling at CC good enough for us considering we’ve never done it anywhere so nothing to compare it to? If so I guess it comes down to which port has the better dolphin experience. The port we choose to “skip” we may still want to get off for a very short time just to look around the port to say we’ve been there, so the best port area for that may be a consideration as well.

We snorkeled in Grand Cayman and even in the pouring rain it was one of my favorite excursions ever. We did the two dive snorkel with the shipwreck. We also did the bobsled/zipline excursion in Falmouth. The bobsled was cool, but the ziplines were way better in our opinion. The views and the variety made it a fantastic experience for us. Our excursion was cancelled in Cozumel, so we never even went ashore.