Cruise Destination: Costa Maya, Mexico Port

The port itself is actually really nice, we saw 2 pools (at least 1 I noticed had a swim-up bar) that seemed free, and several restaurants and a lot of shopping. I honestly think this is one of those ports where you can get by without an excursion just hanging out at the port. The day we were there, we were the only ship so it didn't feel overcrowded at all. We didn't get there until noon and had to leave by 6:30, so it was a short trip. Getting there at that time meant that we were walking through the port at a very hot time of the day, which wasn't ideal. I didn't have time to take photos of the actual port because we were rushing to make sure we made it to the meet up point on time, since a toddler slows us down, but I did grab photos on the way out. 

 Our daughter fell asleep so we carried her trike since we didn't bring the trike backpack

None of the excursions offered through Royal Caribbean seemed like something we'd want to do with our daughter, so we did our excursion outside of the cruise line. We dabbled with this in Belize and really realized that you can get a lot more of your time out of your stop if your excursion is catered specifically to you rather than a group, so we felt like we could do it again. This experience was better than Belize because we had it booked well in advance.

We ended up booking a day at Maya Chan. We paid $79 per adult and $19 for our toddler via PayPal, and got all-inclusive food and drinks plus a free ride to the beach. What's nice is that it's ran by Americans, so there was no communication barrier when booking, and they sent lots of follow-up emails leading up to the day with confirmation of our reservation and information on how to find them on the day of and what to do, so I felt very reassured doing this on our own. 

It was a little intimidating doing it this way because usually if you do an excursion through your cruise, you'll all meet as a group either on the ship or immediately off the ship and then all go to your excursion together, and Maya Chan did a really good job of trying to make it similar to that. They emailed us a map to exit the port (it is a pretty big port) and walk to a meet up spot. The map and instructions were pretty detailed and we felt fairly confident figuring out where to go. Just keep left after the dolphin area, don't continue on into the shops. They say it's a 1/4 mile, but in that heat it felt like half a mile. We were so happy we brought our Doona trike for our daughter, there's no way she could've made it without having to hold her if we didn't bring it. I'm also glad I had a stroller fan attached to it for her, because even though she wasn't walking, she was dripping sweat by the time we got to the meetup. I just wish we brought our neck fans because we were dying pushing her and carrying all our beach stuff in the heat since most of the walk is uncovered. I also wish we had brought our trike backpack because we had to carry her stroller around the rest of the trip. 

We got there and within a minute we were given paper wristbands and then a van took about 10 of us to the beach. It was about a 20-30 minute ride with traffic, but it was worth the effort! This was a perfect excursion with our toddler. Right when you get there, they have a wall of life vests in all sizes (small enough to fit our 25-pound toddler), snorkel masks, and leftover toys that prior families had left behind. We were given ice-cold filtered water, the Wi-Fi password (there's 2 Wi-Fi options, one for the Bar and one for the Beach so you have a great connection wherever you are and they're the same password for both), and then were taken to our area. 

Our area was PERFECT! A huge covered area that had 4 Adirondack chairs, 2 tables, a daybed, and a hammock! All just for the 3 of us. I had brought my baby Bogg Bag specifically so that I could use the little tray insert to have an extra table for all our stuff, but didn't even need it. 

 

We hadn't even sat down all our stuff when we were given the best rum punch welcome drinks I've ever had, and they even had a fruit punch version for our daughter. Right after that, we were given homemade tortilla chips and fresh pico de gallo and guacamole. They do use small 8-ounce cups like a lot of all inclusive resorts do, so I recommend you bring an insulated tumbler so your drink doesn't run out as fast. They were the best pina coladas we had ever had, and that's my husband's go-to vacation drink. The drinks didn't taste very strong (probably because they were so flavorful with the fresh pineapples), but when I asked for a double it was a little too strong. 

The ocean was nice, but for our time of the year the sea grass was definitely present. They had 2 guys on the beach and in the water trying to rake it away, but there was just so much that they weren't able to make a lot of progress. Once you got out a little ways, there was no seagrass. I wore my water sandals into the water because I don't love stepping on textured surfaces in open water, but I wish I'd worn my water socks instead because when I walked over/through the seagrass, some got stuck between my foot and sandals and it freaked me out. But, the water was nice and warm and they provided floating chairs on a first-come-first-serve basis, the water was nice and calm so safe for littles with the use of their provided life vests, and you could even see our ship from the beach! The beach was secluded in a jungle area and we didn't see anyone else at the beach. They also let you use their snorkel masks, stand up paddle boards, and kayaks for free. 

For the people who didn't want to deal with the seagrass, they did have a pool. It was about half the size of a backyard pool. Unfortunately, a lot kids took the floating chairs into the pool which basically took up the entire pool, so we didn't feel we could squeeze in and try it out. The bathrooms were right by the pool.

The pool is bigger than this angle makes it look

Their service was the best service we've ever had. Lots of people always walking around in case you needed them, and occasionally they'd ask if you need something, but it was the perfect balance of being attentive without being annoying. They would even come into the ocean to serve the drinks. And one time I was going to the bar area anyways so I just went to ask for a refill myself and the bartender instantly recognized my cup and asked if I wanted another pina colada. They confirmed our cruise line and ship name, and then let us know they could take us back 70, 60, or 50 minutes before our boarding time, and then gave us a 15-minute warning before our ride was ready back.

What I really appreciated about this excursion as a toddler mom was that it wasn't a party atmosphere like a lot of places are on vacation. There was some music at the bar, but even at the bar it wasn't loud and you could easily have a conversation. Since we didn't get to port until after our daughter's lunch time, we had already eaten before we got off the ship so we didn't eat the provided lunch, but the chips we snacked on a bit were really good so I do think their lunch was also probably really good. The only kids we saw there were elementary aged or younger. Teenagers probably wouldn't love this place if they wanted a lot to do. But, I thought it was the perfect relaxing place and I would love to go there again just to sit and read a book with a drink in my hand. If I can't do that, then I'm just as happy to come back with our toddler and let her have a great day at her pace just playing in the water and the sand and taking naps on the beach.

Cruise Destination: Roatan, Honduras Port

Roatan has been my favorite cruise stop since I first went there, and it still is my favorite to this day! The water is beautiful, the shore is soft, and it's been a great stop every time I go. The water in Roatan is beautifully clear, there's lots of small fish that will swim with you even in shallow parts of the water, I've never seen a seaweed/seagrass infestation, and the water is the perfect temp. My last trip to Roatan was through Royal Caribbean, and Carnival stopped at a differ part of the port. I think I like the Carnival stop even better! 

There's a lot you can do in Roatan, so I wanted to create a place listing what we've done at each stop here over the years. I'll update this as we come back here again and again. 

Mahogany Beach

The "excursion" we booked for this stop was just a clamshell, which essentially just guarantees you 2 beach chairs that are fully shaded. The staff at this port was AMAZING! We had to navigate finding where to give our tickets once we were off the ship, and the staff not only helped us get to the right person, they helped us find a clamshell that was near a tree for extra shade for our baby, and was near the sidewalk so we didn't have to carry our stroller far. Later, when our daughter fell asleep in Ryan's arms, the staff came over and propped a table under the clamshell to angle it down more to better shade us since the sun had moved. 

There was a huge bar/restaurant right behind the beach so you could easily get food and top off your drinks. They offered souvenir drinks that had a lid with a straw and a foam koozie to keep your drink cold, and refills were at a discounted price. We saved our cups and fully intend to bring them back the next time we stop here.

As for the stop itself, what I love about it is that you don't have to do an excursion, so you can walk right off the ship and onto a beautiful beach in a couple minutes, and spend $0 the entire stop if you bring snacks and water with you and don't drink any alcohol. There is a chair lift like at an amusement park that can take you to the beach faster and save you the walk while giving you a unique view, but I don't think there were many other options that I'd consider. 

Cruise Destination: Belize City, Belize Port

To get to Belize City, your ship with dock out in the water and you'll take a tender boat to get ashore. The tender boats are small, so be prepared to wait for a boat and not have a lot of room for your items. Our boat going to Belize stayed fairly dry, but on the way back to our ship the boat was hit with a lot of spray from the water and our shorts got wet. 

I was really excited for my first trip to Belize, but I wasn't as prepared for their port as I should have been. I've been cruising for almost 20 years now, and this was the most under-developed port I've been to. While the water was beautiful, the port isn't as established as Cozumel or Grand Turks. I'd describe the shopping there as closer to a flea market than your typical cruise shopping, most of what we saw were bad designer knock-offs and Female Body Inspector-quality shirts. There also weren't a lot of restaurant options, maybe 2 small restaurants, and that was about it. There are no beaches near the port where you can play in the water, as they all are rocky shores. 

I think Belize is a stop that's best if everyone in your group is 12 and older, and likes adventure. The most popular excursions are river tubing through the cruise, zip lining, off-roading, and snorkeling and scuba. I wanted to create a place listing what we've done at each stop here over the years. I'll update this as we come back here again and again. 

Kukumba Beach 

We hadn't heard of Kukumba Beach before we got here, but luckily Ryan heard about it from a taxi driver when we were at the port trying to figure out what to do since we didn't have an excursion booked. Our driver was great and he took us to Kukumba Beach and figured out what time our ship left and planned to pick us up exactly an hour before it left so we wouldn't be rushing to make it to the ship on time, but he gave us his phone number so we could call him if we wanted to go back earlier.

Kukumba Beach actually worked out really well! There were high-top tables set up that had bar stools around them and were covered, and there were a lot of beach chairs. You could get a bucket of beer for like $12 and there were several food options which were pretty cheap. The place itself is sandy, but it's not on a beach. It has a man made salt-water and sand pool that has a huge slide and floating trampolines to play on. Our daughter really liked playing in the sand and in the water. 

And it had free wi-fi! The one con was that the beach chairs were wooden, so they weren't exactly comfortable. I had packed a sandproof beach blanket with us, so I just laid that down and then a camping towel on top of it on the sand for our daughter to have a softer place to nap. 

We were talking to a family that showed up about an hour after us, and turns out that they were on one of those city tour excursions and that this was a stop on their tour. They were really jealous that we got to go straight here and back, because they felt that the tour was just meh and would rather spend more time at the adventure park than taking the tour to get there and then more of a tour to get back to the ship. We also paid significantly less than they did to get there. 

If we were to go back to Belize again, we might look in to going a little further out of Belize City and try Starfish Island, Caye Caulker, Ambergris Caye, or Goff's Caye. 

Cruise Destination: Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Port

Turks and Caicos is obviously a beautiful destination to go to, and one that I was most excited to go see. It's a great port stop because, like Cozumel, you can just dock and walk right into a very tourist-friendly well-planned port that has food, shopping, and swimming all right when you walk off the ship. 

The pier from the ship to the port is also pretty short, so it's a great port where you could save some money and do a quick return to the ship for lunch. It also would be a great stop if you have napping-aged kids, because you can easily go back to your stateroom for a nap and then come right back to the port without much time or effort. 

There's a lot you can do in Nassau, so I wanted to create a place listing what we've done at each stop here over the years. I'll update this as we come back here again and again. 

Grand Turk Cruise Center

Honestly, the port has so much to do, I think you're fine not doing an excursion. We didn't have an excursion planned for Grand Turk, and it worked out for us. It's a pretty established port that has shopping and restaurants with a big pool surrounded by free lounge chairs or you can rent like a mini house. 

We grabbed lunch at Margaritaville, did some shopping in the cruise center, and then headed to a chair by the pool. We were only there for about an hour before it just started downpouring on us with no end in sight, so we went back to the ship early. There was also a beach that looked really well-kept, but we didn't make it in time to see it. 

Cruise Destination: Nassau, Bahamas Port

I think Nassau is probably the most popular cruise stop since it is just so close to Florida. It's very easy to get to and has beautiful water. It used to be one of my favorite spots, but unfortunately is just seems to be getting more and more dangerous. When we stopped there in 2022, our cruise was delayed leaving because a couple had been mugged and the ship was working with the local authorities to help the couple out. It's just sad that there's so many people who go there, which has apparently turned it into a target for criminals. I don't think it's quite so bad that you should avoid getting off the ship at this port; it's generally safe if you stay near the port, so that's what we try to do. 

There's a lot you can do in Nassau, so I wanted to create a place listing what we've done at each stop here over the years. I'll update this as we come back here again and again. 

Blue Lagoon VIP Adults-Only Excursion

We booked this excursion through Carnival, and I thought it was pretty good. It's a private beach that comes with lunch and unlimited Bahama Mamas. It's on a small private island that has other excursions, show you take a tender with everyone else who has an excursion at Blue Lagoon, and then once you're there you are divided into which part of the lagoon you have access to. The tender was great, there was plenty of seating and you didn't feel cramped. They did have a concession bar where you could buy snacks, water, sodas, and beer. We thought this would be included in the price of our ticket, but it wasn't. The prices weren't necessarily cheap, but they were cheaper than on the ship. 

The lagoon itself if very clean and well-maintained. It has a walkway for you to tour the area, and there's some shopping and plenty of bathrooms. The adults-only part of the lagoon was roped off, had plenty of chairs (though not all of them were covered), had a bar, and had staff coming around to take food and drink orders. We were a little disappointed that the only free alcohol was the Bahama Mamas, and you had to pay for anything else at the bar. I was pregnant, but Ryansaid they were a little too sweet started to give him a headache after a few drinks. They did have non-alcoholic punch and water that I thought was pretty good. The cups they use are tiny 8-ounce plastic cups that had no lid, so I would definitely recommend bringing your own insulated tumbler with a lid. 

The food was actually really good and there was a good amount of options. I really liked the chicken wings and rice, and Ryan went back for seconds. They only offered lunch, so if you wanted more food you would have either needed to bring your own or to buy it on a different part of the lagoon.

There was a pier you walked down to the beach which did a good job of separating the adults-only side with the family-friendly side. The adults only side was just the beach and water, with 3 few anchored floating rafts for everyone to share. We had each brought our own snorkel gear to use here, but there was hardly any fish to look at, so we didn't end up snorkeling and I wouldn't recommend you expect to get to do that. Instead, I would've brought my whale tail float to sit on in the water or an inflatable pool floats to relax on. Like I said, there was just the 3 rafts for the entire excursion, so we spent most of our time in the water just standing around waiting for something to become available. 

They did do a good job of kicking any kids out of the area, so there was no screaming or splashing on our area. However, our wristbands did give us access to the family-friendly side of Blue Lagoon which has big inflatables that you could play around on. 

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good excursion. If they would have included a larger variety of alcohol, heck even just some cheap local beer, I think it would've been really great. This is a park-it-in-the-sand excursion, so it might not be for you if you're wanting to be more active for your stop. Also, the shopping was pretty minimal and seemed to mostly just be for things you forgot (hat/sunscreen/sunglasses/coverup), so if shopping is all you want to do, this excursion might leave you disappointed. 

Cruise Destination: Cozumel, Mexico Port

If you go on a Western Caribbean cruise, there's a really good chance that you'll stop in Cozumel regardless of what cruise line you're on. It's probably the most popular Cruising port west of the Bahamas. Your ship will dock right at the port and you can walk down the pier, through the duty-free shop, and be free to go and do whatever you want, and come back to the ship whenever you want. 

It's a great port because there's lots of tourist-friendly restaurants like Senor Frogs and Margaritaville, but there's also authentic Mexican restaurants as well. There's really no language barrier and they even accept American dollars and usually credit cards as well, so you don't have to bring any foreign currency with you. It has an established shopping center that is well thought-out and feels similar to shopping back home. Most importantly, it feels safe! The people in the shops aren't overly pushy or sketchy. 

There's a lot you can do in Cozumel, so I wanted to create a place listing what we've done at each stop here over the years. I'll update this as we come back here again and again. 

Carnival Dock

International Cruise Terminal Cozumel

For our 2023 Carnival cruise, Cozumel was our last stop of the trip so we decided to have a chill day and just walk around the cruise terminal. Ryan grabbed us some drinks and we just walked around and shopped. Ryan was begging to get our daughter a sombrero because he has an obnoxiously giant one from a prior cruise, so I told him if he could find a baby-sized one then he could get it. Really, I thought it was a fool's errand, but of course the very next store had one! 

We also stopped into Cariloha and ordered some sheets. What's nice is that they ship your purchases to your home for free, so you don't have to worry about packing what you bought when you go home. This is exactly why I always throw a foldable backpack into my beach bag on port days, so that we have a way to carry all our port purchases back onto the ship.

Our daughter fell asleep in her stroller while we were shopping, so we stopped and had a long lunch at Fat Tuesdays while she had her nap. We ended up deciding that this was enough for one day, so we didn't go to the beach on this stop. But, if we come here again we'll probably just take a taxi to Paradise Beach on our own. 

Royal Caribbean Dock

Nachi Cocom

The Royal Caribbean dock is actually 2 miles away from the Carnival dock. So although you can see the other ships, the shops are a long walk away. For our 2024 Royal Caribbean cruise, we couldn't find an excursion through Royal that was toddler-friendly, but we knew we didn't just want to walk around the port again, so we booked Nachi Cocom on our own. We paid $69 per adult and $0 for our toddler to again get all-inclusive food and drinks. The reason we chose Nachi Cocom over other Cozumel options like Paradise Beach or Mr. Sanchos was that they limit the amount of guests per day. Having a toddler, it was really important to me that she felt she could run and play without getting trampled by a huge crowd. It also didn't have any big water inflatables that attract big kids who can run around and run over my daughter.

Navigating the Cozumel port to get to Nachi Cocum was an easier experience than navigating the Costa Maya port to get to Maya Chan. We again brought our Doona trike and this time remembered the trike backpack, but my husband thinks our daughter could have made the walk.We just followed the signs that pointed towards the taxi pickup. The one sus part was at the end there was a sign pointing to go to the right to get to the taxis, and then right behind that was a store with a sign pointing to the left down a hallway to get to the taxis. We thought this was a scam and went right, but actually you do go take a right until you get to the store and then take a left and go down the hallway to the taxis. What I appreciated about the taxi pickup was that they had a board with prices to the major tourist areas with a flat rate per 4 people. Whereas in Cancun all the taxis are white with a green stripe, here all the taxis were white with a red stripe, so you could feel comfortable knowing you're getting into a legit taxi. The trip was only about 20 minutes to get to the beach. 

Once you get there, they have you take a welcome photo and then later they offered us to buy it for $12. It was a cute photo, and I'm glad we bought it because with the chaos of a toddler we completely forgot to buy photos from our ship until after we got home, so this was our only professional photo of the trip. They then will take you to complete your payment and then give you paper wristbands and let you know who your waiter will be and then your taken to your beach chairs. There's actually a QR code that you need to scan to connect to Wi-Fi that we missed and had to go back, because the waiter we asked for the Wi-Fi code either didn't know it or wouldn't give it to us, so don't forget to scan the code before you leave. The Wi-Fi worked much better at the pool than at the beach. We were seated by the beach bar which made me nervous at first for nap times, but thankfully they didn't have the music too loud. 

What was the only con of our Nachi Cocom experience was that the beach area they brought us to initially had a big umbrella covering 4 beach chairs and a table, but as we were setting our stuff down, they took away the 2 beach chairs, leaving only 2 beach chairs for the 3 of us. I know that our daughter was free, but she still deserved to have her own chair and I wasn't a fan of this. At first I was just thinking they were rationing the chairs so that later-arriving guests could have a seat, but the chairs just sat out in the middle of the sun unoccupied for the rest of the day. The table they left us with was small, so I was very happy that I brought my baby Bogg Bag with my little tray insert to have an extra table so not everything had to go in the sand. 

The beach was also large and didn't seem to have a lot of sea grass, but I do recommend water sandals because there are a lot of shells. I'm glad we brought a little mesh bag for our daughter to collect shells in. There was no beach toys or floats offered, so make sure you bring your won. They have showers at the bathrooms to the right of the beach bar to wash off ocean water, and they have a food wash station near the pool to wash off sand. 

Nachi Cocom isn't a resort, but it does have a resort-sized pool. It was huge with a very large shallow ledge for adults to sit and talk or toddlers to play, an adults-only hot tub, and a swim-up bar. This was were my toddler wanted to spend the majority of the day, and we were just fine with that. 

Around the pool was a bunch of outdoor dining tables, so we had lunch by the pool. There was a good variety of options, and I really liked the food. The mixed drinks weren't the strongest, so we just stuck with beer to save on the empty calories. I never saw water sitting out like at Maya Chan, so I was glad we brought several bottled waters with us off the ship.

Regular menu

Kids menu

When it was time to go, they ordered a taxi for us and it was there about 5 minutes later. Overall, I think this would be a great sit and read a good book with a drink in your hand excursion. They specifically have signs saying they don't allow "spring break" behavior. Like Maya Chan, it seemed to be the perfect place for early elementary kids and younger to just hang out and enjoy the beach or the pool. We'd definitely come here again, but next time I do want to talk to them about having 1 beach chair per person rather than 1 beach chair per paying adult.