I like Grand Cayman but unless you're doing a different excursion each time, there's not much to see if you're just shopping or walking around. I find it annoying to be asked 100 times if we want to book a tour or need a taxi to the beach. One guy followed us for TWO BLOCKS and across the street after we said no. 
I signed up for the Sea Trek Helmet Dive and I really enjoyed it. The crew and guide took really good care of us. For someone like me (a non-swimmer who needs eyeglasses to see) it was a perfect way to finally get to see what snorkelers and divers get to see. It was terrifying at first (I'm afraid of the water) but exhilarating and beautiful once I got underwater. 


Grand Cayman (Georgetown)

This was our first trip to Roatan. The weather wasn't that great, rain showers off and on, but we had a good time anyway.  The rain wasn't steady and didn't interfere with our excursion.

We signed up for the "Pirates, Birds and Monkeys" excursion to Gumbalimba Park. The pirate part was cheesy and too long, I'd vote to leave it out. The pirate cave was man made with fake decorations, it was small and hot.

The monkeys were great but the guides spent quite a bit of time telling us scare stories about monkey tricks and exploits way before we got to the monkey exhibit. Luckily the monkeys we interacted with were great, very calm and well-behaved.  The birds were neat, very colorful and there was a Carnival staff photo person taking pictures of us with the birds posed on our shoulders.  

Once we were done with the excursion, the guide told us we were welcome to go back into the park or use the pool (we were not told about the pool prior to the excursion).  We had to wait for 20 people to be ready to go back to the ship before we could leave, which I found annoying (we've experienced this on other tours in other ports).

Roatan

This was our second visit to Belize. You need to book an excursion or hire someone to take you around because it's not worth it to tender in 15 minutes and then just walk around the shops in port. 
There are a lot of people calling to you, begging you to book tours, etc. We made sure that we booked a taxi driver on the INSIDE of the fence (near the tender area). His name was Melvin and he was great, drove us around Belize for two hours, stopping for us to take pictures, answered all of our questions. We hired him at the stand outside of "The Wet Lizard." 
There are a lot of shops right where the tender let you off but the shops are small so it's hard if you're claustrophobic. 


Belize City

We've been to Cozumel quite a few times but I always enjoy it. We docked at a different spot than on our cruise last year. They have built a shopping village right off the pier. It's pretty and new but feels "canned" so we took the $7 taxi ride to Downtown for our shopping. 
When you walk down the street, be prepared: every shop you pass will try to get you to come in to their shop, sometimes they'll even get in your way. You just have to be polite but firm and keep walking if you're not interested. Be sure to bargain on the price of anything that you buy, it's expected. 
The Forum Shops were where we left the taxi. They did have a nice, cool, clean restroom in the hallway to the restaurant. 


Cozumel

We loved the location of our cabin, on Panorama Deck, about halfway from the end.  It's a half-deck, which we feel is quieter.  You're close to the Forward elevators but also close to the Lido deck, so it's quick and easy to get almost anywhere.  Quiet, couldn't hear the partying on the Lido deck. We always get a balcony cabin.

GREAT friendly cabin steward.We had a GREAT cruise as usual.

Carnival Valor Review

Carnival Cruise #8 , 7th different Carnival Ship

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