In Costa Maya we went on a tour of the Chacchoben Mayan ruins with Native Choice. Our guide was Ivan, and he was phenomenal. We chose this tour after doing research on Cruise Critic. Ivan grew up on the actual site so his knowledge was beyond what any other tour guide could have shared. The only disappointment was how popular the tour was! We expected a small group, but there were about 60 people! We took a large coach bus to the site, which took just under an hour. The tour lasted a lot longer than advertised. We spent about 2.5 hours at the ruins. This was great, except that our children got about restless, as they were eager to head to the beach. We came prepared with bug spray, but happily there was not a bug in the air (it was March). 
On our way back from the ruins we took the option of being dropped off at the town of Majahual, a small fishing village. We sat at table with umbrella on the beach and had a delicious late lunch while the children played in the ocean. It was beautiful- a perfect setting for relaxing after a busy morning of touring the ruins. When we first arrived a man tried to get us to pay for beach chairs, but we walked down the beach a few yards and were invited by another establishment to sit at their free tables, so don't take the first offer you get, scope things out first. Took a 5 minute taxi ride back to the port where we enjoyed some shopping and a dip in the port pool, which has a swim up bar, and plenty of lounge chairs. 


Costa Maya

We took the Carnival tour to Goff's Cay to snorkel.  We were able to leave straight from the ship on this tour so we can't comment on the tender experience.  The boat ride to Goff's Cay was enjoyable-about 25 minutes.  Goff's Cay is a tiny sand bar with some palm trees, a port-o-potty, and a small shack with drinks, snacks, and local gifts/jewelry.  prices on beer were cheap!  The tour guides provided us all snorkel equipment, but we only used their fins as we brought our own masks and snorkels.  There were a good number of people on the tour, but it never felt crowded.  the tour guides had us follow them into the water where we snorkeled for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Afterwords we hung out on the beach, swam in the water, and enjoyed some refreshments. There was also a choice of taking the boat out a bit further to snorkel, but the day we were there it was very rough and windy, so we opted for staying near shore.  Guides were helpful, and friendly.  We returned to the ship by about 1 pm, changed, ate lunch at the buffet, and then took the tender ride to Belize City to check out the port.  At this time there were no lines for the tenders, and we took an almost empty tender-nice ride!  There was not a whole ot to see, but we shopped a bit, and then had a local Belkin beer before taking the tender back to the boat. Definitely want to do a tour at this port as it is not a place you can/want to wander out on your own.

Belize City

In Cozumel we went to Nachi Cocom for their all inclusive beach break booked through cozumelshoreexcursions.com (not Carnival) and absolutely loved it! It was everything we had read about-a beautiful uncrowded beach-delicious food, open bar with great drinks, a huge freshwater pool, and hammocks hanging between palm trees in the shade. It really felt like paradise! I would return here in a heartbeat. My only complaint was that we didn't have enough time here! The ship stayed on Miami time, while it was two hours earlier in Cozumel, so we arrived at 7 am ship's time, which was only 5 am in Cozumel. this meant we had to wait until about 10:30 am to go to the beach club. There were all sorts of water sports options (for an extra charge) so bring extra cash if you plan to take advantage of these as they do not accept credit cards. 


Cozumel

This was the only port that we found very frustrating because it took forever to get off the ship. We docked around 9:30 am, and it was 11:30 before we got on a tender. The tender tickets were handed out in the eagles lounge, and we were told not to go to get a number until 10 am. In truth, they were giving tickets out earlier, so go early if you are eager to get off the ship early! 
We took a cab ($5 per person) to 7 mile beach, and made the mistake of going to the second cab stop-Seagrape beach, Public beach, and Courtyard Marriott were all at this stop. The first stop was Royal Palms and the reef grille, and that was probably the better stop as we found out too late. The beach was nice, but only a very narrow band of sand, and the ship took their beach tour there so it was very crowded. We paid for 4 chairs and an umbrella ($50) at the Courtyard Marriott, and were disappointed in the amount of dead coral in the water as it was difficult to swim. At the end of the day we walked down the beach and found that there was more sand, and nicer swimming-live and learn! The other complaint on the beach was that there were cigarette butts in the sand, and it seemed dirty-not the paradise we experienced in Cozumel. In addition, everything in Grand Cayman was very expensive-$10 hot dogs! If we had had more time, I would have one to Rum Point, or some other more remote beach. In any case, we still had a nice day, it just was not what we had hoped for. Leave plenty of time (at least 45 minutes) to get back to the port by cab as there seemed to be a lot more traffic at the end of the day. 


Grand Cayman (Georgetown)

Had cabins 6455 and 6459, both inside cabins on the Upper Deck aft.  We were very close to the aft elevators/stairs, which was very convenient.  We loved the location.  One floor below was the promenade deck where everything was-night clubs, bars, sushi bar, game room, etc.  Only three flights up was the aft deck and lido buffet.  Only on the last night did we hear the bass beat of music coming from the lounge below, otherwise it was very quiet and comfortable. The rooms were very comfortable with plenty of storage.  having stayed in a balcony room on a previous cruise, I definitely missed the balcony, but otherwise the room felt plenty spacious.

The second floor of the dining room was also empty for most meals so even if you don't eat from the fish and chips station, it is worth the hike up the stairs with your tray of food to find peace and quiet.We especially liked the Fish and Chips station on the second story of the buffet (deck 10).

Carnival Valor Review

Fabulous family vacation on the Valor!

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