barbnyy

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

This is an OK port; better than some designed for cruise ships but also not as big and nice as others. Definitely worth getting off the ship and walking around for an hour or so. If we didn't have so many sea days we likely would have enjoyed the large pool with swim up bar. I think there is some beach area but nothing really beautiful and inviting. The shops weren't that great in my opinion, they all had the same stuff. No big name drunk restaurants, but a few small spots.

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

My cruise stopped at the Amber cove port, but I'm glad we took a little bit of time to do something fun within the city of Puerta Plata. We got a taxi (van) very easily to the Teleferico Cable Car. It was about 15 minutes away and cost the 3 of us $60 round trip. It was worth it, the driver was very nice and waited for us to finish whenever and drove us back. It was an organized operation with drivers all in the same outfits. You didn't feel like you were getting ripped off. The cable car was a really neat thing to do and only $10. It went up this gorgeous Green Mountain where you had views of the coast and ocean. Once you get up to the top of the mountain there were so many paths you could spend a couple hours walking around if you wanted. It was definitely a workout with lots of hills and steps. There was a snack bar and a sit down restaurant if you wanted to eat, we did not. The shop was a little bit annoying because it was all local people trying to pull you into their place and sell you. Still I recommend going here.

Grand Turk Island

Not my favorite beachy port that I've been to. I would much prefer to go to an actual private island that is run by carnival so that food and drink is included. We wanted to go to a popular spot, Jack's Shack, it was all the way on the end of the beach and just such a far walk. There didn't seem to be an actual pathway or a tram or anything that went down there so we had to walk on the beach which is tiring. Huge Margaritaville with a pool area closer to where the ship docks but as you can imagine that was just packed and not really my scene. Wanted more from this island, not worth getting off the ship for the whole day.

Cococay (Cruise Line's Private Island)

This review is really for the cabanas.. so awesome! Totally recommend. Mind you we paid about $150, I think there was a price increase since. The area has everything you want, plus it's more quiet because there are less people there. Got a tram ride right there and bak. Cabana included two comfy cushiony chairs out in the sun and an L-shaped sofa with table inside, this was perfect because some of our group really prefers the shade. You could close the curtains on all sides. Also included was four large cold bottles of Evian water and two floating mats. You can get towels here instead of having to carry them from the ship. Bar and restroom right there plus a few roaming servers. Small lunch menu that you actually filled out your choices for the day before, we got multiple of a lot of items. They delivered to our cabana a little bit late, but it was still fine. I love not having to walk and waste beach time to go to the typical Buffet BBQ so this was nice for a change. The food wasn't mind-blowing but it worked. Cabanas were also close to the new floating bar. The only negative is that the sand is very slimy in this area and there's a lot of seaweed growing in the shallow waters. Oh we also had a small shark and a stingray swim by!! Will post some pics in my profile.