Things to Remember on a Cruise to the Caribbean...

Things to Remember on a Cruise to the Caribbean

Last month I went on a 5 day cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel on the Carnival Paradise. I did a ton of research before leaving and found some very useful and handy tips that I shared with my family... It still didn't prepare some of my family members enough. So, here are some quick tips on what to bring and a few things to do in Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

• Do NOT forget your Passport/Birth Certificate & I.D!!!- Picture this... My fiancè, niece, and I have just arrived into the cruise port in Tampa, and we are waiting for my sister and mom to get there on the next shuttle from the airport. *buzzzzzzz* My phone rings, it's is a call from my mother. 
• MOM: Hey, do you have Michele's Birth Certificate? 
• ME: Ummmm, no..... Why would I have her Birth Certificate? I gave it to her a few weeks ago... 
• MOM: Well, she doesn't have it.

• So then when they finally get to the port, we are basically forced to wait in this small closed off box until someone from customs comes over (aka 10000000 minutes), and talks to my sister. She was not going to be allowed to board the cruise ship, so she calls her school and has security break into her dorm room and search her room for her birth certificate. Just don't do it.
• Do not leave your phone in the stroller in the hallway!- My sister left her iPhone 6 in the stroller and it got snagged by someone passing by our room and was never returned.

Unusual but Useful Things to Bring Along

• Duct Tape- Just bring it, I guarantee you will use it for something! My sister posted signs on our door trying to get her phone back, and used the duct tape to stick them on. You never know what you'll need it for, but it won't take up too much space in your bag!
• Highlighter- We used it to highlight things on the "Fun Times" paper (the paper that has all the activities for the day on it) that we wanted to do that day.
• Clothespins- The shower curtain blows into the shower and sticks to your soapy body. Clip clothes pins onto the bottom = Problem solved!
• Small Pouch on Clip or Lanyard- I went to Walmart looking for a lanyard to put my Sail & Sign Card (a card you use to make all onboard purchases on carnival) in. I found a lanyard on clearance that had a small pouch on the end, and it proved to be VERY useful! I put the Sail & Sign Card on the outside where an ID would usually go. Inside the zipper, I put my driver's license, the schedule for the day, a small map of the ship, and if it was a port day, I put the cash I wanted to bring with me off of the ship. Put the pouch on a lanyard or clip (then clip it to your belt loop) so that you won't lose it!
• Magnetic White Board- Put it on your cabin door and ask people a question (ex. How many cruises have you been on? What is your best cruise tip? etc.). People will answer!
• Sticky Notes- We used sticky notes to tell other family members where we would be and stuck it to the mirror in our state room.

Fun Things to Do in Cozumel and Grand Cayman

I would suggest that if possible, always do an excursion on your own and not through the ship. The cruise line gets a chunk of the cost of the excursion, so they charge extra to customers going through the cruise line. Our excursion in Cozumel was not offered on our sailing (but is offered on other Carnival sailings), so we booked directly through the company. It saved us $20 each, for a total of $80 savings!

Grand Cayman: We went on an excursion through our ship to the Turtle Sanctuary, because we did not have a lot of time, and we wanted to make sure we got back to the ship on time.  It was absolutely amazing! The bus driver picked us up from the port and gave us a hilarious (and free!) bus tour of the island! It was so great, and so funny! We got to hold baby turtles (a lot bigger than we expected), snorkel with turtles and fish, swim in a chlorine pool that had a fun water slide, feed exotic caribbean birds, look at nurse sharks and other fish, and watch the sharks being hand fed! They also have a package where you get lunch included (we didn't do this, but some people on our bus did) if you wanted to do that. This was the highlight of our trip and I would recommend it to anyone going to Grand Cayman!

Cozumel: I got a AAA travel book for Mexico and the Caribbean, and I read about an awesome ranch, Rancho Buenavista, that offered tours of the Mayan Ruins on horse back. I really wanted to go, but it was not offered on our sailing. I ended up calling them and booking directly through the ranch. It was $70/person that way instead of $90/person, which was the price they offered on the ship. The ranch is amazing because they treat the horses SO well! The horses do only one tour a day and other than that, they get to roam freely on the ranch! When our tour was done, we got off of the horse, and then the horse just went on its way with the saddle still on and went into the pasture without even a staff member leading them! We ended up getting our own private tour with just the 4 of us, which was really amazing! First, we had a quick lesson on how to ride western and how to control the horse. Then we went and got our helmets and went to get our horses. The tour was about an hour, and we got to see tons of Mayan Ruins (not huge ones, but things like pots and pans and some statues). We even got to go into a cave that the Mayans used to hide from enemies. It had a ton of ruins in it, many that were still fully intact! After the tour was over, we got to chose our complimentary soda or water. Then we were put into the bus and went to a nice beach that had hammocks and chair swings. We got some authentic Mexican guacamole and salsa with homemade chips. The beach was not good for swimming because it was rocky and the water was rough, but it was nice to relax!

I had so much fun on my cruise, and I hope I helped you a little bit on deciding what to pack and some things to do!