Girl with A Canon Loc: Myrtle Beach,SC

Hello all we are going on a cruise for Christmas. Sailing out of Tampa, Florida. Our first port will be Harvest Caye, Belize which is Norwegians private island we have not planned anything yet. Costa Maya, Mexico going to Chacchiben Mayan Ruins. Coven Hole, Roatan Island, Honduras we booked a private Roaton Island tour for 3 hours. George Town, Grand Cayman Island we where there two years ago and did a private taxi tour. We went to Hell and I am happy to say made it back but we did not go to the turtle farm should we go. So I am looking for suggestions from anyone who has done this cruise for Belize and Grand Cayman. We are in pretty good health but we both are in our early 70’s and neither of us do water things. Thank you for any help anyone can offer.

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

Do the Zip Line in Belize. See the Turtle Farm in the Caymans. Some simple diving and snorkeling in both. Have a great cruise.

Julian Loc: Sarasota, FL

Boring, boring. Everywhere we went made us feel we were still in the Florida west coast. Other than the tourist traps, no much more to see; the best part of the cruise was the time on the ship: good food and great drinks.

Girl with A Canon Loc: Myrtle Beach,SC

Thank you but with my bad back Zip Line of out as would be my back LOl. Because of the back I can not do water things it sucks to say the very least.

Girl with A Canon Loc: Myrtle Beach,SC

As we wanted to do a Christmas cruise there were not to many offered by any line. Princess had one but they were goin to were we were for Easter.

Silverman Loc: Michigan

As far as your Photography Equipment, remember; K.I.S.S...( Keep it Simple Silly.) To enjoy you Island Excusions, it would be advisable to NOT carry a whole Photography Studio with you. The more you take, the more you might lose, get stolen, etc. One DSLR body, one "Walk-around" Lens, ex. a 18-140 lens, maybe a 50mm 1.8 lens. Depending on the Weather, Rain, High Humidity, protection is a must. Even a quality P&S might be a suggestion. Just some food for thought!

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

We've done two Caribbean cruises one that included the mainland (Mexico) Mayan and were only moderately pleased; the bus driver and guide seemed more interested in getting us to a roadside stand for blankets & other tourist goods (I suspect they got a commission/kickback on stuff purchased) which we found to be cheaper in town. The turtle farm and Hell (something that hopefully you won't see again) are interesting, were both part of the bus tour. Honestly, if we were to go again, I think we'd rather wander around downtown; the shops had stuff we'd never seen before and my wife got a lot of unusual stuff for Christmas presents. Overall, I'd rate Grand Cayman a good day visit.

I think the Private island stop's main feature is to save the ship fuel, steaming and dockside costs, but most seem to have been built up so much to handle the lunches (drinks not included) and swimming off the beach that they don't look native, but rather purpose built.

If you plan to take a camera ashore, have a well sealing plastic bag to protect if from the blowing sand; it's very fine and will penetrate a cheap plastic bag and unprotected camera.

Girl with A Canon Loc: Myrtle Beach,SC

I will take with me my Canon 80d and I use on that the Tamron 18-400mm I love that lens it has done me will with travel and local photography. What I love about it the best is when pulling into ports or leaving I can zoom in and get some great shots. I will have my cell phone for a point and shoot and with the developing programs they have for the phones I can get some pretty good stuff. Thank you so very much.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

A great book to have is: Birds of the West Indies: A Guide to the species of birds that inhabit the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles and Bahama Islands by James Bond (A friend of Ian Fleming who appropriated his name for a few books he wrote)
I have an old copy in hardback (which I just found out is worth around $150.00) But it can be had for $4.95 in paperback at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039567669X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

Chachchoben is a "newer" Mayan ruin site than Chichen Itza or Tulum. So it's not as traveled, but it's also not as photogenic. You'll need to purchase an excursion, as it's 60-90 minutes by bus. I did manage to capture some nice shots, including this one, which I have hanging on my wall.

Enjoy yourself!

(Download)

Girl with A Canon Loc: Myrtle Beach,SC

Most of the time when we go to port I will hire a private driver we have had such great experience with them on every cruise. But there are non at Costa Maya so we will do the bus trip. I know better then to buy things along the road and yes as you say the drivers get a kick back to take you there. Are private driver we had last year in Grand Cayman was terrific and if I see her again I will hire her for there. What I am trying to figure out is if I want to take a tender over to Belize instead of doing the beach scene. We live in Myrtle Beach and I live 4 miles from the beach so they are not important to me. What is important is capturing the beauty of a island and its people.

abbey4049 Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

We just came back from a Southern Caribbean cruise to Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Left the DSLR home and shot everything with my iPhone 8 plus. So happy I did. No heavy camera to lug around and the photos came out incredible!! Think about it. I figured if it was to far away I didn't need it.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

One suggestion I have after putting together another slide show of a trip is to be sure and take images that establish where you are for each group of images. For example welcome signs or even selfies.

And take an image of your itenerary to put at the front of your slide show.

I realized I haven’t been diligent enough about doing that.

We found the glass bottom boat trips worthless. The best excursion on our last trip (Panama Canal) was to an aviary/garden in Columbia.

hjachym Loc: West Michigan

If you have not already, contact your homeowners insurance about adding an all risk rider on your equipment. They are usually very reasonable and cover loss, theft, damage etc.

Paradise Pirate Loc: Cape Coral, FL

As far as going to Belize City. The port is surrounded by a wall. Going outside the wall can be risky. We did a private taxi tour one trip and he drove us through town. The Bloods and Crypts run the town. They are composed of members that went to US and joined the gangs then got deported back home. Every third store downtown had a military guard out front with machine gun. On another stop there my daughter and I went on tour to ruins, felt fairly safe staying away from town. Seen truckload of soldiers at airport. There are safer part on the island. Carnival cruise line won't build themselves a dock till the crime is controlled.