Grand Cayman and Cozumel--conditions - Page 2 - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

Mrs Factor · 02-12-2006, 10:27 PM

This is the site for the beach in Cozumel. http://www.playamia.com/

sailyn · 02-12-2006, 10:31 PM

Thanks for looking up the links, Jackie!

Factor · 02-12-2006, 11:44 PM

Hi,

I don't remember the name of the beach in Grand Cayman either. The beach transport took us there as there first stop. And entrance to that beach was free. There was a bar there ($5 / beer), showers and bathroom. The beach was short (about 50 feet). There were lots of people there, but it wasn't too crowded.

In Cozumel, we took a taxi from the pier to Playa Mia ($15 for the ride). Playa Mia allows you to pay when you get there. Something like $12 per person to get in. You can pay for other plans there too including the alcohol inclusive version which we got.

As to the hurricane damage. It's clear when you take the taxi ride that most everything was damaged. Many shore-side stores are completely gone. The other piers look damaged. They appear to be building new buildings everywhere.

Once you get past Carnival's pier, you start to see a difference in the trees/vegetation. All the trees are gone. When you get to Chankanaab, you can see that they don't have any vegetation left. We knew Chankanaab was closed before we went, but when you drive by, you can see that nothing's left. (The ship was offerring a dolphin tour, but you had to take a tender to Cancun.)

"San Francisco" beach (also known as Paradise beach) (which we were thinking about going to) was on the way to Playa Mia and appearred to be open. You could see some damage. But there were plenty of people there.

As DW said, the Playa Mia beach appearred to be fine. And most of their buildings/structures were intact. We did notice that the main dining hut which was about 70 foot tall hut was gone and at the time replaced with a temporary enclosure.

You'll have a great time.

hammer161264 · 02-13-2006, 02:16 AM

Just came back today from our cruise, Cozumel and grand cayman.
We had to tender over on both islands, We had no problems at all.
every half hour a tender was there too take you out or bring you back to the ship.
In cozumel, chankannab was still closed, you will have to goto playa del carman
to swim with the dolphins. I don;t think anything else was shut down. But check.
You could still see that cozumel is still a mess, But almost all the shops are back open.

Nickers · 02-13-2006, 01:16 PM

I was wondering about paradise beach. Any views on that beach. If not I'll go to Playa Mia beach. Which one is nicer.

Mrs Factor · 02-13-2006, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nickers

I was wondering about paradise beach. Any views on that beach. If not I'll go to Playa Mia beach. Which one is nicer.

When we drove by Paradise Beach, we did see damage to signs and a lot of palm trees were just trunks. The leaves were all gone.

Here is the link: http://www.paradise-beach-cozumel.net/index.html

You can email them to see if they are open when you will be there.

As for Playa Mia, here is there link: http://www.playamia.com/

and you can decide for yourself which one you would like to do. We have done Playa Mia twice and had fun.

Hope this helps!

lucaslaw · 02-14-2006, 09:02 AM

Just returned from Cozumel a couple of weeks ago. The tender was fine. Not too long and very close to shore. Here is my suggestion for a fun day in Cozumel.

If you are looking for beautiful, secluded coastline beaches rent a car and do it yourself. We (four) rented a V.W. covertible at the dock from Enterprise for $60.00 (full insurance coverage) for the day. We cut across the middle of the island on Middle Island Road to the backside (20 minutes or so). This brings you out on the only road that travels along the coast and brings you back to the dock.

Fantastic! Coastline road with bars and vendors along the way. Isolated white sandy beaches with wonderful views. We had thought about renting scooters but decided on the convertible. I'm glad we did. We were able to carry things in the car and zipped past the slower moving scooters along the way. You will be able to cover much more on your own in a car.

On the way back we passed at all the crowded resort beaches. It was a mess with all the people and traffic. We stopped at one place and they wanted a mandatory $15.00 per person just to be there and $9.50 for a hamburger. No way.

Anyway, for the best inexpensive sightseeing day, do it yourself. You can view my pictures in the gallery. Look for the babyblue V.W. convertible. Have fun.

dobie · 02-14-2006, 11:27 AM

Thank you so much everybody! I will check out the links later on when I have time!!