First Time Cruising

[Mainstream Aunt]

My husband & I and 2 other couples are going on our first cruise(NCL out of Houston Mar 3rd to the western caribbean; Progreso, Cozumel, & Belize City.) We all want to snorkel at one of the stops but don't know which is the best.

I'm hoping you experienced cruisers that also love to snorkel will give offer us good advice on the best snorkeling.

[spoheat]

Snorkeling is my favorite excursion. A lot of reef at Cozumel is decimated by hurricane Wilma and will take a generation to recover. The best snorkeling we experienced was in Belize. We did the RCCL tour (this is a port where you tender into the town and we just felt more secure with getting back to the ship on time, etc. going through the ship, although we often do not use their tours) and were met in a public place in town, taken to a large transport boat, which took us to a tiny reef island that was amazing, although 45 minutes from shore. We could snorkel from the shore there--there was a floating bar there for people into that, my daughter did not want to snorkel and the guides kayaked her to shore where she sunned. We saw tons of fish. Have heard really good things also about the cave tubing in Belize. The town is not much so missing that to go snorkeling is probably not a big deal. If you decide to do other things in Belize snorkeling from a boat (away from the island of Cozumel) might still give you a good opportunity. Laurie

[Jim C.]

I have been on this cruise and I agree with spoheat. Progreso is on the gulf side of the Yuchatan pennisula.. so while it would be possible to snorkel, its not very good there. Cozumel is great for snorkeling but the hurricane did mess it up. Belize has great snorkel tours that take you from the ship to the barrier reef. I would recommend this as there really isn't much to miss in Belize City itself. You are better off doing the shopping in Cozumel and there are more choices for things to do there. So do the snorkling in Belize and choose other things for the other two stops.