Honduras/Belize vs Jamaica/Caymans

[fizbobunny]

Which do you prefer? Pros/cons? If you've done one, what excursions did you choose?

 

[txga]

I love just taking a cab or public bus to beach in Cayman Islands- my favorite Caribbean beach. I feel very safe in Caymans. Haven't been to Jamaica yet but we are looking at tour to Blue Hole in Ocho Rios with Peat Tours for rainforest cliff jumping.

No experience with the other choice.

 

[ScubaMama]

What are you interested in doing? If you want to shop (or more development/tourists) then that would be better in Grand Cayman/Jamaica. If you want a more pristine beach, amazing scuba diving or snorkeling then do the Roatan/Belize itinerary. I think they're all very safe but Jamaica can be the one with the most culture shock because of cat calling.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

Done all four ports. Belize and Honduras we did in December 2012 and Jamaica and Cayman in February 2014.

Belize and Honduras, I felt both were dirty. In Belize we did a snorkel excursion and went to a private island to lounge for maybe an hour after snorkeling. It was nice, had drinks (paid not included). Snorkeling was good. There was complimentary rum punch on the boat ride back. Belize is a tender port and the snorkel excursion boat picked us up and dropped us off right at the ship. After that we took the tender in and went on a tour of the city. It was on a tram like you'd do at WDW to the parking lots. It really showed you the slums of the area. In Hondarus we rented a private car/drive through Victor Bodden tours. The driver was nice. The tour went to an iguana farm. We then went to see monkeys where we played with them (held them, etc). We then went ziplining. It was awesome, I love 3rd world ziplining. They let you take a running leap off the platform. They let you twist around and flip upside down when ziplining. Some people may fear for the safety of the equipment but a guide always went before us so my worries were eased. The vehicle that we rode in had a cracked windshield and ripped seats. That was the norm to them and the driver thought the vehicle was great. She told us that most homes didn't have running water and the ones that did have running water were mostly salt water so you couldn't use for cooking. So we learned quite a bit about the local culture.

Jamaica/Caymans. We ported in Falmouth, before the cruise this was the port I was not looking forward to the most. I have heard a lot of bad stuff about Jamaica. It ended up being one of our favorite ports. We did the hike up the waterfall, Dunn's River Falls. We had so much fun. The guy was awesome. After that our excursion took us to a place with dolphins to have lunch. The dolphins didn't do a show it was where people could swim with them (we couldn't not included in fee plus not enough time), but you could watch them swim around. The lunch was a buffet and BBQ style food. After the lunch there were places to lounge on the beach (very very small beach) or there were trails. We walked the trails and were able to hold an iguana and see some other animals. Caymans was the port I was most looking forward to on that cruise. Even though I loved the Caymans it was the least favorite port. Way too crowded for me. Everything was packed! We did an excursion that went to the town of Hell, to a rumcake factory (it was so packed inside we couldn't even go in), the Turtle Farm (neat) and then a boat ride out to the Stingray Sandbar (neat as well). Even walking around intown was crowded. Next time I go back to Cayman I will go diving. Should be a little less crowded, as the tour we did was the most popular. I think there were 6 ships in port when we were there (tender port) so that's why so crowded.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Grand Cayman is an unprotected tender port. High winds and rough seas and you won't get ashore. Although Belize is also a tender port, it is well protected and almost always calm so you will get ashore.

 

[ronandannette]

Grand Cayman is a very different place than most other Caribbean destinations. It is a British colony renowned for "international banking" and is a very orderly, prosperous society. The citizens are not impoverished and you will not likely encounter aggressive vendors. Prices are quite high there and don't expect to haggle for deals. It's also extremely hot and arid and not very picturesque, but 7 Mile Beach had the softest sand and some of the most pristine waters I've ever seen.

Jamaica is lush and beautiful but you will be looked at as a "revenue source" by practically everyone you meet. We didn't find it particularly intimidating but YMMV. Climbing Dunn's River Falls was one of the highlights of my travelling life; a real bucket-list experience that I would recommend to anyone. We organized our excursions on our own (as we most always do) but if you're not confident, buy one through the ship.

As for Belize, we board the Liberty of the Seas today and will be visiting there for the first time on Monday. We chose this itinerary because we've already been to a lot of places in the Caribbean and this will be new to us. We're doing Cave Tubing because it is apparently what the area is renowned for. I'll post back next week and let you know how it went.

 

[ekatiel]

We have missed Grand Cayman more than once on an itinerary due to high winds. It is a nice port-- swimming with the sting rays is really cool, but I have to say, our favorite itinerary is Honduras/Belize. We went to Maya Key in Honduras (it was a ship-sponsored excursion). Very neat beach with snorkeling off the end of pier-- it is also an animal rescue, so there were some animals to see there, too. Our all-time favorite excursion was cave tubing in Belize. Absolutely AMAZING!! We went with cavetubing.bz. They were reasonably priced, and AWESOME!! I would do the Honduras/Belize itinerary .

 

[ronandannette]

Back from Liberty of the Seas and our visit to Belize. We LOVED it; mostly because the tour company we booked (cavetubing.bz) was so fantastic. We found the area itself to be a really refreshing change from other Caribbean ports. It's not luxurious by any means, but their tourism industry is still in it's early stages and the locals have not yet become jaded to the point that they see all visitors only as "walking wallets". We really liked the people and felt their welcome was genuine.

IMPORTANT WARNING: If you are sailing a large RCCL ship (Freedom/Liberty/Independence/Oasis/Allure) to either Belize or Grand Cayman, be aware that these are both tender ports. It is absolutely INSANE that they try to move this many passengers by tender - it literally takes hours. We didn't make it ashore until after 12:00 noon. Be aware of this if you are arranging any independent excursions on your own.