Shore Excursions on our Western Caribbean Family Cruise

During our cruise, we planned shore excursions for all but one day. The reason we had booked the Royal Caribbean Cruise around the Western Caribbean was so that we could explore some Mayan ruins and we were not disappointed at all. While I missed a lot of the history talks while chasing kids around the sites, it was still a lot of fun and made for a truly unique experience.

We were on the 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas that sails out of Tampa. I counted these shore excursions as new trails that are part of our goal for 52 trails in 52 weeks. Each one was at minimum one mile, which meant that I probably did about 3 walking all around with the kids. While the bus rides were hard and the long days were even harder on the kids, it was worth it and I wouldn’t cruise with kids any other way.

Looking for more about our time on cruise ship? Check out my post about going on a cruise with kids.

Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico Shore Excursions

Shore Excursion: Chacchoben Mayan Ruins

Our first port was Costa Maya, Mexico which is the first major port built exclusively for cruise ships. It was a fascinating area. There is an entire town built just for the people that work there. The main reason we had chosen the cruise we did was that we wanted to see Mayan ruins. For our first shore excursion, we chose to go to Chacchoben.

Chacchoben is also called “The Place of Red Corn”, named for the pigment that originally coated the pyramids and that you can still see in areas today. The day started with a 50 minutes bus ride to the site where our tour guide told us all about the port and where we were going. We learned about the Mayan culture, their calendar, counting system, and language. While our oldest napped on Nana’s nap, our 16 month old was pretty antsy on the bus. It made it a little hard to pay attention but it was still very informative and interesting for those of us that could hear what our guide was saying.

Once we arrived, it was time to explore. While the majority of the group followed our tour guide and learned about Mayan culture, I explored with the kids. We found trees to climb over and stairs to climb. The history was fascinating to me, but to them, it just looked like a cool place to play. They were not wrong.

There were pyramids that we could at least partially climb and tons of great photo opportunities.

Since we had a lot of family members there to help with the kids, my husband and I even got to have our photo opportunity on one of the pyramids. We don’t get to take a lot of pictures just the two of us anymore so I was so happy about this.

One of the most fascinating things to me was an obelisk that had a curved hole drilled in it. The tour guide explained that on the solstice the sun would shine perfectly through that hole. I think it is so incredible how ancient Mayans were able to construct something like this that was so precise.

This was the perfect shore excursion to start with since we got a great overview of Mayan culture. Our youngest was having a hard time on the bus back to port. He was so tired and screaming and we were trying everything to keep him happy until we got to port. Finally, he fell asleep cuddling a bottle of Excedrin that we gave him to play with like a rattle. It was one of those experiences that makes for a great story!

When we got back to port, we explored for a little while before stopping for some much-needed lunch. The restaurant we stopped at, El Faro was located right on the water with beautiful views of our ship and sand for the kids to play with. It was such a fun day off the ship and the shore excursion was exactly what we were looking for.

Belize City, Belize Shore Excursions

Shore Excursion: Lamanai Mayan Ruins & Speedboat Safari with Lunch

Our next port was Belize City. We had to catch a boat to tender into shore since the cruise ship was anchored offshore. Here we wanted to do something special for our oldest who was turning 4. My parents stayed on the boat and took care of our 16 month old so we could go on a shore excursion that included a speedboat ride to some more Mayan Ruins, called Lamanai.

Once on shore, we hopped on a bus that took us through the beautiful country of Belize. This shore excursion had out favorite tour guides of the trip, Bernie and Taj. They taught us all about their country and kept us fully entertained the whole bus ride to Ayinha Eco Park. We even learned about everything from the country’s top exports, education system, how they build their houses and even a little of their local language Kriol.

Once we arrived at Ayinha Eco Park we boarded a speedboat for a ride down the river. Here we got to see a crocodile hanging out in the river and our son loved “going fast” on the boat.

We got off the boat at Lamanai and we were ready to explore.

While we waited for some people to use the restroom, Bernie taught our son some bird calls that he is still yelling whenever he feels like it. “CAW CAW” has become a common phrase in our house. Thanks, Bernie!

This was my favorite site for the Mayan ruins. We started at a jaguar temple, continued through a ball court where the Mayans used to play games, and continued to the High Temple. Our son loved exploring all the ruins but the High Temple was a favorite. It was 108 feet tall and we got to climb to the very top. The views up there were amazing!

From there, we continued to one last temple, the Masked Temple.

On our way there we saw and heard some howler monkeys. Then we saw the amazing carvings at this last temple and explored the last stop on our tour.

If you are ever in Belize I highly recommend taking a tour of Lamanai, and if you can, ask for Bernie and Taj because they were amazing! We were all having so much fun together and they did a great job playing photographer for us all!

On the way back to Ayinha Eco Park we got to sit on the top of the boat by the driver which gave us a cool view of the river. Our son was excited but his exhaustion won out and he ended up falling asleep.

We ate a delicious Belizean lunch at Ayinha Eco Park and then all hoped back on the bus to get back to port and catch a boat back to the cruise ship. It was a great day and even more special that we were able to have some one-on-one time with our oldest son for his birthday.

Roatan, Honduras Shore Excursions

Gumbalimba Preservation Park

This shore excursion was planned entirely with the kids in mind but it ended up being an amazing experience for us all. Our oldest son loves monkeys (we call him our little monkey) and so we wanted to get him an up-close experience which is what the shore excursion to Gumbalimba Preservation Park offered.

After a short bus ride to the park, we started the tour.

There were some amazing plants to see and wildlife EVERYWHERE! We saw Iguanas all over, different types of lizards, birds (including macaws), peacocks, and even a sloth.

We walked through some caves and learned about the island of Roatan and got to look at a huge insect collection inside their insectarium. It was cool to learn about the old pirate activity and history of the island and we all had a lot of fun playing around together.

Next, our tour took us across a suspension bridge that I thought was cool. There was an alternate “chicken walk” for anyone that was too scared but our whole group made it across the bridge. My mother was screaming and giggling out of fear the whole time but she did make it!

On the other side of the bridge, we got to see some macaws up close. They were just hanging out all around and there were also trainers there to allow for the amazing photo opportunity of holding the beautiful birds. Our oldest loved it, the young guy wasn’t so sure.

That took us to the part that we had been waiting for, monkeys!

We hid any glasses (and pacifiers) so the monkeys wouldn’t steal them and got ready to have them jump all over us. As we entered the area we saw the moneys for the first time. “They are the Outbreak monkeys” my husband yells from behind me and we all laugh. White Capuchin monkeys were featured in the 1995 movie Outbreak, so we all had a good laugh while hoping he didn’t freak anyone out!

They jumped from person to person. It took a second for the kids to warm up to them (and our 16 month old never fully did) but once they did everyone was giggling and having a great time. Two little boys living the dream with monkeys all around.

We took a cool walk back to the beginning of the tour that included walking behind a waterfall.

We had the option to stay and hang out at Gumbalimba Preservation Park and explore more or relax on the beach but we were all tired and chose to go back onto the ship. This shore excursion was our son’s favorite and he talks about those monkeys all the time!

Cozumel, Mexico Shore Excursions

Winging it!

We did not book a shore excursion for our final port. It was our longest day docked and Cozumel is very tourist-oriented so we decided that we would wing it. First, we had to find some diapers because we were almost out! While we made some fun discoveries while searching for diapers, don’t make my mistakes and read my cruising with kids tips.

Based on the recommendation of a crew member we took a short taxi ride to Paradise Beach once our mission for diapers was complete.

This was a beautiful area set up with lounge chairs and umbrellas so you don’t have to bake in the sun. They had a lot of water activities, including some huge inflatables in the water that we could climb and slide down. It was a lot of fun and they had some delicious tacos.

My son even took a little nap while sitting on my lap.

My only complaint is that it ended up being more expensive than I would have liked. They had a small entrance fee and then you had to pay additional if you wanted to use the inflatables. Since we had forgotten our son’s puddle jumper on the cruise ship we had to get him a life vest, meaning that we had to pay the additional fee. It was a lot of fun, but I do wish that we had done some research ahead of time to find something that would have cost less for the day.

We went back to the port and browsed the shops a little bit. There, we found an awesome Spiderman cape that our son fell in love with. It was even featured in his 4th birthday photos!

Shore Excursions Conclusion

The point of shore excursions, to me, is to explore and discover things that you can’t find at home. Exploring Mayan ruins and playing with monkeys was exactly what we wanted and all our shore excursions were wonderful. The kids had a lot of fun and we got to do everything we wanted to. I was really happy with each day.

We completed three trails out of our 52 for the year (Cacchoben, Lamanai, Gumbalimba Preservation Park) and got to see some amazing wildlife. You might have a different taste when it comes to what you want to do for shore excursions, but I highly recommend all the ones that we did if you are traveling with young kids. They were interesting for us as adults and the kids enjoyed them as well which made these shore excursions a win-win.

Do you have questions about being on a cruise ship with little kids? Check out our experience and advice from this trip on Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas.

Have any questions about shore excursions? Ask me in the comments below.

We also spent a few days within driving distance of Tampa. Check out our 3 days in the Bradenton/Sarasota area!

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