Where will you be cruising in 2015?

DebbieandJerry · February 9, 2015

Hi Heather. Both of your cruises sound wonderful. We love New Orleans and Cozumel. Your short (but sweet) cruise on the Elation should be fun. It's one of their small ships. I prefer the smaller ships. Followed by a 7-day on the Dream which should be fantastic. Great idea to bundle both trips together.

I know you wrote that you might not got off the ship when you go to Cozumel or Progresso. We have been to Cozumel many times. The first time we rented a jeep and drove around the island and stopped at various beaches on our own. All of the other times (I want to say at least 4 others) we hired our own taxi. Most times we just spend all day at Chan Kannab Park. The taxi drops us off. No worries at all. There are a zillion taxis waiting to take you back so that is not a problem. We found Cozumel to be very safe, very clean and very humble.

I have never been to Progresso. But we have met many cruisers in Cozumel who were there and said the beaches are just lovely.

You're in Mexico. You just don't drink the water. There's plenty of bottled water on the ship and plenty to purchase on the beaches.

We're not big shoppers so going store to store doesn't appeal to us. Real vanilla, silver and of course, liquor, is what you buy in Mexico.

Congrats on your cruises and for finding us.

HeatherMcNally · February 10, 2015

We actually have been to Conzumel last September on the Conquest.

We did a great ATV jungle thing and had a great time.

We will also be there the next week with the Dream so we might give it a miss for the first week. LOL knowing me we wont!

On our cruise on the Conquest we didn't go ashore at Belize. I wasn't feeling well and slept most the day. Wasn't bad though i actually enjoyed the down time and felt much better for a rest.

Yeah this time we'll be sailing out of New Orleans, its about an 8 hour drive from my dad's in Northern Arkansas so we hope to spend a week there with him before renting a car and driving down.

What do we do... drive down overnight? or aim to get there the afternoon before and book a hotel somewhere?

Also any suggestions on where to stay that night between the Elation and Dream? We'll need to do our laundry so we dont have dirty clothes for our second cruise but i'm told its just as inexpensive to do it ourselves onboard the Elation ?

Jan115 · February 10, 2015

Hi Heather - welcome, again!

Progreso is famous for Mayan culture and archeological ruins, and if you're interested in that, Progreso is a great place to see them. Coz also offers a tour to the Mayan ruins at Tulum overlooking the ocean, but it's a long, long day, and I don't recommend it if you itinerary also includes the much more accessible ruins in Progreso.

Absolutely, you should drive down in the afternoon and stay the night before the cruise. You'll want to arrive to the ship all rested up and ready to rock. :smile:

DebbieandJerry · February 10, 2015

Before becoming Platinum (where we get free laundry services), I use to do laundry using the ship's machines. Check the Elation on the Carnival website to see if they have laundry rooms. I found small bottles and poured my own soap and brought along my own dryer sheets. That way I wasn't spending more money. I found the time in the laundry room very relaxing and I got to meet some wonderful people.

HeatherMcNally · February 12, 2015

Thanks for the advice on the laundry.. i just might have to do that ... makes sense to just take a bit of time and get it done the night before we leave the ship.

We wont be looking for anything expensive for that night between, just a bed and quick nibble in the morning before setting off again to the Port for the Dream.

Any cheapish hotels nearby or with a free shuttle to the port ?

And Sunluva... i'll check out what's available for Progresso.... we're trying to keep that week inexpensive but as its somewhere we haven't been yet.. might be worth doing something like the ruins. LOL Hubby probably would rather stay on the boat or find somewhere to go fishing ...

He loves fishing .. and i'd love to find a way to get him fishing SOMEwhere on our two cruises... any suggestions? the excursions for deep sea fishing are pretty far out of our budget i'm afraid .. he's not lookin for trophies.. the experience of catching a few new fish would be great though and it would be a nice birthday surprise !

cruznjan · February 23, 2015

Do onboard washers and dryers take cash (quarters)?

Edited February 23, 2015 by cruznjan

Shari2 · February 26, 2015

Hi cruzinjan...I have never really used them even after 10 cruises. I really used to pack too much, most of the time...LOL I'm sure others on here have, so, you should get an answer to that soon.

WeCruiseToo · March 4, 2015

this time we'll be sailing out of New Orleans, its about an 8 hour drive from my dad's in Northern Arkansas so we hope to spend a week there with him before renting a car and driving down.

What do we do... drive down overnight? or aim to get there the afternoon before and book a hotel somewhere?

Hi Heather! We’d recommend driving down the night before. You should be able to board about 11:00am and start enjoying the ship. We’ve had things happen driving to a port that’s less than an hour away and you end up stressed-out and worried you’ll miss your cruise. Not a good way to start a vacation!

WeCruiseToo · March 4, 2015

Also any suggestions on where to stay that night between the Elation and Dream? We'll need to do our laundry so we dont have dirty clothes for our second cruise but i'm told its just as inexpensive to do it ourselves onboard the Elation ?

I don’t have any specific hotel recommendations (it’s been many years since we’ve been to New Orleans) but I think that’ll be the best time to do your laundry. Most hotels seem to have self-service laundry facilities and I'd rather take care of that chore while sitting in the hotel room than take time out from a cruise. Of course if you’re planning to spend some time out on the town that night it’s nice to have the ship-board laundry as an option!

WeCruiseToo · March 4, 2015

i'll check out what's available for Progresso.... we're trying to keep that week inexpensive but as its somewhere we haven't been yet.. might be worth doing something like the ruins.

Progresso is a nice little beach town; everyone was really friendly and prices were very reasonable when we were there. Not far from Progresso is the city of Merida – lots of cool history, art and architecture. A ways further is Chichen Itza – arguable the greatest collection of Mayan ruins and an amazing place to visit if you have any interest at all.