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Our December 2023 Port Experience in Mexico

1/31/2023

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Jon Arthur, Owner, Big Dreams Travel
Over the holiday season my family and I were able to sneak away on a Royal Caribbean cruise on Adventure of the Seas and had a great time in both of our ports of call. This cruise marked our first visit to Costa Maya, Mexico and a return visit to the always popular Cozumel. Here are a few notes about the fun times we had in each port. 

Cozumel, Mexico

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Cozumel is a cruise port we have been to several times and in all of those trips we've experienced different things Cozumel has to offer, but this trip was the first time we were going to try Nachi Cocom Beach Club. Nachi Cocom is an all inclusive day resort that is mainly used by cruise ship passengers. The cost for us was around $60 for adults and $25 for our kids, which is actually on the lower end price wise compared to other all inclusive day resorts in Cozumel.

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For that price guests are able to enjoy all the food you want off of their menu as well as all inclusive drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic). In addition to the all you can enjoy food and drinks, guests are also guaranteed a palapa (umbrella) on the beach with beach chairs included. These aren't typically guaranteed at most daytime beach resorts and the reason why Nachi can deliver on this is that they limit their capacity each day to a certain number of guests. The last big benefit I will mention to this place is the limited number of guests they allow onsite. The resort has an extremely laid back atmosphere and we never felt crowded throughout the day. The pool wasn't crowded, the restaurant wasn't crowded, and the beach wasn't crowded.

With that said, there are a few drawbacks to Nachi Cocom. First, their atmosphere is one of relaxation and so if you are after loud music, rowdy pool areas, and beach toys, this place may not be for you. They don't have all of the activities of some other all inclusive day resorts such as Mr. Sanchos or Playa Mia, but that isn't the clientele Nachi is after. This place is pure relaxation! The only negative we had on our visit was that the service was a little less than we expected. We had been at Playa Mia on our previous trip to Cozumel and the service from our waiter and the staff was off the charts. At Nachi the service was good, but we would like to have seen the waiter a little more frequently. Overall, the food was good (try the chicken wings!), the beach was beautiful, and the place wasn't crowded. All of those things are at the top of our list of things we want in an all inclusive day resort.

Costa Maya, Mexico

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Our other port of call on this sailing was a first time port for us, Costa Maya. This is a cruise port, built more recently just as a way to add more ships into the Mexico cruise market. It is definitely not as well known of a cruise port right now, but we were pleasantly surprised with what was offered here. We didn't have plans for a major excursion in Costa Maya, but instead wanted to check out the port area and enjoy the large FREE swimming pool there. Of course Costa Maya has several great excursion options and this is a great cruise port if you are interested in seeing the Mayan Ruins there on the mainland of Mexico, but we just wanted to enjoy some pool time with the kids!

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The port area here was very nice and you can tell it is a relatively new port. We got to see the flyer's do there show in the courtyard area of the port and it was definitely a nice thing to watch and give you a little Mayan history in the process. We walked on through the port a little ways and came to the large pool on the left hand side of the walkway and went to find us some beach chairs. They have a lot of beach chairs here and although the pool is free you do have to purchase food or drinks from the waitstaff to use the chairs.

The pool is very large, includes a swim up bar, and they even have some dancers that come out to get the party going throughout the day. So, the atmosphere here was the complete opposite of what we experience in Cozumel! This place was more of a party atmosphere with music and a lot of fun to be had. The area was very crowded on this day with three ships in port and so it was a little bit crazy in the area around the pool. We had a great time though and all things considered the pool area entertained our kids and allowed us to enjoy some time relaxing on the beach chairs. After about two hours at the pool we packed up, paid for our drinks, and went to do a little shopping in the port area before heading back to the ship.

Overall, we had a great time in both of these ports along the coast of Mexico and would recommend both experiences to any of our travelers at Big Dreams Travel. If you want to book a cruise to Mexico or anywhere else in the world be sure and CONTACT US. We take care of all of the details, while you enjoy your dream vacation!
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Why Cruising May Be the Vacation You’ve Been Waiting For

10/27/2016

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 By: Jon Arthur, Owner of Big Dreams Travel

As I work with clients on planning the perfect vacation for them and their families one area that people are often a bit apprehensive is when I mention a cruise vacation. I’m not sure where the apprehension comes from though. Maybe it is the small room, maybe it is leaving the country, maybe it is the fear of getting seasickness, or maybe it is just not being on dry land. Whatever the case may be cruising can come with fear or apprehension and with that in mind I’m going to give you five reasons why cruising may just be the vacation you’ve been waiting for. Keep your mind open and maybe, just maybe this list will put to rest some of the objections you or someone in your family has towards cruising.
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  1. Cruising is Family Friendly - Cruises are truly a family friendly experience and are the ultimate way for a family to vacation together. Cruises give your family the chance to participate in activities together, that everyone will enjoy, and will bring your family closer together, but they are also going to give each person their own individual experiences. Regardless of the ages of the various members of your family a cruise is going to have something for everyone. From the kids clubs, to the teen areas, to the adult entertainment districts there are options on-board to suit everyone. Your family is going to get the best of both worlds. You are going to have time together whether it is during activities or nightly during the world class dinner service and you will have time for each individual to do what suits them. What could be better?
  2. Ships are Safe Places - Another negative that comes along with cruising is the safety factor, both in terms of being away from land and the aspects of being on the ship such as sea sickness. Cruise ships are actually a very safe mode of travel. What other vacation destination that you may book has the ability to sail around bad weather? Good luck having the Caribbean resort pick up and move to keep you out of the storm! Cruise lines have very high safety requirements and they are actually a very safe place to be. In terms of sea sickness this is a problem that gets talked up more than it should. The large cruise ships of today have great technology and this includes large stabilizers that get enabled while the ship is at sea. Don’t get me wrong, sea sickness can happen and it could happen to you, but chances are it won’t, and if it does it probably will not be as bad as it sounds. Carry some sea sickness medication with you just in case and the ship is also very proactive and helpful in these situations providing medicine if it is needed. The only other note is if you are traveling with children make sure and talk to your doctor about what medicine would be appropriate should they experience any nausea on-board.
  3. See Many Destinations Without Repacking - One of the biggest benefits to cruising is that you get to see multiple destinations without having to unpack, repack, and unpack again. Once again, this would be a lot more difficult if you were having to travel over land and stay in multiple hotels just to see different destinations. Not to mention you aren’t traveling in a bus or car, you are traveling in a massive floating city with hundreds of things to keep you busy and any type of food you could imagine. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it!
  4. Cruising is a Great Value - Another way that cruising is different than a land vacation is the better value it provides. Food is included, most of the activities onboard are included, and entertainment is included. All of these things make cruising a great value compared to land based vacations, not to mention the pure convenience of having your vacation paid for upfront versus coming home with hundreds of dollars in credit card charges for your meals. There are some parts of a cruise that are not included, such as alcoholic beverages and specialty dining, but the vast majority of things onboard are included and you can certainly have a fantastic cruise without spending much if anything onboard.
  5. Today’s Cruise Ships are Destinations - A final reason cruising is a great vacation option is that in today’s world the ships themselves are a great destination. There are many cruise ships that you could go on and have one week at sea with no ports of call and still have a fantastic vacation. The amount of entertainment on board is enough to sustain families of all types and sizes and of course there is a wide variety of food to satisfy you. Cruise ships being built today even have modern amenities such as bumper cars, ropes courses, ice skating, surfing, and zip lines, just to name a few. Just as that resort or theme park can be a destination on land the ships are destinations in and of themselves when we talk about cruising.
Now that we’ve put all of the myths to rest about cruising make sure you contact us when you are ready to book your families cruise vacation. E-mail us at quote@bigdreamstravelusa.com for a free no-obligation quote.

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