Western Caribbean Ports of Call from Carnival Magic: Cozumel, Belize, Isla Roatan, Costa Maya

February 2018

With the exception of Costa Maya, we have been to all of the ports in this post more than once, ranging from 2003 to the present. You can find additional port and shore excursion information from our previous visits by clicking on the labels at the bottom of this post, or links within this post. I started this blog in 2010, so information prior to that is not provided. That information is probably outdated, anyway! I also have more photos posted in the Western Caribbean Facebook album.

Carnival Magic in Cozumel port Puerta Maya

Cozumel

Cozumel was our first port of call, and our ship was docked there for most of the day. We arrived before the scheduled 9:00 AM arrival time, and we stayed until 6:00 PM. We have visited Cozumel in 2014, 2011, 2010, 2005, and 2003. You can find information about the Deluxe Sail & Snorkel Tour that we took in 2011 in my Carnival Glory blog post. We did not book an excursion in Cozumel this trip.

The Carnival Magic docked at the farthest out dock at the Puerta Maya pier. I thought there were two other ships docked at Puerto Maya (Triumph, and I do not recall the other one); however, the port schedule website only lists two ships for the day we were there. A couple more ships were also docked at the pier next door, across from Royal Village Shopping Center.

Shops at Puerta Maya pier in Cozumel

We opted to stroll around the many shops near the port, and then spend the afternoon on the ship.  When we visit Cozumel again in November, we are considering hiring a driver, visiting Chankanaab Beach Adventure Park on our own (basic admission with the $2 off coupon), Island Introduction by Open Air Bus (tour through an outside company for $52), or visiting a resort, like Nachi Cocum. I will post information about whichever excursion we book then at the end of 2018.

Belize waters from Carnival Magic at anchor

Belize

Despite having to tender in Belize, Belize is one of our favorite destinations in the western caribbean. We were at this port from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

We have done the following excursions in Belize, and enjoyed them all.

• The Barrier Reef Snorkel through Carnival while on the Glory in 2011. The link to the post with this excursion is above.
• Goff's Caye booked on our own while onboard Carnival Sunshine in 2014.
• Altun Ha and Belize City tour through Carnival while on this cruise; Carnival Magic. This tour is offered by a competitor company for $5 less than Carnival. We booked the tour through Carnival, and then took advantage of their shore excursion "best price guarantee," and received an onboard credit. We enjoyed this tour, and our guides on the bus and at the ruins were excellent. The information on Carnival's website regarding the tour is accurate, with the exception of the timings. This tour turned out to be over 5 hours, rather than 4 hours. Our tickets said to be in the showroom at 9:00 AM for our 9:30 AM tour. That actually meant that we boarded the tender boat at 9:30; not that we would be boarding our tour bus on shore at 9:30, like we expected. Also, the ride to the ruins was close to 1½ hours; not 45 minutes. The ride back was an hour and 10 minutes. The bus ride was comfortable and educational. I am merely sharing our time expectation and the actual timing to inform others. Based on the times posted, we thought we would be back at the port (we did not expect to be back on the ship at the tour end time) by 1:30 PM, rather than after 2:30 PM. I am sharing some photos below from this excursion, and you can find more in the Facebook page album.

Belize tour

Iguana during Belize tour

Altun Ha ruins

Bottom photo courtesy of our son

Isla Roatan, Hondurous

Isla Roatan is another favorite port of ours. Our time here was also a good portion of the day; 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. We have visited Isla Roatan in 2011, 2014, and 2018. In 2011, we booked Tabyana Beach through Carnival. You can find information for this excursion in the Carnival Glory post. That visit was good, although not as great as we had hoped because we had arrived a few hours late. We are scheduled to arrive in Honduras at 8:00 AM on our next cruise, so we will probably book Tabyana Beach again.

Mahogany Bay beach at the far end;
same general area where we sat in 2014

This year, we walked to Carnival's Mahogany Bay beach, like we did in 2014. You can also take the sky ride to the beach, if you do not want to walk it. There are nature trails off the paved walkway to the beach, as well. We took the direct route to the beach, and we took the nature trails on our return.  My husband saw a stingray near the bridge on our walk over.

Trail off the main walkway to/from Mahogany Bay beach

There is no charge for the loungers on the beach at Mahogany Bay, and the area is well shaded with palm trees. Food, beverages, and services (kayaks, cabanas, massages, swim with dolphins, etc.) are available for purchase.

Another trail photo taken by our son

There are several shops right at the pier, and we purchased some island rum. The rum in the shops at the pier, rather than in the duty-free store that you have to walk through when you arrive, is less expensive than the rum sold in the store walkway. Be aware, however, that some of the stores charge tax. The store where we bought the rum charged tax, and it was still less expensive than the duty-free store.

Costa Maya

Our time in Costa Maya was a bit shorter than the other ports; 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM. This was our first visit to Costa Maya. We were on a cruise in 2010, and were not able to get into this port. I think when you are arriving into a port that is difficult to get into, like Costa Maya or Grand Turk, your chances of being able to dock are better when arriving earlier in the day, and if you are the first ship to arrive. We were the first ship into Costa Maya this day.

Costa Maya view from area by dolphin pool and beach loungers

In 2010, we had a dune buggy excursion booked through Carnival. The cost for a similar excursion this time was $100, which we thought was a ridiculous price for 3½ hours. So, we opted to just check out the Costa Maya port area, since this was our first visit.

View from beach lounge chairs in Costa Maya.
Dolphin pool is the area inside the rocks.

There is no charge for the lounge chairs at the beach or around the pool. We went ashore around 9:00 AM, and initially chose a couple of chairs on the beach under a palapa because we prefer the ocean view. We did not stay there long, however, because the chairs were uncomfortable.

Parrots in pool area

We were lucky to find a couple of chairs in a good location (next to a tree with some shade and easy pool access) near the pool after this, as the area was quite crowded. The saltwater pool was nice, and it was not crowded in the water. If you like lido deck, you will like this pool in the afternoon. They put up a volleyball net, and also played other games starting around 11:00 AM. Servers had come by our seats on the beach before we decided to leave, although I did not see servers in the pool area before we left a couple of hours later.

Costa Maya tower photo taken by our son

We browsed in the shops briefly, and we purchased some local tequila. The shops and areas around the pool were way too crowded for us by noon. We had exercised on the ship before disembarking after we arrived at 7:00 AM. In hindsight, we should have gotten off the boat right away before everyone else. It would have been nice to walk around the port to see everything before it got so crowded, and then we would have been ready to get back on board at noon when most guests were ready to join the fun ashore.

View of Carnival Magic from tower.
Performers on pole getting ready for the show.

We climbed the tower steps for an excellent view of the area, and we watched a local show before returning to the ship. There is a short video on my Facebook travel page of the show we watched.

Misc. and shopping

I thought shopping prices for hats, souvenirs, and jewelry were better on Carnival Magic, than in any of our ports, this trip. The only items in port that we thought had better pricing than the cruise ship were local spirits.

Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to share this post!