Help me plan a Mauritius itinerary

[Mike Hoxbig]

Hey guys, so I'll be in Mauritius for 3 days in December and need the help of all you knowledgeable people to help plan an itinerary Basically the ship will be docked in Port Louis on the west coast, so I was thinking of activities mainly on the west and north coast, since there wouldn't be enough time to cover the rest of the island.

So this is the list of activities/places that we have in mind so far.
North:
1) Snorkeling
2) Glass Bottomed Boat
3) Underwater walking
4) Shopping in Grand Baie and Port Louis
5) Mont Choisy Beach
6) Pereybere
7) The Triolet Shivala
8) The Pamplemousses Gardens
9) Flic and Flacq

West:
1) Chamarel - coloured earth
2) Martello Towers
3) The tamarins Salt pans
4) Walking with Lions and Cheetas - Casela Nature and Leisure Park
5) Tea route

They're all pretty important to the other half, but we don't know exactly how long each of these things will take. So your help will be appreciated if you can help me plan it, so something like day 1 (a, b, c), day 2 (x, y, z) etc.

Thanks!

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Help FFS

 

[rorz0r]

I'm also going to mauritius (for first time) on honeymoon soon so tagging along. It sounds like you've done some research though; I don't know what any of that stuff is Someone suggested renting a scooter while we're there to go exploring etc.

 

[EyeCandi]

I can help. Was there last year on the Sinfonia for 3 days.

 

[Haldex]

I wouldn't waste my time with the glass bottom boat, its just lame.
Check out the temple with the huge statue and the holy fish. The colour sand, Le Tousrock and the little island, go on the pirate ship. Go to market and when buying pay 75% less than what they quote you, even at the factory shops.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

I'm also going to mauritius (for first time) on honeymoon soon so tagging along. It sounds like you've done some research though; I don't know what any of that stuff is Someone suggested renting a scooter while we're there to go exploring etc.

Awesome, cya there (maybe ).

I can help. Was there last year on the Sinfonia for 3 days.

Cool, what time is the last boat back to the ship? And also the first boat to shore? What did you end up doing for the 3 days?

I wouldn't waste my time with the glass bottom boat, its just lame.
Check out the temple with the huge statue and the holy fish. The colour sand, Le Tousrock and the little island, go on the pirate ship. Go to market and when buying pay 75% less than what they quote you, even at the factory shops.

Yeah I have reservations about the glass bottom boat thing but the gf seems keen on it. I'm gonna try and convince her to rather spend a longer time on the underwater walk.

 

[Haldex]

The problem with the glass bottom boat is that the coral on reflects the colours with sunlight, perhaps with the right time of day its decent otherwise you just end up looking at brownish green seaweed.

The under water walk is about 10 to 20 steps Max, and you caged in with bread crumbs in your hands so the fish can eat from you. - spoiling the experience a bit lol
There's also the submarine, parasailing, the casino with a Pizza Hut, drag racing, jet skis and and and.
Are you Indian? There's some cool sari shops in the city. There's a little club and strip club at Port Loiue... But its boring.
But even if you just sit at the hotel, there's more than enough entertainment and other sexy French and Italian holiday makers

 

[EyeCandi]

North:
1) Snorkeling. Not nice to do off the beach
2) Glass Bottomed Boat. Dont need to do if you're going to do underwater walking
3) Underwater walking. This I did and it was awesome. Costs about 1500/2000 rupees per person. Take your snorkelling gear with. You can snorkel while others take turns doing the walk.
4) Shopping in Grand Baie and Port Louis. Grand Baie is probably better for shopping than the actual town Port Louis. Unless you are just going to the waterfront which has a Mugg and Bean. There is an indoor market and street market just behind the fish market which is quite nice to see. What you can buy here, you can also get at the Waterfront without the badgering for your dollars.
5) Mont Choisy Beach. Didn't go
6) Pereybere. It's a nice beach. According to the locals the better of the two public beaches. You can rent the loungers and umbrellas for about 600 to 800 rupees for a couple of hours.
7) The Triolet Shivala. Didn't go
8) The Pamplemousses Gardens. Saw this from the vantage point of a bus!
9) Flic and Flacq. Didn't go

If you are going to be in Mauritius from the 1st to the 3rd. Just know that these three days are Hindu holidays and nothing is open in terms of renting scooters and certain shops. This is predominantly a Hindu based country. There are places to do this, but you would need to organise this BEFORE you embark on the ship. The taxi drivers will not tell you where these places are, nor will they take you there.
If you are going to catch a taxi to Grand Baie and Perybere Beach it is of utmost importance that you negotiate a RETURN trip price BEFORE you get into the car! It costs 1500 rupees to catch a taxi, if you don't negotiate the price back, they will charge you an additional 1500 to return to Port Louis. You only pay the taxi once he returns you to the harbour.
Alternatively, catch the sea taxi from the ship into the harbour waterfront for 150 rupees (2 dollars - I think). Then once in the main road, turn left and walk to the bus terminal (about 2 blocks) and catch a bus to Grand Baie for 36 rupees per person!!
We used the bus for our site seeing of the town and country and that's how we saw the gardens!

We didn't do the West side.

 

[EyeCandi]

I wouldn't waste my time with the glass bottom boat, its just lame.
Check out the temple with the huge statue and the holy fish. The colour sand, Le Tousrock and the little island, go on the pirate ship. Go to market and when buying pay 75% less than what they quote you, even at the factory shops.

I would agree with Haldex, divide their price by 3 and start to walk away. One lady quoted us 600 rupees for a henna tatto, we ended up only paying 50 rupees for just a flower tattoo. She was not impressed with us.

and on the boat thing too...

 

[EyeCandi]

Awesome, cya there (maybe ).

Cool, what time is the last boat back to the ship? And also the first boat to shore? What did you end up doing for the 3 days?

Yeah I have reservations about the glass bottom boat thing but the gf seems keen on it. I'm gonna try and convince her to rather spend a longer time on the underwater walk.

They have built a new harbour in Port Louis, so you do walk out onto concrete and can catch a cab right in front of the ship. There is a huge parking lot for this. If you want to go directly into Port Louis and bypass the cabs you can catch the sea taxi. Or you could walk to the waterfront, but it's far.
I cannot remember what the times were. They normally let you know and there is a signboard to indicate the times and it's on your itinerary which you get every evening in your cabin.
Unless you hellish early for everything be prepared to queue for food (during the day on the ship) queue to see a show, queue for onboard shopping, queue to disembark, queue to embark.

Take a water bottle with you on the ship, when you have breakfast and lunch, pour yourself glasses of water and decant this into your water bottle as you are not allowed to fill you water bottle up at the dispensers for hygenic purposes. In fact everytime you go for a refill whether its tea, coffee, juice or water, you have to use a new cup.
If you don't fill a water bottle, you will have to buy water during the day on the ship and it can get pricey.

You can't spend longer time on the sea walk. There is a set routine they take you on. Some will take photos and a movie of you and put it on a CD for an extra 1000 rupees or so. Or you can buy el-cheapo underwater film camera on the ship (cheaper there than in a SA shop) for about ZAR150.00. We did this. The pics came out fine.

The taxi drivers are always on the take, and if they organise any excursion, the local tour operator has to pay them a commission. When we did our undersea walk, I was meeting some of our ship friends in Grand Baie, the taxi driver then tried to convince us that he will wait for us to come back and then phone the tour operator and demanded money for dropping us off. He wasn't successful.

The first day we walked around Port Louis and went up to Pereybere Beach to snorkel and swim. The second day we did the undersea walk and had lunch at The Spur. The third day we went to the markets and did a bit of shopping.

 

[EyeCandi]

The under water walk is about 10 to 20 steps Max, and you caged in with bread crumbs in your hands so the fish can eat from you. - spoiling the experience a bit lol

We were not caged, but out in the open sea. We were also given bread to feed the fish and I thought that was a really cool experience.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Wow thanks for all the detailed info EyeCandi! That certainly helps a lot! In terms of cash, how much would you say is enough to do most of these things in Mauritius, as well expenses on board the ship? I do plan to do a bit of drinking on the ship, and I've heard that it's about $4 a drink. What other expenses are there on board?

 

[EyeCandi]

Wow thanks for all the detailed info EyeCandi! That certainly helps a lot! In terms of cash, how much would you say is enough to do most of these things in Mauritius, as well expenses on board the ship? I do plan to do a bit of drinking on the ship, and I've heard that it's about $4 a drink. What other expenses are there on board?

We were two adults, 1 x 17 year old and 1 x 9 year old. In total we spent about $2000 on and off the ship over a period of 11 days. I have a fetish for Fossil watches and every time I cruise I buy one on the ship. I have been on 5 cruises, (Caribbean, Far East and 3 local) but only have bought watches on three occassions. Their prices are cheaper than in SA. I also spent money on the salon which is hellish expensive and very stupidly so. R750 for a facial is ridiculous (IMO). We didn't drink so not sure of the price of alcohol. The softdrink prices are more or less the same as in SA. Apart from the underwater camera, we also bought a Nikon coolpix camera.
I think one of the things you could easily spend money on is the photos that the photographers take of you. Especially if it is your first cruise and that can become a bit pricey. On my first cruise, I spent about R1200 on their photos. My last cruise only about R500.
The easiest way to manage your money on board is to link your credit card to your ship card. Otherwise if you pre-load your card and run out its a mission to haul out the credit card and top-up. You can at any time of night or day, go to the purser's office or reception and draw a statement. You can even do this at the internet cafe on this ship. Pop your ship card into the computer and request a statement to view on screen. You can only allocate one credit card to one cabin. Both ship cards will work off one credit card. Everytime you buy a drink or wine with your meal you have to give them your ship card. The ship takes the managing of this very seriously and will seldom make a mistake. They also correct mistakes very quickly if one is made.
At the end of your trip you will get a printout of your spend which you then sign off and they take this off your credit card. This way you don't have to stand in a queue and if you used the preloaded option - you do not get any of your surplus money back immediately. This can take a week or more to happen. They also don't recommend this option either. It becomes an admin nightmare.

The only thing you really pay for on the ship is drinks (soft drinks and alcohol), the salon (beauty and hair) and whatever is in the onboard shops (clothes, watches, jewellry, personal stuff, chocolates, sunblock, makeup, perfume, toys). Oh and if you needed medical attention, which you could claim back from your medical aid if you wanted to.

Don't take towels for the pool, they have plenty. I think you can take their pool towels off the ship if you're going to the beach as you do sign for them when you take them and when you return them.

 

[^^vampire^^]

Went in August

Don't bother shopping in Grand Baie it's damn expensive - Mr Price type clothing starting at like R500.00. There is however the local flea market type places where you can talk the guys down to like R75.00 for a shirt.

If you wanna go snorkelling take a catemerang from the Grand Baie - it docks in front of the flats by the traffic light in Grand Baie. Look for the bright green and orange one woth the huge mast it's the best one there.

Also talk to the local travel agencies but bargain - you can get the items quite a few hundred rupees cheaper.

Go to the crocodile farm as well it was quite nice.

Try take buses rather than cabs. The bus was 25 rupees per trip until you get off where as cabs were about 2000 rupees from Grand Baie to Port Louis.
Also in Port Louis when in the harbour look for the stairway under the road - it takes you to the other side where there are lots of local markets where you can buy stuff for cheap rather than the upmarket stores in the harbour shopping district.

In Grand Baie go to Luigi's - great food at good prices! Say hi to Raffaele he owns the place!

VERY IMPORTANT: All food and drinks have a listed price that don't include tax so anything food and drink wise add 15% tax on the shown price.

If you want decent food at decent prices go to the Super U in Grand Baie - it's a few hundred meters up the road from the traffic light in Grand Baie and it's like a very big pick 'n pay. Also go to Super U first and look at their tourist items - the local markets sell the same stuff for 2 or more times the price.