"Costa Maybe"??

[Mrs.Y]

We are planning a cruise on Celebrity that includes a stop in Costa Maya.

 

On a recent cruise, we were discussing favourite ports with some crew members and they referred to Costa Maya as "Costa Maybe" because they said they were never sure in advance if the ship would actually dock there. They mentioned frequent high seas and an incident in which 2 ships had a minor collision due to difficulty docking.

 

Has anyone ever had either difficulty docking or had their ship skip this port altogether due to high seas?

[CowPrincess]

We had a difficult time docking in part due to high seas, but the captain prevailed and got us ashore two hours late. There are no tugs in this port, so all the maneouvering (sp?) must come from the ship. And it can, I suspect, be DARN difficult to park a ship when the waves and wind are in play.

[14ersco]

Norwegian Epic skipped Costa Maya due to high seas on her maiden visit to that port on July 26.

[Mrs.Y]

Thank you, CowPrincess & 14ersco for your replies! I wonder how often it happens? Is time of year a factor?

 

It looks like an interesting port to visit, so I hope we can dock on our itinerary!

[cruznlobo]

Two years ago we missed Costa Maya because of winds.

[sdmike]

Costa Maya is an exposed port and there are often difficulties getting in there. I was actually happy we didn't stop. We had a great sea day on the Epic after we aborted trying to dock there.

 

It's really just a shopping mall carved out of the jungle with large piers to attract ships. You can get to some local beaches and even some ruins from there, but mostly it's just a cruise ship trap. They also have a huge issue with sea grass there which impacts beaches and water activities.

 

We had high winds but the seas were not too bad. However, the captain didn't want to beat his new $1.5 billion ship up against the concrete dock so we did a "drive by", and then circled back to look again.

 

 

 

 

What we did instead..

 

 

[tandemcruzr]

Costa Maya is an exposed port and there are often difficulties getting in there. I was actually happy we didn't stop. We had a great sea day on the Epic after we aborted trying to dock there.

 

It's really just a shopping mall carved out of the jungle with large piers to attract ships. You can get to some local beaches and even some ruins from there, but mostly it's just a cruise ship trap. They also have a huge issue with sea grass there which impacts beaches and water activities.

 

We had high winds but the seas were not too bad. However, the captain didn't want to beat his new $1.5 billion ship up against the concrete dock so we did a "drive by", and then circled back to look again.

 

Been to CM 4 times now, both before and after the hurricane. Never spend much time in the tourist village.

 

Always caught a cab to the village of Majuhual and have never experienced sea grass. We walk the Malecon and try out different restaurants/bars and enjoy a laid back day at the beach.

 

Drinks and food are cheaper in town than at the port. Drinks are cheaper at the port than on on the ship. ☺ ☺

[CowPrincess]

Costa Maya is an exposed port and there are often difficulties getting in there. I was actually happy we didn't stop. We had a great sea day on the Epic after we aborted trying to dock there.

 

It's really just a shopping mall carved out of the jungle with large piers to attract ships. You can get to some local beaches and even some ruins from there, but mostly it's just a cruise ship trap. They also have a huge issue with sea grass there which impacts beaches and water activities.

 

>SNIP<

 

 

 

If you just stay in the "tourism village" you miss everything. You need to either get to the ruins, or go to Majahual (a little bit of heaven on earth IMHO)