ATV Adventure Tour

[Karencruiser43]

Anybody done the ATV Adventure tour with Costa Maya cruise excursions/Island Marketing. Can you please give me details of your experience with the tour. Thank you!!

[jsjjkelly]

Anybody done the ATV Adventure tour with Costa Maya cruise excursions/Island Marketing. Can you please give me details of your experience with the tour. Thank you!!

 

We just did this on Thanksgiving! We had an absolute blast and as many cruises as we've done fun things on, this excursion ranked top 3 for my family! It was truly fun.

 

However, one of the things I want to recommend is to be early. The problem with booking through Island Marketing (it was costa maya cruise excursions dot com is who I was emailing with), and my arrival time was 8:30. And the paper work STRESSED it was island time, not ship time. Island time is an hour ahead of ship time. So we showed up at 8 local time. The group had already left. The booth and everything is marked SHARK TOURS so once you see Shark Tours, you're there.

 

The guy at the booth said no problem, they just had to find us a guide as the group already left. And this comment is for you to decide based on your group--- if you have a group who likes to go fast and get muddy, I would have probably paid extra just to have your own guide so you can do just that.

 

On the way there, because we only had 2 ATV's plus the guide, we could go fast, go through mud puddles, there wasn't really any lag time waiting on any one. Once we got to a certain point though, we met up with the group and they were on their way back. So we did miss out on some, but being we got to do things at the speed we wanted to, I think it more than made up for it.

 

We usually travel with Grandma and Grandpa in tow, so if you have those in your group that aren't as adventurous, going in a group would be fine. But once we got with the group, the tempo became markedly slower. Some in the other group had littler ones riding with them, and the little girl put her leg next to the motor and had a pretty nice burn. And travelling back there were speed bumps, so as one cautious driver went over, we all had to wait to go in line... it just made it slower.

 

We commented to our guide that we would have probably paid extra just to go by ourselves with the guide next time, and he said they'd do that, you just have to ask in advance.

 

They stop at this really nice and quiet private beach and we really liked it there. There's bathrooms and a drink (coke or beer) is included. Then we went to Mahahual which is more commercialized. After going to the nice quiet place, it was kind of a turn off to us to go there. We would have rather stayed at the first place. There wasn't any vendors to buy from, and we weren't there long enough to eat at any of the chain restaurants there. Just a bunch of people trying to get us to do massages or hair braiding.

 

But, we definitely want to go back to Costa Maya to do this excursion again. My kids are 9 and 13, and we had a ton of fun.

 

Hope this helps someone else!

Shawn

[CBeachMom]

We just did this on Thanksgiving! We had an absolute blast and as many cruises as we've done fun things on, this excursion ranked top 3 for my family! It was truly fun.

 

<snip>

 

We commented to our guide that we would have probably paid extra just to go by ourselves with the guide next time, and he said they'd do that, you just have to ask in advance.

 

<snip>

 

Hope this helps someone else!

Shawn

 

Do you have any contact info for Shark Tours? We had a similar conversation with our tour guide the last time we were in Costa Maya. Unfortunately I lost his business card. We are heading back there soon and I would like to set up a tour with them.

[dreamer320]

We booked the ATV excursion in Costa Maya on our Christmas cruise. It was a blast! The shore personnel were a bit abrupt, and the ATVs were a little worn, but overall, it was a great time. Our guide went as fast as the group went, so we kept a pretty good clip.

 

Once we got off the paved road, there were a lot of big holes to be maneuvered around. It had rained recently, meaning the holes were full of muddy water, so we were soon quite splattered, which only added to the fun in our opinion. After the halfway point, we stopped for 30 minutes or so at a little resort for a rest and drink stop, which was quiet and idyllic. When we got back in town, we stopped again for about 30 minutes on the Mahahual. It was wasted time, IMO, since we were planning on returning on our own after the excursion.

 

As an FYI, be aware that the engine area on the ATVs got quite hot, and I occasionally burned my calves when leaning into a curve and touching the hot spots. The ATVs are easy to drive, and have handlebars rather than steering wheels, so you need to keep your thumb on the gas lever constantly.

 

The only downside of the tour was the other participants. There were two double-riders who wanted to go straight through the mud at high speed (and consequently got the spark plugs wet), and as a result drive less than carefully, passing too close and unexpectedly and then often slowing down unexpectedly after passing. I do hope those drivers don't drive their cars so poorly!

 

After ending the tour back at the port, we walked outside the port to catch a taxi. Apparently, you can't pick up a taxi inside, and have to take a shuttle bus. We went back to town and spent several hours at the Tropicante before heading back to the ship.

[blue_water]

Sounds like a fun day. You don't know the name of the first place you stopped at do you?

thanks for sharing!

[dredawg]

Thinking of this as an option...was it standard or automatic??

[gurglegargle]

Thinking of this as an option...was it standard or automatic??

 

From the costa maya cruise excursions dot com website "These all terain vehicles are semi automatic and easy to operate, (no clutch)."

[Prisc777]

There is no way to call these guys and your deposit is final, they just offer a credit if there is a problem. I wish you could talk to somebody at least??? :mad: