Kinda nervous. we have always done ship sponsered shore excursion

[gladimhere]

and this time in Cozumel I booked an all inclusive resort which is not ship sponsored I am hoping we will catch a cab and everything will be ok I know people do this all the time but im also sure some have had issues would love to hear how easy it was or did not work stories

[love my grandkids]

Shouldnt be a problem at all.

 

Make sure your taxi will pick you up say 90 minutes before sailing. Most places will call taxi for you and taxi's are plentiful.

[Out to sea!]

Personally, I have never had an issue on a non-ship sponsored tour. That being said, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship (I usually shoot for 2 hours before sailing) and DO NOT change your watch to LOCAL time. Ensure your watch/phone/timepiece is set to SHIP time. Have a great cruise! :)

Edited May 12, 2015 by Out to sea!

[cmptrwiz]

I have only booked one ship's excursion in all our cruises and have never been late. Knock on wood!

[gladimhere]

Shouldnt be a problem at all.

 

Make sure your taxi will pick you up say 90 minutes before sailing. Most places will call taxi for you and taxi's are plentiful.

Taxis are plentiful in Cozumel?That would make me feel beter to know there are plenty

[lizardhowson]

I have NEVER booked a Carnival excursion and never had an issue.

[KPfromCT]

As an earlier poster said, you should be fine.

Just have the taxi get you 60-90 minutes prior to back on board time.:D

Enjoy your cruise and your excursion:D

[SMSACE6]

I am usually a nervous Nelly with regard to non ship excursions, but Cozumel would be the one exception I would make. Ships usually are there for at about 8hrs, and there are plenty of taxis available everywhere, so this is one port of call that I would consider doing a non ship excursion. Just be sure to sync your watch time with ship's time, and try to get back to the ship well in advance of sail time.

[love my grandkids]

Taxis are plentiful in Cozumel?That would make me feel beter to know there are plenty

 

Which AI are you going to?

[glassman352]

We always go through the ships excursions, but on our last cruise in the Bahamas, we also did a private all inclusive resort. We were a bit nervous about getting a cab and making sure we made it back to the ship on time. For us, it was not worth it because we were always looking at our watches so not to be late. We could not relax at the resort because we were always worried about how to get a cab back from the resort. It was a beautiful resort, free food, drinks, private beach, but it was not relaxing for us. Having done it once, we would be more at ease for a second time, but I think we'll stay with the sponsored excursions. I'm sure if there were problems with a private company, you would hear about it here. Check the port of call for your location to find out any information. Relax and have fun:o

[texast518]

26 cruises, 2 ship excursions, you never know, ship exc. more $ with more peace of mind.

[dioxide45]

There will be no going back. You shouldn't have any issues, just follow some of the tips that have been mentioned here. You will find that you save a bundle of money over the ship excursions.

 

As for being nervous because one is always watching their watch on a non ship excursion. I have had that. On a private excursion in St Lucia while on a Celebrity cruise. We were on a speed boat on the way back to the ship. They were really cutting it close. All but one couple were on our ship, there were about 12 of us. I am not sure if they would have left us or not. We ended up getting back with about 15 minutes to spare.

 

We have also had similar situations on a Carnival excursion, in Cozumel. We had a mainland tour and the ferry was late getting back. They got us there basically right at the back on board time. We were watching our watch that time too. I don't think they MUST hold the ship for you, they can also just pay for your transportation to the next port. Though I am sure they don't want to do that.

[winddawn]

You should be fine as long as you don't have any unexpected delays getting back to the ship. Carnival's excursions protect you in the case of unexpected delays returning to the ship. That is the main thing you give up in exchange for saving $$ on your excursion. You might want to research and decide in advance alternative arrangements just in case something unexpected happens, i.e., flat tire, traffic, etc. You don't want to be one of these guys:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGX5cyQAzPo

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiEIuAMxKz8

 

Oh, yes. The pier runners!

Edited May 12, 2015 by winddawn

[Flip flop lady]

Good grief people. The only thing you give up is not just $$$. It's overcrowded cattle drive huge groups of people. We NEVER do ship excursions. I have lived all over the world and all it takes is common sense. Don't go too far, stay at well known touristy places, don't take wooden nickels etc. Cozumel is probably the easiest place to venture off on your own. We usually do Mr. Sanchos. If it makes you feel more secure, you can make a deal with your cab driver (depending on how many ships are in port). We have had our driver wait for us and I think he charged us $60 for round trip. Don't let the fear stop you!

[MMOMOM]

We hardly ever do ship excursions .... most always on our own. We did do the horseback riding/swimming with the horses with HAL and that was awesome. Just watch the clock and give yourself some time as others have said. But, in Cozumel especially at the AI resorts that are many taxis waiting ... you should have no problems at all! Enjoy!

[love my grandkids]

Good grief people. The only thing you give up is not just $$$. It's overcrowded cattle drive huge groups of people. We NEVER do ship excursions. I have lived all over the world and all it takes is common sense. Don't go too far, stay at well known touristy places, don't take wooden nickels etc. Cozumel is probably the easiest place to venture off on your own. We usually do Mr. Sanchos. If it makes you feel more secure, you can make a deal with your cab driver (depending on how many ships are in port). We have had our driver wait for us and I think he charged us $60 for round trip. Don't let the fear stop you!

 

Agreed but if you want to stay at AI for say 6 hours driver is going to want a lot more and this is really not necessary.

 

Most of the beaches are no more than 15 minutes from the port.

 

BTW we almost always do our excursions privately as they are cheaper, less crowded and better. Just use common sense and make sure you plan to get back well before sailaway.

[DiamondBill102]

Gladimhere....I been to Coz a number of times...ALWAYS took a cab to Mr.Sanchos....Right out side of ship are PLENTY of cabs....Depending on where you go....Mr.Sanchos is about 15 minute ride....They will drop you off and you pay when they PICK you up....You won't have any problems

[idlenote]

Non-ship excursion operators are under far more pressure to have you back to the ship on time than the Carnival tour operators. We have never had to sweat the time on a private tour, unlike for example coming back from Chichen Itza in a tropical rainstorm in a very large bus at a speed that was way past unsafe, that's a Carnival excursion for you.

 

Add to that that many private excursions tend to use smaller buses and so have much smaller groups which makes for a much better experience, you can even hear what the guide is saying. If you are on one of the more popular Carnival trips there may be several buses and the groups tend to bunch together and it's not a very relaxing tour.

 

One I love to watch is in Grand Cayman, right before noon one of the big boats will come by and drop fifty people on the wreck site just to the north of the terminal, all of them have paid $50.00 apiece to be be part of this crowd. I watched it last time, I had walked over there and swam from one of the coves, had the site to myself for over an hour, and it didn't cost anything, except for the cold beer I was sipping on while I watched the fiasco in the water.

 

Cozumel is one place I would not sweat, it's always a great day and it doesn't have to cost a lot. Pier runners are not people coming back from a private excursion, they are people who spend way to much time in a phony Mexican cantina who think they are experiencing the real Mexico and imbibe too much to remember to look at their watch.

[love my grandkids]

Non-ship excursion operators are under far more pressure to have you back to the ship on time than the Carnival tour operators. We have never had to sweat the time on a private tour, unlike for example coming back from Chichen Itza in a tropical rainstorm in a very large bus at a speed that was way past unsafe, that's a Carnival excursion for you.

 

Add to that that many private excursions tend to use smaller buses and so have much smaller groups which makes for a much better experience, you can even hear what the guide is saying. If you are on one of the more popular Carnival trips there may be several buses and the groups tend to bunch together and it's not a very relaxing tour.

 

One I love to watch is in Grand Cayman, right before noon one of the big boats will come by and drop fifty people on the wreck site just to the north of the terminal, all of them have paid $50.00 apiece to be be part of this crowd. I watched it last time, I had walked over there and swam from one of the coves, had the site to myself for over an hour, and it didn't cost anything, except for the cold beer I was sipping on while I watched the fiasco in the water.

 

Cozumel is one place I would not sweat, it's always a great day and it doesn't have to cost a lot. Pier runners are not people coming back from a private excursion, they are people who spend way to much time in a phony Mexican cantina who think they are experiencing the real Mexico and imbibe too much to remember to look at their watch.

 

You nailed it:)

[dioxide45]

You should be fine as long as you don't have any unexpected delays getting back to the ship. Carnival's excursions protect you in the case of unexpected delays returning to the ship. That is the main thing you give up in exchange for saving $$ on your excursion. You might want to research and decide in advance alternative arrangements just in case something unexpected happens, i.e., flat tire, traffic, etc. You don't want to be one of these guys:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGX5cyQAzPo

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiEIuAMxKz8

 

Oh, yes. The pier runners!

 

Wait a second, the first and second video are the same pier runners. The videos were just taken by two different people in two different cabins.

[lizardhowson]

Good grief people. The only thing you give up is not just $$$. It's overcrowded cattle drive huge groups of people. We NEVER do ship excursions. I have lived all over the world and all it takes is common sense. Don't go too far, stay at well known touristy places, don't take wooden nickels etc.

 

Agreed !

 

Look folks, if taking a non-Carnival excursion was risky in any manner, NO ONE WOULD EVER TAKE THEM. Thousands of people a month take non-Carnival excursions and they make the sailing.

 

As you have read from several posters, they are such worry warts, their idiosyncrasies prevent them from being anything but Carnival "sheep". I feel sorry for them.

[loxley]

and this time in Cozumel I booked an all inclusive resort which is not ship sponsored I am hoping we will catch a cab and everything will be ok I know people do this all the time but im also sure some have had issues would love to hear how easy it was or did not work stories

 

 

 

Cozumel has to be the easiest port Carnvial cruises to to do your own thing. Every white car is a taxi. Unless you do something stupid, you will have no problems there.

 

Make sure you have a WATCH set to ship time. There will be taxis outside the place but if for some strange reason there is not, just walk out to the street and put your hand up.

[kona_wahine]

We did nachi cocum and as soon as we wanted to leave they called for a taxi. I think it may have taken 10-15 minutes. Another half hour drive. Just leave enough time and you will be fine.

 

All these ports have taxis everywhere. It's their livelihood. Unless you are going way off the beaten path you really don't have to worry.

Edited May 13, 2015 by kona_wahine

[kona_wahine]

Oh, and don't tell the usual tour operators you want a taxi, go to the taxi stand outside. If I remember correctly you tell them where you are going and pay at the window and get a ticket. (It's been a while)

[love my grandkids]

Oh, and don't tell the usual tour operators you want a taxi, go to the taxi stand outside. If I remember correctly you tell them where you are going and pay at the window and get a ticket. (It's been a while)

 

Last time we paid the taxi driver directly. The prices are listed on a board where taxis come.