Cozumel excursion advice needed

[Motegi]

Pam and I will be on the Divina for the 7-day western Caribbean itinerary in June.

 

We are taking along 6 relatives and have booked 4 adjoining balcony cabins. For three it will be their first ever cruise and their first time in the Caribbean and Mexico!

 

We really want to make this a memorable trip for them and are starting to plan the excursions.

 

For Cozumel Pam and I have already been to San Gervasio (not the greatest) and Xcaret (lots of fun but basically a theme park).

 

We think that they would really enjoy a historic site and experiencing the culture. So we were initially considering Tulum but the structures don't seem very large and everything seems to be roped off.

 

Pam and I have been to the Mayan pyramids in Belize and CostaMaya which were very large and impressive and want to find something on that scale for our time in Cozumel.

 

We have seen outside reviews of the Mayan site called Coba which seems to be about 90 minutes from Playa del Carmen. It has the largest Mayan pyramid on the Yucatán and is still apparently climbable. Has anyone ever been to Coba?

 

Unfortunately MSC doesn't list Coba as one of their excursions so it appears that we would have to book it on our own. Any recommendations on where to start?

 

Thanks in advance,

Koji

[stuart2468]

My advice would proceed with Caution on this.

 

Whilst i haven't done Coba, whilst on our Divina cruise last year, we organised our own trip to Tulum. I'd been to that region a few times and so felt confident we'd make it there and back no problem. We got the ferry over to Playa del Carmen and hired a car from there.

 

Whilst we made it back to the ship, I have to say it was quite a rush from dropping the car to getting the ferry back. Take into consideration that Coba is further away (via the road which passes Tulum) then you may find it hard pushed to return.

 

To note, the MSC excursion that day to Tulum actually arrived back late to the ship and they had a private ferry linking them directly to where the ship was moored. obviously the ship waited as it was a ship organised excursion, but they wont allow the same luxury to private excursions.

[Motegi]

Thanks for the reply!

 

If you don't mind I have a couple of follow up questions for you.

 

How long did you have in Cozumel?

 

How long did you have at Tulum?

 

Thanks,

Koji

 

My advice would proceed with Caution on this.

 

Whilst i haven't done Coba, whilst on our Divina cruise last year, we organised our own trip to Tulum. I'd been to that region a few times and so felt confident we'd make it there and back no problem. We got the ferry over to Playa del Carmen and hired a car from there.

 

Whilst we made it back to the ship, I have to say it was quite a rush from dropping the car to getting the ferry back. Take into consideration that Coba is further away (via the road which passes Tulum) then you may find it hard pushed to return.

 

To note, the MSC excursion that day to Tulum actually arrived back late to the ship and they had a private ferry linking them directly to where the ship was moored. obviously the ship waited as it was a ship organised excursion, but they wont allow the same luxury to private excursions.

[stuart2468]

Thanks for the reply!

 

If you don't mind I have a couple of follow up questions for you.

 

How long did you have in Cozumel?

 

How long did you have at Tulum?

 

Thanks,

Koji

 

We were Scheduled in Cozumel from 10am - 6pm. And from memory i think we made the ferry that left at 11am. This is about 40 minutes to cross. The car hire took about 30 mins to sort out with about an hours drive to Tulum. I think we spent about 2 hours there before we began out journey back. I remember we we had to drop 2 of our part at the ferry whilst me and my partner had to drop the car and run back to be able to get the ferry. I think we got the 4.30 ferry back.

 

I think going that little bit further to Coba may be cutting it too close

[GOLDENBONNY]

Pam and I will be on the Divina for the 7-day western Caribbean itinerary in June.

 

We are taking along 6 relatives and have booked 4 adjoining balcony cabins. For three it will be their first ever cruise and their first time in the Caribbean and Mexico!

 

We really want to make this a memorable trip for them and are starting to plan the excursions.

 

For Cozumel Pam and I have already been to San Gervasio (not the greatest) and Xcaret (lots of fun but basically a theme park).

 

We think that they would really enjoy a historic site and experiencing the culture. So we were initially considering Tulum but the structures don't seem very large and everything seems to be roped off.

 

Pam and I have been to the Mayan pyramids in Belize and CostaMaya which were very large and impressive and want to find something on that scale for our time in Cozumel.

 

We have seen outside reviews of the Mayan site called Coba which seems to be about 90 minutes from Playa del Carmen. It has the largest Mayan pyramid on the Yucatán and is still apparently climbable. Has anyone ever been to Coba?

 

Unfortunately MSC doesn't list Coba as one of their excursions so it appears that we would have to book it on our own. Any recommendations on where to start?

 

Thanks in advance,

Koji

 

June is very hot month in Mexico, I hope all your group members are good health condition and can walk in extrime hit . Be by the sea on thing but pyramid sites will be hell. Plus as it been said to you its very far from Cozumel and I would not risk it.

[TravelLovingGal]

My advice would proceed with Caution on this.

.....

To note, the MSC excursion that day to Tulum actually arrived back late to the ship and they had a private ferry linking them directly to where the ship was moored. obviously the ship waited as it was a ship organised excursion, but they wont allow the same luxury to private excursions.

 

I was going to reply with the same warning "proceed with caution" and then saw Stuart2468's reply. The same thing happened on our trip this February. Our cabin was over the entry to the ship so we had a great people watching perch each day. We were on our balcony and knew it was past time to leave and wondering what was up. There was no line left to board. They had taken down all the usual stuff they set up on the pier each day but the gang plank was still out and there were ship officers walking around the pier talking on their phones. After a few minutes a ferry packed with a tour group(s) arrived. It docked at our pier (not the usual place for ferrys) and within a few of minutes of when everyone from the ferry had boarded we were on our way.

 

They won't do that for you if you are on your own.

 

We have vacationed in Cozumel twice and I always considered the trip to the mainland a full day trip. I generally prefer to book my own excursions, but I would never book a trip off the island on my own.

[TravelLovingGal]

We were Scheduled in Cozumel from 10am - 6pm. And from memory i think we made the ferry that left at 11am. This is about 40 minutes to cross. The car hire took about 30 mins to sort out with about an hours drive to Tulum. I think we spent about 2 hours there before we began out journey back. I remember we we had to drop 2 of our part at the ferry whilst me and my partner had to drop the car and run back to be able to get the ferry. I think we got the 4.30 ferry back.

 

I think going that little bit further to Coba may be cutting it too close

 

This February our all aboard time for Cozumel was 5:30.