Excursions on your own

[cruzinlisa]

Hi. I’m going on a last minute cruise leaving in 3 days. Never done that! I’m not a new cruiser but it’s my first post pandemic cruise so I’m a little out of touch. Do they allow you to get off the ship on your own these days or do you have to book an excursion? We are going to Cozumel and Progresso. I prefer to do Cozumel on my own. 

[groundloop]

Yes, it's perfectly ok.  In fact we were in Cozumel last month and hired a taxi to take us around the island and had a great time.

 

And, if you're interested in some great authentic food in Cozumel look up the Blue Taco Truck, it's literally an old blue pickup truck that's parked in the same spot every single day serving up fresh tacos.  Our taxi driver dropped us there and we walked back to the ship.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Blue+Taco+Truck/@20.4771125,-86.9705056,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x77d35ba3f63af70c!8m2!3d20.4771125!4d-86.9705056

Edited March 18, 2022 by groundloop

[Lane Hog]

You can save 30-50% on some excursions by dealing direct, but you assume 100% of the risk if you can't get back to the ship on-time.  

 

Next time we do a day at the beach type excursion, I'll book a day pass directly with a resort and leave a good buffer.  For an adventure type deal, I'd never book direct.

[DGNewton]

We are going in a couple of months and likely going to book Mr. Sancho's.

We've crusie 4 times since July and did only ship stuff.  But now ready to go out on our own again.

[airlink diva]

On 3/18/2022 at 3:44 PM, cruzinlisa said:

Hi. I’m going on a last minute cruise leaving in 3 days. Never done that! I’m not a new cruiser but it’s my first post pandemic cruise so I’m a little out of touch. Do they allow you to get off the ship on your own these days or do you have to book an excursion? We are going to Cozumel and Progresso. I prefer to do Cozumel on my own. 

Hi!  I sail solo the majority of my cruises (one on the way in 22 days) and both of these port I experience quite a few times solo and non ship tours.

Progresso  The same company that handle the shuttle buses  (due to the length of the pier to shore), also handle tours.  AutoProgresso is the company name.  I have book tours with them ahead of time and when arriving.  If you like Mayan ruins, book with them.  I did Uxmal and also did a set of ruins near the salt flats. Last time did a combo of ruins, salt flats and beach time.  Another time did the bus to Merida

With the exception of Merida, the others were tours.  They was smaller number of people, not packed in a bus.  Also arrived before the ship tours which allowed alot of great photo ops.  Also we were back at the shuttle area well over a hour before final boarding.

The Merida you can do a tour with them, but a friend and I opt of self tour.  We made sure to leave coming back to port three hours prior to last boarding.

I did do the ship food tour one time.  While it was a good tour, there was a large number of people and being solo one of those tours where I was like the 5th wheel and at several of the stops sat with the guides.

 

Cozumel

Been too many times to count and each time always find something to do.  From hiring a private driver for the day, bar hop, food tour, photo tour, beach time, mural tour.  My last trip in December 2019, I just caught a taxi to down to main plaza.  Sat on a bench with my Kindle reading for a while, brought a few gifts, then took a taxi to a bbq place near the port returning plenty of time to reboard, sit on my balcony to people watch.

 

Both ports are great for solo cruisers.  If you head to each port site on this site, you can see which vendors and tours.  If you go off on your own, I always do a three hour prior return