Best ruins to visit carnival cruise

[miyuki0131]

Hello, we will be on carnival pride in January ( 2nd time cruiser) One of the thing we want to do is visit ruins. Our ports are Grand cayman, Mahogany bay, Belize, costa maya and Cozumel. Several ports seems to have excursion to visit ruins, any recommendation? I and my husband are in 30’s and our sons are 14 and 12. We are active so would like to visit the one we can climb and stuff ( if there is ) but would prefer short drive from ports ( if possible ) other thing we want to do during cruise are beaches and shore snorkel so for that I was thinking Cozumel is best, but since we have never visited any of those places I would love to hear some recommendations! Thank you!! 

[urbanhawk]

For your intinerary, I can highly recommend the Mayan ruins in Belize-Xunantunich. It is more expensive to book this excursion thru Carnival, but it is worth it..  Since it is a long trip, Carnival won't leave you behind, if the excursion runs late, getting back to the pier.  I usually like to book with the locals-but not this one-too risky. Enjoy, where ever you decide to go!

[XBGuy]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

On our very first cruise, in 1976, the ship visited Cozumel and we took a ship's excursion to Maya ruins at Tulum  It was outstanding,  We were, in fact, allowed to climb up the pyramid and had a terrific view of the Caribbean from there.

 

I would be very surprised if such climbing on the ruins is still allowed.  It does seem sacrilegious, but there is also a definite liability issue.  Climbing up was pretty easy.  However, when we started down I realized that it was darned steep, and the "steps" between the levels are uneven and not very wide.  At that time my wife and I were in our 20s, but I thought to myself that there were a lot of elderly people on the pyramid with us, and they might have some difficulty with the descent.  Happily, there were no accidents when we visited.

 

I am sure you will have a great cruise, and, afterward, I hope you come back here and report on your experience.

[ColeThornton]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  If you haven't done so already check out the Caribbean ports of call section, there are sub-forums for all of those ports that are chock full of information.  Link:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/456-caribbean/

[ontheweb]

Lamanai (I'm not sure if it is spelled correctly) in Belize is what I would recommend. Also, I agree that ship's excursions work best when you are going far away to make sure the ship waits for you. We also did Tulum from Cozumel with swimming added at the end of the excursion. We were back way late, but the ship waited.

[evandbob]

Tulum from Cozumel, or Ghichen Itza if you have enough hours.   Perhaps Coba if you want a short trek. 

 

Xanantunich or Lamanai from Belize.  {Forget Altun Ha, it is small and insignificant}.

 

As stated already, use Carnival excursions and let them handle all transport, lunch, etc.  If you can manage a bus trip there and a boat ride back in Belize, all the better.

 

The OP can google these names to see what attractions await at each site, how far they are from the port, etc.

[BruceMuzz]

The Ruins of Miami are always interesting - but dangerous.

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, evandbob said:

Tulum from Cozumel, or Ghichen Itza if you have enough hours.   Perhaps Coba if you want a short trek. 

 

Xanantunich or Lamanai from Belize.  {Forget Altun Ha, it is small and insignificant}.

 

As stated already, use Carnival excursions and let them handle all transport, lunch, etc.  If you can manage a bus trip there and a boat ride back in Belize, all the better.

 

The OP can google these names to see what attractions await at each site, how far they are from the port, etc.

On our (not Carnival) ship's excursion, we had a boat ride to and from Lamanai in Belize. They supposedly had trouble with running out of fuel on the ride back, though I have always thought they were trying to act heroic to get larger tips. And I agree the scenic boat ride to see wildlife on the way to and from Lamanai adds to the experience.