Cenote Hopping, Snorkeling, Zipline & Lunch through Carnival

[wenocancer2]

We are sailing in August and currently have this excursion in our cart through Carnival.  Then I happened across a video of this excursion in my TikTok that showed that it looked awful with hundreds of bats in the caves and smelling of sewage with no beautiful water.  I know not to believe much on TikTok, but I believe my fellow Cruise Critic peeps!  As anyone done this excursion lately and can update me on what it was really like?

 

Of if anyone would suggest Mystic River & Paradise Lagoon instead?

[jean87510]

On 6/30/2023 at 4:24 PM, wenocancer2 said:

We are sailing in August and currently have this excursion in our cart through Carnival.  Then I happened across a video of this excursion in my TikTok that showed that it looked awful with hundreds of bats in the caves and smelling of sewage with no beautiful water.  I know not to believe much on TikTok, but I believe my fellow Cruise Critic peeps!  As anyone done this excursion lately and can update me on what it was really like?

 

Of if anyone would suggest Mystic River & Paradise Lagoon instead?

Read the reviews on Carnival website as well.

[mitsugirly]

Is this a tour to Jade Caverns? If so, we went and had a blast! (We did it by doing a "buggy" tour. Yes, there are some bats in the "open" cave on the end and you can walk over and see them, but they weren't in the open part of the cave. You can jump from up top into the water and my daughter had a blast! The "sewage" smell they are talking about isn't sewage, it's the sulfur. It has an odd smell of course. If you've been to any place, like St Lucia with the volcano's, that's the smell. It's different, but doesn't smell like sewage. Odd smell for sure. The water gives off a green color from the sulfur. Our tour guide grabbed a clear water bottle and scooped some up to show us how clear the water was. 

 

You can check out my full review HERE and there's plenty of pictures to show what it looked like if this is where you are going.

[c-leg5]

28 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

Is this a tour to Jade Caverns? If so, we went and had a blast! (We did it by doing a "buggy" tour. Yes, there are some bats in the "open" cave on the end and you can walk over and see them, but they weren't in the open part of the cave. You can jump from up top into the water and my daughter had a blast! The "sewage" smell they are talking about isn't sewage, it's the sulfur. It has an odd smell of course. If you've been to any place, like St Lucia with the volcano's, that's the smell. It's different, but doesn't smell like sewage. Odd smell for sure. The water gives off a green color from the sulfur. Our tour guide grabbed a clear water bottle and scooped some up to show us how clear the water was. 

 

You can check out my full review HERE and there's plenty of pictures to show what it looked like if this is where you are going.

Jade caverns are on Cozumel.

 

The OP is asking about a mainland excursion.

[mitsugirly]

9 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

Jade caverns are on Cozumel.

 

The OP is asking about a mainland excursion.

 

This is the Cozumel forum so I assumed in Cozumel. Where does it say mainland and how do you know by what they posted?

[grantbob]

It's mainland, you have to take a ferry over. We did this excursion about 5 years ago and it was awesome. I would love to do it again.

 

There were no bats (maybe one or two) or foul smells. It's actually quite beautiful. The caves are more overhangs that go back in the cenote wall than actual caves. You have to be up for a little physical activity - hiking some mild inclines, paddling a canoe for a bit, etc. but its not bad at all. You do not have to do the zipline or high jumps if you dont want and there are ladders if you just want to get down into the water.

 

Then lunch was prepared by local folks in a traditional style and was delicious. I can't recommend this excusion enough!

Edited July 20, 2023 by grantbob

[c-leg5]

1 hour ago, grantbob said:

It's mainland, you have to take a ferry over. We did this excursion about 5 years ago and it was awesome. I would love to do it again.

 

There were no bats (maybe one or two) or foul smells. It's actually quite beautiful. The caves are more overhangs that go back in the cenote wall than actual caves. You have to be up for a little physical activity - hiking some mild inclines, paddling a canoe for a bit, etc. but its not bad at all. You do not have to do the zipline or high jumps if you dont want and there are ladders if you just want to get down into the water.

 

Then lunch was prepared by local folks in a traditional style and was delicious. I can't recommend this excusion enough!

So is it in one of the parks where you pay to enter, or who owns and maintains the zip lines?

[grantbob]

I'm not sure. We booked it through Carnival since its on the mainland and requires both a ferry ride to Playa Del Carmen and then a bus ride to the park. It's a long day and we didnt want to miss the ship.

 

Checking on google maps its called Tankah park.

 

 Bienvenido | Parque Tankah