Warning about Playa Mia in Cozumel

[SAT Spurs]

I sailed on the June 30 sailing on Harmony of the Seas out of Galveston.  Our itinerary was rearranged because of the hurricane and we visited Cozumel on the 3rd day instead of the 6th. I counted 7 ships in port.

 

Through Royal we had booked a tour which was to be a Mexican cooking class and then a relaxing all inclusive day at the beach.

 

Royal handled all of the rescheduling and we were issued new tickets. 
 

we arrived early off the dock and easily found our first guide who was holding up signs for several tours.  We checked in and signed releases and told to wait at tiki hut 1.  It was typically very hot and humid.

 

After waiting under the hut for about 30 minutes, I went to find the original guide, and he told me almost, go back and wait.  This cycled a few more times in 15 minute intervals until I could not find him.  I then found another guide who found him on the radio.  After some conversation on the radio, he said don’t worry, we will get you a cab on us to take us to the location.  They had left us.

 

After a scary cab ride wherein our driver was driving up to speeds of 140kph and passing cars on 2 lane road we arrived.  I told the cab many times that we were not in a hurry and to slow down to no avail.  I was ignored.

After we arrived at Playa Mia, we were told to wait under some blue arches by the main area where there is a buffet and a bar.  Again waited about 20 minutes and asked again to a guide walking by about our tour, and he said keep waiting.  In the duration, my wife waited at our designated blue arch while I went to go get us 2 beers from the open bar.  After a pretty long line, I ordered my beers.  It was not too cold Dos Equis draft beer poured into a plastic glass.  May be net 10oz of beer.  I recognized none of the other liquors they were pouring for vodka, tequila, rum etc…. I did recognize Passport Scotch.  
 

In my journey to the bar, I also had the displeasure of walking by the buffet.  It was dirty, the food did not look good, it did not appear to be held at temp, and lots of flies.  This was not relevant to my tour because we were to cook and eat our own food in the cooking class, but you all are warned about the food you would be served if you book Playa Mia.

 

I returned to my wife and then went to find a guide again, told to continue waiting.  Went back to my wife and we both looked at each other and simultaneously blurted let’s go.  Too hot and tired of waiting we found a guide again. Initially he apologized and said they would get us a cab, but he had to find his supervisor.  Supervisor came and told us since we cancelled they would not pay for our return. I said no matter and we took a cab back to the port and reboarded.

 

I complained to Guest Relations and they took notes on our experience and said they would contact Shore Excursions.  Shore excursions reached out to us, refunded our tour and gave us OBC for the cab fare, Royal handled it perfectly.

 

In reflection, because of the change in the itinerary the tour operator actually was not ready to accommodate us, but did not communicate that to Royal or us.

 

Other than waiting in hot humid conditions for several hours (left ship at 10:30am and returned at 1:00pm), no harm.  But beware of any tours operated by Playa Mia. It appeared that they were more interested in trying to make it happen to keep our money, than offering a quality experience.  

 

Also all inclusive beach day there due to quality of drinks and food would not be worth it in my humble opinion.

 

In my prior Cozumel visit we did Sancho Beach (not sure on name but it is before Playa Mia), no complaints and we received what we paid for in quality and quantity.

 

We did enjoy our day on an empty ship by the pool.
 

 

[mil76]

They definitely did a bait and switch on you.  When itineraries get switched they can't always do those excursions with small numbers since they have already sold all the slots to people who were already scheduled to be in port that day.  They should have told you this up front so you could make an informed decision, or just cancelled in advance (I would have turned around and headed back to the ship). 

 

I no longer go near the big beach clubs in Cozumel (Playa Mia, Paradise Beach, etc.), especially on seven ship days.  They are going to try to jam as many people in as possible, and the experience will end up going to crap.  At least you had the sense to leave, just think how mad you would have been once you got in and found out there was nowhere to sit!  The plastic cup thing is annoying as well.  Paradise Beach made the switch a couple years ago once they decided to go as large scale as possible.  I enjoy sitting by the beach relaxing with a cold bottle of Mexican beer, not drinking out of a plastic cup like I'm at a frat party.  

 

Not much you can do about the taxis in Cozumel.  Those guys just want to make as many trips out to the beach clubs in the mornings before everything dries up, and then do the same thing on the way back in the afternoon.  You may not be in a hurry, but they sure are.  I just buckle up and hope for the best.

 

At least Royal did right by you and gave you a refund and paid for the taxi with onboard credits. 

 

[Merion_Mom]

I have done the cooking class at Playa Mia almost a dozen times, and loved it each and every time.  I am sorry that you were not able to experience that.

 

I agree with you about the food area in the "pavilion".  

[not-enough-cruising]

10 minutes ago, mil76 said:

They definitely did a bait and switch on you.  When itineraries get switched they can't always do those excursions with small numbers since they have already sold all the slots to people who were already scheduled to be in port that day.  They should have told you this up front so you could make an informed decision, or just cancelled in advance (I would have turned around and headed back to the ship). 

 

I no longer go near the big beach clubs in Cozumel (Playa Mia, Paradise Beach, etc.), especially on seven ship days.  They are going to try to jam as many people in as possible, and the experience will end up going to crap.  At least you had the sense to leave, just think how mad you would have been once you got in and found out there was nowhere to sit!  The plastic cup thing is annoying as well.  Paradise Beach made the switch a couple years ago once they decided to go as large scale as possible.  I enjoy sitting by the beach relaxing with a cold bottle of Mexican beer, not drinking out of a plastic cup like I'm at a frat party.  

 

Not much you can do about the taxis in Cozumel.  Those guys just want to make as many trips out to the beach clubs in the mornings before everything dries up, and then do the same thing on the way back in the afternoon.  You may not be in a hurry, but they sure are.  I just buckle up and hope for the best.

 

At least Royal did right by you and gave you a refund and paid for the taxi with onboard credits. 

 

Several of the AI beach clubs CAP their attendance numbers, Sanchos being one of them. 

[Arzeena]

9 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

I have done the cooking class at Playa Mia almost a dozen times, and loved it each and every time.  I am sorry that you were not able to experience that.

 

I agree with you about the food area in the "pavilion".  

I am with you. We too have done this cooking class excursion many times and enjoyed it every time. We have never experienced what the OP went through, but I understand it can happen. We have booked a ship excursion whenever we went there.
We also like Paradise Beach and have been a dozen times. we have no complaints about plastic cup drinks. Paradise food is not bad and they have the cleanest rest rooms in all Cozumel per our experience.

Edited July 9 by Arzeena

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

We also like Paradise Beach and have been a dozen times. we have no complaints about plastic cup drinks. Paradise food is not bad and they have the cleanest rest rooms in all Cozumel per our experience.

We like Paradise Beach because we spend can time on the beach and then move to the very large pool to finish up. 

[clackey]

We have been to 7 or 8 different beach clubs, but Chankanaab Park is the only one that we have done multiple times.  Easy to get to, and has everything we could want or need.

[c-leg5]

I have never been to Playa Mia as I consider it a family location and we don’t normally travel with kids.
 

The cooking class has had good reviews in the past but I understood the chef had moved to Dolphinaris now?  I didn’t realize they were still doing classes at playa Mia.
 

If you ever want to do an authentic cooking class consider “Cooking with Josephine” (although you will not get beach time if that is important), or the food tour. 
 

There have always been bad reviews about the buffet and AI at Playa Mia and this would have been evident with a little research and shouldn’t have been a surprise. PAYG has always been recommended, along with independent transport although I realize the latter probably wasn’t possible in your case, since you had signed up for the class. 
 

Perhaps things will improve when Royal takes over. I don’t expect any improvements in the near future. Glad they handled the problem well and sorry for your wasted day. We always take independent excursions on Cozumel and plan in order to avoid the tourist traps.