What is the best shore excursion in Costa Maya?

[pdebolt]

My wife and I (33 years old) will be cruising through Costa Maya next July and I was wondering if I should just go relax on a beach, or should I take a shore excursion.

[njs]

We did the David and Ivan Chacchoban ruins tour for Costa Maya and really enjoyed it. If you go on the Costa Maya ports board you can read all about it. We travelled with 3 children (13,15,17 at the time) and we all enjoyed it.

[cruisinjerseygirl]

Ah the beautiful Costa Maya...there is not much there, it's still being built up, I loved it though..we went to the Jungle Beach I think it was called...it was a rip off really...it is a small beach where you can do many things and it is beautiful but....it cost $40 a person and that includes drinks which...they don't really have anything to choose from...to be honest with you, we left the beach about 3 hours early and went back to the port, we didn't notice in the port when we left, but there are a million little shops there, a beach you can hang out on, AND a pool with chairs and resturaunts and bars, we spent the last 3 hours there with our daughter in the pool with a friend and we went shopping and walked the beach...that's a freebie and you don't have to leave the port..just an idea and well worth it, I had wished we stayed at the port at that point.

[oscar's mom]

You can't go wrong with David and Ivan. Best excursion we've ever been on. Good price too.

[river_sand_bar2]

The Mayan Ruins were just voted the number 1 new wonder of the world.... so ANY chance to get to see them would be worth it.

 

My vote is for David and Ivan... they are incredible!!!!

[serene56]

Personally I wouldnt do any beach breaks for the fees they charge. You can go to Majuahaul on your own with a round trip taxi fee of 5 bucks.

honey and I had an awesome lunch with sodas for under 10 bucks for both of us.

In this fishing villiage people are opened for massages under tents for 20 minutes for 20 bucks--wait til later in the day and you can make a better deal - we took 50 minutes for the same 20 bucks.

 

scroll to the top and click on cruisecritic message boards which will take you to the main page of the forums..once on there scroll down to the Port of calls board and check out Costa Maya...lots of information and photos there.

 

here is a link

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=169

[Cruzman]

Chac Chi through the hole in the fence, and it's free!

[GoinCruisin]

Chac Chi through the hole in the fence, and it's free!

 

We're doing that in January... followed by the pool. This will be my 4th time in Costa Maya... it's one of my favorite ports!!! If you are like us, the $40 all inclusive is a GREAT deal! LOL! We did the Costa Maya Beach Break... WELL worth it!!!! We've also just done the pool and had a BLAST!! I'm not much for excursions, ruins, etc... I like a nice relaxing fun day... Costa Maya is definitely the place for that!! Looking forward to the hole in the fence excursion :p LOL

[DGP1111]

Costa Maya...there is not much there, it's still being built up, I loved it though..we went to the Jungle Beach I think it was called...it was a rip off really...it is a small beach where you can do many things and it is beautiful but....it cost $40 a person and that includes drinks which...they don't really have anything to choose from

 

I absolutely respect each member's opinion of how an excursion did, or did not, appeal to them, but in a recent CC review I did of Carnival Miracle, I mentioned that this was my favorite port of that week, and that I thoroughly enjoyed the Jungle Beach Break excursion. I took more picture here than anywhere during the week, and the snorkeling experience was second to none I've done over multiple sailings to many locations. It was the first time in years that I've experience any sort of sunburn, but I got so involved in all I was doing there that I just lost track of time. I thought it was worth every cent... and more. Will be going back to CM in a few months, and I'm certainly going to repeat that excursion. Have a great cruise, and Bon Voyage!!!!

[eljayel66]

Majahual for sure - and it is only $5 pp for the cab ride. There is not a lot of sand so it was not a huge "beach" which were initially were a little unsure of - but it ended up being one of my favorite port days on a cruise. We brought our lounge chairs right out in the water and laid on them and drank Coronas out of a bucket all day. My BF is not a sun worshiper so that catered to him and brought an umbrella right out in the water over his chair too !!! They waited on us and and foot the whole time we were there. Once you start walking down the beach - you will be bombarded with people coming at you "inviting" you to "their part of the beach/water". Some people were charging way more $ than others. We paid $5 each for our chair and that was it. Again, they treated us like gold. We had a lot of fun with the employees - they were just so nice to us. It was such a wonderful day !!! I would do it again in a heartbeat.

[I&MsMom]

I'm going to add my voice to those recommending David and Ivan. I especially loved that the ruins were in a forested setting, whereas most (if not all) of the other ones are not in their "natural" setting. Not only did we hear about the ruins, but also about the flora and fauna. It was great!

 

AND, we were dropped off in Majahual, so we had time to hang out on the beach and have lunch, and spend some time shopping, in addition to taking the tour.

 

The best of both worlds! It's a great port. Have fun!

[pandaruth27]

Last month my fiance and I did the Chacipin ruins in Costa Maya, this one only 4 or 5 hours. The tour was from Aventura tours and they are on the back cover of Archaelogy magazine Nov/Dec issue. It was a great time. It was sprinkling when we where there but it was nice and cooled it down. We were able to climb on some of the temples and the view from the top was nice. We saw a lot of fuana and we did catch the sight of a animal that looked like a huge raccoon was trying to get picture of it but it was too fast. After the exursion went into a little shopping area but we only stayed a little while. Next time going to do the other ruins and then the beach. Will love to see how they are going to develop the place. I hope they do not over develop because it might loose some of its natural appeal.

[crusinpsychRN]

There is also great shopping at the pier. I found the prices on jewelry better than Cozumel.