Anybody been to Xcaret?

[smjanni]

Thinking about taking the family to Xcaret while in Cozumel. Has anybody done this and how was it? Would it be risky to try booking this other than through the ship? And how much time is actually spent at the park since it seems traveling time is two hours. Thanks for any input.

[carmel]

We were there in January of 05. However, our port was Playa del Carmen. We booked through the ship. I thought it would be a nice day but wasn't expecting much. However, I was blown away by how much I liked it. We traveled with my parents and our 2 daughters (ages 3 and 7 at the time) and we had a fabulous time. The absolute highlight was the night time show. Just walking to it was incredible. It is hard to describe but they have these live vignettes along the path to the arena and incense and real fires burning - it TOTALLY put you in the mood. The actual show was so amazing. I would NEVER be referred to as emotional or sentimental but I had tears in my eyes by the end of it. Both my girls loved it and my parents loved it so much they bought the cd of the music. You can easily spend 8-9 hrs there and not get bored.

[jode]

We went many years ago and absolutely LOVED it ! ! ! There is so much to do there - we had a wonderful lunch with great music, etc - very festive. I believe we booked through the ship (although it was not a Carnival cruise but RCL). My daughter swam with the Dolphins while there and although my DH and I did not it was worth the $$ to see her have such a wonderful experience. If at all possible I would highly recommend this excursion.

[Babyblue]

We went many years ago and absolutely LOVED it ! ! ! There is so much to do there - we had a wonderful lunch with great music, etc - very festive. I believe we booked through the ship (although it was not a Carnival cruise but RCL). My daughter swam with the Dolphins while there and although my DH and I did not it was worth the $$ to see her have such a wonderful experience. If at all possible I would highly recommend this excursion.

 

Ditto the above post.

We loved it as well, This I would book thru the cruise line since you will have to go over to the mainland and the ship will wait for any late passengers if booked thru them but will not if you book independent.

Make sure to bring along waterproof cameras as they are expensive on the ship.

 

Karen

[Babyblue]

Thinking about taking the family to Xcaret while in Cozumel. Has anybody done this and how was it? Would it be risky to try booking this other than through the ship? And how much time is actually spent at the park since it seems traveling time is two hours. Thanks for any input.

 

Also make sure you do the underwater river, it was great.Bring watershoes for that.

 

Karen

[Babyblue]

Thinking about taking the family to Xcaret while in Cozumel. Has anybody done this and how was it? Would it be risky to try booking this other than through the ship? And how much time is actually spent at the park since it seems traveling time is two hours. Thanks for any input.

 

Check out their website for more great info

http://www.xcaret.com

 

 

Karen

[smjanni]

Thanks for the info all, and special thanks Babyblue for the link, it looks beautiful. Carnivals web site lists this as a 7 hour tour, so I assume only 5 hours is spent at the park and the rest is travel time. Do you think thats long enough to enjoy it? It looks like you could easily spend a week there and not get bored.

[Babyblue]

Thanks for the info all, and special thanks Babyblue for the link, it looks beautiful. Carnivals web site lists this as a 7 hour tour, so I assume only 5 hours is spent at the park and the rest is travel time. Do you think thats long enough to enjoy it? It looks like you could easily spend a week there and not get bored.

 

Yes you could spend a week and still not get enough.

I think 5 hours will be fine, of course we wanted to stay longer but We will be visiting again when we go in January.

The ferry over and back is about 30 minutes each way.

I hope you have as great a time as we did. I know we did.

My sister is so looking forward to it.

Karen

[carmel]

You are right, you could spend a much longer time but 5 hrs will still be a wonderful experience. We didn't do any swimming but walked the grounds and saw the shows. It is so peaceful and gorgeous. We had a fantastic lunch in a restaurant under a giant palapa (sorry, can't remember the name - it was a buffet). It was cool and peaceful and gorgeous.

[Babyblue]

Thanks for the info all, and special thanks Babyblue for the link, it looks beautiful. Carnivals web site lists this as a 7 hour tour, so I assume only 5 hours is spent at the park and the rest is travel time. Do you think thats long enough to enjoy it? It looks like you could easily spend a week there and not get bored.

 

Oh P.S. ,your welcome, glad to be of help

 

Karen

[sandestination]

Thinking about taking the family to Xcaret while in Cozumel. Has anybody done this and how was it? Would it be risky to try booking this other than through the ship? And how much time is actually spent at the park since it seems traveling time is two hours. Thanks for any input.

Hi My husband and I went several years ago while on an all inclusive in cancun. I don't know about from cozmel but from cancun it made for a very long day. Pretty but long. We had a bus ride there. when we got there their is a beach included in the price they rented different things out. Actually the beach was much better at our hotel.

 

Now to the more interesting part they have the men dressed in the myan clothes like indiands and bare-feet. They play a game of myan style football like they did many years ago. but not like they have here. There were stands on each end... on the side in the field there were cement walls upward on an angle kind of like skateboarders use shaped in a v but with a feild in the bottom of the v...anyway on each side of the upward concrete is a circle like a sideways donut of concrete.. there is just one on each side...the object is to run up the sides bare-feet and kick the ball through the hole. Very hard... That lasted a good hour as best as I can remember. Then they took us through a trail of tunnels with markings etc with a indian and incense. It was very interesting. then we were at an outside stadium for shows not football. they had dancers in spanish costumes and singers everyone got a single candle to hold it was dark and they sang a special song it was beautiful.... They had the tubing down the caves but we didn't due that.. I have seizures and the water is very cold and they didn't think it would be good for me. The rest-rooms are not ideally located. If you go take plenty of water or any snack. then you have a bus ride back. Like I said when we got back I thought i was going to drop in my tracks. If it is for the cruise I am sure it is a shorter excursion. hope I helped good luck.

Lynda

memphisTN

[toledo]

How old are your kids? It's definately better for older kids. I'd doubt if you have time to see the evening show, the highlight, but the place is still interesting. Try to see as many shows as possible and be sure and bring swimsuits so you can cool off in the water. We didn't care for the food. Much of the buffet was unidentifiable. Hopefully you could find a couple of items you like and then load up on them. When we were there 3 years ago, they confiscated everyone's sunscreen. They kept it for you until you left the park. You are only allowed to use biodegradable sunscreen. They gave out little packets free so you don't have to worry about finding it.

[smjanni]

The boys are 13, 11, 8 and 2. I think they are the right target age for this kind of excursion, except for maybe the 2 year old, although he is happy to just play at the beach. My one concern is that we are in the process of potty training him and he may not be competely trained by our cruise; does anyone know if the permit swim diapers? I did read on their website no sunscreen, though.

 

I'm sure we'd miss the evening shows, but not sure all the kids would sit still for them anyway. The more I read about this place, the more I think, if we enjoy it this time, that we might want to go back for a weeks vacation. I'd imagine that whole region is worth a good long visit.

[jkkas3700]

We booked the Xcaret excursion through Carnival when we were on the Holiday last fall. We were the first group to leave the ship, around 7:00 a.m. or so, and the ferry picked us up at the ship. The ferry ride was 30 minutes or so to Playa del Carman. The bus ride was probably 20-30 minutes from there. We enjoyed the day and would like to go back sometime with our kids.

[toledo]

I don't think the swim diaper will be a problem.

[leedm]

The name of the place to eat is La Laquna. Also ride the Scenic Tower.

 

Leedm