"speed boats" o' scary-ness

[danamom_o_fun]

Hey, we went to Cozumel last spring (Feb. '08) and I meant to post this then, but better late then never, eh?

The four of us in our group had booked the Speedboat excursion through NCL Spirit. I would NOT recommend this. The boats are small and not speedy, and the ocean that day was dangerous. There were big breaking waves we had to drive through. At one point a wave launched our boat and flooded out the engine, briefly stalling us as the next wave crashed over us. I thought I might never see my kids again. Seriously. The tour operators tried to pretend nothing was wrong, and after halfway through when we stopped to allow the couples in boats to switch drivers, no-one switched. We were all freaked out of the waves. All of us in the boats shared near-death experience stories as the operators waited to see if anyone would switch drivers, and then when we started up again my husband and I and the other couple we came with told the tour people we were done and went back to the beach. When we got there we found that we were not the only ones who had done that. My husband and the other guy we were with voiced their concerns about the dangerous conditions to the tour people (in Spanish) and they denied that there was any danger. Also, you don't go to a private beach, you start from a small strip of beach they own and end up there for about half an hour before lunch, then it's over. They did have it set up nicely with beach chairs, hammocks, bar, pool, and lunch, though.

 

When we got back to the boat we told the excursion desk about our experience (as did more than half our group from the tour) and they contacted the company. The company lied to the ship people, saying we were warned of the dangerous conditions and offered our money back before we even took off in the boats!!!! (Yeah. No such thing even remotely happened.) NCL took the tour operators word (against about 12 or more passengers who complained) and did not give us a refund. We got 10% back.

So the point of my cautionary tale is to skip the speedboats and go snorkeling or something. The water was very blue and pretty- that would have been a better choice.

[preschool teacher]

thank-you....i had not heard any reviews of this and we have a private tour booked for this in a couple of weeks.....makes me wonder if we should do it....did you have any people in your group that had NOT booked with the ship??? we booked withthe tour directly.. thanks.........

[Art123]

I am not denying that danamom_o_fun had a miserable experience, it truly does sound like the ocean made for a bad day.

 

That said, we did this about 5 years ago when they used to go to the private beach. We enjoyed it so much, we did it again this past spring. The government no longer permits them to eat at the private beach, so it now is just a short stop there for some swimming, and then back to the base for lunch. We are glad we did it again.

 

Preschool teacher,

Both of our trips were through a cruise line, and only had other cruiseline passengers on them, however the company does take "private" reservations. The only reason we did this through the cruise line was we were cutting it close on time to make it back to the ship.

[C cruzer]

We did this excursion in Grand Cayman and it was really scary:eek: The chop was so bad I thought they would cancel the tour but they acted like it was fine. I dont think the cruiselines should just take the tour operators word:rolleyes:

[preschool teacher]

well we are gonna do it i'll let you know houw it is........thanks for all the comments.......

[luv2vacation]

well we are gonna do it i'll let you know houw it is........thanks for all the comments.......

 

I am looking forward to your review. I am considering doing this in Dec. It looks like a lot of fun. Enjoy your trip!

[cruisermom8888]

My husband and I went on the Speedboat/Beach excursion with a Carnival Cruise in Cozumel. Those speedboats were the scariest thing I have ever been on,:eek: and I don't even think there was a problem with the ocean that day. The boats tilt over so much everytime you turn, it feels like they are going to flip over. You also better not have any back trouble if you go on one, because every time they go over a wave they go up in the air and flop back down hard in the water. My husband (he was driving) thought it was GREAT FUN!! I was just scared to death. The good side of it was that the beach we went to was just gorgeous. They said there were no roads to it and that it was only accessible by boat. The water was a beautiful blue and turquoise color and the beach was white soft sand - not like some other beaches in Cozumel where the bottom is some kind of crushed coral that is rough on your feet. I would love to go back to that beach again - but not by the little speedboats.:eek:

[preschool teacher]

we have chickend out of this.. it's our first port and we don't want to take a chances on getting hurt..and ruining the rest of our trip...:eek: