Secret River Excursion on Cozumel

[Pooh93]

Has anyone done the secret river excursion at Cozumel? Just looking for some feedback.

TIA

 

[elongatedm]

My wife and I did that last year while on the Fantasy. We had an absolutely great time. The staff was real great. It was fun going underground and looking at all the stalactites and traversing the river. There were parts that you had to swim as you couldn't touch the ground. I would avoid if you are claustrophobic as there aren't really any lights other than the hard hats that you wear that have a light on them. The other thing I would probably be careful is if you are susceptible to sea sickness. The ride to Cozumel was real choppy and it caused a bit of barf dominoes. Other than that it was great. You will also get a chance to walk around the port a little.

 

[jdb in AZ]

My wife and I did that last year while on the Fantasy. We had an absolutely great time. The staff was real great. It was fun going underground and looking at all the stalactites and traversing the river. There were parts that you had to swim as you couldn't touch the ground. I would avoid if you are claustrophobic as there aren't really any lights other than the hard hats that you wear that have a light on them. The other thing I would probably be careful is if you are susceptible to sea sickness. The ride to Cozumel was real choppy and it caused a bit of barf dominoes. Other than that it was great. You will also get a chance to walk around the port a little.

That was descriptive! Welcome to the DIS.

DH and I signed up for the excursion last fall but he has artificial knees and a bad back, so the staff "discouraged" him from going. I wish the online description had been more specific about physical restrictions; then we wouldn't have signed up. DCL did refund our $$$ without any problem.

 

[cwehrstedt]

We did this in march of this year and it was amazing. Kids 7 and 9 are loved it. Beautiful water, amazing cave formations. Lunch was fun, and so was the anise.


I am a bit claustrophobic, (like panic attack on mission space.. And have a bit of a hard time on a plane when parked, tarmat), and had no issues at all.. It is just simply amazing, so my mind was just elsewhere.

Agree with the barf dominos, we were ok, but a lot of families were not!! I also didnt like the 1 hour of shopping... That is just not us. We should have just headed for the beach.

Would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[sambycat]

Did it, loved it. Once in a lifetime. I'm pretty active, my hubby not as much, neither of us are tiny. We had no problems. There's z lunch as well although I think it's not advertised as lunch per se. I've posted pics on previous threads and reviewed if on trip advisor. We really enjoyed ourselves. Amazing experience and the facilities and staff were top notch

 

[CT Mom of 3]

This was our favorite excursion in 3 cruises! I would actually do it again, barfy ferry ride and all!!

 

[Weedy]

I posted this a while back

We just did this and it was fun but it was a JOURNEY!!! We met in the Tube at 8:15 AM but did not get onto the boat ride over until 9 AM. The boat holds about 200 people and everyone going on different excursions to Playa del Carman take the same boat.

It is a 35 minute boat ride and the water is very rough ( be sure to take sea sick meds they pass out barf bags on the boat). Then they gather everyone for the Secret River excursion on the dock and you walk to vans, it takes about 20 minutes to gather everyone for the short walk to the vans. It's very organized.

The van ride over is about 35 minutes. 15 minutes of the ride is down a unpaved very hilly road. (there were tons of butterflys). You then get ready for the walk in the caves. They give everyone shorty wet suites and booties and a life jacket to wear. If I had to do it again I would not wear the wet suite. I was very hot. Most of the time the water is only knee deep. The two times we got in deep water the wet suite fills up slowly The water was not that cold, it was more painful having the wet suite fill up. I was so hot that half way through I pulled the top half down, yes I was wearing a bathing suite.. I suggest you wear shorts and a t-shirt over your bathing suite the booties and the life jacket. The tour takes about 90 minutes. I'm am very active but had difficulty walking at times I have trouble with one foot Plantar fasciitis so this did not help) My son got the walking stick but I did not. He gave me his and I really needed it. After the tour they serve a very good lunch.
Then we waited another 30 minutes for the vans to take us back. Another 35 minute ride. When you get back to the dock area you have to wait another hour for the boat to take you back to the Disney ship. There is a beach and a shopping area. We were very tired ( that could have been for the sea sick meds we took for the boat rive over.). It was now 3:30 and we were ready to go back to the ship.

It was a great tour I happy we did it but 8:15 - 5:00 was just a little to long for 90 minutes in the cave.

Here is a photo of my family swimming through the cave.




A photographer follows you through the cave. Our photos were not that good. We bought one (it was put on a CD) for $25.00

 

[Pooh93]

Thanks everyone! I think we will do this excursion. I also searched the cruise forum for other reviews and it appears the only concern is the ferry ride due to rough waters. We are not prone to motion sickness, but I can understand the domino effect also.

 

[jrabbit]

In May a few years ago we had an excursion at Playa Del Carmen, and the ferry ride was NOT rough at all - But 90+% of the reviews about trips to the mainland say the ride is rough.

I was "worried" about the "ferry" ride over because I was imagining one of those ancient ferry's that hold 4 cars and that they were going to put 22 on there along with a bus piled 45 feet high with people and "stuff". ---> News report "there was another ferry accident today involving a capsized ferry .... officials stated that that have no idea why it happened...." It's nothing like that - it's just a passenger boat that holds about 200 people. Well maintained and the crew seemed competent.

 

[EvaSue]

I've been to Cozumel about a bajillion times and somehow this excursion escaped me. Can't wait to try it next time I'm there! But I might make it BYOB.... (bring your own barf-bag)