Excursions on your own!

WishingMom

WishingMom

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 18, 2008
Hi everyone,

We have another cruise booked on RCCL for this coming May, we previously cruised (DH and I) May past and didn't mind booking an excursion outside of the ones available via the cruiseline. This time, however, we are taking DD6 and I'm a little nervous about booking one not through RCCL. Specifically I'm interested in an excursion to Playa Mia in Cozumel, and from what I've read there are significant price differences between booking on your own and through RCCL. Have you or would you hesitate to book on your own when travelling with younger children?

Also, is Cozumel relatively safe for heading out on your own?

Thanks in advance,
 
I know nothing about Mexico except that I don't particularly want to go there lol.

If you don't get a plethora of responses here from people braver than me, the ports of call forum on cruisecritic's message boards is the place to check.

We aren't huge excursion people, but I've felt comfy doing excursions on our own in Alaska ,San Juan, and Sint Maarten. In Nassau we tried to just take a walk but the lack of street signs and real sidewalks after a certain point got to DH and DS. Next time we did dcl's excursion to the chocolate factory.

Go with a rock solid, bonafide, highly rated tour company if you're going to do it. Make sure you have scads of time at the end to get back to and on the ship.

(Have a normal watch on set to ship time so you know what time it is on the ship!)
 
WishingMom said:
Hi everyone,

We have another cruise booked on RCCL for this coming May, we previously cruised (DH and I) May past and didn't mind booking an excursion outside of the ones available via the cruiseline. This time, however, we are taking DD6 and I'm a little nervous about booking one not through RCCL. Specifically I'm interested in an excursion to Playa Mia in Cozumel, and from what I've read there are significant price differences between booking on your own and through RCCL. Have you or would you hesitate to book on your own when travelling with younger children?

Also, is Cozumel relatively safe for heading out on your own?

Thanks in advance,
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i personally would be a nervous wreck wondering if there will be a horrendous accident or something to prevent me getting back to the ship on time - i take the significant price difference with going through the ship as insurance and peace of mind for ME. Since I would be worried the whole time (even though it is a small chance because I understand they want people to be back to the ship on time) it would not be enjoyable for me so that is why i do ship excursions. IF that is not your problem then go ahead and book on own, but if you are leaving younger children on ship while you are gone then the risk is greater if you miss the ship.

Be normal safe and careful like anywhere new and you should be relatively safe, kid or not, imo
 
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We split, Cayman Stingray City through RCCL and went on our own in Jamaica, which can be scary if you're with people that aren't too adventurous. People will try to sell you ANYTHING there as soon as you leave the Cruise Port.
In Bermuda, we did all our excursions on our own to The Crystal Caverns, Swizzle Inn & St. Georges and the next day to Horseshoe Bay with no problems. We are planning Playa Mia on our own because it is about 1/3 cheaper.
 
Cozumel is one if the easiest ports to do things on your own, don't be nervous at all. We almost always book excursions on our own, even when we are traveling with our friends that have children. If the saving is huge then I would seriously consider doing Playa Mia on your own, remember you will need to pay for your taxi though which should be about $16 each way for up to four people, just make sure you agree on the fare (not per person) before you get in the cab. If the difference isn't that great then factor in the peace of mind of booking through RCI before you decide.
 
We have only done one cruise ship excursion in 12 cruises. Unless we are in port for a very short amount of time, we always book privately. They are usually much less costly, but the best part is that you usually can tailor the excursion to what you what and have way fewer people. The ship tour may have 30 to 40 people while a private excursion could be less than 10. I like being able to adjust on the fly with our group.

Be sure to visit cruise critic to get some ideas and then look up the companies on trip advisor to get reviews and feedback. Pick a company that has many reviews.
 


We didn't book Playa Mia but we did Mr. Sanchos with an independent company and had no issues. I agree with others to make sure before you leave you agree to a price for cab fare. When we left Mr. Sancho's they closed at 5pm I believe and you could see everyone starting to head back to their ship in plenty of time. There were plenty of cabs waiting outside for us and we had a toddler, 14yr old, myself and my parents. We all felt safe and didn't have any issues. Our next cruise we will book Mr. Sancho's again but probably with more people (more kids as well).
 
We went to Atlantis on our own. My DS was 5 yrs old. We were just fine.

Playa Mia was not an experience that I particularly liked, to be honest. You might as well, because there's nothing to do at Cozumel except shop for souvenirs. I think you will be fine. If I ever dock at Cozumel again, I will not get off of the ship (except to take pics between ships)

Best of luck!
 
Christy LOVES Disney said:
I agree with others to make sure before you leave you agree to a price for cab fare.
Click to expand...
Unless things have changed, there are fixed prices to/from the ports to various locations.

JanBlessed said:
You might as well, because there's nothing to do at Cozumel except shop for souvenirs.
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There are a number of various resorts to go to. We went to Chankanaab.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g150809-Activities-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

We've been on three cruises and never done a ship sponsored excursion (except on the private islands). That's with kids as young as 8.
 
Our eastern cruise this summer got diverted a western this summer. We went to Paradise Beach and loved it! We did it on our own. We took a taxi from the port. There were 7 of us and it was reasonable. We got the 5 kids the water park wrist bands (that was about $100) which next time I would probably skip the water park. The pool was really nice and the grounds were so pretty. We all had lunch and it was less than $200. The service was excellent! We will definitely do it again.
 
We have teens and rented a jeep on Cozumel. The seat belts don't really work. We had a blast....
We rented a jeep for the day [Ernestos $60 US total] and toured the island. Had lots of fun. BUT we did not take a few minutes to plan our route...which caused some issues lol. Learn from my mistake. Plan where you are going to visit if you can. Look at the map and mark some spots. We wasted precious time back-tracking.
 
sam_gordon said:
Unless things have changed, there are fixed prices to/from the ports to various locations.


My sister and brother-in-law went to the golf course (he's a Golf Pro) and the taxi driver went through town and out of the way to drop someone off and then went to the golf course. They ended up getting charged the extra that was out of the way. They didn't ask how much it was before hand so they didn't argue they just paid for it. When we left port with the rest of the family we asked how much it was for us and he told us and we got in. We did the same thing heading out and just made sure we both understood the price before hand.
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