Costa Maya - malaria & other questions

[cheermom4ever]

Julie,

If you did not get my pm please let me know.

Donna

 

[Popovich]

We just returned from the 12/3 Western that stopped in Costa Maya. Our guide on the All Terrain Vehicle excursion indicated that mosquito season is only a couple months per year - the rainy season I think Sept and Oct. We didn't encounter any mosquitos on our trip.

We traveled with a 6 & 7 year old and my husbands parents. Costa Maya was everyone's favorite port . The beach that we went to was far nicer than GC and the water was warm, clear and blue. The beach was clean and the kids were able to walk out a very far distance into the water without it getting higher than their waist. The bottom was soft and sandy (no need for water shoes). It was so worth the trip.

Our excursion booked through Disney was great and we would recommend stopping in Costa Maya. If you have concerns, talk with your Doctor and with the Disney Shore Excursions Manager. I'm sure they'll give you good advice.

 

[SeaSpray]

It is not illegal per se to import Mexican Vanilla to the U.S. Many ethnic food stores carry Mexican Vanilla.

It IS illegal to import any Mexican Vanilla containing "Coumarin" which is a poison. See http://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia2807.html for details. Note that Customs can detain vanilla from certain manufacturers without checking for Coumarin.

The last Mexican vanilla I saw at an ethnic grocer said "Coumarin-Free" on the label.

Thanks for clarifying!

 

[jeast]

It depends what you like. I was there in Oct 2004. Took a cab to the beach. It was a pretty poor area. It was NOT a resort area. Be prepared to find your own place on the beach. There were beachy bars all along the shore that had some tables but you had to buy drinks. The beach bars did not want you in front of their areas unless you were patronizing their establishment. We walked the length of the town and eventually just plopped down our towels and went for a swim. The bottom was kind of mucky feeling with occasional rocks. It did stay shallow (really shallow) for quite a while. Most of the other cruisers there were busy drinking.

I didn't really like the beach much. It certainly didn't look like any of the pictures shown in this thread while I was there. Of course, I live in Pensacola, FL and we have amazing beaches, so maybe I'm just fussy.

I would not bother to go again. I definitely would not take my kids there. Althought the warm, shallow water would be nice, it was definitely primitive.

Just my experience.

 

[jeast]

It occurs to me that Popovich may have gone on a beach excursion to another area of costa maya. Maybe that was better. Mahajual was disappointing.

 

[cheermom4ever]

Jeast,

I'm in Destin, so I'm fussy about beaches also. We did the ruins instead.

Donna

 

[NancyIL]

On my Western Caribbean cruise last April with Royal Caribbean, I visited the Chacchoben Ruins (out of Costa Maya) with Ivan and David, and it was wonderful: http://www.chacchobenruins.com/

I bought Mexican vanilla from Los Cinco Soles in Cozumel. It is very good, with a different taste than the vanilla you buy in the U.S. The back label clearly states, THIS PRODUCT DOES NOT CONTAIN COUMARIN.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I thought Cozumel was no longer cancelled? It's cancelled as a port on the Western? Does that mean it probably still will be in May and we're going to some other port instead?

 

[ohMom]

my .02 on Costa Maya --

first off, my Dad purchased a bottle of Kahlua in the 'fake port' area - i remember seeing a liquor store but didn't go in

we did the Tequila Beach Break from mayahualtours.com --- it was ok the kids had a great time, my DD and I did the horseback ride which was fine for us - the leader didn't speak much if any English and we just rode to the town, through town, on the beach about 10 mins then back through town. We are both comfortable on horses. My DD and DH rented a waverunner and had a blast -- beware though there were no buoys or markings if you are sending your children out by themselves (teens)

the water was mucky and stinky when we were there, but TS Gamma had just come through

we didn't wear bug spray, had it with us but didn't need it. could that be seasonal? the bees were terrible at the bar area. we asked if their water was safe as drinks were included and they used ice; naturally we were assured it was fine but no one in our DIS group that i knew of got sick *maybe hungover but not truly ill

another DIS family booked the ruins trip and loved it -- we opted not as it was a long excursion

on the horseback ride we saw both sides of the area, the poor and ones like the previous pic.

i also read on cruisecritic that there is a school you can take supplies to and they are very thankful. i was we would've done this, my girls would've enjoyed that. we passed the school (I think) on our horseback ride

 

[Danthesand]

I was there in Oct 2004.

Given the large, rapid rate of development in Mahajual and the surrounding area, a review based on a visit 15-16 months ago is -- to put it politely - based on relatively stale information.

As far as the rest of the 10/04 comments go, to compare to what I saw/experienced 11 months ago, as well as regular reviews of comments on the Mahajual related boards on Cruise Critic:

"Took a cab to the beach"

Given the number of daily visitors, Mahajual now runs buses between the town and cruise port (about every 15-20 minutes).

"It was a pretty poor area"

I guess the definition of "poor" is relative. Prior to the building of the cruise port Mahujaul was a small rural fishing village, not (as I like to put it) a steam-cleaned Epcot exhbit, which seems to be what many here expect every port on a DCL cruise to be like. It is now changing into a tourist area, but yes, the legacy of a small rural Mexican seafront area remains, which --ahem -- to some of us is actually part of the appeal. Not all of us want to spend all our shore time in the beaten-path gentrified tourist traps!

"It was NOT a resort area."

For those who insist on that, the building of a large hotel just north of the village was about 80% completed when we visited in 2/05.

"Be prepared to find your own place on the beach. There were beachy bars all along the shore that had some tables but you had to buy drinks. The beach bars did not want you in front of their areas unless you were patronizing their establishment."

I'm not sure I understand the issues with the above. People expect to be handheld to a private seat? Yes, the chairs and tables along the shorefront "belong" to the bars and restaurants, and to use them you have to buy food and/or drink (not just the latter, and I and many of the other FAMILIES on the beach at Mahahual that day appreciated that), but the product and service we recieved from one we used was great, and the restaurants don't let the locals selling stuff badger you if you are sitting in their area. What is really different here than buying a daily "ticket" to a resort?

"The bottom was kind of mucky feeling with occasional rocks. It did stay shallow (really shallow) for quite a while."

Can't speak to this because I don't know what part of the beach this is referring to. The part we used mid town was nice, with soft sand, warm water and small waves. It was relatively shallow until about 50-60 yards out.

By the way, what no one here has bothered to mention is there is NO decent beach at the cruise port. If you want to go to one, you either go on an excursion...or go to Majahual.

A view of the cruise ships from the Majahual beach

 

[abitjaded]

Another resounding vote for Ivan and a visit to Chaccoben ruins. He was amazing and his tour is fascinating. One of our fellow cruisers located him for our October 2004 trip (CM because Grand Cayman was wrecked). We booked a van outside of the port. We could have stayed longer with Ivan, but the van driver wanted to catch an afternoon fare, too. We spent much longer at the ruins than the DCL groups did. (But all said that tour was very good, too.) I did get a few mosquito bites, but I am a magnet. But I got a heck of a lot more in Cozumel, despite using repellant. The tour arranger left her Off! with the cab driver and I think he was more pleased with that than the money tip.

Costa Maya is on the cruise schedule for January due to the destruction of all the piers in Cozumel from Hurricane Wilma. Bebop over to cruise critic board section on Cozumel and you can read all that is happening there. DCL is supposedly going back in February. Interesting links to the repair going on.

Back to Costa Maya. The port area really is cheesy, totally "fake" Mexico bottled for the tourist trade. However we did swim in the pool and look in the shops and it WAS fun, post Chaccoben tour there was not enough time to go to Mahuhaul beach. But the cab driver did take us to town first to drop school supplies at the school. This town is no worse or better than many small places in Mexico. Maybe a shock for anyone who has never left the US, but not at all disgusting. The expectations of using some bars' beach chairs is standard in Mexico. You are welcome to use the palapas and chairs if you buy beer and treats. Most other islands expect you to pay for the rental of the stuff and pay for food besides.

We ate lunch on the ship, just because my DH always catches something exotic when he eats in Mexico ( I get food poisoning in the US all the time, but never got sick in Mexico, go figure. Course I don't eat ceviche on the beach, but that is another story).

The exact same vanilla you will find here is available in Cozumel for a lower price, as is most everything here. Do not buy the large dirt cheap vanilla, it is just imitation vanillin flavoring, alcohol and caramel coloring. Tastes pretty good, but not the real thing. Search around on the web and you will find links and stories re: Mexican vanilla.

Enjoy Costa Maya, DO get off the ship. These folks can use your interest, understanding and dollars! Consider it a "test drive" for Cozumel.

Carla

 

[jeast]

Danesthesand,

I'm so glad your experience that was four or five months later than mine has such updated information.

Surely, having backpacked around Europe staying at youth hostels, I am definitely the type looking for an Epcot-clean scrubbed experience. By the way, I have never been to Epcot.

I read all of the information on Mahajual on these boards before I left. I found the descriptions of an ideallic fishing village to be quite over the top. Luckily, there are many types of people who post and give opinions. I'm glad you enjoy the primitive environment of Mahajual. I never said there was absolutely no positives. just that I didn't care for it.

 

[jeast]

By the way, I do agree with you about the port. If I were to hit Costa Maya again, which it looks like I will, I will probably do the ruins.

 

[abitjaded]

What the heck, decided to repost the old trip report:

October 26, 2004, Tuesday Costa Maya.

Again I woke before the others. Tea, then a walk on deck. Room service later for all as we watched docking at Costa Maya. I love the sunrises on the ship. There are few people about and everyone is mostly sunrise gazing. We had enough time to grab some hot food at Topsiders, which we ate on our verandah, before we had to meet our group.

We pulled into Costa Maya and met our “tour group”. Three DISers and SOs. After clearance, we debarked at CM. PD negotiated a van for us and we all loaded in, along with another couple from the ship and their two little boys. We loaded all into one small van, little kids on laps and off we went. We stopped at the kindergarten in Majahual to drop off supplies. It was one small, open room in a dirt scrabble yard, but the kids were nicely dressed and gorgeous. Majahual is small, not much to look at. Police check points everywhere, how do the locals stand it? From previous trips to Mexico, we know there is no love lost between the civilians and the military/police. We moved off the straight road to Chacchoben. At one point our driver slammed on the brakes and backed up a long way. Here was a leather back turtle, he brought him into the van for pictures, then gently put him on the other side of the road and nudged him into the swampy jungle. The land was surprising. There was thin limestone soil and thin vegetation, more like small shrubs with a mangrove type growth, all in standing water from the recent rains. There were a few patches of tall jungle as we got closer to Chacchoben. The kids spied the ruins first. We alighted and connected up with Ivan, a guide found by our DIS leader. What a treasure this guy was. Turns out this was his family’s land until the ruins were expropriated by the government. He used to roam the ‘hills’ of the ruins and sit atop the tallest one. His family had to leave when he was 11. He was very traditional, talking about himself as “Mayan”. He told the story that Mayans take the umbilical cord of babies when it falls off and bury it. If they keep it in the house, the child will never become independent and leave the house. If it is buried nearby, the child will never go off on their own. They try to bury it far away. Ivan tells us his father finally admitted he had buried Ivan’s cord in the ruins at Chacchoben. So it makes sense that he is drawn back here. His perspective enriches our tour. We saw a few parrots off in the distance, some type of green Amazon, white beaks and red lores, they were cackling noisily in the top of the tallest tree. A thrill for my parrot loving family. We saw the sacred trees of the Mayans. The kids get pictures taken with iguanas. Ivan finds a pot shard and allows my sons to keep it, since it was just on the dirt and would just get trampled. My kids were thrilled.

The ruins are only partially excavated. Ivan said the workers recently returned, the archeologist got about $20,000 for all expenses for a year. He showed us some of the photographs of what the temples looked like originally and as work proceeded. At first they were only hills, covered in vines and trees, then emerged as a stepped stone temple. One of the temples was oriented to constellations, another to the equinoxes. One must be a tomb for someone very important. Most of the bus tours make a few minute stop at each point, then move on, en mass. We got a personalized tour. I think we could have “kept” Ivan longer, but he was afraid of upsetting our van driver who does not seem to want to linger long. We reluctantly left and careened back down the road to Costa Maya.

We returned to the ship and had a cool meal in Lumiere’s. I had the garbanzo salad and the almond cake for dessert, the first cake I had on DCL that was memorable, kids burger and DH had ?. It had been spitting rain on our cab ride back and it was getting blustery and rainier. DH just wanted to stay on the ship but I forced everyone into their swim suits and beach shoes and we went to the port pool area. The rain cleared a bit, but cleared the pool area a lot. After “tide pool” hunting a bit, not much to see, we settled into chairs at the pool. The kids jumped in and stayed in for several hours, playing with the fountains and having a blast. I browsed the shops a little, prices seemed high. DH swam a little, nearly falling when he first entered the pool. The bottom of the salt water pool was slick, we watched several adults nearly take a header. Saw a man with a dive bag and I asked him about the diving. He said it was pretty good, but did not seem to go ballistic over the sites, maybe his personality or maybe the diving, hard to tell. We headed back to the ship about 4:00.

Now I’ve gotta editorialize. Costa Maya is pretty cheesy. And a poor substitute for Grand Cayman. I hope DCL uses it only when forced, as this time, and does not consider it any kind of permanent option. It seemed somewhat redundant since we were going to Cozumel the next day. The experience at CM is very “canned”, not like real Mexico, but not slick either. That said, we DID enjoy it. The trip to the kindergarten was an eye-opener for my kids. (Plus they went nuts over the biggest wasp nest they have ever seen.) The kids loved the ruins. This was their first exposure to Mexico and it was wonderfully exotic to them. DS8 tells everyone about the pot shard when anyone asks how his vacation was. Chacchoben is not a spectacular ruin (DH and I have been to Chichen Itza, and I have been to Egypt and Israel), but it is amazing if it is your first experience. And maybe, 20 years from now, we will all be floored with what lies beneath those jungle covered mounds that remain. Ivan and his stories made the trip, I’m glad we were not on the pre-packaged DCL excursions. The port area is very small. The pool closer to the “beach” is grayish and uninviting, the pool higher up among the shops is very canned and not particularly attractive. Just your standard swim up bar tourist trap. Prices are too high in any of the shops to be very tempting. There are other “beach” areas to each side, but they were cordoned off with high fences and were deserted. There is no sand, but the limestone shore that could be walked was very short, and a bit trashy, not at all good for tide pool walking. The area is very hemmed in and confining, too many folks packaged into a small area. The afternoon rain cleared a lot of people and made it pleasanter. Not a place I have a desire to return to, Mexico has much better to offer. There are also wonderful things near Costa Maya that you cannot get excursions to. There is a huge nature preserve (Siian Caan) that is to the North, but only excursions to there leaving via the Can Cun or Playa del Carmen area. I hope there will be excursions into this area some day. The existing ruins excursions are just too short to give the ruins fair play. The reef about an hour off the coast is supposed to be wonderful, but there were no boats available to get there. We tried to find some combination of ruins, leaving enough time to take a snorkel trip, but again, nothing. You have to choose wisely, there seems to be only enough time to do one thing. Someday….

A few pictures of the cruise and Costa Maya on page 2-3:

http://home.comcast.net/~b.stith/index_3.htm

Carla

 

[Danthesand]

Now I’ve gotta editorialize. Costa Maya is pretty cheesy. And a poor substitute for Grand Cayman.

I'm with you 100% on the fabricated port being cheesy - about the only thing we enjoyed there were the cultural dancers, albeit I would have enjoyed them more with live music (which abounds in Mexico and wouldn't be expensive for the cruise lines and Mexican government -- both of which subsidize the Costa Maya pier area -- to bring in).

Also thank you for detailing how unattractive the beach areas around the port/pier area are. They are likely the primary reason some of the more adventureous visitors started heading for Mahajual years ago ("hey, there's got to be a decent beach somewhere around here."

The pool closer to the “beach” is grayish and uninviting, the pool higher up among the shops is very canned and not particularly attractive. Just your standard swim up bar tourist trap.

Both also had plenty of dead flies floating around they day we walked by them- ugh.

We tried to find some combination of ruins, leaving enough time to take a snorkel trip

You weren't alone - when I was researching /planning our cruise, Costa Maya was the most challenging port in terms of balancing time ashore with any potential excursion. That's why we ended up making it the "rest" day - no long bus/van drives or boat trips, just a short hop to Majahual to relax (ruins were saved for Belize, snorkeling for Cozumel and Grand Cayman).

And coming mid-cruise, the "relax" element was actually a big hit with my family - my wife subsequently ended up referring to Costa Maya as the "real sleeper" of the trip, and our tablemates aboard agreed. My gut is that was because Western Caribbean itineraries are generally much more activity-intensive than the Eastern or Southern variants, so a "down day' actually fits in well for many people.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I was looking for something to do at Costa Maya and really couldn't figure out a thing to do that seemed "our thing". This thread has made me realize maybe we should just stay on the ship that day. LOL

But back to my question- Cozumel is cancelled still???

 

[ucralum]

We tried to go on a ruins tour, but it was fully booked. As it turns out, this was for the best, as my husband is a regular (every 8 weeks) blood donor at Children's Hospital of Orange County; he was quizzed about where we had gone in Mexico and was told if we had left the port area he would have been unable to donate for a year.

 

[Danthesand]

I was looking for something to do at Costa Maya and really couldn't figure out a thing to do that seemed "our thing". This thread has made me realize maybe we should just stay on the ship that day.

O.K., just so I'm getting this straight -

- doing the fabricated port area (at least walking through the stores, which granted are nothing fantastic but are "safe," and maybe taking in the entertainment) isn't of interest.

- taking the bus down to the beach area in Mahajual (O.K., I know this has been driven into the ground by now, some still feel it's too frighteningly "downscale") isn't of interest.

- going on a Disney commissioned excursion to ruins....or a beach...or horseback riding...or snorkeling (frankly, I'm not a big fan of cruise line run excursions, they tend to have a "cattle boat" feel and are rarely well priced, but that's a different discussion) isn't of interest.

- going on a private excursion (see above) isn't of interest.

Pray tell then, just what is it people are looking for in Costa Maya? A day pass at a fenced-in Marriott resort? A dolphin "swim" at one of those sea-world-wanna-be places? Yet another Little Switzerland store?

Sigh....oh, to only have the old (pre-mass-tourism) Caribbean back again....