Chichen Itza or Tulum Ruins

pclvnmcky88

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We are debating between the May 26th Western Caribbean and May 28th Bahamian cruise. Are the excursions to either of these ruins easy enough for someone who is pregnant? I know they are all day adventures. I've heard that the ferry can be quite a doozy and then both have long bus rides to the locations. Neither of these port adventures have 'expectant mothers are not allowed' so I'm thinking it's ok. Any advice would be much appreciated!
 
Both of those excursions (plus all other mainland Mexico excursions) were cancelled on our March 17 Western Caribbean cruise due to security warnings. I'm not sure if they reinstated them? I have toured Mayan ruins in Mexico and there is no way I would do them while pregnant.
 
I read reviews on the trip from Cozumel to the ruins. Between the ferry and bus as you mentioned, plus captive stops for shopping and a relatively short time at the actual ruins, we decided to pass. You really do invest an entire day for a short visit. Only you can decide how valuable the experience would be when weighed against the time involved and possibility (hopefully small) of being somewhat miserable.
 
We are debating between the May 26th Western Caribbean and May 28th Bahamian cruise. Are the excursions to either of these ruins easy enough for someone who is pregnant? I know they are all day adventures. I've heard that the ferry can be quite a doozy and then both have long bus rides to the locations. Neither of these port adventures have 'expectant mothers are not allowed' so I'm thinking it's ok. Any advice would be much appreciated!
I've only done the Tulum excursion. Personally, I wouldn't do it if pregnant. It's a long ferry ride to the mainland (and the water can be very choppy). Then a long bus ride to Tulum. Lots of walking there, then another long bus ride back to the ferry, and the ferry again....

Can't say about the other option.
 

There are ruins on Cozumel itself as well. You wouldn't have to worry about the long ferry ride etc. for them. I know they may not be as good as the others, but they are an option. (My understanding is that the PAs requiring the ferry are running again.)
 
We have gone to Tulum on the Western cruise and I agree with all of the posters who think that it may not be your best choice. It just took a lot of time to get to the actual ruins, while the actual time spent there was limited and our guide there was not great. They ferry was really a tough trip for us with multiple people getting sick, then we walked to the bus, rode quite a while with pit stops at a tourist trap finally to spend less time than I would have liked at the ruins. They were so interesting, but the lack of information on the site was disappointing and I will note that the bathroom facilities there were less than stellar. If I remember correctly they were not very close to the actual ruins, had long lines, and were not the best, so not a great option for someone pregnant who might need an extra pit stop or two. The travel warnings that the state department had for Mexico would also make me a hesitant traveler in that area.

That being said, I really don't think that any leg of the Tulum excursion would be too taxing if you were pregnant, I just don't think the limited time at the site is worth the travel and there are probably other excursions that would be a better use of the time. (FWIW, I was really pumped to see Tulum, but sort of disappointed after I did.
 
We visited Tulum on a Christmas cruise and were surprised at how hot/sticky it was. Not something I'd want to do while pregnant.
 
I can't weigh in on Tulum but we were on the Western cruise last week and did the Chichen Itza excursion, which we loved. A lot of the water-based excursions (snorkeling, etc.) were cancelled that day because of rough seas I presume, but at least for now it seems the security warnings are not leading to the cancellation of all the mainland excursions.

As others have mentioned, it is truly a full-day tour with limited time at the actual site (about an hour at the ruins including tour, shopping time of 5 minutes or so, and bathroom visit) so it really probably only makes sense if everyone in your group is really up for it. My kids both were super interested in the history and very excited to go. We did the Disney tour and our guide was excellent. They had ipads for everyone on the tour bus that had some interesting information about Mayan culture. They also had headsets for everyone to use at the site so you could hear the guide as he explained things--even if you ended up way in the back, which we always seem to...

As for level of comfort during pregnancy, I think that's a tougher call but don't think it's a definite no. The ferry is something to be aware of for sure. It took about 45 minutes each way and was an experience. I don't get motion sick (even on similar size ferries, whale watches, smaller boats, etc.) but I felt it a little--not sick, but dizzy. The employees continuously walk the aisles with trash baskets and plastic bags--so they are prepared. My oldest did not feel well the whole time but didn't actually get sick. Plenty of others did--which I saw, heard, and smelled (sorry to be so graphic, but passing along since it was no joke and I know many get sick when they see others get sick!). That said, we all would do it again because the visit to the ruins was really a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us. I don't think there's any way to tell who will be fine and who won't on the ferry, pregnant or not--my 10 year old son was fine while I heard many adults get sick and say they've never been seasick before. There are bathrooms on the ferry but as you can imagine, there was always a wait--i think a couple of people spent nearly the whole ride in there. Also keep in mind that we took the ferry on a rough seas day. It might not always be that choppy.

If the ferry isn't a dealbreaker, the rest of the trip is pretty mild and physically comfortable IMO (admittedly coming from someone who's been lucky enough to have just regular discomfort during pregnancy and no real medical issues). The walk to the bus from the ferry was about 5 minutes on paved, shopping district streets--and actually the fresh air was nice to shake off the effects of the ferry's movement. The bus ride (really a minivan) was about 2 hours each way, on paved highway roads. Bus had A/C and window shades so pretty comfortable (no bathroom on the bus). My daughter often gets carsick and was fine. They give you a box lunch in the morning so there was food to snack on if you wanted. Our driver stopped once for a bathroom break on the way. I've had much longer rides and flights while pregnant that were far less comfortable.

The ruin location was a couple of minute walk from where the bus dropped off. There is no shade, but the site is flat and contained in a pretty small area so not a taxing walk. You can also leave bags on the bus, so don't need to lug things around the site. We thought the site and tour was awesome. After the tour, we stopped at a couple of vendors for really no more than 5 minutes. Before getting back on the bus we used the bathrooms, which were not super clean or particularly well-maintained, but served their purpose. The driver had cold water and cokes for us when we got back and then we headed back to the ship.

Obviously, it's a personal decision about what will work for your group, just passing along our experience. Hope you have a great time if you decide to go!
 
There are ruins on Cozumel itself as well. You wouldn't have to worry about the long ferry ride etc. for them. I know they may not be as good as the others, but they are an option. (My understanding is that the PAs requiring the ferry are running again.)

I saw this option as well and it looks interesting and you would get a lot more history. Does this usually sell out pretty quickly?

We have gone to Tulum on the Western cruise and I agree with all of the posters who think that it may not be your best choice. It just took a lot of time to get to the actual ruins, while the actual time spent there was limited and our guide there was not great. They ferry was really a tough trip for us with multiple people getting sick, then we walked to the bus, rode quite a while with pit stops at a tourist trap finally to spend less time than I would have liked at the ruins. They were so interesting, but the lack of information on the site was disappointing and I will note that the bathroom facilities there were less than stellar. If I remember correctly they were not very close to the actual ruins, had long lines, and were not the best, so not a great option for someone pregnant who might need an extra pit stop or two. The travel warnings that the state department had for Mexico would also make me a hesitant traveler in that area.

That being said, I really don't think that any leg of the Tulum excursion would be too taxing if you were pregnant, I just don't think the limited time at the site is worth the travel and there are probably other excursions that would be a better use of the time. (FWIW, I was really pumped to see Tulum, but sort of disappointed after I did.

The ferry ride, the long bus ride, and the limited amount of time at the ruins are all things that are concerning me. My husband doesn't think it's worth it to go on a 7-night cruise and stop in Cozumel unless we go to ruins, and I get that to a point.
 
I can't weigh in on Tulum but we were on the Western cruise last week and did the Chichen Itza excursion, which we loved. A lot of the water-based excursions (snorkeling, etc.) were cancelled that day because of rough seas I presume, but at least for now it seems the security warnings are not leading to the cancellation of all the mainland excursions.

As others have mentioned, it is truly a full-day tour with limited time at the actual site (about an hour at the ruins including tour, shopping time of 5 minutes or so, and bathroom visit) so it really probably only makes sense if everyone in your group is really up for it. My kids both were super interested in the history and very excited to go. We did the Disney tour and our guide was excellent. They had ipads for everyone on the tour bus that had some interesting information about Mayan culture. They also had headsets for everyone to use at the site so you could hear the guide as he explained things--even if you ended up way in the back, which we always seem to...

As for level of comfort during pregnancy, I think that's a tougher call but don't think it's a definite no. The ferry is something to be aware of for sure. It took about 45 minutes each way and was an experience. I don't get motion sick (even on similar size ferries, whale watches, smaller boats, etc.) but I felt it a little--not sick, but dizzy. The employees continuously walk the aisles with trash baskets and plastic bags--so they are prepared. My oldest did not feel well the whole time but didn't actually get sick. Plenty of others did--which I saw, heard, and smelled (sorry to be so graphic, but passing along since it was no joke and I know many get sick when they see others get sick!). That said, we all would do it again because the visit to the ruins was really a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us. I don't think there's any way to tell who will be fine and who won't on the ferry, pregnant or not--my 10 year old son was fine while I heard many adults get sick and say they've never been seasick before. There are bathrooms on the ferry but as you can imagine, there was always a wait--i think a couple of people spent nearly the whole ride in there. Also keep in mind that we took the ferry on a rough seas day. It might not always be that choppy.

If the ferry isn't a dealbreaker, the rest of the trip is pretty mild and physically comfortable IMO (admittedly coming from someone who's been lucky enough to have just regular discomfort during pregnancy and no real medical issues). The walk to the bus from the ferry was about 5 minutes on paved, shopping district streets--and actually the fresh air was nice to shake off the effects of the ferry's movement. The bus ride (really a minivan) was about 2 hours each way, on paved highway roads. Bus had A/C and window shades so pretty comfortable (no bathroom on the bus). My daughter often gets carsick and was fine. They give you a box lunch in the morning so there was food to snack on if you wanted. Our driver stopped once for a bathroom break on the way. I've had much longer rides and flights while pregnant that were far less comfortable.

The ruin location was a couple of minute walk from where the bus dropped off. There is no shade, but the site is flat and contained in a pretty small area so not a taxing walk. You can also leave bags on the bus, so don't need to lug things around the site. We thought the site and tour was awesome. After the tour, we stopped at a couple of vendors for really no more than 5 minutes. Before getting back on the bus we used the bathrooms, which were not super clean or particularly well-maintained, but served their purpose. The driver had cold water and cokes for us when we got back and then we headed back to the ship.

Obviously, it's a personal decision about what will work for your group, just passing along our experience. Hope you have a great time if you decide to go!

I'm in my second trimester so my morning sickness is gone, but I naturally am prone to motion sickness anyway which is why the ferry is probably the most concerning to me. I haven't had any complications with my pregnancy, just the normal aches and pains and I participated in the Disney Princess Half Marathon at 9 weeks. I'm still fairly active, not like I was, but I think I'd be ok walking on anything. Though the bus ride is long, it's air-conditioned and we typically don't buy things from the traps anyway. It sounds like a pretty amazing tour and site to see, so I definitely get wanting to go there. With the amount of time to get there, did you think it was worth it?

Did the ruins tours (including the Cozumel Highlights one) seem to book up quickly?
 
Both arqueological zones are amazing.

Tulum is smaller and closer, and offers magnificent sea views. There is also a small beach nearby with very white sand and turquoise water.

However, if you want a full immersive Mayan experience, you MUST do Chichén Itza. The size of the pyramids alone is enough to give you goosebumps. There are several "buildings", and you are really walking around a Mayan city. It is fully surrounded by jungle, so that makes it even more impressive.

Best of luck with your decision, you can´t go wrong no matter which one you choose.
 
The ferry was rough--seabands might help (not sure if dramamine is allowed but my daughter used both and was still fairly sick). FWIW, she felt fine seconds after getting off the ferry, and most people seemed to recover quickly. But, we all agreed this excursion was worth it--it was a short visit to the ruins but every exciting just to be there. Somehow, the travel time passed really quickly, though, and no one complained. I would say it's one you should do only if you all really want to see the ruins there. Our tour meet-up was 7:45 am and we got back to the boat at 4:00ish. So, it was really a full day trip with one hour of actual excursion time. My family talked a lot about it before booking to make sure everyone was truly up for it. I really made sure my kids understood they might get sick on the ferry over and then have 7 more hours to go AND another ferry ride back. Sounds like you have all adults in your group so probably easier to make that decision but I was sweating it a bit!

One other thing I'll mention; if you go, you should bring some pre-packaged snacks like granola bars (they didn't let us take any fruit or unpackaged food off the Fantasy). There really was no chance to buy food and we had just the box lunch (sandwich, chips, banana) and it was not enough for a full day with a second-trimester appetite IMO :). And, I felt dizzier on the ferry back--I think because I had an empty stomach.

Our tour seemed to have availability up until we cruised--although there were lots of Disney people on the tour when it left (maybe people switched when other excursions were cancelled that day?). There was a State Dept. security alert for Cozumel a month before our cruise and I did talk to several people who cancelled the Chichen Itza tour because of that so the tour might typically fill up? Sorry, I'm not sure what it's typically like. Congrats on the 1/2 marathon!--we wanted to do the Dark Side half but couldn't make it work after the cruise. We did the Castaway Cay 5K and that was fun! Have fun planning your cruise!
 
Both arqueological zones are amazing.

Tulum is smaller and closer, and offers magnificent sea views. There is also a small beach nearby with very white sand and turquoise water.

However, if you want a full immersive Mayan experience, you MUST do Chichén Itza. The size of the pyramids alone is enough to give you goosebumps. There are several "buildings", and you are really walking around a Mayan city. It is fully surrounded by jungle, so that makes it even more impressive.

Best of luck with your decision, you can´t go wrong no matter which one you choose.

We'd probably definitely go with Chichen Itza just because of the history and everything. You said it's surrounded by jungle, so would there be a problem with bugs? I've heard all the warnings about Zika in past years, but it'll be May 2018 so they seem to have gotten a handle on it.
 
Here is my 2-cents on the Tulim Ruins trip. We didn't experience "additional" tourist trap pit stops, just the shops near the ruins that you could do or easily skip.

This was a great trip. So glad we did it. I was afraid the ruins wouldn’t be “big enough” and sure, they weren’t as big as Chitzeniza, but that would have been another hour on the bus in each direction. As it was the Ferry was ½ hour on the actually water (plus 15 minutes of loading) and about 45 minutes on the bus ride (plus 15 minutes of loading), giving us about 4 hours at the ruins. The tour started on the bus, with our Mexican guide of Mayan decent telling us about the Mayan culture. He said he was a descendant and actually lived in a town about 4 hours away, which he goes back to on the weekends.

We were allowed to leave things locked up on the bus with the driver as guards. At the ruins, the guided tour lasted about an hour, giving us plenty of time to explore the ruins (and the local iguana) on our own, and do some shopping on site. The tour guide gave out headsets, which were great so you could hear him without having to keep right on top of him. There was a small beach at the bottom of some stairs. We didn’t swim, but many people did. I went down the stairs and enjoyed the ocean views. The shopping wasn’t huge, but big enough for us. We mostly stayed at the biggest store, since the smaller vendors were pushier. We got some souvenirs, and I got a bottle of Tequila at a very good price, which Disney held on board until the end of our cruise. Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich and some snacks (which was a little skimpy IMO) and two bottles of water (which were much appreciated!) We got back to the cruise ship dock later than scheduled (a theme that would recur everywhere), about 4 PM.

We only had one boy get sick on the Ferry, and he made it to the bathroom onboard with his mother, though they had given out bags to anyone who wanted one, none of us ended up needing them that day. YMMV.

Best of luck with whatever you decide. I also felt like a trip to the ruins was essential to me, but I wasn't pregnant at the time.
 
The ferry was rough--seabands might help (not sure if dramamine is allowed but my daughter used both and was still fairly sick). FWIW, she felt fine seconds after getting off the ferry, and most people seemed to recover quickly. But, we all agreed this excursion was worth it--it was a short visit to the ruins but every exciting just to be there. Somehow, the travel time passed really quickly, though, and no one complained. I would say it's one you should do only if you all really want to see the ruins there. Our tour meet-up was 7:45 am and we got back to the boat at 4:00ish. So, it was really a full day trip with one hour of actual excursion time. My family talked a lot about it before booking to make sure everyone was truly up for it. I really made sure my kids understood they might get sick on the ferry over and then have 7 more hours to go AND another ferry ride back. Sounds like you have all adults in your group so probably easier to make that decision but I was sweating it a bit!

One other thing I'll mention; if you go, you should bring some pre-packaged snacks like granola bars (they didn't let us take any fruit or unpackaged food off the Fantasy). There really was no chance to buy food and we had just the box lunch (sandwich, chips, banana) and it was not enough for a full day with a second-trimester appetite IMO :). And, I felt dizzier on the ferry back--I think because I had an empty stomach.

Our tour seemed to have availability up until we cruised--although there were lots of Disney people on the tour when it left (maybe people switched when other excursions were cancelled that day?). There was a State Dept. security alert for Cozumel a month before our cruise and I did talk to several people who cancelled the Chichen Itza tour because of that so the tour might typically fill up? Sorry, I'm not sure what it's typically like. Congrats on the 1/2 marathon!--we wanted to do the Dark Side half but couldn't make it work after the cruise. We did the Castaway Cay 5K and that was fun! Have fun planning your cruise!

Ginger chews, sea bands, whatever I need to get by LOL. I was already thinking about packing snacks because I know I'll be hungry. I can see the time passing fairly quickly and I'd probably make sure we have stuff to occupy our time as well. If we did excursions in Cayman and Jamaica, they'd probably only be beach ones or something low key. Going to the ruins would really be the only longer activity we would do. Since I'm pregnant, I know we wouldn't be doing anything like those excursions for a while unless we left the babe on the boat, but that's a long time to leave baby. Did ya'll experience a lot of bugs at the site?

Thanks! I took it really slow but felt good the whole time! I've wanted to do Dark Side for a while now! I'm hoping they will figure out the races at Disneyland again soon so I can do both.
 
Here is my 2-cents on the Tulim Ruins trip. We didn't experience "additional" tourist trap pit stops, just the shops near the ruins that you could do or easily skip.

This was a great trip. So glad we did it. I was afraid the ruins wouldn’t be “big enough” and sure, they weren’t as big as Chitzeniza, but that would have been another hour on the bus in each direction. As it was the Ferry was ½ hour on the actually water (plus 15 minutes of loading) and about 45 minutes on the bus ride (plus 15 minutes of loading), giving us about 4 hours at the ruins. The tour started on the bus, with our Mexican guide of Mayan decent telling us about the Mayan culture. He said he was a descendant and actually lived in a town about 4 hours away, which he goes back to on the weekends.

We were allowed to leave things locked up on the bus with the driver as guards. At the ruins, the guided tour lasted about an hour, giving us plenty of time to explore the ruins (and the local iguana) on our own, and do some shopping on site. The tour guide gave out headsets, which were great so you could hear him without having to keep right on top of him. There was a small beach at the bottom of some stairs. We didn’t swim, but many people did. I went down the stairs and enjoyed the ocean views. The shopping wasn’t huge, but big enough for us. We mostly stayed at the biggest store, since the smaller vendors were pushier. We got some souvenirs, and I got a bottle of Tequila at a very good price, which Disney held on board until the end of our cruise. Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich and some snacks (which was a little skimpy IMO) and two bottles of water (which were much appreciated!) We got back to the cruise ship dock later than scheduled (a theme that would recur everywhere), about 4 PM.

We only had one boy get sick on the Ferry, and he made it to the bathroom onboard with his mother, though they had given out bags to anyone who wanted one, none of us ended up needing them that day. YMMV.

Best of luck with whatever you decide. I also felt like a trip to the ruins was essential to me, but I wasn't pregnant at the time.

Wow! Thanks for your description. The shorter bus ride to the Tulum Ruins was making me consider them over Chichen Itza. I know both are spectacular. Your description makes me feel slightly better about the ferry ride. The amount of time you got at the ruins is amazing! 4 hours?! Wow. Do you remember experiencing a lot of bugs on site? I know it will be hot in May, but I'm thinking since the Tulum Ruins are right on the coast, they wouldn't be as big of an issue as the jungle at Chichen?
 
Wow! Thanks for your description. The shorter bus ride to the Tulum Ruins was making me consider them over Chichen Itza. I know both are spectacular. Your description makes me feel slightly better about the ferry ride. The amount of time you got at the ruins is amazing! 4 hours?! Wow. Do you remember experiencing a lot of bugs on site? I know it will be hot in May, but I'm thinking since the Tulum Ruins are right on the coast, they wouldn't be as big of an issue as the jungle at Chichen?

We didn't have a lot of issues with bugs, we did use bug spray, and we weren't pregnant so we weren't as worried about it, but I am usually pretty susceptible to bug bites and I don't think I got any bites. It was August for us, so even hotter. Not a lot of shade at the ruins site. The bus was pretty comfortable. Yeah, 4 hours was nice. About what they told us to expect. We didn't have any time at the port afterwards though. I will also say that the stairs down to the beach were pretty steep if you plan to go down there, but you can still see the beach from the top. Some of my favorite beach pictures of the whole trip were there.
 
Ginger chews, sea bands, whatever I need to get by LOL. I was already thinking about packing snacks because I know I'll be hungry. I can see the time passing fairly quickly and I'd probably make sure we have stuff to occupy our time as well. If we did excursions in Cayman and Jamaica, they'd probably only be beach ones or something low key. Going to the ruins would really be the only longer activity we would do. Since I'm pregnant, I know we wouldn't be doing anything like those excursions for a while unless we left the babe on the boat, but that's a long time to leave baby. Did ya'll experience a lot of bugs at the site?

Thanks! I took it really slow but felt good the whole time! I've wanted to do Dark Side for a while now! I'm hoping they will figure out the races at Disneyland again soon so I can do both.

No bugs for us at all--maybe too early in the season? They did have repellent available for people to use as we left the Fantasy.
 
We'd probably definitely go with Chichen Itza just because of the history and everything. You said it's surrounded by jungle, so would there be a problem with bugs? I've heard all the warnings about Zika in past years, but it'll be May 2018 so they seem to have gotten a handle on it.

Have't heard anything lately on Zika, but yes, there are more bugs in Chichen than in Tulum. It's surrounded by jungle, plus there are cenotes (sort of like lagoons) with non moving water. When we've gone we've been as heavy on the sunblock as on the bug repellent.
 
I think I went to Chichen Itza pregnant. It is more inland than Telum so it is hot, hot, hot and sticky (1st week of May). I heard Telum has more of a breeze but we did not go there. There isn't really anywhere to sit so it is alot of standing around or just walking between the ruins. Bathrooms aren't around the property; they are just near the front.

Not that I wouldn't recommend it for someone pregnant, it was very interesting to me. However, it is a long day. Pregnant or not, I go to whichever one had a shorter bus ride!
 

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