Cozumel Ideas

BlueBayou

Following the magic
Joined
Sep 18, 2004
We have a MerryTime cruise booked. It will be two parents and two college age kids - and possibly an active 80-year-old.

We have been to Cozumel a couple times in recent years on RCL. Each time we just went by taxi to paradise beach and shopped around the port.

Just curious what DCL excursions might look like. Has anyone done a DCL excursion you would recommend?
 
We've been to Xcaret. Not with Disney, but in a day trip from Cancun and it was a lot of fun. There's a lot of different things to enjoy there.

There are a few somewhat recent threads about Cozumel (since nobody has cruised in over a year, everything is sort of "old" at this point I suppose). I searched them up for you and they might have helpful info:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/cozumel-port-adventure-recommendations.3825166/https://www.disboards.com/threads/cozumel-excursions.3775593/https://www.disboards.com/threads/experienced-cozumel-cruisers.3773772/
 
We've been to Xcaret. Not with Disney, but in a day trip from Cancun and it was a lot of fun. There's a lot of different things to enjoy there.

There are a few somewhat recent threads about Cozumel (since nobody has cruised in over a year, everything is sort of "old" at this point I suppose). I searched them up for you and they might have helpful info:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/cozumel-port-adventure-recommendations.3825166/https://www.disboards.com/threads/cozumel-excursions.3775593/https://www.disboards.com/threads/experienced-cozumel-cruisers.3773772/
Thanks for the links.

Part of my concern is if my MIL does make the trip, which I hope she does. She has traveled internationally before, but it has been over 15 year ago - and it was back to her parents' homeland, where she is fluent in the language. While she is active, she is still a little older. If she goes with us - I'm pretty sure we will book through DCL. I think she would feel safer with that.

Our last cruise on RCL was right as COVID was shutting things down in March 2020. It was supposed to be Costa Maya and Cozumel. But when we got to Costa Maya - there was another ship in our spot. That was the port where we had an excursion booked. They never gave an explanation as to why. Rumors were flying on the ship that is was related to COVID. We turned around and raced to Cozumel and actually overnighted there. So my hubby and I got off the ship at night in Cozumel and walked around the town outside the port gates at night. I just don't think my MIL would be up for that kind of spontaneity.
 


We have a MerryTime cruise booked. It will be two parents and two college age kids - and possibly an active 80-year-old.

We have been to Cozumel a couple times in recent years on RCL. Each time we just went by taxi to paradise beach and shopped around the port.

Just curious what DCL excursions might look like. Has anyone done a DCL excursion you would recommend?
We went to Chichen Itza via DCL. It is a lengthy excursion because it requires a ferry ride between Cozumel and the mainland, then a few hours drive to Chichen Itza. But it's a great excursion just to be able to see that historic site. It is not exhausting physically in any way. Just a moderate length walk from the parking lot to the pyramid area, which is a flat, visitor-friendly area (and of course there are other historic structures on the grounds around the pyramid). One thing to keep in mind is the importance of bringing an umbrella in case it rains. The excursion company will not provide those for you.

A DCL excursion was the only way I wanted to do Chichen Itza, because it takes you so far from the ship. I wanted no worries about being able to get back on board in case of a delay.
 
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We have done the Mexican Cooking Class offered by DCL twice and would highly recommend it. It is definitely one of our all time favourite excursions and I'm sure we will go back again the next time we take a Western.
Mexican Cooking Class and Tasting | Disney Cruise Line (go.com)

If you are willing to get a taxi on your own, we found that this was a fantastic place to tour. We went there the first time we visited Cozumel and it is highly rated on Tripadvisor.
Chocolate Tour at Kaokao Chocolate Factory in Cozumel Island (kaokaochocolatefactorytour.com)
Kaokao Chocolates Damarsicheli (Cozumel) - 2021 All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - Tripadvisor
 
We have a MerryTime cruise booked. It will be two parents and two college age kids - and possibly an active 80-year-old.

We have been to Cozumel a couple times in recent years on RCL. Each time we just went by taxi to paradise beach and shopped around the port.

Just curious what DCL excursions might look like. Has anyone done a DCL excursion you would recommend?

Save a sea turtle experience. You dig and take baby turtles out of the nest and release them to the sea.
 


We have done the Mexican Cooking Class offered by DCL twice and would highly recommend it. It is definitely one of our all time favourite excursions and I'm sure we will go back again the next time we take a Western.
Mexican Cooking Class and Tasting | Disney Cruise Line (go.com)

I will second this! It was a really fun morning and afternoon. Easy taxi ride, nice beach and an excellent meal! The instructors were very friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining. Wonderful day!
 
I will second this! It was a really fun morning and afternoon. Easy taxi ride, nice beach and an excellent meal! The instructors were very friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining. Wonderful day!
I looked this cooking class up and my son is very interested in it. It says it is 5-5.5 hrs long. You say nice beach.... is there some beach time in this? Or is it just cooking and eating?
 
We spent several hours at Chakanaab in Cozumel. We walked through the port shops and took a taxi on our own (about a 15 min ride) because we wanted to be free time-wise. However, DCL offered both a half and full day excursion there if you wanted to take their shuttle and be classified as an official excursion. I would definitely do Chakanaab again because it had a lot of flexibility. If you took the DCL excursion but someone in your party wanted to head back to the ship early, it’s very easy to grab a taxi there back to the port. You could also sign some of your family up for the whole day excursion and some (like maybe the 80 year old) up for the half day excursion through DCL and she could go back to the ship under the care of DCL after spending a few hours there with the rest of you. Chakanaab has a lot to offer from just beach time to swimming with dolphin activities, and lots of places to explore. We had a really nice experience there.
 
We do the Jeep tour every time we go there It really highlights the beauty of the island!
 
I looked this cooking class up and my son is very interested in it. It says it is 5-5.5 hrs long. You say nice beach.... is there some beach time in this? Or is it just cooking and eating?
After cooking the food and eating it, we had about 1.5 hours to enjoy the beach and the pool area before we had to catch the bus back to the ship. I have read about other people extending their beach/pool time by taking their own taxi back a bit later in the afternoon, but both times we have used the bus transportation included in the excursion.
 
We went to Chichen Itza via DCL. It is a lengthy excursion because it requires a ferry ride between Cozumel and the mainland, then a few hours drive to Chichen Itza. But it's a great excursion just to be able to see that historic site. It is not exhausting physically in any way. Just a moderate length walk from the parking lot to the pyramid area, which is a flat, visitor-friendly area (and of course there are other historic structures on the grounds around the pyramid). One thing to keep in mind is the importance of bringing an umbrella in case it rains. The excursion company will not provide those for you.

A DCL excursion was the only way I wanted to do Chichen Itza, because it takes you so far from the ship. I wanted no worries about being able to get back onboard in case of a delay.

We also did this. It is a long trip but was very worth it in my experience. Only other thing I’d flag is that it’s very out in the open, so if your MIL at all struggles with heat I’d take that into consideration.
 
After cooking the food and eating it, we had about 1.5 hours to enjoy the beach and the pool area before we had to catch the bus back to the ship. I have read about other people extending their beach/pool time by taking their own taxi back a bit later in the afternoon, but both times we have used the bus transportation included in the excursion.
awesome, thank you so much!
 
We booked Mr. Sanchos for 4 adults on our cruise last year. All-inclusive food & drinks, you are assigned a server when you get your table. Giant pools, bars, hammocks, beach front, etc. I think you can also book spa services and indoor casitas. It was a 5-10 minute cab ride from the port and you could leave whenever you want. We left about 2 hours before our embarkation time to squeeze in a little shopping and there was a HUGE line of taxis stretched out ready to take passengers back to the port.

Super easy, relaxing day (needed after our Mayan Ruins tour in Belize!) and I would book again in a heartbeat.
 
The cooking excursion sounds great if you can spend extra time at the beach afterward. Maybe I will change my currently booked excursion for September (I assume I won't be able to go off on my own).
 
After cooking the food and eating it, we had about 1.5 hours to enjoy the beach and the pool area before we had to catch the bus back to the ship. I have read about other people extending their beach/pool time by taking their own taxi back a bit later in the afternoon, but both times we have used the bus transportation included in the excursion.
What did you make? Do you think it could be altered to be vegetarian (if it wasn't)?
 
We also did this. It is a long trip but was very worth it in my experience. Only other thing I’d flag is that it’s very out in the open, so if your MIL at all struggles with heat I’d take that into consideration.
A UV umbrella that can double as a sun-blocking parasol is a good item to bring.
 
What did you make? Do you think it could be altered to be vegetarian (if it wasn't)?
We made an appetizer, main course, and dessert. The first time our appetizer was a shrimp appetizer similar to the 4th picture you see when you click "view gallery" on the port adventurers page Mexican Cooking Class and Tasting | Disney Cruise Line (go.com) . The second time, we made a stacked vegetarian corn and black bean mini tortilla appetizer (no picture). For our main course, we had a white fish dish both times. I've attached a picture of it from our first visit (not the best lighting). Both times, our dessert was the fried plantain dessert you see in the 5th picture of the gallery. I'm not sure if they could modify the menu for vegetarian, but you could probably contact DCL to ask. There was an open bar throughout the excursion and you could get things like beer, pina coladas, rum and coke, etc., as well as non-alcoholic beverages like pop and bottled water.
 

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We did the cooking class too - highly, highly recommend!

Our favorite thing we've done there though was Trikes Cozumel (https://trikes-cozumel.com/). You can have up to 3 people on a custom (easy to drive) motorcycle trike. It was AWESOME! They took us all over the island and we had some cool, slow touristy stretches and an great time opening it up at full speed on the highway too. Pickup and dropoff right at the pier.

Have fun!
 

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