Mayan Ruin Excursion

[Kerryoke777]

Does anyone know if guests with Silver status ever get to take the Chichen Itza or Tulum excursion? I asked DCL but they said they didn't know the capacity or if it would even be offered on our 6 night Cozumel cruise. If you've had any experience with this I welcome your feedback. We have 2 adults, 3 children (8, 11 and 12) and one senior going with us. Thanks!

 

[kiford]

I can't speak at all to how quickly these get booked up, but we aware that they involve first a 30-ish minute ferry ride to the mainland (which can be quite rough - we've seen lots of people get sick although it's never bothered me. I usually fall asleep) and then a quite lengthy bus trip. I think our trip to Tulum was over an hour each way (after the ferry) and to Chichen Itza was close to two hours each way. We had very little time in Chichen Itza - maybe an hour. It was incredibly hot and there is little in the way of shade - and this was in December. I don't regret going to either one even though we had little time but it's something you need to be prepared for or consider, especially with children, before booking if it's available.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I can't speak at all to how quickly these get booked up, but we aware that they involve first a 30-ish minute ferry ride to the mainland (which can be quite rough - we've seen lots of people get sick although it's never bothered me. I usually fall asleep) and then a quite lengthy bus trip. I think our trip to Tulum was over an hour each way (after the ferry) and to Chichen Itza was close to two hours each way. We had very little time in Chichen Itza - maybe an hour. It was incredibly hot and there is little in the way of shade - and this was in December. I don't regret going to either one even though we had little time but it's something you need to be prepared for or consider, especially with children, before booking if it's available.

I've always wanted to do Chichen Itza and via cruise is likely my only way. But that travel is daunting, considering you only spend a very short time there. It sounds like the excursion is basically a view of the scenery with a photo op of ancient ruins in the middle. Is it worth it?

 

[dclpluto]

I can't speak at all to how quickly these get booked up, but we aware that they involve first a 30-ish minute ferry ride to the mainland (which can be quite rough - we've seen lots of people get sick although it's never bothered me. I usually fall asleep) and then a quite lengthy bus trip. I think our trip to Tulum was over an hour each way (after the ferry) and to Chichen Itza was close to two hours each way. We had very little time in Chichen Itza - maybe an hour. It was incredibly hot and there is little in the way of shade - and this was in December. I don't regret going to either one even though we had little time but it's something you need to be prepared for or consider, especially with children, before booking if it's available.

I was on a cruise and the table we were eating at the man knew Spanish. He said the workers were betting on who would throw up first on the ferry.

 

[kiford]

I've always wanted to do Chichen Itza and via cruise is likely my only way. But that travel is daunting, considering you only spend a very short time there. It sounds like the excursion is basically a view of the scenery with a photo op of ancient ruins in the middle. Is it worth it?

Depends on your view of "worth". It was for me. I'm very interested in historic civilizations, particularly the Mayans. Being able to visit Tulum, Chichen Itza and Kohunlich (also 2 hours inland from Costa Maya) which are all very different gives you such a different picture of them than just viewing one especially since it was a long-lived society and the demographics of the inhabitants was quite varied between locations. So even though I had only a very short time at each of these locations, it was more valuable to me than longer at one ruin. I also hope to see several more as part of my bucket list. So, yes, very worth it to me. But even if this is the only Mayan ruin you visit, I have to say that just standing in front of the temple was a thrill for me. It was so much more amazing than I'd expected so I wouldn't have wanted to miss that.

Also keep in mind that it's as hot as Hades even in December and there's no cover. I don't know that I could have stood up to a longer visit. With kids? That would depend on the kids. When I was young, I would have loved it and maybe handled the heat better. My sister would have hated it and complained about the heat, the distance and how it was boring.

He said the workers were betting on who would throw up first on the ferry.

Totally doesn't surprise me. We've been to Cozumel twice and both times, each direction to/from the mainland, at least one person rushed for the bathroom, several people sat with the sick bags at hand and many looked green. I find the movement so soothing I fall asleep and DH has to poke me when we got close to shore.

 

[Marc D]

I was on a cruise and the table we were eating at the man knew Spanish. He said the workers were betting on who would throw up first on the ferry.

On our last visit, half the ship threw up. It was terribly windy, so much so that the gangway was nearly thrown into the water. They were handing out bags to guests coming onboard. It was less terrible on our first visit, but after the last one, we will never take that ferry again.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Depends on your view of "worth". It was for me. I'm very interested in historic civilizations, particularly the Mayans. Being able to visit Tulum, Chichen Itza and Kohunlich (also 2 hours inland from Costa Maya) which are all very different gives you such a different picture of them than just viewing one especially since it was a long-lived society and the demographics of the inhabitants was quite varied between locations. So even though I had only a very short time at each of these locations, it was more valuable to me than longer at one ruin. I also hope to see several more as part of my bucket list. So, yes, very worth it to me. But even if this is the only Mayan ruin you visit, I have to say that just standing in front of the temple was a thrill for me. It was so much more amazing than I'd expected so I wouldn't have wanted to miss that.

Also keep in mind that it's as hot as Hades even in December and there's no cover. I don't know that I could have stood up to a longer visit. With kids? That would depend on the kids. When I was young, I would have loved it and maybe handled the heat better. My sister would have hated it and complained about the heat, the distance and how it was boring.



Totally doesn't surprise me. We've been to Cozumel twice and both times, each direction to/from the mainland, at least one person rushed for the bathroom, several people sat with the sick bags at hand and many looked green. I find the movement so soothing I fall asleep and DH has to poke me when we got close to shore.

When I first stood in front of the Acropolis (back in the 80s when you could actually walk through it) I had that type of awe. It's astounding to think people built that with their bare hands and a lot of ingenuity.

 

[pixiedustedme]

Does anyone know if guests with Silver status ever get to take the Chichen Itza or Tulum excursion? I asked DCL but they said they didn't know the capacity or if it would even be offered on our 6 night Cozumel cruise. If you've had any experience with this I welcome your feedback. We have 2 adults, 3 children (8, 11 and 12) and one senior going with us. Thanks!

We did the Chichen Itza excursion as part of our 5-night Magic cruise a few months ago. We were silver. The ferry ride was completely calm both ways for us.

I've always wanted to do Chichen Itza and via cruise is likely my only way. But that travel is daunting, considering you only spend a very short time there. It sounds like the excursion is basically a view of the scenery with a photo op of ancient ruins in the middle. Is it worth it?

We had about an hour on our own at Chichen Itza, after the guide had spent 30 minutes or so introducing us to the place. That was ample time in our opinion.

It was a long trip but worthwhile. On the ride there, he talked for a bit, and gave us iPads with an app to virtually explore Chichen Itza.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We did the Tulum excursion as Silver and it was amazing. Highly recommended. The bus ride was significantly shorter than that advertised for Chichen Itza. Our kids were 11, 9 & 9 when we did this and they still talk about how neat it was.

 

[Daisybell911]

I'm looking at booking the Chitchen Itza tour. I see on the website that its an 8 hour tour. If its about an hour one the ferry and 4 hours bus ride there and back, it seems like you'd have more than an hour there. It there just alot of down time between travels?

BTW...I have been before in september and while you feel like you are standing on the sun, just being there and seeing the majesty of it all is worth it but that's my type of thing any way so I may be biased

 

[sukhakuli]

We are silver also and had no trouble booking it for our group for September. My 16 year old doesn't want to go and my 6 year old can't, so we are leaving them on the ship. We will have an 11 year old and 14 year old with us.

It's good to know the ferry can make people sea sick. We did a local whale watching cruise and no one got sick, but it was a near thing. I'll get some Zofran for the fam.

We know it's going to be hot and being from coastal So Cal we are not used to the heat. We are spending a week at Disney World before our cruise and it's going to be tough. Chichen Itza is going to be even worse. I've got some plans to help keep us cool, so hopefully it won't be too terrible.

This is the excursion I'm most excited about. The description says we get 70 mins at the ruins, hopefully it's enough time.

Do you get to visit the cenote?

 

[pixiedustedme]

I'll note that there is shade available at Chichen Itza. There are some large trees with seating underneath. But definitely, bring wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses and cool clothing. If you have a UV (sun-blocking) umbrella, that would be ideal.

In fact, you should bring some type of umbrella or ponchos regardless, because if it rains, you'll be stuck outdoors for over an hour in it. It does rain there. It's hot, but it's in a jungle, not a desert.

 

[kiford]

I'm looking at booking the Chitchen Itza tour. I see on the website that its an 8 hour tour. If its about an hour one the ferry and 4 hours bus ride there and back, it seems like you'd have more than an hour there. It there just alot of down time between travels?

It largely depends on your cruise. We weren't docked for 8 hours so we only had a short time at Chichen Itza. Some ships are there for longer.

 

[ahain]

We had no issues booking the the Tulum ruins excursion and enjoyed it. I would love to do Chitchen Itza one day as well.

As some have mentioned, there's a lot of motion on the ferry and many people do get sick (including DD on our way to the ruins) - the staff hand out sick bags soon after departure. In our experience, (from our return trip)....sit in the center of the ferry (from a side-to-side perspective)...this helps significantly to cut down on the motion

 

[LovesBelle]

We are silver and had no problem booking Tulum for my family and Chitzen Itza for my brother’s family. Both were advertised as 8 hr excursions but since our bus ride was shorter we had a couple of hours in Tulum, while my brother’s family had only one hour. Tulum was also comfortable because it was by the ocean; the other site is in the jungle so it was hot. (This was in December.) Both families thought this day was the highlight of the trip. As for the ferry, we had read about it so we had Bonine and had no problems. People around us were throwing up, though. Bonine is great stuff!

 

[FigmentSpark]

Did you take the Bonine before you got on the ferry?

Do you think the seabands would work as well?