Tulum on your own?

[cinders28]

My family of four is interested in seeing the Tulum ruins. I have looked at the shore excursion price offered by Disney compared to the same excursion offered on other cruise lines....Disney is quite a bit higher. Anybody out there book this excursion through a private tour guide? Who did you use & were you happy with the trip. Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks,

PS sorry if this has already been asked. My pc keeps hanging up when I try to do a search!
Cindy

 

[prymsu]

IMHO, this is not one that you would want to try to do on your own. It is a couple hours one way from the ship, and for me, I would be very nervous to do this.

 

[cinders28]

prymsu-
Have you taken this excursion thru disney? Did you enjoy it?

 

[Doctor P]

I have done some checking on this, too, and it appears that it would be relatively hard to do (and the reliability of the arrangements would be hard to confirm). I think we will be sticking with arranging this one through DCL.

 

[prymsu]

I did this when I was at Cancun for a week, and thought it hard to do then. I just don't think it will be an easy feat for you to do from Cozumel.

 

[albiats]

We went to Tulum on a shore excursion when we were on a Carnival Cruise ship in early 2001, before DCL started doing the Western. The tour to Tulum was the reason we chose that particular cruise.

We were on a bus for more than an hour each direction and it wasn't a direct route from the dock, we made several turns before we got to the route that follows the coast line.

I would also agree that it would be difficult to do on your own and especially if you rented a car and tried to find it yourself.

My DW enjoys tours like that and she did like it. I'm not so much of a fan and I found it interesting.

hope that helps

 

[TeensMom]

We did the Tulum trip in August (through WDW). I agree that if you are not familiar with the area, it would be a bit difficult to do on your own. I don't know whether there are tour guides you can book in advance other than the ones affiliated with the cruise lines. We took the speed catamaran from the ship to mainland, walked several blocks from dock through town to bus loading area then bus wound around town for several minutes before reaching a main road. Then it was about an hour ride.

Our tour guide rode the bus with us and took us around Tulum. He was so so good. His heritage is Mayan and he is very proud. He really gave us some good information and insights. We also got sandwiches/beer/soda on the way back.

I thought it was worth the money.

You don't say how old your 4 are (I'm assuming 2 children). I would advise against taking children younger than 10 or 11 and even then, I'd have them do some research on the Mayan culture before they go. (They may have already studied them in school as mine had). It is not an excursion for young children who are going to whine and cry and spoil it for you and everyone else.

 

[cinders28]

Did you take a tour through this company? I noticed the Tulum tour begins at 745 & I was wondering if you were able to make it off the ship in time for the tour. Seems like its cutting it kinda close. This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for (A tour company that is not associated with Disney) I've just been having a hard time finding a tour company on the net out of cozumel. Thanks for any responses!
Cindy

 

[cabinwench]

I did the Tulum Tour through the cruise line back in May. It was a wonderful tour and worth every penny. The main reason I went with the ship tour is that if for some reason you are late returning to the dock....the ship will wait for you if you are with a cruiseline excursion. My concern would be having engine or tire problems, or getting stuck in traffic somewhere in Mexico, and the ship leave with out me. No thanks. Just my 2 cents.