Tulum Ruins?

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We are a family of six and were thinking of doing the Tulum ruins excursion in Cozumel. I have heard the bus ride is long but haven't heard many other negative things. At $90.00 per person I want to make sure that the tour is worth it. What is the day like when you go there?

HBC

 

[Michelemouse]

Hi,

We did the Tulum tour on our 10/11/03 cruise. We are a family of 4 plus my parents were with us.

You will meet in the Walt Disney Theater around 9:00 and gather with your group (several tours meet there). Then your group will be taken to deck 2 aft where you will board the high-speed ferry to the mainland.

Once in Playa del Carmen you will walk a few blocks to the buses. Once on a bus you will head to Tulum and your guide will tell you about it along the way. You will also have the opportunity to purchase a special Mayan calendar with your name and any date you wish on it. You order it on the bus and it is ready when you reboard after you visit the ruins.

The bus will make a bathroom stop at a local souvenir market. They have clothing, blankets, jewelry, carvings and lots of other things. We did not do much shopping there but later wished we'd gotten a couple of things as there was no time at Tulum itself.

Once you arrive at Tulum you will be taken by busload to the trams. These trams take you to the entrance to the ruins. Your guide (same one as on the bus) will escort you through the ruins and tell you about them as you go. After about 45 minutes he will leave you to do what you like. We chose to walk up behind the ruins (the sea side) where the view was incredible. We also spend about 20 minutes in the water before heading back to the buses.

Once back onboard the bus you will find a bag lunch on your seat. We had Subway turkey sandwiches, packaged cheese curls and packaged vanilla cupcakes. They also had Pepsi or beer for beverages but we had bottled water with us.

We were taken back to the ferry dock in Playa del Carmen and then boarded the ferry back to Cozumel. We arrived back at the ship's dock at 5:15 (and then did the fastest shopping we had ever done, outfiting us all for Mexicali night in 25 minutes and making it to dinner at 6:00!).

I would highly recommend this tour. Although we would have liked to have more time at the ruins we all felt that it was definitely worth the time/money.

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

 

[Michelemouse]

Forgot to say that the bus ride is about 1 hour, 15 minutes each way. I really didn't think it was overly long and the buses were air conditioned.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Michelemouse,

Thank you for a great run-down of what the tour entails. You said you had time to go in the water. Did you take you bathing suits with you? Is there a place to change? What is the beach like?

HBC

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

My family and I also did the tour - ditto what Michelemouse reported. We wore our swim suits under our clothes. There isn't anyplace to change around the ruins themselves...

Depending on the time of year it can be very warm. We were fortunate that it was great weather -a little cloudy and aroun 80 degrees (in April). But we still all got really sunburned! Forgot the sunscreen since it was cloudy when we left the ship!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

BriarfoxinWA,

Thanks for the info. I will remember the sunscreen too.

HBC

 

[Michelemouse]

We also wore our suits under our clothes. Make sure you grab some towels from the Magic before you leave. They will have them available for you.

The beach was absolutely gorgeous and the water was incredible. The beach is rather small, but plenty big for those that were there when we were.

Here is a picture of the beach...

http://www.thewarnerfamily.homestead.com/Tulum.html

This picture came with a picture that was taken of our kids at the ruins. They take the photo during the tour and then have it available for purchase ($15) on the ferry back to the ship. Oh, and they also have really nice Cozumel T-shirts available on the ferry for just $5 US each!

 

[SeaSpray]

Every time I read a review of the Tulum ruins excursion I get even more excited than I had been! We can't wait to do this excursion next summer.

Thanks for the review!!

P.S. Can you tell me more about the Mayan calendar? What size is it? It is just like a regular U.S. calendar except with pictures of the ruins?? Thanks

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Michelemouse:

Great picture thank you. My 16 year old DD was highly impressed.

HBC

 

[MrsPete]

I'm interested in this excursion too, but I'm not sure I want to go with the crowd. Is there any way to do this excursion on your own? Taxi or other transportation? Would this even be advisable?

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I personally wouldn't try to do this on my own. You have to board a ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen. You would then have to arrange transportation from there to the ruins which is at least a 45 minute drive - one way.

At least with booking through Disney if there are any delays you don't have to worry about getting left behind...

 

[Cruisin]

We did this tour with RCCL not Disney but it sounds like they are all done exactly the same.

Our tour guide was very personable and friendly but unfortunately he liked to talk too much. We didn't have hardly any time to wander around on our own. We were disappointed that way. It was so bad that our group slowly dwindled down because people were sneaking off to explore on their own.

Also, when you see pictures of the ruins they show people climbing to the top of the high staircase. You are not allowed to get close to any of the ruins at all. Just in case someone (like me) thinks they can do that climb, I don't want you to be disappointed.

Other than that it was very interesting.

 

[SeaSpray]

Originally posted by Cruisin'Kroezes
We did this tour with RCCL not Disney but it sounds like they are all done exactly the same.

Our tour guide was very personable and friendly but unfortunately he liked to talk too much. We didn't have hardly any time to wander around on our own. We were disappointed that way. It was so bad that our group slowly dwindled down because people were sneaking off to explore on their own.

Also, when you see pictures of the ruins they show people climbing to the top of the high staircase. You are not allowed to get close to any of the ruins at all. Just in case someone (like me) thinks they can do that climb, I don't want you to be disappointed.

Other than that it was very interesting.

Thanks for that additional info. I think I read somewhere that you used to be able to climb the stairs but they no longer allow it. Too bad, I would've LOVED to be able to climb up there. When you say that you can't get close to the ruins, does that mean that you can't stand directly next to any of them? You can't get within arm's length? How far away do they keep you from the ruins?? I'm sure they have to protect them, but I hope they let you get fairly close.

 

[jlawall]

When I visited Tulum about 12 years ago, it was the highlight of my trip to Cancun. At that time, noone was swimming at the beach, but it was beautiful and I believe that it would be great to swim there because it's so rural.

 

[Cruisin]

Most of the ruins are behind roped off areas.
You can get close enough to take decent pictures with people standing in front of them. But I don't think there is much that you are actually allowed to touch.
I know I was disappointed at not being able to actually climb the stairs and I don't think they should use those pictures in their advertising.
I can also see why they don't want people to climb on or touch the ruins because they would get damaged quicker.

 

[SeaSpray]

Originally posted by Cruisin'Kroezes
Most of the ruins are behind roped off areas.
You can get close enough to take decent pictures with people standing in front of them. But I don't think there is much that you are actually allowed to touch.
I know I was disappointed at not being able to actually climb the stairs and I don't think they should use those pictures in their advertising.
I can also see why they don't want people to climb on or touch the ruins because they would get damaged quicker.

Thanks for the answer! I still want to do this excursion...but it would've been awesome to be able to climb them too.

P.S. I agree.....all of the cruise companies should remove older photos showing people climbing the ruins, from their newer publications. It's very misleading.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I agree with you SeaSpray. We still want to do the excursion but I really had the idea that you could go in or on some of them. Disappointing but I understand.

Thanks for all of the info.

HBC

 

[Diznut84]

The Tulum ruins are beautiful. I'm surprised, though, that no one has tried to combine them with some time at Xel-Ha. There are a very large number of Tulum/Xel-Ha tours offered in the area. The reason: you can do the Tulum ruins in a short period (less than 1 1/2 hours).

Xel-Ha is an amazing snorkeling/ecopark experience that is located right down the road. It is the one attraction we never miss when we travel to the area!

http://www.xel-ha.com.mx/default.asp?com_id=0&idioma=1

Getting back to the ship is really no problem, is it? Doesn't the ship leave late on the Cozumel day?

We are taking the Western cruise in January. We will be going to Chankanaab because our girls have not seen it. However, if I were going all the way to Tulum, I would see if I could squeeze in some time at Xel-Ha.

Food for thought!
Greg

 

[Michelemouse]

Originally posted by SeaSpray
P.S. Can you tell me more about the Mayan calendar? What size is it? It is just like a regular U.S. calendar except with pictures of the ruins?? Thanks

The calendar is about the size of an 8 x 10 photograph. It is actually a book that opens up and explains a bit about the calendar and the symbols used. Then there is a piece of paper (sort of like parchment...we were told it is made the same way that the Mayans used to make paper) with your special date and your name on it. We chose the date of our trip to Tulum. All of these things were inside a cloth bag. It is a very nice souvenir and I thought it was well worth the $25 cost.

 

[nickglover]

We did this excursion with Carnival in 1992 and it included about 2 hours at Xel Ha on the way back for snorkeling, which was great!