What to do in Cozumel?

[JW9DVC]

Travel party- myself and an adventurous 6 year old boy.

I am so torn over this!

I thought Tulum Ruins would be our choice and that's that.

Now I'm second guessing it, and have pretty much ruled it out- due to travel time involved.

Xel-Ha Eco park- same concerns.

I am not interested in a beach day and want my son to experience some kind of Mexican culture, or something different than what we can do here or in the Bahamas etc. But I'm having trouble finding anything.

I'm leaning Dolphinaris at this point, even though swimming with dolphins isn't at all something exclusive to Mexico.

Anyone have a better idea?

In Grand Cayman we will do Stingray City/ Starfish Beach/ Reef Snorkel
Falmouth- Dunn's River Falls and Bobsled Jamaica- I'm also not thrilled on travel time with this- but don't think we can pass it up.
Castaway Cay- (beach day) relax, swim, rent snorkel gear, and bikes.

We walked to Dolphinaris, short 10 minute walk with even a 5 year old. No stroller entire trip. We booked it directly online. If doing the experience only. Disney only allows the adults as observers. It was $90 each and included open bar and some rather bland food. We also bought the photo package prepaid at $199. If after they want $400. It was a great one on one and much better than the one at Paradise in Nassau.

Hope this helps.

JW

 

[JW9DVC]

Is there anything to do in Cozumel with a 4 yr old? All the minimum ages seem to be 8 yrs. We'll be going in 2017.

Book the event directly. Check he Dolphinaris website for ages.

 

[soniam]

I don't remember the age for the Atlantis Sub, but it's really cool. We have done it twice, once on an adult-only trip and again on DS first cruise. It is expensive though.

We did the dune buggy and snorkel last trip. The snorkeling wasn't great. The food wasn't worth it, and we kept getting pestered to buy stuff during lunch. There also wasn't much time to swim. The dune buggies are really windy, loud, and kind of hot. The worse though was that DH was driving me, DS, and another guest back to the meeting point through downtown Cozumel, when the brakes decided to barely/not work. We were in traffic, and he ended up slowly rear-ending a pick up and then rear-ending another dune buggy. No one was hurt, and it was at low speed. Luckily, DH does autoracing and is used to cars with fading brakes. We pulled over, and they got us another buggy. I think most people would have been really freaked out by this though. Driving the buggy through the city traffic was stressful enough without having bad brakes. It was one of the older, manual dune buggies, not a new Polaris. They only had a couple of the Polaris' and were reserving them for people that didn't know how to drive a manual transmission. This may have been a one time only thing, just a fluke, but you never know.

I want to do the Secret River next trip, but I don't remember the age limit. It does require taking the ferry, which has a lot of complaints on the boards.

 

[MunFam]

When we were in Cozumel, we got off the ship leisurely, we walked down to Panchos Backyard for really good, authentic Mexican food and then walked back along the shore. We had a 4 year old with us and we live at the beach. It was cloudy that morning, so we decided to not take a cab to Paradise Beach. We stopped at the MEGA store to get more booze, too.

A few others from our group went out on a pirate ship excursion. We could see the ship from the shore. Many, many people came back from excursions on the mainland where a boat ride was required and they were super, super sea sick. Apparently, it is common.

 

[AllieD10]

Book the event directly. Check he Dolphinaris website for ages.

Thank you! Chatted with one of their representatives. Kids 3+ and those who don't know how to swim can do the Dolphin Interactive program. My daughter will be super excited. Her favorite sea animal is a dolphin.

 

[mom4fun]

The travel times to anything across the channel stink. We made the very big mistake of doing X Claret (like Xel Ha, but farther away) and had something like 1 hour at the park after travel time there and back. Terrible.

So I agree with you.

On the next trip we did the dune buggy/snorkel adventure. there were some ver y "light" Mayan sites, plus snorkeling and a beach, and you got to drive a dune buggy which was unusual. I wouldn't do it again, but we thought this was the best. The snorkeling was much like other places (though the swim out to the reef really kicked the butt of some people in our groups). Included a climb up a lighthouse too.

So...not sure I would "recommend" that but it's what we did with our kids when they were 8. Would definitely do before a dolphin encounter!

Oh and if the 6 year old is REALLY adventurous, book a private tour to the Blue Hole in Jamaica. Long travel time but well, well worth it.

Our experience at xcaret was not like this. We toured the grounds, went to the butterfly and bird sanctuary, went on the river that goes through the caves, had an awesome lunch of fajitas, had some time on our own to see animals in the zoo portion and also Dolphins, had ice cream, went to the Mayan ruins, went to the outdoor alligator pools, went to the underground aquarium and then got to shop a little at the gift shop. I'm not sure how long we were there but it was definitely a nice full day. Maybe there was a problem with your excursion day.

 

[21stamps]

Our experience at xcaret was not like this. We toured the grounds, went to the butterfly and bird sanctuary, went on the river that goes through the caves, had an awesome lunch of fajitas, had some time on our own to see animals in the zoo portion and also Dolphins, had ice cream, went to the Mayan ruins, went to the outdoor alligator pools, went to the underground aquarium and then got to shop a little at the gift shop. I'm not sure how long we were there but it was definitely a nice full day. Maybe there was a problem with your excursion day.

How long was your travel time? They all seem to be around an hour to an hour an a half each way

 

[mom4fun]

How long was your travel time? They all seem to be around an hour to an hour an a half each way

It is the same as the others. Before I went , I was concerned about travel time and sea sickness. The travel time was no big deal and seemed to go very fast. I get sea sick very easily so I just took bonine and I was fine.

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

We did the chocolate factory tour with our kids where you make your own chocolate and get to sample a lot of varieties of chocolate. The cost is now $15 per person if you book with them directly which is pretty good for the experience you get. Check out Chocolates Kaokao factory tour on TripAdvisor if you want to see some reviews.

 

[21stamps]

It is the same as the others. Before I went , I was concerned about travel time and sea sickness. The travel time was no big deal and seemed to go very fast. I get sea sick very easily so I just took bonine and I was fine.

I'm not worried about sea sickness for myself or my son. He has been on boats since a baby. I am concerned with a 6 year old asking "are we there yet?" repeatedly lol

 

[Princess Minnie of Disney]

Hi @AllieD10 I just recently came back from Cozumel and we did the eco-park tour Port Adventure! It was lots of fun with sightseeing and swimming. Perfect for younger children since a good portion is spent in the truck looking at sights yet there is an outside time where they can let out all that energy!

 

[AllieD10]

Hi @AllieD10 I just recently came back from Cozumel and we did the eco-park tour Port Adventure! It was lots of fun with sightseeing and swimming. Perfect for younger children since a good portion is spent in the truck looking at sights yet there is an outside time where they can let out all that energy!

That's so awesome! Did you book through Disney Cruise, the Xcaret website, or Tripadvisor? Also, did the tour take up the entire day?

 

[kiapepito]

We literally went to the Mega grocery store and bought tons of kinder surprise eggs for our girls as they are illegal in the US!

 

[mocodis]

We did the chocolate factory tour with our kids where you make your own chocolate and get to sample a lot of varieties of chocolate. The cost is now $15 per person if you book with them directly which is pretty good for the experience you get. Check out Chocolates Kaokao factory tour on TripAdvisor if you want to see some reviews.

If I book them directly, what transportation is available?

 

[21stamps]

We literally went to the Mega grocery store and bought tons of kinder surprise eggs for our girls as they are illegal in the US!

Oh my gosh I love kinder eggs!
When I was a kid my father used to go to Germany on business and always bring them back for us!!

 

[TestingH2O]

We will be on the Fantasy 11/26-12/3 2016

I'm really leaning towards that Jeep tour that I found yesterday, the lighthouse is included in it.

If you decide to do this, will you post a review? I am especially interested in the crocodiles.

 

[21stamps]

If you decide to do this, will you post a review? I am especially interested in the crocodiles.

I will. I'm actually planning on doing a trip report after. Our WDW portion is going to be a total surprise for my son (he will receive a gift from Santa containing our magic bands on the cruise). I am also surprising him with a VIP tour while at WDW, so this is a big trip for us!-I don't think we'll ever repeat anything similar again lol

 

[21stamps]

For those who have been to Cozumel on the Fantasy-

This is Pirate Night, right?

What time should we make reservations at BBB?

 

[Princess Minnie of Disney]

That's so awesome! Did you book through Disney Cruise, the Xcaret website, or Tripadvisor? Also, did the tour take up the entire day?

Oh hi again, we booked through Disney Cruise Line and the tour didn't take up the whole day but a good part of it. Hope this helps

 

[Luvzmy3boys]

We also did Xcaret via Disney last summer. We went more than 10 yrs ago when it was just two of us and staying on mainland but chose disney this time because of ease of transportation. Our youngest was 4. He and the older two kids felt a little sea sick wearing only the sea bands since I really didn't want to medicate them. They show something on tv during the ferry ride (30 minutes) which is air-conditioned and enclosed. I took bonine myself and felt a little loopy on land. We had a wonderful time at Xcaret. The busride was fine (less than a hour each way) and we had plenty of time to swim in one of the secret rivers (with him clinging to my back nervously though everyone has to wear flotation vests), see the aquarium, sea turtles, birds, Mayan ruins, and swim at the family beach. Lunch was decent and you could get authentic Mexican food or burgers and hot dogs and our guide was great! We left at something like 8:30? and got back to the dock at 4:00 or something like that. It was well before the ship was supposed to leave port. We were all very tired but had a great time and felt very very safe. It helps if you speak/read a little Spanish but you can get by without within the ecopark. We are seriously thinking about going back on Fantasy Western and going to another ecopark next time.