Tinkermom3
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2007
- Messages
- 432
I have had a few people ask about our excursion to Xcaret. I finally have our photos up and thought I would share a few. First here is a brief summary of our excursion to Xcaret:
Disney contracts a tour company that orchestrates this excursion and I must say they did an EXCELLENT job! After getting off of the Magic we immediately got on a ferry which was a very nice ferry and was right at the dock where the ship is. It was very large and air-conditioned with airplane-like seats. The water is a bit choppy and they passed around seasickness bags as well as free seasick medication (Bonine). Since 2 of us were already on Bonine we did not take any. We were all fine and I did not see anyone getting sick. The ferry ride is about 40 minutes. Once you get off of the ferry they line you up and walk you through the town (Playa del Carmen) and take you to a bus. The bus is also very comfortable with air-conditioning and comfy seats. The bus ride was about 15 minutes or so.
At Xcaret the tour company will gather you together and explain where to go. They encourage you to start in the underground river first. I think only 1 family decided not to do this. You are taken to an area to get a life-jacket (mandatory) and are given a large bag with a lock. You place all of your belongings in this bag and lock it and take the key with you. The key is on a stretchy band to wear on your wrist. Since there was 5 of us we needed 2 bags. Be careful with the key, DH lost his in the river,
he thinks he caught it on something and it cost $10 to have them open our bag. You give your bag to the attendant and they transport it to the end of the river. Once you get out of the river you get your bag. There are lockers very near the end of the river if you wish to then keep some stuff in there.
As for the river, the water is a bit cold. They say it is 62 - 67 degrees. It was not too bad, you just have to jump in. It takes about 45 minutes to float through the river and that is with swimming a good bit. If you just float it will take longer. It really is beautiful and a cool experience but our 6 year old DD did not like that she could not get out. She got cold and tired about half-way through. I should clarify - you CAN get out at various points along the river and warm up or take a rest but they told us that you have to get back in and complete the river. I am not sure if that was totally accurate but we just stayed in the river until the end and had a whiney 6 year old.
Once we got out of the river we got our stuff from our bag and walked 2-3 minutes to the restaurant where we were told we could turn in our coupon for lunch. Lunch is included at Xcaret. You get a choice of a hamburger, hot dog or salad (I think) and a soda/water. The restaurant is a beautiful open-air restaurant on the beach. You can order other food and pay for it if you choose. DH and I shared some fajitas and we each got a Corona.
we also got our hamburgers. My kids got the hotdogs but did not like them. I tasted one and understood why. The hotdog was very different tasting, more like a bratwurst. Luckily I had brought some snacks from the ship. It started to rain while we ate so we ended up spending more time at the restaurant then I would have liked. We probably lost about 1/2 hour by doing this. After it stopped raining we went to the beach just outside of the restaurant and swam and snorkled. It is a really beautiful beach.
The only thing that bothered us is that there just was not enough time to do much at Xcaret. There are Myan ruins, animals (jaguars, monkeys, etc) as well shops, shows, and lots of other offerings. We only had about an hour and 15 minutes after lunch. Now, we would have had 30 minutes more if it had not rained. I do not know though if we would have done anything different. The park is huge. It is like a natural theme park. It took us about 15 minutes to walk (very quickly) back to the entrance from the beach where we were to be back for our meeting time for the bus to take us back to the ferry.
All in all it was a wonderful day. We all enjoyed the experience although I think the kids liked the beach even more than the underground river. As I said earlier the tour company that coordinated this excursion did an excellent job. We did not have to wait for the ferry or the bus at all. When it was time to go the ferry/bus were ready. I actually enjoyed walking through Playa del Carmen from the ferry to the bus (and back) and got some cool photos. A CM from the Magic accompanies the excursion group. The CM that joined us was Veronica. She was a hoot! The CM does not do anything but it was nice knowing we had someone from the ship with us even though it was Veronica's first time at Xcaret.
Here is the ferry that took us from Cozumel to the mainland...
A photo of our 3 kids just after we got off of the ferry...
Here is the town of Playa del Carmen...
The guy in the blue shirt was our tour guide Jesus. He was awesome! He gave us lots of information about the area during the bus rides.
Here are DH and the kids walking through Playa del Carmen as Veronica (CM from DCL) jumped into the photo...
An iguana we saw while walking to the bus...
The bus...
Inside the bus...
One of the indoor restaurants at Xcaret...
This is the only shot that came out of our underground river photos. We took our disposable underwater camera but it was just too dark for most of the photos to come out. This is a picture looking up at one of the holes in the ceiling of the underground cave. Xcaret does have professional photographers taking your pictures in several locations but we did not have time to stop and get those before we left.
The restaurant that we ate at looking at it from the beach...
The beach area just outside of the restaurant. This beach is protected with rocks and such and is more like a lagoon and is fairly shallow...
Here is another beach area that goes right out to the ocean and we were told gets pretty deep...
Another beach shot...
DH and DD6 snorkeling...
Various photos around Xcaret...
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know if you have any questions about Xcaret.
Disney contracts a tour company that orchestrates this excursion and I must say they did an EXCELLENT job! After getting off of the Magic we immediately got on a ferry which was a very nice ferry and was right at the dock where the ship is. It was very large and air-conditioned with airplane-like seats. The water is a bit choppy and they passed around seasickness bags as well as free seasick medication (Bonine). Since 2 of us were already on Bonine we did not take any. We were all fine and I did not see anyone getting sick. The ferry ride is about 40 minutes. Once you get off of the ferry they line you up and walk you through the town (Playa del Carmen) and take you to a bus. The bus is also very comfortable with air-conditioning and comfy seats. The bus ride was about 15 minutes or so.
At Xcaret the tour company will gather you together and explain where to go. They encourage you to start in the underground river first. I think only 1 family decided not to do this. You are taken to an area to get a life-jacket (mandatory) and are given a large bag with a lock. You place all of your belongings in this bag and lock it and take the key with you. The key is on a stretchy band to wear on your wrist. Since there was 5 of us we needed 2 bags. Be careful with the key, DH lost his in the river,
he thinks he caught it on something and it cost $10 to have them open our bag. You give your bag to the attendant and they transport it to the end of the river. Once you get out of the river you get your bag. There are lockers very near the end of the river if you wish to then keep some stuff in there. As for the river, the water is a bit cold. They say it is 62 - 67 degrees. It was not too bad, you just have to jump in. It takes about 45 minutes to float through the river and that is with swimming a good bit. If you just float it will take longer. It really is beautiful and a cool experience but our 6 year old DD did not like that she could not get out. She got cold and tired about half-way through. I should clarify - you CAN get out at various points along the river and warm up or take a rest but they told us that you have to get back in and complete the river. I am not sure if that was totally accurate but we just stayed in the river until the end and had a whiney 6 year old.
Once we got out of the river we got our stuff from our bag and walked 2-3 minutes to the restaurant where we were told we could turn in our coupon for lunch. Lunch is included at Xcaret. You get a choice of a hamburger, hot dog or salad (I think) and a soda/water. The restaurant is a beautiful open-air restaurant on the beach. You can order other food and pay for it if you choose. DH and I shared some fajitas and we each got a Corona.
we also got our hamburgers. My kids got the hotdogs but did not like them. I tasted one and understood why. The hotdog was very different tasting, more like a bratwurst. Luckily I had brought some snacks from the ship. It started to rain while we ate so we ended up spending more time at the restaurant then I would have liked. We probably lost about 1/2 hour by doing this. After it stopped raining we went to the beach just outside of the restaurant and swam and snorkled. It is a really beautiful beach.The only thing that bothered us is that there just was not enough time to do much at Xcaret. There are Myan ruins, animals (jaguars, monkeys, etc) as well shops, shows, and lots of other offerings. We only had about an hour and 15 minutes after lunch. Now, we would have had 30 minutes more if it had not rained. I do not know though if we would have done anything different. The park is huge. It is like a natural theme park. It took us about 15 minutes to walk (very quickly) back to the entrance from the beach where we were to be back for our meeting time for the bus to take us back to the ferry.
All in all it was a wonderful day. We all enjoyed the experience although I think the kids liked the beach even more than the underground river. As I said earlier the tour company that coordinated this excursion did an excellent job. We did not have to wait for the ferry or the bus at all. When it was time to go the ferry/bus were ready. I actually enjoyed walking through Playa del Carmen from the ferry to the bus (and back) and got some cool photos. A CM from the Magic accompanies the excursion group. The CM that joined us was Veronica. She was a hoot! The CM does not do anything but it was nice knowing we had someone from the ship with us even though it was Veronica's first time at Xcaret.
Here is the ferry that took us from Cozumel to the mainland...
A photo of our 3 kids just after we got off of the ferry...
Here is the town of Playa del Carmen...
The guy in the blue shirt was our tour guide Jesus. He was awesome! He gave us lots of information about the area during the bus rides.
Here are DH and the kids walking through Playa del Carmen as Veronica (CM from DCL) jumped into the photo...
An iguana we saw while walking to the bus...
The bus...
Inside the bus...
One of the indoor restaurants at Xcaret...
This is the only shot that came out of our underground river photos. We took our disposable underwater camera but it was just too dark for most of the photos to come out. This is a picture looking up at one of the holes in the ceiling of the underground cave. Xcaret does have professional photographers taking your pictures in several locations but we did not have time to stop and get those before we left.
The restaurant that we ate at looking at it from the beach...
The beach area just outside of the restaurant. This beach is protected with rocks and such and is more like a lagoon and is fairly shallow...
Here is another beach area that goes right out to the ocean and we were told gets pretty deep...
Another beach shot...
DH and DD6 snorkeling...
Various photos around Xcaret...
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know if you have any questions about Xcaret.
It can feel a bit claustrophobic and it may be a good 5 minutes before you see light. (At least it feels like five minutes when you can't see your hand in front of your face and you are wondering what might be swimming along side you!)
There was never a point where we could not see an opening up ahead or see light coming through the top of the cave. It was never pitch black.
There were definitely some scarey dark spots. Knowing my DH he probably said "Oooh, this way looks fun!" 
