Xcaret Question

[RKB]

I am looking at the Disney excursion form for the Xcaret excursion. It says that it is 7 to 7.5 hours and you get to spend 2.5 hours at the park. The meeting time for the excursion is 9:45am. I am trying to figure this out. If we are docked at Cozumel from 10:30 am to 10:15 pm why would we not have longer in the park? Do the ferries not run after dark? I am guessing it is about a 45 minute ferry ride then a 45 minute bus ride to the park. So say we get there by noon. If we are only there for 2.5 hours we would be back to the Magic by say 4:30ish. Why the rush to get back? I hesitate to go all the way over there for 2.5 hours. How hard would it be to do this on my own (mom and 3 kids)? I realize if we miss the ship for some reason trying to get back that the next port is Castaway Cay so there is no catch up flight. Our vacation would end at Xcaret! Anybody have any opinions on this? We have already been to Chankanaab and really wanted to spend a day at Xcaret. Also - my DS wants to know if there are any "real" ruins at Xcaret to view. TIA!!

 

[Doctor P]

This is NOT an excursion to try on your own. You travel with the Tulum Ruins excursion to Playa del Carmen and back. This is how the day pretty much goes (we did Tulum Ruins, but as I said, the day proceeds basically the same). You meet at 9:40 am and get checked in and get your excursion sticker and instructions. At about 10:15 am, you are led down to deck 1 or 2 and go out the "back side" (away from the port) of the ship directly onto a tender boat. After loading everyone onto the boat, you ride 35-40 minutes to Playa del Carmen. You arrive at about 11:15 am and are met by a guide for your group. That guide then walks you through Playa del Carmen (about 10 minutes) to a bus staging area. You board the bus and leave about 11:45 am for your excursion. You will likely arrive around 12:15 at Xcaret. You will then spend until about 3:00 pm at Xcaret and then reverse the process to get back to the dock at Playa del Carmen. You will arrive back to the dock at about 4:00 pm and will then wait in a shaded waiting area for the tender to come. You will board the tender at about 4:15 pm and then be back to Cozumel where you are dropped at the town pier rather than the ship itself. You will arrive back at about 5:00 pm. I suspect that they don't run the excursions much later because of dinner and the teen catamaran excursion that starts at 6:00 pm.

 

[shezfrombermuda]

I agree with Doctor P. This is not a trip to do alone with three children. It was a long trip just getting there as mentioned. I was with my mother and three year old daughter. We found the park to be very nice but very spread out. It was quite hot and just trying to navigate around the park was enough for us. We felt that the excursion was not worth the price considering the little time we spent in the park and all the travelling. We were exhausted when we got back and we were wishing that we went to the Chankanaab National Park.

 

[inkkognito]

I would not risk doing it on my own either. We did it on RCCL on a shore excursion booked through the ship, and we ended up running late. It's a great place, but it is far. Chanakaab is a nice alternate, although I do like Xcaret better due to the underground "lazy rivers."
Barb

 

[TexasGirl]

We have been there before and LOVED it. However, we did it on our own as part of a Mexico vacation. It is really an all day type of place. We stayed about 6 or 7 hours when we went. I don't know if it would be worth it as short as the stay is on an excursion. The underwater water trails are amazing. There is a lot to see and do.