We had a really bad experience a couple years ago with the ferry. The waters can get really rough in the afternoon and they were trying to load people onto the ferry under what I would consider to be very unsafe conditions. It was choppy and the ferry was slamming against the dock and tossing around as people were trying to get on. At one point the gangplank flew up and almost threw a man into the water. It was scary and if there had been any other way to get back to the ship we would have taken it. My mom and I both got very very sick on the ride back. When we got off the ferry I just laid on the dock for about 15 minutes before I felt like I could get up. I'm sure people thought I partied too much, but at that point I didn't care. My husband was upset enough that he and my father went to the tour desk that evening to let them know what had happened and how unsafe they felt the ferry crew was. They said there were several other people there complaining about the same thing. The complaint was taken but nothing was done. We (my husband and my parents) had done the Tulum ruins tour, so I can't speak to whether there is anything else to do in Playa del Carmen. There seemed to be some hotels on the beach with restaurants and bars that looked nice, but nothing that would be worth the trip over. I have to say though, we went in March so it might have been a seasonal thing.