Go to Tulum?

[Tami]

I'm taking my first cruise in February. One of the stops is Cozumel and we thought we would take an excursion to Tulum. However, the excursion is not offered through Carnival for our cruise. I found Shore Trips on line that has a Tulum tour. Has anyone taken this tour? I've seen comments advising against going to the ruins on a tour not sponsored by the cruise line due to the length and possibility of missing the boat so I'm a little nervous (but really want to see the ruins). Advise?

 

[Cruizer]

I would not recommend seeing Tulum from Cozumel if you are traveling by ship - ship sponsored or not. At best, you will spend 75% of your time traveling. At worst, if it is not a ship sponsored tour, missing the ship from a tour that travels as from from the ship as this one does is a very real possibility. If you are going to do this, I recommend that you take your passport with you, you might need it.

My recommendation for seeing Tulum is to see it when you are staying in a hotel in Cancun.

 

[frito]

Tami, maybe I'm misunderstanding what you are saying. If you go to Carnival's home page, there's a shore tour section--click on that and then the port of Cozumel. It shows the tours available. It shows one to Tulum. You probably are aware that Tulum is on the mainland, approx. 12 -14 miles across the channel from Cozumel. What ship are you going own ? Maybe your particular port time wouldn't allow for this excursion.

The ferry ride is about 30 minutes or so and at times can be a little rough. Once you reach the mainland, there's a bus ride to Tulum-- I can't remember for sure how long the actual bus ride is but I'm pretty sure it's less than an hour. The tour will pretty much take up your day so if you want to go, don't plan on doing anything else. I would not --repeat not--attempt to take this tour on your own. If you do, the ship would have no idea where you are and if something did happen that prevented you from getting back in time, there's a real possibility you could get left behind.
On the other hand, if your ship does offer this excursion and you want to see a beautiful beach / ruins area, then I would go for it.
:wave: wave

 

[Babushka]

My daughter and her husband were recently on the Carnival Triumph and they did do the Tulum excursion and booked it thru Carnival. It was a long day...I think it says it's approximately 7 hrs. long for this excursion but I could be off a bit. They were in Cozumel the entire day and the ship did not leave until late evening so they had time for this. I have also done this excursion from Cozumel when we were on a Royal Caribbean cruise years ago. We took a ferry ride (about 45 min or so) to Playa del Carmen and from there took a bus ride over to Tulum (this was at least an hour if memory serves me right). As others have said this is not an excursion I would recommend booking on your own. The beach there is beautiful and the ruins were interesting.

 

[Mbandy]

I'll agree with Cruizer on this one for a couple of reasons. First of all I love the water and my gills get dry if I do too many land excursions. Secondly spending the better part of the day on a bus really isn't my idea of a great day on vacation. Finally the ferry ride. I have not done it myself but I have heard it can get kind of rough on the water and the motion on the ferry will be much greater than on the cruise ship. If you are prone to motion sickness maybe not the best idea.

I have been to Cozumel seven times, all on cruises. It is one of my favorite ports. There is so much to do there and the do have some ruins on the island if that's what interests you.

 

[serene56]

Maybe you are not seeing it as offered because allt he online spots are sold out. You can book it once onboard-
this excursion we did on a cruise a few years back-- boy was it hot.
I would not book this excrusion outside the ship because of the time it takes to do it.

you will be ferried to PlayaCarmen to board a bus to take you to the ruins. you will spend a consdierable amount of time on the bus compared to the time it takes to see tulum. 4-5 hours round trip depending on the traffic-- with about 2 hours visiting the site.

tulum was beautiful and for us-- well worth the visit

 

[sandyj55]

We visited the ruins in September and thought they were well worth the time and ride. The ride was very interesting because we were able to see the country side and the way people lived. The view of the beach from the ruins is amazing....the water is beautiful!!! If you do go, be sure and take water, sunscreen, a hat and we took a towel to wipe our faces. It was very warm but well worth it. We are going cruising again in Feb and are visiting two more of the Mayan ruins. Enjoy!!

 

[Madam Z]

We went there on Carnival Liberty in December 2007 and LOVED IT! We booked the excursion through Carnival to Tulum. It was a long drive each way but well worth it. We were able to see how people lived, the schools and the jungle. The people were friendly and we had plenty of time to see the site, climb all the temples (those excavated and one partially excavated). We even had a cold beer we purchased from a local stand before getting on the bus - it was wonderful! I would definitely recommend it. The buses were on time and we had enough time when we got back to the ship to relax for an hour or two before heading to dinner. If you stay with the cruise tour you'll be fine. This was our 6th cruise, my second on this exact same cruise. Have fun - you won't be dissappointed. Definitely bring sunblock and mosquito repellent. There seemed to be lots of bugs when we went but don't let that influence your decision. We didn't get bit and had a great time!