Hello everyone, hope you are doing great today. So how about we talk a little about Costa Maya Mexico.
The first thing you notice getting off the ship is its a long walk down the pier, but we avoided it by taking the “trolley”. It was a free ride, but tips were rightly expected. At the end of the pier you could go left or right. We went right, but first we stopped to take photos with a group of “natives”. It was a cool photo moment for us and a fun way for them to make a bit of money (again from tips).
(photo credit CruiseMapper.com)
We had decided we wanted to take an excursion to the Chacchoben ruins. So we looked for the desk that set those up. It turned out that at the port the excursion desk was an extension of the Cruise line. They offered the same excursion and at the same price ($89.99 per person, kids were I think $20 less). We wanted to do our own excursion and to do so you needed to leave the port area and head into town.
*DISCLAIMER Many will tell you that you should never take an excursion that is not though the cruise line. The biggest reason for this is that if you are running behind dues to any issue and you are on a cruise line sponsored excursion, the ship WILL wait for you no matter how long it takes. However if you are on your own the ship will leave you behind. The next reason is dues to safety because you do not know the people you are booking with. That being said, in my 11 plus cruises every excursion I ever took was on my own. I have always felt safe, and have always gotten back to the ship on time. And why do I choose to go on my own? Simply MONEY. I save 50% or more when I go off on my own. That being said if you are new to cruising or have never traveled out of the USA, it might be a good idea to get you feet wet first with an excursion or two via the cruise line.
Ok so in Costa Maya, it seems the only way to get out of the port is via these open-air wagons, that are pulled by pick up trucks. They sell tickets for $3 a person and its ONE WAY. So you need to make sure you have money to get back.
(photo credit calculatedtraveller.com)
We were told to get off at the stop for Mayabar and speak to the taxi drivers there about getting to the ruins. I had my head set on $100 tops for this excursion and when we talked to them they said it would be $130.00. I haggled a little and we compromised with it being $100 for the ride and we paid our own entrance fee to the ruins ($8 for 3 of us) and the “parking fee” ($6).
So off we went with this nice and soft-spoken taxi driver. His taxi was not in the best shape, but I have seen (and ridden in) worse.
The trip to the Chacchoben ruins was about 45 minutes., with most of it on this long stretch of secluded Mexican road. It was two lanes with plant life on either side. Nothing at all to really look at. Once we were 10 minutes from the ruins we started seeing little homes and lots of little stands on the side of the road selling pineapples.
The entrance to the ruins had a little bar that sold cold beer and some snacks. And then they had a strip of vendors selling all sorts of ruin and Mexico themed souvenirs.
(photo credits Trip advisor.com & travelonadream.com)
Guided tours where that told you some history about the ruins were offered for an extra fee, but again we went it alone. Once you passed the entrance it was like a 2-minute walk until you reached the first set of ruins. They were very impressive to see. The area was kept very natural. I don’t even remember there being benches added for if you wanted to sit. It all looked very authentic and like a step back in time. There were some areas where you could walk to the top of the ruins and other areas that were roped off after the first 10 steps or so.
I am not sure what I was expecting; well not true I thought I would see one towering structure and that would be it. But in fact there was a collection of structures, spread out along a large area. Some were small some where larger and very impressive. I was very glad that we made the trip, and glad to have my little girl be able to experience it. We did not pack bug spray, which was highly recommended. BUT we did lather on some sunblock and that seemed to keep the mosquitos at bay. We walked around and looked for maybe an hour and then walked back out and were ready to head back to the ship.
The excursion included being dropped off back at the port so we also saved on that extra fee from taking the wagon back in.
Back at the port we decided to go to the right again (to see what was on the opposite side) and WOW clearly this was the side to go through. There were very cute little themed restaurants, fancy little shops and even a very nice pool area. I had no idea there was a pool so we did not bring our suits, and I did not know that it was FREE to use. I will say this; if I cruise to this port again I think I will be just fine hanging right there at that pool. When we went into town I got a look at one of the beach areas and was not impressed. There seemed to be a lot of seaweed in the water (might have been from a storm) but it was not water I wanted to play in.
In closing I will say Costa Maya was a nice port. It was not one of those MUST SEE ports but there is plenty to do without having to go far and I will gladly cruise there again.
(If you want to learn about how I budget and save for my cruises check out www.CruiseWithJosie.com)
PEACE.LOVE&CRUISES to all...