Chacchoben Maya Ruins

We are considering booking this tour through Native Choice Tours. Arriving Jan 23rd on HAL MS Ryndam.

Any thoughts or recommendations, negative and positive, very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Quality tour with a well respected company. Plus the cost is more than reasonable. We have use them on three different trips and both David and Ivan were great. Highly recommend.

They are brilliant. I can't recommend highly enough the Mayan Experience tour.

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Much better than the Tulum tour we did 2 years ago from Cozumel, which took almost 8 hours with only 1.5 hours at the site....:eek:

We did this tour last year and thoroughly enjoyed it! Very professional and efficient. Enjoy!

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Just came back and had Ivan as our tour guide at the ruins and Diego on the trip there. I can't tell you enough how great Ivan is. His father actually claimed the ruins area. If you like story tellers, Ivan is your guide. He made us feel like we were walking through time with him and see civilization in front of our eyes. Other than that, you can't beat the price, I think!

Is this something I can book on the ship as an excursion, or do I need to book directly? We are departing FLL on Jan 26, and will be in Costa Maya Jan 28. We have $100 pp shipboard credit, and I would like to use that towards a shore excursion, and since I don't swim and my husband doesn't drink, Mayan ruins seem like a good choice for us.

Is this something I can book on the ship as an excursion, or do I need to book directly? We are departing FLL on Jan 26, and will be in Costa Maya Jan 28. We have $100 pp shipboard credit, and I would like to use that towards a shore excursion, and since I don't swim and my husband doesn't drink, Mayan ruins seem like a good choice for us.

HAL does offer this tour while in Costa Maya. The reason we went with Native Choice, it is almost half the price of the HAL tour. You should be able to look up the HAL tour on your reservations.

Is this something I can book on the ship as an excursion, or do I need to book directly? We are departing FLL on Jan 26, and will be in Costa Maya Jan 28. We have $100 pp shipboard credit, and I would like to use that towards a shore excursion, and since I don't swim and my husband doesn't drink, Mayan ruins seem like a good choice for us.

Kim, you can book a similar excursion on the Caribbean Princess but it cost more and spends less time at the site.

I just booked the Mayan Experience for me and my Dad and I know of at least one other couple from our cruise that are using Native Choice for the same tour.

Also, FYI, that OBC can be used for your daily gratuities and other on board charges like coffee drinks, souvenirs, etc...

Kim, you can book a similar excursion on the Caribbean Princess but it cost more and spends less time at the site.

 

I just booked the Mayan Experience for me and my Dad and I know of at least one other couple from our cruise that are using Native Choice for the same tour.

 

Also, FYI, that OBC can be used for your daily gratuities and other on board charges like coffee drinks, souvenirs, etc...

We have booked with Native Choice for the Mayan excursion. Where area in JAX are you at. We live in Middleburg.

We have booked with Native Choice for the Mayan excursion. Where area in JAX are you at. We live in Middleburg.

Hi Ron,

We live near Atlantic and San Pablo just west of the ditch (Intracoastal Waterway)

Hi Ron,

 

We live near Atlantic and San Pablo just west of the ditch (Intracoastal Waterway)

Very familiar with that area. We lived in Mayport for 17 years, just off A1A before moving to Middleburg in 2008.

Look forward to meeting you.

Kim, you can book a similar excursion on the Caribbean Princess but it cost more and spends less time at the site.

 

I just booked the Mayan Experience for me and my Dad and I know of at least one other couple from our cruise that are using Native Choice for the same tour.

 

Also, FYI, that OBC can be used for your daily gratuities and other on board charges like coffee drinks, souvenirs, etc...

Who did you book that tour through?

Who did you book that tour through?

I booked the tour this morning, online, through Native Choice. $55 pp vs $89 pp, and the time of the tour is much better.

I booked the tour this morning, online, through Native Choice. $55 pp vs $89 pp, and the time of the tour is much better.

Thanks for the info! Did you look at the other Mayan excursions there also? We will be there the 26th also.

I did look at the other excursions, but this fit the time table, budget, and my husband's hobbling around due to a torn Achilles tendon. We will get back in time to explore Costa Maya should we choose too. We are at Costa Maya on the 28th.

I did look at the other excursions, but this fit the time table, budget, and my husband's hobbling around due to a torn Achilles tendon. We will get back in time to explore Costa Maya should we choose too. We are at Costa Maya on the 28th.

Thanks again. Tough break on his injury. Hope you still have a great time.

We will still have a great time, I can guarantee you that.

We also did the Costa Maya Chacchoben Mayan Ruins Excursion (S1201) and Native tours was the local operator. We loved the fact that SEE offers a back to ship guarantee...

My wife, daughter and I went on the Chacchoben Extreme tour offered through The Native Choice on January 21, 2015. We were on Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Sea while in port at Costa Maya.

After making our way through the busy port and we were able to use the directions to the offices of Native Choice, which is well outside of the port in a bit of a run down area.

Once at the offices of Native Choice, we checked in and were given our wrist bands and boarded a nice air conditioned van. Our van had about 11 total people. Our guide was Diego and he was very friendly, funny and informative.

We made our way to Chacchoben, which was about 50 minutes. We stopped at a little food stand along the road and Diego purchased some fresh, sweet pineapple from a Mexican family and everybody was able to enjoy a piece of pineapple.

Once we arrived at Chacchoben, it was hot, sunny and crowded. There was a lot of tour buses and others there too. There was a large gift shop and bathrooms and snack bar. Diego led the group into Chacchoben explaining the culture and history at each site. He was more than happy to take pictures of you and your family. We saw howler monkeys and lots of beautiful flora, trees etc. in addition to the Mayan ruins.

After our tour of the ruins, we boarded our van and headed to the Bacalar Lagoon, which is a private resort on the 7 Colors Lagoon. The resort is about 20 minutes from the ruins site, and you must take a rough dirt road through the jungle to get there. The resort is very pretty, quiet and private. We were escorted into the main building to eat lunch. We were served chicken fajitas, soft drinks, beer and other alcoholic drinks, which were all included in the price of the tour.

After lunch, we were able to change into our bathing suits and swim, kayak or sit around near the water. The water was nice, but bring your water shoes because there is a lot of coral/rocks just off shore until you get into deeper water and it will hurt your bare feet.

We were able to swim for about 1.5 hours or so and then it was time to head back to the Costa Maya port to board the ship. The tour was very nice. Diego was a great tour guide and was always keeping us on time. In fact, he wears a watch around his head to make sure of the time.

Forget the cruise ship tours with 30, 40 or more persons. I highly recommend booking a tour with The Native Choice if you value a professional, local company who cater to its client's needs and offer and provide exactly what they promise.

I'm pleased to read you had such a positive experience of Native Choice. We really enjoyed our day with them.

My only comment would be that I don't think that their office is in a run down area. It's just that Costa Maya was really only built as a cruise ship dock and the walk takes you outside the perimeter of the port. Not so much run down as the 'town' runs out.

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Thank you all for posting such great reviews. Are you able to climb the ruins at Choccoben?

Yes, you can climb up several.

You are permitted to climb up some stairs at some of the temples/pyramids, but for the most part not all the way to the top.

If you do climb some stairs, be very careful because the stone is very hard and sharp can be slippery when wet and some even have moss on them and you can fall or slip. Your guide will advise you the safest pathway to climb, but some people never listen to the guides and learn the hard way. Enjoy!

For more questions, you might consider checking out this site:

https://www.chacchobenruins.com/