Please explain dune buggy / x-rails to a newbie

A group of 4 of us (two young couples, late 20s) will be in Cozumel on the Emerald in February and are considering doing one of these. We are not really interested in the all inclusive beaches - we feel like we do plenty of laying in the sun and drinking on the boat :)

This will be the first time in Cozumel for all of us so we have never even seen anyone on a dune buggy or x-rail tour. My question is: are these really as "off-road" and adventurous as they are advertised? Or are you basically driving behind a guide on a paved road? We've seen mixed reviews suggesting these tours have been "watered down" a bit after someone got hurt and not sure what to expect.

Thanks!

The X-rails are pretty much off road. You will get dirty, muddy, go through muck holes, etc.

The Dune Buggies used to be off road once you got to the other side if the island, but I'm not sure they do that anymore. When we did them we were on a sand path along the shore in the jungle most of the time. My husband prided himself on not "killing it" in the deep sand, We had to push a few people out. I've heard they changed the route, but not sure to where.

They are both really fun, though! Dune Buggies hold 4 people, X-rails only hold 2. When we did the buggies, they had loads of beer and soda for us right in the back of the dune buggy, that was included in the price. X-rails do not have that. X-rails do stop at a cenote for swimming though, which is in the jungle.

We did the xrails and had a blast. Some nice mud pits and a few small jumps. One of the people in our group busted a tire! :)

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We did the Xrails in April. It was OK. Not as much mud and water as I thought there would be. We had fun but I'm not sure I would do it again. I was just expecting it to be a wetter trip and it was very dry and hot. We did have fun it just was not what I thought it was going to be. Be sure and take an extra pair of clothes because the mud def. sticks to you and your clothes.

We did the Xrails in April. It was OK. Not as much mud and water as I thought there would be. We had fun but I'm not sure I would do it again. I was just expecting it to be a wetter trip and it was very dry and hot. We did have fun it just was not what I thought it was going to be. Be sure and take an extra pair of clothes because the mud def. sticks to you and your clothes.

I would imagine this will vary depending on the weather, of course. It would be impossible to have a muddy trip if it hasn't rained in a long time....the opposite, if it's rained for a few days, you'll have a muddy trip.

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We did the xrails and had a blast. Some nice mud pits and a few small jumps. One of the people in our group busted a tire! :)

Great pic! Thanks for the responses.

We just got back from doing the Xrail Dune Buggy tour and we had a great time riding them! There was lots of mud holes and we got filthy, so dress accordingly.

Unfortunately we had to take a taxi to Playa Uvas, the pick up location (an extra $21), then we had to wait there for almost an hour before taking another taxi to the actual location. Then again we ended up sitting an waiting for 30 minutes for our tour guide to show up.

It was lobster night on the ship so we were worried about getting back on time. So we rushed out afterwards, no drinks or snacks for us! As we are boarding the taxi a girl called Marie (spelling) told us the taxi would only take us to Playa Uvas. I told her that was not the agreement we had. The agreement was they would take us all the way back to the port. She said " That's not my problem" and walked off!

So I had to fight with the taxi driver to take us all the way to the port. I showed him and gave to him the paperwork we got from the company assuring us that they would take us to the port but he just kept saying "Not my problem". I kept after him and told him it was bad way to do business, told him we wouldn't get out of the car till we got to the port. So he took us to the port. I did not enjoy having to have a fight ( I speak fluent spanish) and having to threaten to go on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor before getting what we were promised. Very unprofessional of the company!! This is the name we booked under.

ISLAND MARKETING LTD (CAYMAN)-Cozumel Cruise Excursions

EXCURSION: COZUMEL EXTREME OFFROAD BUGGY TO JADE CAVERN EXCURSION

I will be contacting them and updating you on what they say. You can book this through the ship, and that might be the safest thing to do. I usually handle all our own bookings privately and have never had such a bad experience before.