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Tours Plaza?


bearnuts
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I have learned that when cruising the ship charges an arm and leg so I checked Tripadvisor and found Tour plaza I read a ton of reviews and thought why not give them a chance. Just wow! best decision I have ever made. right away got an email from the company explaining directions and whom are driver was. I was nervous but we got to port early from our RC Liberty of the Seas cruise and I was looking for the driver Aldo but we got Leo. Leo was beyond amazing. we got in our awesome van and discussed what we wanted to do. I truly felt safe and would recommend this company. Leo showed us around Cozumel. I asked that he take us to a school. He took us to the oldest elementary school; there where we brought a huge bag of candy and passed it out to the children they were so grateful and we went met the principal, students and teachers. we then went to San Gervasio Ruins wow so much history and Iguanas everywhere. This is a additional fee not included in the Tour. It was great and we did a self tour. The Kids loved it. Next we went to Sky Reef for some snorkeling and drinks a lots of amazing fish and fabulous food and drinks. Watch out some lady came up to ask and asked the Kids name stated she needed to know we didn't think anything about it she came back selling bracelets and we looked for there names on her board didn't see them and we stated she probably doesn't have them she brings them out in hand. We bought them but she obvious got us good so watch out. Lastly some beach time at Playa Palancar. The took a pic when we arrived and just swam for a bit came back to the Van and the people here had the picture it was actually amazing 3's pic in one. We bought it. We felt like family with Leo and left our stuff in the van when we did activities, no issues. We built trust with Leo and would love to hire him again when we come back to Cozumel. Honestly don't book with the ship do your own thing give Leo and this company a chance you wont regret it. $107 for 3 hours and $25 extra an hour was well worth it. I thought I was only gonna do 3 hours we spent 5 hours and learned so much. Thank you to Leo you became family.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am thinking about going through with this for my cruise in October. I just want to ask a question.

If we wanted to do a tour of the island obviously this is the best route. If the driver stops at places is that an additional cost? Like the Chocolate Factory, the Tequila history and Tasting Tour, the Ruins, etc. If so how much do they typically cost? I am just trying to get my information together before I tell the group what we are doing. Lol. Has anyone ever did the Turtle Nest on this tour? I bet that's cool!

Anyways, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!!!

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The tequila tour was free, but you don't actually see any tequila being made. You just see some displays of old-style processing items, then go to the showroom for a tasting, where you can buy the tequila. They only have the one liter bottles, no smaller ones. And the cheapest was $55, so a little steep IMHO.

 

And at the chocolate factory, it depends if you take the full tour or just get the little talk about how chocolate is made. The talk is $2, and since we didn't do the tour, I can't say what the price is, but I think it was maybe $20. They did give out a nice amount of samples, so well worth $2.

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I am thinking about going through with this for my cruise in October. I just want to ask a question.

If we wanted to do a tour of the island obviously this is the best route. If the driver stops at places is that an additional cost? Like the Chocolate Factory, the Tequila history and Tasting Tour, the Ruins, etc. If so how much do they typically cost? I am just trying to get my information together before I tell the group what we are doing. Lol. Has anyone ever did the Turtle Nest on this tour? I bet that's cool!

Anyways, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!!!

 

Last question..

On average how many hours is needed? I was thinking 5 hours or is that too much? Not enough?

 

We have used ToursPlaza many times with different sized groups.

 

the price for the tour is just for the driver and vehicle, all stops that require admission charge, or purchase, are extra.

 

The places you list all have individual websites which list prices. It is best to give Eduardo an idea of where you want to stop so that he can schedule a time at the chocolate factory, for example. There are several different tequila tasting venues which he will be able to help with. The turtle rescue depends on the time of year what will be available.

 

Time needed is very difficult to estimate depending on where and how long you stop and is very much up to the individual. We did 5 hours on our first tour but we stopped at Punta Sur for a while. A basic tour round the island can be completed in 3 hours but if you add in lunch, chocolate tour etc it adds up!

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We have used ToursPlaza many times with different sized groups.

 

the price for the tour is just for the driver and vehicle, all stops that require admission charge, or purchase, are extra.

 

The places you list all have individual websites which list prices. It is best to give Eduardo an idea of where you want to stop so that he can schedule a time at the chocolate factory, for example. There are several different tequila tasting venues which he will be able to help with. The turtle rescue depends on the time of year what will be available.

 

Time needed is very difficult to estimate depending on where and how long you stop and is very much up to the individual. We did 5 hours on our first tour but we stopped at Punta Sur for a while. A basic tour round the island can be completed in 3 hours but if you add in lunch, chocolate tour etc it adds up!

 

GREAT information!!!! Thanks so much!

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Has anyone used this company? We are looking at doing a private tour with them,any help would be geatly appreciated. Thank in advance,Brian

 

I am a travel agent and have many options to choose from and incredible tour companies but this time, because of time, most everything I wanted was sold out. I took a chance on a new one outside of my comfort zone of approved vendors and I was so pleasantly surprised. Benito was our driver and it was just me and my middle school aged son. The weather was very rough on the east and south side of the island and much better on the west side.

 

Benito was amazing and took us on a tour past the military base, governor's house, then onto San Gervasio which I found fascinating but wish I did not pay for the private tour. It was $20 and our guide was so elderly and in such poor physical condition he sat more than he guided us around. Other tour guides were much better and we just got a dud I guess. The site itself was amazing but I do wish we would have had a guide to walk with us the whole way to the pyramid, as it was a bit scary all alone in the jungle on a path by ourselves so we came back.

 

From there we went on to the east side and visited El Mirador (so gorgeous), and briefly took a look at several beach clubs before going to the blow holes which were a highlight of our trip. The waves were so big so the pressure made the spray go 30 feet plus up in the air which was magnificent to see. From there we checked into Punta Sur - but the waves were too rough for snorkeling (which is what we really wanted to do) and we went to Sky reef. We ended up having such incredible visibility that day and with only 1 ship in port - there was hardly anyone in the water, tons and tons of all different species of fish and i could have done that for hours. We spent some great time in the water while Benito waited, drank a drink and ate some chips and then were taken back to the ship. Benito did take us into town for a quick stop to buy towels - and it was a $60.00 stop - the towels were quite expensive where he took us and the tiny wallet I bought was torn on the inside (which you could not see until you took out the fake credit card placeholders). However, i still have the towels, they folded up nicely and we ended up using them (and not ship towels) on our two next excursions and they caught a lot of water but dried overnight so I really like them.

 

All in all, it was very reasonable, we did what we wanted by ourselves with no one else and felt like the whole island belonged to us. I highly recommend Benito and this tour.

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  • 1 month later...
I am a travel agent and have many options to choose from and incredible tour companies but this time, because of time, most everything I wanted was sold out. I took a chance on a new one outside of my comfort zone of approved vendors and I was so pleasantly surprised. Benito was our driver and it was just me and my middle school aged son. The weather was very rough on the east and south side of the island and much better on the west side....

 

All in all, it was very reasonable, we did what we wanted by ourselves with no one else and felt like the whole island belonged to us. I highly recommend Benito and this tour.

 

I second this comment.

 

We have used them many times and have love being in control of our whole day!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi! I'm just coming back to give my experience with Tours Plaza! My group of 5 used them the week of October 14th. Our driver was Leo! He was by far the best ever! Super informative and nice. I encourage anyone who is having doubt about booking a tour for the day, to do it with Tours Plaza! You won't regret it! Thanks Leo for treating myself and the rest of my group like family!

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Recently booked with Tours Plaza for our brief visit to Cozumel. Money well spent! Sergio, our driver, was great! Clean vehicle, attentive to details (cooler with cold drinks, step to make getting in and out easy etc.) He truly catered our tour to our interest.

Our stops included:

Tequila tastings

Chocolate museum & tasting

Various landmarks

Souvenir Shopping

Cake/baking supply store

Edited by Saintwic
Typo
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  • 2 months later...
Anyone know if Jerri is still driving for Tours Plaza?

 

He used to have his own service back before tours was organized.

 

Gerry is the owner. Eduardo is the administrator, very proficient, email him and he will tell you if he is available or still driving.

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Gerry is the owner. Eduardo is the administrator, very proficient, email him and he will tell you if he is available or still driving.

 

Thanks c-leg5. Eduardo was very prompt. Gerri is still driving and still popular. Waiting to hear back if he's available on the date DW needs.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This is the second time I have used Tours Plaza and Gerry! We took this tour in February 2018 and out of ten of us only two of us had been on a previous tour with Gerry. They loved the tour. Gerry was prompt. We told him what we would like to see and also if he suggested anything. We went to the chocolate factory, learned about the difference in tequila and sampled and then to the Mayan Ruins. He was fun and informative. He ended the tour with singing a song to us. He has an absolute beautiful voice and the song was beautiful. It was such a nice touch to a perfect tour. Gerry was mindful of ship times. Really folks, if you want a great tour at a great price then I would use Tours Plaza when in Cozumel.

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We had relatively longe list we wanted to achieve in ~7 hours. I can tell that without Kelly (who was our driver) it would be impossible.

1. Our ship arrived little earlier and we contacted the agency and Kelly came pretty quickly and we could head off earlier than planned.

2. Knowing our overall plan he was planning ahead. For example, in Punta Sur he sent to use to the free river ride on time. That ride is every 30 mins and if Kelly were not active we would have lost there 30 minutes.

3. Similarly, for the beach, he selected the right one which was very beautiful on one hand and aligned with our route on the other hand.

4. He contacted Pueblo de Miaz ahead so that we could start tour as soon we arrived there.

 

He suggested possible skipping of lunch to save time. We would hesitate as that mean he would not have lunch on time either but with his strong suggestion, we were able to save time.

Overal it was really fun to have this tour with Kelly. I definitely would repeat this. One could do this cheaper (renting a car or hiring taxi upon arrival) but one would miss out a lot for lack of knowledge and definitely will miss real human touch that he provided.

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  • 1 month later...

Yes use Tours Plaza! We had a great day with Darwin! Nice, large, comfortable van, great suggestions on things to do and places to go. I booked the tour on line the day before we left Galveston on our cruise for the tour to take place 3 days later. Eduardo was very quick to send confirmation, and even sent it by text as I requested since I did not have email available to me on the ship. Darwin was easy to find after we exited the port area. Our day with Darwin was great! We enjoyed the shopping, going to the chocolate factory, lunch at Coconuts, as well as time at Playa San Martin. We saw almost no traffic, and no crowds - Darwin knew which way to go to avoid the traffic congestion. The "other" side of the island is so pretty and we enjoyed being there! When Darwin found out that our son had taken several years of college level Spanish, he actively engaged him in conversation in Spanish which our son was so excited about. We had a great day with Darwin - the time went by way too fast!

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