XRails to Jade Cavern

Hey! So, my bf absolutely has his heart set on doing the Xrails adventure in Cozumel. I've heard mixed reviews and have wondered if anyone has any helpful input. Is Wild Tours the best group to book thru? Does anyone know if you pay in full in advance? On their website, it doesn't show that anyone else has booked said tour on the day we are in Cozumel which has me slightly concerned. Thank you for any comments and help you provide!

In May of 2013 I did a review of my February 2011 Xrail experience. The following is a "cut & paste" of my review. Just keep in mind, this excursion was done 4 years ago and like everything in life, the only thing that never changes is that things always change.

"I have also found one that has a type of dune buggy called an Xrail"

I did this shore excursion through RCCL a few years ago while on FOS, I think it was February 2011. The buggy does not have power steering. It's a little tough to steer, especially if you have limited upper body strength (but my wife handled it OK, only running off the road twice, so it is doable). You really have to pay attention to the road, or you WILL end up off the road :eek:, as some people did. Not a big deal. The guides stop the caravan, and get the wayward buggy back on the trail, and the tour goes on.

Half way through the tour you stop to go swimming in some funky looking greenish water :confused: (what doesn't kill you-makes you stronger!!! and everyone gets PFD's), that leads into a very dark unlighted cavern. If you can overcome the funky water, it's kinda cool going swimming into the cavern. Before we swam into the cavern we had the option of doing some high jumps into the water from a height of about 15 feet. Almost everyone in the group did it at least once. The guide that was with our group had a very small flashlight that lit up the way for us in the cavern. Because I read up on this tour before I did it, I also brought a handy dandy small waterproof flashlight that I used too. The guide was impressed with it and I gave it to him as a gift at the end of the tour :).

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I did this tour during February. I don't know what the rainy season is in Cozumel, but the trail was very dry and dusty, even though you are warned about mud. At the very end of the tour we were told we could drive through a "mud puddle" or detour around it. My wife and older daughter drove through the mud puddle at a slow speed-got some mud on them-not too bad. The muddy water did permanently stain my wifes shirt and shorts. My younger daughter and myself went FAST and furious through the mud puddle, and were soaked from head to toe in mud/dirty water. We had a blast doing it. I knew from reading reviews about the x-rails not to wear clothing that you care about. Our clothing/shoes were ruined from the mud, but we wore "throw away clothing" and didn't care. You will at the very least get dirty from the dust on this tour, possibly worse if there is mud.

Overall, my family of 4 had a great time doing this. I think the whole group had a great time. The buggy seats 2 people. At the very least, YOU WILL GET DIRTY from the dust! If you go swimming, you will get WET and then get DIRTY!....and have fun doing it! :D

If you do this tour, and it is still as I described, wear "disposable clothing," bring a garbage bag to put that stuff in (if you don't throw it out), and bring a towel and change of clothes.

I also did a Segway tour through RCCL a different time I was in Cozumel. It was the first time ever on a Segway. It was fun, but the X-rails gets the adrenaline pumping:D! I have another FOS cruise booked for April 2014 that stops in Cozumel. I hope to do one of the ATV shore excursions during that.

Ok, so I will say it wasn't perfect, but it was fantastic!!!

My boyfriend and I went on the Xrails to Jade Cavern through Wild Tours this past December (2014). I booked mine through Island Marketing due to a booking glitch when I first tried to book directly through Wild Tours. I am by no means saying that you'll have a problem, it was just a technical glitch that they were able to resolve but I jumped the gun and booked elsewhere.

We did pay the full amount up front and just brought our confirmation with us.

So now about the tour....it was VERY muddy. I mean, head to toe, all layers of clothing and skin coated (possibly because we drove as fast as we could through every mud puddle, but everyone was pretty covered). We did have a problem on our first car...the wheel might have come off....but once you see how rough the terrain is, you'll understand the abuse these vehicles receive. We were given a new buggy right away and were back on the road. It's a nice long tour driving all over the place. We then had a bottle of water at the cavern. The water does look murky, but it is actually very clear water. They will show you in a water bottle just how clear it is. The water is saltwater at the bottom, brackish in the middle and fresh at the top which is probably why it reflects the light weird making it look dirty.

We were able to walk up the path and jump into the cavern which was a lot of fun. Only about 4 people did this, but we all had a lot of fun. Everyone else just stood by and watched the jumpers. This did allow us to clear 1-2 layers of mud from ourselves before the drive back.

The drive back is shorter but just as muddy. We rinsed off, but don't think you'll get clean, because without a lot of soap and higher pressure water, that's just not possible.

A tip if you go, bring bags to put your muddy clothes in. Many in our group didn't, but I was able to offer them all bags to carry their dirty stuff back in. We booked a beach resort after this, so we did have clean clothes to change into, others didn't and had to ride back to the ship in their dirty clothing.

If it wasn't as wet outside, I'm sure it'd be more dusty than muddy but for us it was a lot of mud and a tonne of fun!

I highly recommend booking this for a day of fun! And maybe a beach resort for some drinks and relaxation afterwards.

We booked through Wild Tours in 2009 -January. Excellent time! Ditto to the above, tons of mud, water is a bit gross but nothing terrible. So much fun!

Here is a short video of us on the Xrail. This is on the way back from Jade Cavern.

I will second RaveN's review. We did it about a year ago. We weren't sure where the pick-up point was, so we left plenty of time to walk there. We were VERY early and there was a group already there. We asked if we could join them, but we're told it was full....so we waited, and boy am I glad we did! It turned out that we were the ONLY people in the second group, so we got special treatment!

Yes, you will get muddy, but isn't that why you booked it?!?! They have lockers for you to put your clothes/stuff in while you are on the ride. When we got back, we did "shower" off in a gravity fed area (read no pressure, so getting clean isn't really possible). We had done our research, so brought a change of clothes along and a wet bag. I will say that we had brought old stuff and opted to just ditch the muddy clothes when we got back into town. I had read that you may never get the smell/stains out, so it was just easier to throw the stuff away!

The buggys are hard to stear and do get a lot of abuse, so breaking down is a possibility, but I do think they make every effort to keep them up and get you going again should something occur. The denote was fun. Refreshing after the ride.

Overall a great time!

As someone that did keep their clothing, I will say that it did come clean. I washed the clothes as best I could in the shower of our stateroom and hung to dry to avoid funky smells. We did wear dark colours so I don't know if they stained but after a heavy duty wash at home they are perfectly fine to wear and no smell at all.

We took the trip from Carnival. The x-rails kept breaking down. In addition, we were nickel and dimed to death when we first got there.....goggles extra....locker extra...bandana, bug spray, etc. we did go high speed through the mud, and I tried to get all the mud out, but now I just use that shirt for working out in my garden. It was still a lot of fun,but be prepared!

The Jade Caverns excursion was fantastic and an excellent activity to do in Cozumel. My son and I had a great day travelling by ATV to the Jade Caverns. I would recommend buying the Bandanna since you will get dusty and dirty.

It was a bumpy and rough ride over rocky terrain to and from the caverns, so you shouldn’t have any back or neck issues and you have to be physically fit to do this tour. We rode the ATVs for about an hour and a half, which was great and longer than I expected.

The Jade Caverns are beautiful and the green, sparkling color of the water is impressive, which made the trip worthwhile.