Mayan Ruins_Getaway

We're going to Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel on the Getaway on March 12. My husband wants to see some Mayan ruins and I'm struggling which one to book. We're already booked on an excursion on Honduras and I really want to snorkel in Cozumel, so that leaves us with Belize and Costa Maya. We'll have a 10 yr old and 8 yr old twins with us, so can any of you suggest one of the ruins? I see mixed reviews on all of them and I'm afraid the kids will get bored with the bus ride and lack of activity. I know we have the option to leave the kids on the ship, but I want them to see the ruins too, even if their interest lasts a whole 10 minutes. (For the most part, they are rather well behaved so I don't think their boredom will ruin it for others.)

I'd recommend doing The Chaccoben Mayan ruins in Costa Maya. We did ours through Native Choice and they were amazing! I'd highly recommend them.

It was a great tour and price. We also still had 3.5 hours in port after the tour.

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We're going to Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel on the Getaway on March 12. My husband wants to see some Mayan ruins and I'm struggling which one to book. We're already booked on an excursion on Honduras and I really want to snorkel in Cozumel, so that leaves us with Belize and Costa Maya. We'll have a 10 yr old and 8 yr old twins with us, so can any of you suggest one of the ruins? I see mixed reviews on all of them and I'm afraid the kids will get bored with the bus ride and lack of activity. I know we have the option to leave the kids on the ship, but I want them to see the ruins too, even if their interest lasts a whole 10 minutes. (For the most part, they are rather well behaved so I don't think their boredom will ruin it for others.)

Do an ATVx2 tour, thru "jungle" and along beach, upto ruins, guide chats about them, then back on the ATV to lunch and swim at hotel near the port.

If the Getaway docks at Harvest Cay now, are the Belize ruins even available? We've done both, but there is a fairly long bus ride to both. I think the kids would much more enjoy a day at Harvest Cay than ruins, if even available.

When you say you are going to Belize... is it harvest caye? Keep in mind harvest caye is nowhere close to Belize city, where the independent tours run from. Not saying you can't see ruins from there; but you are limited to only the excursions listed on the NCL website.

Costa maya is probably your best shot. But yes, for the most part the ruins are more inland so to get to them usually requires a long bus ride on poorly paved roads. We went to ek balam from an AI a few years ago and it was a long and hot day. Our tour was combined with a cenote though which was really fun; think your kids might like that if you can find one.

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Chaccoben was great even thou our bus crapped out. :D

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I agree with Jason82. Native Choice was the best tour group we've ever used and we have had some really great ones. Chacchoben was very interesting and I know my kids would have enjoyed it!

Do an ATVx2 tour, thru "jungle" and along beach, upto ruins, guide chats about them, then back on the ATV to lunch and swim at hotel near the port.

 

Have you a link to this?

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Have you a link to this?

 

 

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The tour that we did seems no longer to be available. This is what was included

This ATV ride is along the East coastmixes spectacular seaside views with plush jungle trails. Once at theruin your guide will give you a brief Mayan History lesson. Throughout thiswild ride you will have many opportunities to take some amazing photos.

Following our stop at the ruin we make thethrilling ride back to our starting location where we will transport you backto town for your seaside lunch at the El Cid Resort.

This looks the closest https://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/cozumel/cozumel-dune-buggy-tour/

or

https://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/cozumel/cozumel-atv-adventure/

I agree with Jason82. Native Choice was the best tour group we've ever used and we have had some really great ones. Chacchoben was very interesting and I know my kids would have enjoyed it!

Agree also

The Native Choice Chaccoben ruins tour was fantastic

Safe sailing

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Thanks everyone! We're going to try Native Choice! We are thinking of including the lunch with a Mayan family, but we're introverts and it might just be awkward for us. :)

We've gone to the ruins with Native Choice too; very enjoyable. The bus ride is about an hour each way though, if that's hard for your kids.

I wouldn't worry about the meal with a family (although we didn't do this). There will be quite a few other people on the tour as well, not just you and the family. Plus, they do this every day, so I am sure they are very used to it. Might be a good cultural experience for the family.

I ended up booking the meal with the family. I know it will be ok and I'm looking forward to homemade food - it will be a nice change from cruise ship food. Now it's time to figure out Cozumel. :)

We took a ferry from Cozumel (very bumpy people were getting sick ruff waters there) than a bus to ruins there. They take u to a terrible gift shop? There were shops and food at ruins but they were different then Belizes ruins. In Belize we took a trip advisor to the cave tubing and ruins but a lot of driving but it was better than the ship excursion we did the whole caves the ship excursion got out before us oh they feed you too!

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We just did the ruins and the meal with the family. we were a private group of 13. your kids will love this. the ride was about 50 minutes on paved roads to the ruins. very informative. The meal was delicious and we all made our own tortillas. we had Kasi for our guide and she was the best tour guide we have ever had. our kids ranged in age from 4 to 13. you will not be disappointed.

We're on the same cruise and will be touring the Chacchoben ruins with Native Choice as well!! Though I'm interested in the family meal, our girls are 18 & 21 and more into the beach or napping.

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Chacchoben is nice however, if you want to really see ruins take the Native Choice tour of Dzibanche. I was there a few years ago and we were the only people there(about 10 of us). You can still climb up a few of the structures and we also were able to take a side tour of another site just a few miles away that only had 1 building however it was the tallest structure in the area and climbing to the top you could see all around. A once in a lifetime experience in my opinion. I also recommend their Mayan experience which take you to Chacchoben then to a Mayan family for lunch( I have done this twice). I am going in a few weeks and attempting to do the Kohunlich tour, I have tried going on this a few times however there were not enough people so it was cancelled(they offered another tour of your money back)

In Belize since the ship is now going to Harvest Caye you are limited to the tours that NCL has and that goes to Nim Li Punit, I have not been here as yet.

With small children, Chachobben is a great option. The bus ride is fairly short and the grounds are easy to navigate. It may not be the most impressive archaeological site, but it's still a neat place, specially if you've never visited other Ruins before.

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Do not book it for your day in Belize, as Harvest Caye is a wonderful beach day you won't want to miss--especially the kids! We thought it was lovely there! If you must book, do it in Costa Maya. We saw the ruins when we went to Cozumel. We took the ferry in to Playa DeCarmen and went to Tulum. We were not impressed. A long ride. If I was a child, I would not like the long bus ride. I think the one in Costa Maya is an even longer bus ride. To me, just not worth it.

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In Cheapo Dad's review of the Freedom of the Seas, he has a section where he and his family do the ruins from Costa Maya. Great pictures to give you an idea of what the ruins look like. It was a 4 hour tour. I think he said the bus ride was about an hour.

Made me wish we had done that on our cruise instead of the beach/guided snorkel tour that we did. It was fun, but the ruins looked so interesting.

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I would recommend Chacchoben as well. It's the closest ruins to the ship of any ports (although still about an hour bus ride each way) and there's plenty to see there. I did the deluxe ship excursion and was pleased with the small size of the group and expert knowledge of our guide, although I'm sure it would be cheaper on the other tours suggested.

We did the ruins there, it was so hot! Be prepared to sweat.

If we knew it would be that hot walking around, would've picked something different!

Don't forget bug spray. You will need it

Safe sailing

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It was hot. Native Choice took water for us and the driver carried it around and they stopped frequently and encouraged us to drink.

Thanks everyone! We're going to try Native Choice! We are thinking of including the lunch with a Mayan family, but we're introverts and it might just be awkward for us. :)

We are on this same sailing with our 9 year old son and will be doing this same tour. My Dad this and said the tour and the meal were amazing, which is quite a praise from him because he doesn't generally like excursions. Hope to see you there!