Last minute Cozumel jitters...

[funbobbymucha]

We're taking the Sea & See in Georgetown because Sheryl wants to "do the tourist thing." And the pub crawl in Key West, simply b/c we know KW and the price is good for five drinks and a tee. I feel good with those excursions.

 

However...

 

We're taking the shore excursion to the other beach (Del..something?), not Paradise Beach. Is this a bad idea? Looking around this site, PB seems to win the popularity contest. Pros? Cons? The price is about the same, isn't it? I bow to your wisdom.

[dwayne&patty]

Hope you have fun,however, my wife and took the same tour in the Caymans just a week ago and I would suggest you get your money back. The island is completely trn up ny hurricane Ivan. We did like the turtle farm but it is very small and only takes a few minutes of the tour the rest is in a bus looking out of a window.

 

We took the tour in Cozumel and the beach was very nice.Again, most of the tome is spent looking out of a van window looking at the waves.We spent about an hour on the beach. The van did stop twice at places where you can spend more money.

 

We cancelled or excursion in Key West and did it on our own. Enjoyed it much more...

 

My suggestion, cancel you excursions, go on your own, and get a taxi to the beach.

[brimicombe]

In Key West you don't need to take a ship excursion. When you dock walk thru the market place and grab the trolley right outside the gate. It stops everywhere and you can get off and on again everywhere for one price. Best bargain and you get to see more.

 

Cozumel-we have been there many times. No need to take excursion there either unless you want something special. At end of walkway there are many cabs (don't forget to negotiate price) They will give you a tour of the island and then drop you at Paradise Beach.It will be the best day you will have and MUCH more reasonable than going through the ship. Just take a cab back for about $10.00. Hope you enjoy your cruise.

 

Sally

[Dolphins]

Has anybody ever gone to Chankanaab Lagoon Park in Cozumel? It looks pretty inviting in pictures I've seen.

[canadagal]

Dolphins, a friend of mine just came back from a cruise last week and they went to that park. She swam with a sea lion and said it was the most thrilling thing she had ever done..........Sea lion's name was Sally and it kept giving her kisses...........the whole family liked Chankanuub.

[Dirtyoldad]

Did C/P 2 years ago. It was a lot of fun-great snorkeling. Didn't do dolphin or sea lion swim. The beach was nice-not too crowded when we were there.

 

Have fun.- Bring boxes of dry cereal off the ship to attract fish in the water. They swarmed all over me each time I opened a fresh box.

[fin]

Recently I did the walk on the bottom of the sea at Chankaanab, followed by some free style snorkling in the vicinity. I thought it was nicely set up and while expensive, was worth it. They constantly fed fish while we were on the bottom and took videos and still photos which they sold at the conclusion of the walk.

 

The dolphin people were on the same pier on the opposite side. There is a park with flowers and some animals and there were lockers for your possessions while you were in the water, a fact which was NOT apparently known by the cruise desk on the Sea.

 

Having been cautioned by the tour desk NOT to bring too many valuables ashore, I did not have enough cash to purchase the video, and on the day of my visit, the operator of the helmut dive was not accepting credit card payments.

[awatt]

Go to Paradise Beach. Great facilities and very clean. Lubch was great and very reasonable. You will have a better day there and for less money.

[Clay Clayton]

Dolphin

You can see my review of Chankanaab on the Cozumel Boards, its titled - dolphins!

 

Clay

[robsvacation]

Been to Coz a few times now on various ships and lines. I never book ships tours any more.

 

I've done the Tulum tour once, it's worth seeing if for some reason you're close by (say on a trip to Cancun) but the ferry ride from Coz is killer so I suggest you stay on the island

 

Coz has a number of beach clubs you can go to. Chankanob (it's not really a "nature park") has lots to do, great snorkling but lousy swimming. I do recommend it for first timers. I didn't like Playa Sol, course sand and kinda loud without being fun. Nochi Cocum is really nice with a pool, hottub, white sand beach, resturant, beach rentals, dive trips. It's a little small but defintely less crowded. For all the beach clubs just hop a cab, couldn't be easier.

 

Cruise line sponcered beach trip should be avoided IMHO, you get herded on a bus, pay too much, and EVERY ships tour has a stop at the driver's brother's tourist shop where everything is overpriced. Yuck!

 

Also I think the shopping, especially if you get off the beaten tourist path, is fun in Coz.

 

And can you go to Coz without the stop at Carlos and Charles ;-)

[Looking for Sunshine]

When we have visted Cozumel, we did a "discover scuba" with eagle ray divers. An unreal experience....highly recommend it! This time we will be dune buggying for the day (snorkeling, lunch on the beach) thru http://www.cozumelhomes.com. Because we have a teen with us we are always doing active excursions. However, if it were up to me....I would rent a car and drive to Chen Rio....spend the day in a secluded cove like beach paradise and have an all you can eat freshly caught seafood lunch with margaritas!

For more info...... do a search on: (go to the Cozumel ports of call board)

eagle ray divers

chen rio

I think you will find that there is more to do in Cozumel than just about any other island!

 

Enjoy!!

[Bequia]

Chankanaab

 

Take a pass on it when there's 9 ships in port. ;)

[two cruisers 723]

We've been to Playa Sol Beach Club. This is the one offered by the ship and was very touristy. But it was a nice beach. The least advertised FREE beaches in Cozumel are much better and less crowded in my opinion. All you have to do is hop in a cab and tell them to take you to whatever beach you want to go to and it's probably only 5 minutes or so from the pier. And they all have taxi's waiting to take you back.

 

We've also been to San Francisco Beach. It was free and nice. The food was good, although it wasn't the authentic Mexican food we were craving on that trip. But the swimming pool was awesome. There is topless sunbathing allowed here, so beware if you have children. We had our 4 kids with us this trip and didn't know it. My son, who was 8 at the time, got an eye full. The outdoor shower where you rinse off sand was fairly close to the outdoor restaurant and one of the topless sunbathers came to rinse off. He still talks about it to this day.

 

The best FREE beach we've been to in Cozumel was Mr. Sancho's Beach. The beach was nice with lots of beach chairs and tables with palapa's. They only want you sitting at the tables on the beach if you're ordering something from the waiters who service you right on the beach. But the chairs are free. And you can rent beach mats to take in the water for about $5 each. They also provide many other services such as outdoor massages for around $1.00 a minute in these quaint little huts. The pool was small. But it was nice to have a freshwater place to swim a little. The open air restaurant had authentic Mexican food and it was delicious and reasonable. The bathrooms and showers were also very clean. Their website is http://www.mrsanchos.com if you want to take a look. We found out about it on the boards. And were glad we tried it out.

[Teila]

What's the snorkling like at Chen Rios? I want to go to this beach because it sounds quiet and the pics look gorgeous but hubby says that from the maps he's seen, the better snorkling is going to be on the other side by the reefs. This is also where the larger, busier beaches are. He argues that must be why they are busy --?

[Sonchyne4U]

Rent a jeep in Cozumel and see the island on your own. You've got to get away from downtown to really enjoy Cozumel. It is a beautiful island and very, very easy to drive around. You can drive completely around the island in a few hours. You must see the undeveloped side of Cozumel. We have been several times, and even stayed there a week in August, and always rent a vehicle. We rented a brand new jeep last week from Enterprise at the pier for $55.00. Best bet all around. You then will see the island and still have time to get back to the pier, turn the car in and go shopping or to Carlos and Charles.

[Looking for Sunshine]

I don't think Chen Rio is known for it's snorkeling. Just the beauty and lack of crowds as well as fresh seafood prepared in a palapa shack that supposed to be delicious!

 

So it depends uopn what you are looking for. I've heard the snorkeling is fantastic in Dzul Ha. Perhaps you can snorkel there in there in the AM....then drive to Chen Rio....eat lunch...relax ....sip a few margaritas....and enjoy the beauitiful surroundings.

[funbobbymucha]

I just read a review of this place here in another thread. But no mention of admission price...? And taxi to and fro from the docks?

[rebsar]

We had been to Cozumel twice before and this time we took a taxi to Dzul Hu - not sure of the spelling - and snorkeled. I could have stayed there all day but we had agreed to meet up with the rest of the family at Paradise Beach so went on - it was great there too. The best salsa and chips - I wish we could have brought some home. We even snorkeled there and it wasn't too bad. The massage on the beach was good too. Then we went to Carlos and Charlies - I love it there too.

It was an almost perfect day!!!!