Should we book Xcaret thru Carnival? Is Senor Frog's near the port?

[Kay129]

Hi all,

I'll be in Calica/PdC 4/20 and I plan to spend most of my day at Xcaret. Carnival's price is 59 dollars, and that sounds good to me considering it includes transportation back and forth to the boat every half hour, if what I've read on the boards is true. Am I misguided? Should I be booking through Xcaret and arranging my own transportation? I want to avoid hassle . . .

 

Also, is Senor Frog's right near the boat? Will I be able to go there for a bit before getting back on the ship? And is it FUN????

 

thanks for any advice!

 

k

[TNtraveler]

Since Xcaret is directly across the channel from the cruise ship port at Calica (which is close to nothing!), one of the plentiful taxis for four wouldn't cost more than $10 or so. The adult admission price is $49, so if you are just a couple (you don't give the makeup of your party), the Carnival excursion doesn't sound too bad at $59. But children under 12 are just $25 (under 4 is free), so $59 for them would be more than double actual cost.

I'm looking at the shore excursion list from our October 2004 cruise on Holiday: it states that "shuttles run every 20-30 minutes from the pier to Xcaret". It doesn't say whether or not multiple entries to the park are allowed.

Senor Frog's is in Playa del Carmen proper, which is about 5 miles north of Calica port, which has virtually no entertainment facilities and only a few vendors (skip 'em until your return, because you can find cheaper wares in PdC). It will require taxi fares both ways.

[Kay129]

there's only 2 of us and we're both 25. so the carnival deal sounds pretty good to me, i'll think about it though. i'd rather carnival didn't make a cent, and my money all went to xcaret! i guess if we come back from xcaret early enough, maybe we'll venture to senor frog's but i'd just as soon be hanging out on the ship :)

 

thanks for the quick reply! there's not much traffic on this board, usually.

[Kay129]

i also meant to ask - what did you do when you were in Calica/PdC on the holiday?

[TNtraveler]

Rented a car from Executive at the pier (via email in advance on their website: www.executive.com.mx), drove to PdC to shop 5th Avenue, then south to Puerto Aventuras for nice garden lunch and beach outing (free day use of facilities) at Omni Resort there, then briefer stroll of beachfront villas and marina at Akumal.

Returned car at about 6:45 p.m. -- pier rental office closes at 7 p.m. because it has no electricity -- and shopped the dockside vendors (now knowing what prices were typical in town) a bit before returning to ship. We dined onboard because we were too tired to go back out even though ship didn't leave port until 10 p.m.

It was our favorite port call. All in all, a very active and pleasant, but still leisurely, day.