Tulum Ruins & Beach Break Excursion

[rcllover]

Has anyone taken the above excursion? If so, several questions I would like answered before I book. What is the name of the beach club? How long are you there? What type of food is on the buffet? How much walking is involved at the ruins? In general, is the tour worth it?

[SGM Arty]

My wife and I did this excursion. About 3-4 hours is spent in travel time. Ferry from Cozumel to mainland and bus to the ruins and then return trip. The guide on the bus was very informative as far as the Mayan culture though. There is a long walk from the bus parking area to the ruins however you can pay a couple of dollars extra each way and take a tram shuttle. There was a different guide that took us around the actual ruins. He was quite good. My wife and I felt that we did not have enough free time to walk the area of the ruins after the guided tour. We would have liked more time at the ruins. It was a short bus ride to the beach /buffet food area. Between eating and beach time I would guess we were there for about 1 1/2 hours before boarding the bus to go back to the ferry to the ship. The food was a buffet of mexican food. There was not another option. This was a problem as my wife does not do mexican food. I was not impressed with the food. The beach was small but nice. Overall we felt that it was too much to put in one excursion. We would have liked the same amount of time for the excursion but have just done the ruins.

[rcllover]

Thanks for the info. We don't like Meixcan either, and after your answers to my question, it doesn't seem worth the money/

[austinlw]

We took this tour 4 years ago. We also found that the Tulum part was too rushed. The guide kept everyone together for his narrative. I wanted to walk around on my own and take pictures, so I ended up just breaking off on my own and keeping tabs of where the group was. It's a beautiful and interesting place, but I think we were only in the ruins about 45 minutes - nowhere near enough time. I'd like to go back and spend several hours there. The beach we went to was really gorgeous. It was just S of the town of Tulum. Don't know the name. As described, there is a buffet lunch - it was pretty decent food, good enough to keep us from being hungry, don't remember the details. We were there about 1 1/2 hours, including the lunch time, so we ended up with under an hour to enjoy the beach. I'm glad we saw what we saw that day, but it only made me want to go back some day when I can spend more than an hour in each location. The transportation there and back took most of the day. We got back with very little time left before we had to board.

[JemzRoo]

I just did this a few weeks ago. Overall I think it was worth it. The travel time is quite a bit. As for the guided tour of the ruins, it wasn't anything amazing, however, we had another good 45 minutes post tour and before we needed to get back on the bus so we just wandered around ourselves and took pictures and went where the guide didn't. I'm very glad we did as the guided tour was minimal and honestly I didn't find it amazingly informative (subjective).

 

Two women from my group ended up holding the bus up and not making it in time. We wasted a good 15-20 minutes waiting for them and ended up leaving a guide and them behind. They found them and met us at the lunch break.

 

As for the buffet it wasn't anything to write home about, but I honestly did enjoy it. I very much like Mexican food, though. The soda was limited and went fast. The beach was very nice, large and clean. I'd have no problem going back there again. Because the women held us up we only at the beach break for an hour or so before we needed to head back. It does pack a lot into a day given travel time, but I'm glad I did it at least once.

 

If you want to explore, shop and what not, this tour isn't for you. Too much to do in too little of time.

[luvscruising2007]

We took this excursion several years ago. There is a lot of travelling time, and no shopping time. That was okay with us. We had a guide that took us around the ruins and explained a lot about the Mayan culture. I didn't really feel rushed and we did have time to walk around on our own.

The Beach break part was the Mexican buffet as has already been posted but was okay. After lunch we walked around the small beach area, had a beer. It was a nice tour and interesting if you like history. I do think I would do it again.

It seems there was an excursion offered without the beach break. That was several years ago though.

[sarbah77]

We did this last year and loved it. My husband has already announced that we'll do it again next year. There was a lot of walking (we didn't take the tram) and I loved the headphones we had for the lecture about the ruins. It allowed us to wander a little bit and still get the information. We also loved the beach and thought the food (yes, Mexican) was tasty. There was a lot of travel time, though!

[gelo7]

My wife and I did this excursion. About 3-4 hours is spent in travel time. Ferry from Cozumel to mainland and bus to the ruins and then return trip. The guide on the bus was very informative as far as the Mayan culture though. There is a long walk from the bus parking area to the ruins however you can pay a couple of dollars extra each way and take a tram shuttle. There was a different guide that took us around the actual ruins. He was quite good. My wife and I felt that we did not have enough free time to walk the area of the ruins after the guided tour. We would have liked more time at the ruins. It was a short bus ride to the beach /buffet food area. Between eating and beach time I would guess we were there for about 1 1/2 hours before boarding the bus to go back to the ferry to the ship. The food was a buffet of mexican food. There was not another option. This was a problem as my wife does not do mexican food. I was not impressed with the food. The beach was small but nice. Overall we felt that it was too much to put in one excursion. We would have liked the same amount of time for the excursion but have just done the ruins.

 

That was our experience.

[Arzeena]

We did the Tulum excursion via NCL. No beach break, just the ruins. It was fantastic. There is a small beach at Tulum itself and after the ruins tour, many people went for a dip there.

Since it was only the ruins excursion, we were not rushed. I would say that after the tour, we had about 1 1/2 hrs to relax on the beach or walk around the ruins and stores.

Take water and bug spray.

[Eriksgarden]

We did this last Spring and LOVED it. Yes, the ferry and bus ride were long, but felt like we were on an adventure. There was a brief stop at a souvenir shop where one can also get cold drinks. Tulum itself was incredible! The ruins, the history, the gorgeous beach...I definitely recommend it!

[fletch1027]

We took this excursion several years ago. There is a lot of travelling time, and no shopping time. That was okay with us. We had a guide that took us around the ruins and explained a lot about the Mayan culture. I didn't really feel rushed and we did have time to walk around on our own.

The Beach break part was the Mexican buffet as has already been posted but was okay. After lunch we walked around the small beach area, had a beer. It was a nice tour and interesting if you like history. I do think I would do it again.

It seems there was an excursion offered without the beach break. That was several years ago though.

 

There is a tour without the beach break, but it it the same amount of time, it just gets back to Cozumel 90 mins earlier...

[Coralc]

This is something that I will say Princess does (or used to) do much better. On Princess we dropped off a dozen passengers at Playa del Carmen the night before. They stayed at a hotel and toured the ruins the next day.

 

We picked them up in Cozumel when we docked there the following day. They had an early start at Tulum and only a one way ferry ride.