Nachi Cocom or Cozumel Bar Hop?? Can't decide?

[Moviegirlnyorlando]

This is what we did and we had one of our best port days ever,

 

1. We rented a open air jeep at port, I want to say it was like $60

2. We drove to paradise beach club and spent a couple of hours there, in thier gorgeous pools and playing in this ocean water park , which in addition to the giant rock climbing ,slides etc in the sea, included snorkeling, use of rafts, towels, beach chairs etc. I want to see for the armband to do all that it was $13 per person. We had a few frozen drinks and stayed a couple of hours but got hungry and didn't like the selection or high price of food so we went on to our next stop.

3 A must go to restaurant /cantina on the beach called playa Bonita country club which is the restaurant on the bar hop tour, the food is amazing we got this huge platter of fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, chorizo, calamari, octopus rice ,beans really fresh made tortillas, salad amd the most amazing made at your table guacamole best in your life kind, and giant margaritas. It's open air on the beach and they you back in true kitchen and show you the seafood they just caught fresh out of the sea to cook for you, it's also quite fun with giant Greek and romant statues of Neptune and poised on and lots of phallic symbol everything everywhere which makes it quite amuzing and festive. Food was fantastic and like many stores and restaurants in Cozumel you didn't leave without free tequila tastings. We could have sat there all day but there were places to go! We ate like kings, 6 of us and drank margaritas and beer and the price (after pesos exchange) was about $75 for 6 of us ! Four of us (my immediate family ) was in 1 jeep amd our friend had rented a Mini Cooper. I think they paid more for that then we did for the beach

4. The Tequilla factory, we stopped and had photo ops and more tequila tastings but opted not to do the full tour as it was a little pricey and we did not have time .

5. Next stop San Genovese Mayan ruins, this was fascinating and interesting , we has to get something Mayan in as we were there in September 2012 right before the 12/21 day. There was a straw market there with lovely authentic crafts we bought a gorgeous hammock chair and some lovely silver and torqouise earrings with a Mayan design and I think some tshirts and stuff and of course more Tequilla tasting. We took the tour here and the guide was of Mayan descent and very knowledgeable of the history of tge historic site, there were also many many giant iguanas everywhere wandering around , now this site is not the giant Mayan pyramids you see in the movie but smaller structures, it was spectacular just the same,

6. We them drove downtown and toed the port stopped on a pharmacia just to look and prices for things like Lipitor community USA meds were far below US prices. I understand many Americans go on cruises here once a year and what they save buying a years worth of meds(must have thier doctors prescription to legally bring into country) more than pays for the family cruise vacation, we also stopped in a bakery and back along the straw market by the port for yet more Tequilla tastings and amd shopping then back on board

 

It helped on this that my husband was a native Spanish speaker but mostly someone everywhere you go speaks English

 

 

This was a great port day and we thing more conprenhaive and far cheaper then ship offered excursions. Remember tough to get back with plent of time as it is my understanding tge cruise will leave without you if not on thier excision

 

 

My sister who is from up north and wants a strictly beach/pool experience usually opts for mr sanchos all inclusive which for $65 per person per day you get thier pools, beach, scuba , chairs etc and all you can eat from a special menu (a slightly higher surcharge if you want lobster too) and all you can drink well drinks and house wine and beer, they also have a package where you buy a wrist band for use of thier pools and beach and van order off menu ala carte, as we live in flrodia a day at the beach is less appealing to us Thant the self created excursion we did for about $50 pp for everything all together (not counting souvenirs we bought because we bought a lot )

[BMurph1998]

So glad I came across this thread!!! We have done Nachi Cocom several times with family and friends but on this cruise it will just be dh & myself. Was thinking of the Bar Hop just for something different. We went on the other side one time with an excursion. This sounds like fun not worrying about driving, meeting and making new friends and seeing the other side again. Yep, I guess I need to go and sign up for our trip in February!!!

 

Thanks everyone for the input!

[tweety33]

Bar hop bus for sure. Love it, was more fun then we anticipated. Great tour it won't disappoint.

[Poppet1964]

Just a brief update:

 

I ended up reserving both Nachi and the Bar Hop! If it's just a gorgeous day, we might still do Nachi, but based on all the glowing reviews and info I got on this thread, I think we'll do the Bar Hop.

 

The other advantage is that neither one takes up the whole day. We'll still have some time to wander around a bit.

 

Thanks so much for all the input!