Native Choice - good decision

[mc_reeve]

I think there are several good reviews about this company on CC (which is how we decided to use them), but I wanted to add another. Native Choice is a small tour company with an easy to use website for pre-booking tours. In Costa Maya they have tours of the local Mayan ruins (Chacchoben) with or without a separate tour of the local village. We chose the one without the village tour - but regretted it after our tour with Erick because we wanted to learn more about modern Mayan life in the area. I believe all the NC guides have ties to the local Mayan community, which we really liked because we got a really interesting perspective on current Mayan life in the area. Our tour only had 8 people in it which gave us an opportunity to really get to know Erick - a very personable young man who we liked very much. Chacchoben was not too crowded the day we were there, but Erick did a great job of moving us through the site around a couple of other larger tours. The site is very interesting because it has only been partially restored - you get to see some restored and some completely unrestored structures. There is some climbing allowed but you cannot climb all the way to the top of the tallest structures as it would be too dangerous (slippery) and could damage the structures. Chacchoben is about an hour drive from the port - and even that went quickly because the landscape and farms (and security checkpoint) were interesting to observe.

 

One thing about Native Choice that should not put you off is that it is not located in the cruise port. You have to walk or take a taxi (but it is an easy walk) to their office to pick up the tour. They give you a good map, but don't expect to walk through a dense village. The area was heavily damaged in 2007 by hurricane Dean so once you find your way out of the port shopping area (actually the hardest part) you will walk past some empty lots and a few still damaged buildings. We saw nothing to indicate that the walk was in any way dangerous and the Native Choice directions were easy to follow. After the tour they drop you off at the port entrance. There will be people attempting to sell you a tour or golf cart - they were easily put off with a polite "thank you - we have tour reservation".

 

If we ever did another eastern Mexican coast cruise again, we would definitely book another Native Choice tour.

[LREcruise02]

Great to hear a good review!! We are going with them in April to Chacchoben. Also glad to hear the walk to their office is easy as well. I have the map but still a little nervous since this is a new place for us.

 

 

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[cntrydncr1]

We too had an excellent tour but with David from Native Choice. He was the most knowledgeable tour guide I've ever had. We did not realize about the walk to their office and had a little difficulty finding them but it was well worth it!

[wdowns9]

David and Ivan run a top notch company. We have used them several times and even brought down school supplies so they could distribute them to the local remote villages. Tours are generally very small compared to others which makes it really nice. I recommend that if you utilize NC that you ask them to stop off at the pineapple stands on the way to the ruins. They are the sweetest pineapples you will ever eat. Also have the guide get a bag of fruit spice. On our way back from one trip David stopped off at a bar and got a crate of beer so we could sample a local beverage.

[LREcruise02]

Sounds great! I'm getting very excited for our tour with them! We are doing the extreme tour to Chacchoben and the Bacalar Lagoon. I'm so glad I found that tour and went with them! Sounds like they are a great company to tour with.

 

 

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[GrandmaHofmann]

I am not saying do not choose them, but be aware-- when we took their Mayan culture tour, we were taken on a large bus with a group of about 20-25 people. I saw little or no difference between their tour and a ship's tour. Your interaction with Mayans is slight. They do not speak English. As to the school supplies, I brought a bag of picture books-- Spanish language-- and was told I would receive a picture of the students receiving/using them at Christmas, but I never did. No biggie, but it would have been nice had they really done so. It would have been fun to have seen the kids themselves.

[greenmind0428]

So glad to hear these score excursions are legit. They almost seemed to good to be true. Anyone have experience with the Dzibanche tour?

[jacruisers]

We booked with Native Choice - Chacchoben Mayan Ruins Tour. We had an airconditioned mini-bus that sat a total of 12 including driver and guide. When we booked online we received an email confirmation plus a map with walking directions to their office. We walked out of the port shopping area past the taxi area and port security area. We continued walking until we saw the Mayan pyramid where we turned left on Paseo del Puerto St. We continued to walk up the street where we found the Native Choice white building on the left hand side. Note the streets are pretty much abandoned basically those of us walking were the only ones looking for the Native Choice building.

 

Our guide at the ruins was David. He was very knowledgable and provided us a lot of information about the Mayan culture and ruins. We were able to walk around and climb stairs up a hill to view the ruin at the top of the hill. We enjoyed our time. On the way back they dropped us off by the port/taxi entrance.