Best place for a half day Mayan Ruins trip on Carnivals western itinerary?

[skidawg79]

We will be going to the following in the carnival Magic:

 

Costa Maya 12-8pm

Roatan: 9am-6pm

Belize: 8am-5pm

Cozumel: 7am-3pm

 

My friend wants to see Mayan ruins somewhere, but I don't think I can make that a full day trip. Would love to do a half day (morning) doing that and then spend the rest of the day at a nice beach with a drink in hand :-). Only port I've been to before was Cozumel, so any suggestions would be awesome! I was kinda ruling out Cozumel because we are only there till 3pm. Thanks in advance for your help!

[evandbob]

We will be going to the following in the carnival Magic:

 

Costa Maya 12-8pm

Roatan: 9am-6pm

Belize: 8am-5pm

Cozumel: 7am-3pm

 

My friend wants to see Mayan ruins somewhere, but I don't think I can make that a full day trip. Would love to do a half day (morning) doing that and then spend the rest of the day at a nice beach with a drink in hand :-). Only port I've been to before was Cozumel, so any suggestions would be awesome! I was kinda ruling out Cozumel because we are only there till 3pm. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Costa Maya has 2 sites nearby, I went to both but forgot their names. Okay, nothing majestic.

 

There are no Mayan ruins on Roatan.

 

Altun Ha is fairly close to the Belize port, but those ruins are possibly the worst to see. They are small and were poorly restored.

 

Tulum, a magnificient sight on the coast south of Playa

Del Carmen is an all day affair from Cozumel. Coba ruins are much much older, but still far from Coz. Both require ferry transfers.

 

Xanantunich from Belize is a fantastic village but also an all day trip.

 

I haven't been to Lamanai yet, but that is another all day as well as independent tour.

Edited January 24, 2016 by evandbob

[tropicaledrink]

Costa Maya has 2 sites nearby, I went to both but forgot their names. Okay, nothing majestic.

 

There are no Mayan ruins on Roatan.

 

Altun Ha is fairly close to the Belize port, but those ruins are possibly the worst to see. They are small and were poorly restored.

 

Tulum, a magnificient sight on the coast south of Playa

Del Carmen is an all day affair from Cozumel. Coba ruins are much much older, but still far from Coz. Both require ferry transfers.

 

Xanantunich from Belize is a fantastic village but also an all day trip.

 

I haven't been to Lamanai yet, but that is another all day as well as independent tour.

 

 

I recommend Xunantunich - we did this one on our first cruise, and it's worth it. Even though it's all day, there really isn't much to do in Belize in the port area, so this is one port where I would say it's worth it to do the all day excursion. You drive through a good portion of Belize as well - so you are able to see quite a bit of the country at once.

[wantocruisemore]

I recommend Xunantunich - we did this one on our first cruise, and it's worth it. Even though it's all day, there really isn't much to do in Belize in the port area, so this is one port where I would say it's worth it to do the all day excursion. You drive through a good portion of Belize as well - so you are able to see quite a bit of the country at once.

 

These are the best ruins and I have heard Lamanai is great as well. I disagree with the poster about Altum Ha. We really enjoyed those ruins and Carnival combines with River Wallace that's scenic.

 

I think Tulum are the worst. If you google it you will see primarily 1 photo used. Unfortunately this is the only scenic thing there and you cannot climb as in Belize.

 

We did the ruins from Costa Maya and they were ok, but nothing compared to Belize.

 

All stops I would recommend a ship excursion due to distance and roads. There's normally some time to shop near port afterward.

[skidawg79]

That's why I love this site. Get some awesome, informative feedback. I will look into all suggestions. Any/all opinions are welcome! Thanks guys!

[mainepaddler]

I would recommend the San Gervasio ruins on Cozumel. I know that was the port that you ruled out but they are small and you can do a self guided tour so you could stay as long or as short a time as you'd like. They aren't massive like the ones on the mainland but they are nice and there is one small pyramid there.

[ontheweb]

We will be going to the following in the carnival Magic:

 

Costa Maya 12-8pm

Roatan: 9am-6pm

Belize: 8am-5pm

Cozumel: 7am-3pm

 

My friend wants to see Mayan ruins somewhere, but I don't think I can make that a full day trip. Would love to do a half day (morning) doing that and then spend the rest of the day at a nice beach with a drink in hand :-). Only port I've been to before was Cozumel, so any suggestions would be awesome! I was kinda ruling out Cozumel because we are only there till 3pm. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Our experience was with RCL and not Carnival and well over 10 years ago, but I'll add my 2 cents.

 

We went to Tulum in Cozumel on an excursion that had a beach afterwards. That made it a long day, in fact we got back late with the ship being held, but it did have a beach after the ruins. I'm not normally a beach person like my DW, but after a hot day at ruins it was very welcome.

 

In Belize, our excursion was on a river to see wildlife (there was a bus first), and then Lamanai. Again it was a long day. We were more impressed with Lamanai than Tulum.

[Trumpster]

Costa Maya

 

The Chachobbean ruins are a short 40 minute or so bus ride.

 

Several well restored structures.

 

A lot of shade.

 

Easy walking and not a large site.

 

All about a 4 hour round trip.

 

Yes they are not as spectacular as some of the others but its not an all day affair, with ferry boat rides and long time bus rides.

 

And they are a good taste of Mayan history.

 

Highly recommended for kids and those more seasoned citizens who may not want long trips or difficult walks

Edited January 24, 2016 by Trumpster

[pghsteelerfan]

We did a western Caribbean cruise in April 2014 and in Belize, we booked, through Carnival, the River Wallace/Altun Ha Mayan site tour and we really enjoyed it. It's pretty much an all day tour, but we started out with the river tour, which was about 2 hours. The trip up the river is just beautiful, very scenic, and it's possible to see a lot of wildlife (manatees, native birds, fish, monkeys, crocodiles, etc.). After the river tour, there is an hour stop for lunch and from there we took about a 30 minute bus ride to the Altun Ha ruins, where we spent about an hour. Altun Ha is the only Mayan ruin site we've seen, but we were not disappointed at all. The return bus ride was about 45 minutes. I'd definitely recommend this tour and being as it was through Carnival, if for some reason the tour ran late, you wouldn't miss the ship.