Is Chichen Itza worth it without much time?

[chadcf]

I was excited to see this as an offering on our royal caribbean cruise next august, but looking at it I see they claim it's an 8 hour trip. The schedule shows an 8am departure and 4am return time (the boat doesn't leave until 6pm). From what I have read, the trip is about 5 hours by bus plus 1.5 hours by ferry, which puts us at 6.5 hours of travel out of an 8 hour trip. Add in some misc delays and transfers and it's likely less than an hour at the site. For anyone who has been there, is that worth it? It seems like a place I'd want to spend more time at so I'm contemplating doing one of the ruins trips at Costa Maya instead and perhaps saving Chichen Itza for a future non cruise trip...

[crewsweeper]

Chichen Itza is so vast and 1.5 -2 hours won't do it justice and certainly not worth the travel time.

 

The smaller ruins in Costa Maya canb e done with much much shorter travel time.  Contact Native Choice ( https://thenativechoice.com/ ) and get on one of their tours.  Smaller.  More in depth. No stopping to patronize the driver's buddy at a road side stand.  Great meal if you do the Maya Immersion tour.

[ABQrobin]

I agree with crews....  Chichen Itza is a massive site, and you will have less than an hour there, which means you will walk in door and see the 2-3 major structures, then head back to bathrooms and leave.  No way I would do it.  Plus there will be hundreds of other tourists on tour buses.... so thousands of people there around noon coming from all cities around. 

IMHO the only way to see Chichen Itza is by an overnight stay in area, to give you at least 4-5 hours there.  It is really that big, and worth it.  We spent the night in area, got up and arrived as doors opened, got a private tour guide for 3 hours...and off we went.  We were done with our big tour about the time all the buses arrived.   

 

Do the ruins in Costa Maya....  not as big or significant, but still a great day with a lot to learn, less travel time and less crowded.

[bptex]

If you plan on cruising again in the future I'd do Chichen Itza from Progreso. It is definitely worth a visit but not from Cozumel.