BEACH GETAWAY AT BEACH ESCAPE

[RedwingHockeyFan]

I booked this excursion on an NCL cruise last month.  I usually enjoy the beach getaway type excursions, but this one was awful.  Besides the current seaweed problem, the beach was fine other than it being rocky for the first 15 feet or so and on the small side.  The problem I had is with the vendors, these guys are relentless.  If I left my beach chair to go anywhere, I was hounded by every one of them.  I try to be nice and take a look around to see if there is anything I might want to buy but it became evident almost instantly that they are trying to rip you off.  Anything I showed interest in was easily inflated by double to start and maybe more.  I tasted some Tequilla that I thought was really good and the first price was $380!  Eventually after several "No thanks'" it was down to $200 but I still wasn't paying that much for it.  Then they started showing me this jewelry that had a special gem that was only available in Costa Maya that changed colors in the rain/sun/dark but wasn't a mood ring.  My wife liked a ring that had this jewel and few diamonds that was set in gold.  They took the time to test everything to show us it was all real.  The price started at $800! and eventually my wife bought it for $350.  It wasn't her size, so they told her they were taking it to the jewelry store at the port to have it sized and got it back to her about 30 min later.  When we got home, she checked her credit card statement, and they charged her $800 anyway.  The receipt they gave her was in pesos, so she didn't catch it at the time.  She immediately challenged the charge with her credit card company.  I wasn't sure there would be anything that could be done about that since she accepted the charge at the time regardless of what they told her.  But now it gets worse.  She went to have the ring appraised and they told her it was fake, everything, the diamonds, the gold and even the main jewel.  So, either they were just putting on a show when they tested it, or they swapped it for costume jewelry when it was supposedly getting sized.  Good news for us is that the vendor was unresponsive to the inquiry and the credit card company removed the charge.  The excursion was fine overall with the free drinks with bad liquor, but I would be careful of the vendors if you wanted some souvenirs.  Live and learn. 

[crewsweeper]

Rule of thumb #1: Never buy jewelry in the Caribbean unless you know the store is reputable.

Rule of thumb #2: Just wave off any  vendors along the beach in Costa Maya. The minute you stop and pay any attention,they don't leave you alone.

Rule of thumb #3: The beaches selected for any ship excursion are never the best places to go, especially in Costa Maya.

[c-leg5]

4 hours ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

I booked this excursion on an NCL cruise last month.  I usually enjoy the beach getaway type excursions, but this one was awful.  Besides the current seaweed problem, the beach was fine other than it being rocky for the first 15 feet or so and on the small side.  The problem I had is with the vendors, these guys are relentless.  If I left my beach chair to go anywhere, I was hounded by every one of them.  I try to be nice and take a look around to see if there is anything I might want to buy but it became evident almost instantly that they are trying to rip you off.  Anything I showed interest in was easily inflated by double to start and maybe more.  I tasted some Tequilla that I thought was really good and the first price was $380!  Eventually after several "No thanks'" it was down to $200 but I still wasn't paying that much for it.  Then they started showing me this jewelry that had a special gem that was only available in Costa Maya that changed colors in the rain/sun/dark but wasn't a mood ring.  My wife liked a ring that had this jewel and few diamonds that was set in gold.  They took the time to test everything to show us it was all real.  The price started at $800! and eventually my wife bought it for $350.  It wasn't her size, so they told her they were taking it to the jewelry store at the port to have it sized and got it back to her about 30 min later.  When we got home, she checked her credit card statement, and they charged her $800 anyway.  The receipt they gave her was in pesos, so she didn't catch it at the time.  She immediately challenged the charge with her credit card company.  I wasn't sure there would be anything that could be done about that since she accepted the charge at the time regardless of what they told her.  But now it gets worse.  She went to have the ring appraised and they told her it was fake, everything, the diamonds, the gold and even the main jewel.  So, either they were just putting on a show when they tested it, or they swapped it for costume jewelry when it was supposedly getting sized.  Good news for us is that the vendor was unresponsive to the inquiry and the credit card company removed the charge.  The excursion was fine overall with the free drinks with bad liquor, but I would be careful of the vendors if you wanted some souvenirs.  Live and learn. 

Totally agree with @crewsweeper.

 

I am sorry you had a bad experience but your description is very confusing. 

 

I am not sure which beach club you went to?  The whole of the malecon is lined with beach bars so if you were in town it would be helpful to be more specific if you are intending this to be a warning.

 

I thought the baffles were helping with the sargassum- was this not the case at your location? Or were you taken to a location out of town? Mahahual is one long beach so I am not understanding how it was small and rocky - do you mean your club was a small section? Was it at the north of the bay near the lighthouse? 
 

Costa Maya is renowned for vendors unless you go to a private club out of town. I am sorry for your experience but seriously, who buys diamonds from a beach vendor anywhere?
 

I am glad you at least had a successful outcome and certainly hope you can consider it a learning experience.

 

 

 

[RedwingHockeyFan]

17 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Totally agree with @crewsweeper.

 

I am sorry you had a bad experience but your description is very confusing. 

 

I am not sure which beach club you went to?  The whole of the malecon is lined with beach bars so if you were in town it would be helpful to be more specific if you are intending this to be a warning.

 

I thought the baffles were helping with the sargassum- was this not the case at your location? Or were you taken to a location out of town? Mahahual is one long beach so I am not understanding how it was small and rocky - do you mean your club was a small section? Was it at the north of the bay near the lighthouse? 
 

Costa Maya is renowned for vendors unless you go to a private club out of town. I am sorry for your experience but seriously, who buys diamonds from a beach vendor anywhere?
 

I am glad you at least had a successful outcome and certainly hope you can consider it a learning experience.

 

 

 

The excursion through NCL was called Beach Getaway at Beach Escape and the club was the Beach Escape Mahahual.  Like I said, live and learn.  I wasn't necessarily posting to complain as much as I was to warn others.  I tried to look up this special Mayan jewel that changes colors and it really doesn't exist anyway.

[c-leg5]

45 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

I wasn't necessarily posting to complain as much as I was to warn others

I realize you were trying to warn others and I never implied you were complaining. 
 

I just felt it would be more useful as a warning if people were aware of the location. Other cruise lines probably use the same location under a different description. 
 

I assume from the photos in your excursion description you were at the old Snr Frogs location at the north end of the bay, near the lighthouse and with a small swimming pool. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 3/27/2024 at 2:06 PM, c-leg5 said:

I am not sure which beach club you went to?

just an FYI - Princess is offering the same excursion to the same beach, and it has as many bad reviews as good ones. Rocky shore lined with chaises so close to each other and the water that no one can even play in the sand...

 

 

[c-leg5]

2 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

just an FYI - Princess is offering the same excursion to the same beach, and it has as many bad reviews as good ones. Rocky shore lined with chaises so close to each other and the water that no one can even play in the sand...

 

 

I know you have been to Blue Key in the past. I didn’t think it was so rocky in that area of the bay?

 

The cruiseline “beach break” has had bad reviews on a regular basis. Usually it is the one in the old Snr Frogs but sometimes it is at one with shipping containers on the way out of town.

 

A long time ago they used to use Uvero (?) beach north of port but I haven’t seen that mentioned in a long time and don’t know if that still used.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

17 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

I know you have been to Blue Key in the past. I didn’t think it was so rocky in that area of the bay?

No, it wasn't. We did Blue Kay on our own a couple of times before the pandemic. We really liked it. I have been looking at cc to see if there were any newer reviews, and so far they are not promising. They probably raised prices as well. Pre-pandemic it was a reasonable $12 pp, with 2 drinks of your choice included. I guess we'll find out next month. 🙂

 

As for the Beach Escape ship excursion, I was just looking at the excursions for our upcoming Enchanted cruise to Costa Maya out of sheer curiosity. When I saw this particular excursion, I thought - for $50 pp with alcohol included, how bad could it be? Well, it had as many 1* reviews as it did 5* reviews, that's how bad. People's reviews said the beach they were taken to for this Beach Escape was horrible. It was not Blue Kay for sure. Oh, and the kid price is $45!!!! Ridiculous.

[c-leg5]

2 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

No, it wasn't. We did Blue Kay on our own a couple of times before the pandemic. We really liked it. I have been looking at cc to see if there were any newer reviews, and so far they are not promising. They probably raised prices as well. Pre-pandemic it was a reasonable $12 pp, with 2 drinks of your choice included. I guess we'll find out next month. 🙂

 

As for the Beach Escape ship excursion, I was just looking at the excursions for our upcoming Enchanted cruise to Costa Maya out of sheer curiosity. When I saw this particular excursion, I thought - for $50 pp with alcohol included, how bad could it be? Well, it had as many 1* reviews as it did 5* reviews, that's how bad. People's reviews said the beach they were taken to for this Beach Escape was horrible. It was not Blue Kay for sure. Oh, and the kid price is $45!!!! Ridiculous.

As I said above they have used Old Snr frogs in the past (especially if it mentions a pool) which is right next door to Blue Key and even bought/leased some of their land.  
 

There have been other locations which change from time to time so it would be interesting to know which location they are using recently. 
 

I think it is “only” open bar not AI so definitely not good value to me although it probably includes transport. Better options independently. 

Edited April 20 by c-leg5