Tulum thru Carnival or private tour???? from Calica

[mommas2tired]

:) any one have experience with booking Tulum from Calica and not use Carnival. I don't even see it available from Carnival online. This is the #1 excursion we wanted to do. Who do you contact for a private tour or should I say smaller group tour? We also wanted to do the Mexican cuisine cooking class in Cozumel and it is still available.:)

[Elizabeth27]

:) any one have experience with booking Tulum from Calica and not use Carnival. I don't even see it available from Carnival online. This is the #1 excursion we wanted to do. Who do you contact for a private tour or should I say smaller group tour? We also wanted to do the Mexican cuisine cooking class in Cozumel and it is still available.:)

 

Tulum is about a 40 minute taxi ride from Calica (maybe a bit less)....my guess is the cost could be around $30-$35 (pre tip) each way. Just grab a cab from the pier at Calica..they will be lined up waiting for you!

 

I don't think you really need to go on an organized tour..I would recommend taking a taxi there, paying the admission fee (please note they accept Mexican currency only at the Tulum ruins - get a small amount at the airport or on the ship maybe) and hiring a guide to walk you through the ruins. The ruins are not as large as those at Chichen Itza, but it does get very hot there, so I would go as early as possible. After the tour, walk down the new wooden steps to the beach below for a nice swim or a rest in the sand. Some beautiful photos to be had from both the ruins and down on the beach.

 

Also, there are several beach bars in the Tulum area...you could catch another cab from the ruins easily and go to one for lunch if your itinerary allows it. My only word of caution would be to avoid buying ANYTHING from the store at the ruins...it was one of the biggest rip-offs I have ever seen to buy candy/chips/crackers etc. Talk about a price mark up!

 

Also, if you are taking your video camcorder, they do charge an extra couple of bucks at the ruins, but it's not that much.

 

Enjoy! It is truly beautiful there. You will probably save money by going on your own, rather than a ship excursion or other organized tour. :)

[famtrav]

What would you like to do? My husband and I went to Calica 3/30. We were nervous at first. A lot of negatives about this port. We had a blast.

[mommas2tired]

I'm going with some friends and one is not able to do alot of walking. That's why I thought it might be better to go in a smaller group with a private guide. I guess I will have to do some research on google not really sure what I will do. My husband and I went to Tulum in Jan on Conquest and had a great time but it was pretty warm then. I would like for my friends to experience to same. :)

[famtrav]

You may have already seen the postings on Edventure Tours. We were going on the Elation in March. We found out we were going to Calica and had that puzzled look. We saw quite a few negatives; Calica is a rock quarry and there is nothing there. We kept looking and found a few reviews about Edventure tours. Now let me say we have done a few cruises, quite a few tours, but never a private tour. I was skeptical. My husband had to be talked into it. Now he raves about the tour any time we talk about it. You have to e-mail them to check availability. They have you mail the deposit to SD. At the time we thought that was crazy. We sent it in to them there. We thought we were going to get the proprietor and or spouse Bonnie. The proprietors Mom picked us up. She was there waiting for us. Most of the tour went as planned. I posted a review of the cruise that included that tour. I don't know how to attach anything like some people do, but if you go to search, and type in Calica excursions it will come up. It was titled 'Just off the Elastion 3/30' or something like that. She drove us to the Dos Ojos Cenotes. We were the only people there, other than some fairly rude Italian divers. Apparently people from all over the world go to those cenotes to dive. It was amazing. Very easy, other than the water was freezing, and the steps in and out were made by the Mayans. It is unlike anything you have ever seen. My pic's were just a mess, but quite a few people have posted pictures that are really good. She then drove us to Akumal beach. I'll back up a little here. Edventure offers many different things to do. The Elation was only in port about eight hours so we chose the cenotes and swimming with sea turtles. We could have done many other things. Back to Akumal. It is a very nice beach. Restaurants, rest rooms, very beautiful. We walked straight out from the parking area, traversed around a handfull of small boats, got to the tall sea grass, and lo and behold, sea turtles. We were able to swim down behind them and get close. Time was up for us. We had her drive us back to the port. We got back around 2:30. Our ship was set to sail at 5:00. We got back, no worries, had pizza and showers, and talked about how amazing it was. Some people might have maxed out their time, but we refuse to be those people running for the ship, or God forbid missing the boat. They have road construction going on there, and traffic,and it's a two lane raod for a lot of it. She told us that she could take people to see dolphins. Have you seen the price of the ship sponsored tours to swim with dolphins? I did not know that before hand. Son and daughter in law may not know where to go for that. We also said if we were in the know, it would have been ok to take a cab to Akumal, and just hang out there all day. Everything you might need, at least what you can get in Mexico, is there, and you don't have to be an expert to swim out and see turtles. If I went again and knew what I know know, I would do the cenotes, and dolphins! If I also had the time, Some ships are in port a good while, I would go to the restaurant they talk about on other reviews. If you have any questions let me know. Have fun.

[mommas2tired]

I booked a tour for the 5 of us with the Tour business previosly in a earlier post they have already contacted me back. I have heard good things about them. Thank ya'll:)

[nib]

Hi We also used Edventures tours for our excursion in Calica-Playa Del Carmen and like famtrav, We were a bit concerned at first about what type of tour company has you mail the deposit to a U.S address but we thought what the heck, Lets try it anyway. We had been checking into the tour excursions offered by the cruise line and we really wanted to do some of the fun things in Mexico but we were not about to pay the cruise line those types of moneys to do it! Ok, Here we go...First Our boat, Fascination was late getting to port, They made an announcement that the ship was going to be 1/2 hour late getting to Calica but they were going to add an extra hour onto our port of call...we thought, Ok, That sounds good! Well, It ended up that we got to the port 1 hour late! So much for the extra half hour LOL...We then went to get a cab and another couple asked if we would share a cab with them since we could split the fare...Sounded great! That was $5.00 we were gonna save and everybody likes to save money, Right? We gave the driver our instructions and the other couple gave him theirs! So good So far! Well, the driver ends up taking us all down town Playa Del Carmen, Drops us all off and tells the wife and i that the street we needed was 1 block down from where we were at...WRONG!! He had taken us in the complete oposite direction of where we needed to go!! We ended up finding a police station where 2 Mexican police who could barely speak english tried to help us as best they could, They did end up getting us pointed in the right direction anyways...In a large van filled with Mexicans!!! Can anybody guess what was on my mind at this point? Sound like a bad movie yet? Well the bus does get us close to the area that we need to get to..we ended up halfing to walk about 1/2 mile down the highway to get to where we were to meet up with Bonnie, But we did end op finding her about 2 hours late, we were amazed that she waited for us that long! Ok, Now to the happy ending: Bonnie then whisked us off to their shop where we were fitted for skin suits and diving masks, Done a little shopping at the local souvenier stands while we waited for her to get everything ready, Which wasn't long at all and off we went. We were supposed to go to Tulume to see the ruins but since 2 hours got shaved off of our port of call by Carnival and the local Mexican cab company, We had to cancel that part. :O( Oh well, All is not lost! Bonnie took us to some Awesome Cenotes for some Snorkeling in some of the most Crystal Clear water i have ever seen! VERY COLD!!! BBBBRRRR But actually after a few seconds we didnt even notice it because we were having so much fun! We got some cool pix and Bonnie was Quite happy to take some of us as well. After we got done with that She took us to a small hut off the road a little ways in the jungle where we met a family selling their souveniers. They had a small son and daughter that had spider monkeys, Mexican raccoons, and a Boa Constrictor as pets. We got some cool pix of all this as well. Finally we were off to our last stop of our excursion, A little bar on the ocean front that had swings for Bar Stools and Palm trees with stands in the top of them where you can climb up and have a seat at a table and even have a drink or lunch while your up there! How Cool!!! Bonnie was a very attentive guide and was more than happy to take us wherever we wanted within the time we had available. None of the problems we had getting to where we were to meet her was Edventures fault at all and she is a very nice lady. Now, Heres the Kicker...While we were shopping i had mentioned to her that my wife collects Teddy Bears, So Bonnie asked around at all the little shops where we were getting our wet suits but nobody had anything! I really wanted to get the wife one because i know how much she likes to collect them and this was a special trip and i thought that would mean alot to her! But oh well, Nothing could be found. We went on our excursion with Edventures on May 24'th and about 3 or 4 days ago i get a surprise email from Bonnie asking for our shipping address! I replied asking Bonnie if we had left something behind and she replied No, She was visiting some relatives in the states and when she was at the airport in Cancun she had found a cute little Bear for my wife. We havent recieved the bear yet and actually it wouldnt really matter if we never do! Just the thought that Bonnie had remembered us and to do something like that when she was not obligated to do in any way is plenty!! I told Bonnie that we are planning on going to Cancun next year "Not on a Cruise" and that we have full intentions of doing a full day with her. I just hope she is the one that gives us our tour the next time If you want a tour company that will devote their time to just you then consider Edventure tours We did not feel like we were in a heard of cattle at all like what we have been told about other tour companys and it was very entertaining talking to her about how she ended up in Mexico. Edventures are Good People. :)

[kaikaixinxin]

Can anyone give me the most recently updated email addresses to contact Edventure tours? Thanks.

[nib]

Here is Edventures tours Email address: edventure68@hotmail.com As you may have noticed Edventures tours is starting to get quite a good reputation on here...And it is Very well Deserved!! We are thinking about going to Desire Resort in Cannun next year and we have allready contacted Bonnie and told her that we plan on booking with them again while we are there. These are Great people!

[oceanseagle12]

I sent an email to that address and it bounced back as invalid. I've had no luck trying to find a website for edventures.

 

With regard to the original question- I am going to be in Calica and am planning to catch a Colectivo to Tulum and go on my own. For more info, see http://www.travelyucatan.com/collectivo.php