Xcaret Review

[sjohnson529]

We were on the 4/28 Inspiration sailing. We bought the Carnival excursion and for the 2 of us, it was $113. That included bus ride and entrance to the park. The buses run every hour with the last bus being at 6 PM. We docked in Calica a bit late so the Captain gave us some extra time in Calica. We planned on getting the 4 PM bus back as we had the 5:45 dinner seating and didn't want to miss dinner.

 

We boarded a very nice bus, with a/c thank goodness, and waited until the bus was full to take off. The park was about a 10 minute ride, there is no way you could walk to this park although I've read some that said they could. You may be able to swim to it :D as we could see the ship from the waterfront area of Xcaret.

 

The park is amazing, and huge. We headed towards the underground river to snorkel. We had our own snorkel equipement so were able to bypass that line. We got our huge storage bags that would be taken to the exit of the river. We got all ready, locked the bags, and they gave us the key, on a string, so you can wear it around you neck. As we were entering the river there was a sign saying the water was 62 degrees. My DH said goodbye to his genitals and we took off. It was cold at first by didn't take long to feel refreshing.

 

This was an incredible experience. The water is crystal clear with a lot of fish swimming around. The caves, at times, were pitch black and we held hands during those times. There is a current but not a swift one, just a nice, lazy swim. When you exit, you come out into a large pond loaded with tropical fish. They allow you to stay in the pond as long as you want. It was great.

 

We also swam in the lagoon and hung out around the dolphin enclosure. This is a beautiful park and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

 

The next visit we plan to go to Xel Ha, but I do not regret going to Xcaret at all, it was beautiful, everyone was friendly, and the park is in pristine condition.

[jpurdy]

I loved your review on Xcaret. We will be there in July. A couple of questions:

1. Is it in any way claustrophobic in the caves? My husband does not go into elevators to give you an idea of his severity. Airplanes are no problem, but no elevator. Darkness ok, if not too long!

 

2. Where do you get the bag to store your stuff with the key around your neck lanyard? Is there a separate line for this aside form the snorkel equipment line? We, too, have our own equipment.

 

Thank you! In July, I think that water will feel wonderful!

[sjohnson529]

After you pass up the line for equipement, you will see another line for the bags. You get your life jacket (mandatory) there also. The bags are HUGE, green and pink. They hold everything you could possibly be carrying. You grab a bag and go to an empty bench and get geared up, stuff the bag full of stuff and then take it back to them. They lock it and then give you the key. This is all included in your admission so no extra charge. When you get to the end of the river, you go to a hut type thingy and there are piles of bags there. You hand your key to one of the very nice people and they will find your bag, open it and hand it to you. We carried the bag over near the showers go get all situated, and then just returned the bag. It's all very easy. There are showers there to rinse off your gear (and yourself) too. It's an incredibly beautiful area.

 

As far as being claustraphopic (sp?), it could happen. You aren't in the caves very long, and you can see the daylight ahead. What I did was flip over on my back and just float until I was in daylight again. There was one area that was very dark, that's where we held hands, but it doesn't last long and again, you can look ahead and see daylight. you go through about 3 caves.

 

If at all possible, don't miss this trip. It is incredible. There isn't a lot of fish life until you get to the end, but you will see fish along the way.

 

Feel free to ask any questions you might have. I was flying blind since I couldn't find very much info on the park, but I don't regret going for a minute!

[jpurdy]

Thanks about the info on darkness/caves, etc. I think we'll be fine! As long as you can see the light down the way we will be ok. Now, are you on a tube doing this? So, you just float on the tube OR are you just using your life jacket during this? Sorry for being so confused! This is the main reason we chose this itinerary on the cruise to try Xcaret. What else would you recommend doing while there?

Thank you so much!

[sjohnson529]

No, you're not on a tube, you just float along. The life jacket is the vest type so no worries. And again, the water is shallow so you could stand up if you feel the need. You don't really need fins, the current carries you along, however the bottom is a bit rocky so we used ours.

 

After the river, we walked along the beach and found somewhere to sit, they have lots of tables and funky chairs on the beach to relax in and a snack bar for drinks and such. We swam out to the dolphin enclosure and watched the dolphins swimming around, which was really nice. We visited some of the animal enclosures and did ALOT of walking. It's a very beautiful park and I'm sure you will enjoy it. The beach area is beautiful. There are several areas to snorkel once you are out of the river. If you walk past the beach you will come to another snorkel lagoon that is full of tropicals. I'm sure you will love it!

[jpurdy]

Thank you again for your glimpse into Xcaret. We are very excited about this. Is the snorkeling at the beach in calm waters? Did you feel that all wildlife was well cared for? I won't go unless they are.

Thanks again

[sjohnson529]

The lagoon is very calm, no worries there. It's an inlet so it's protected. The animals we saw were very well cared for. Of course it's Mexico, Not USA, so there are a few differences. But they have great habitats, lots of water and shade, and huge areas to roam.

 

When you come out of the underground river, walk towards the beach, go around the beach and keep going and you'll find the snorkeling inlet. There are also tidal pools along the beach which would be awesome to snorkel in, HUGE tidal pools. We just didn't have time (or the energy) to see it all. It would definately take more than one day.

[jpurdy]

Thank you again for your suggestions and for confirming the habitats are done thoughtfully. One last question, I promise! Some confusion here on buying the excursion...is it true you can only do it once on the ship and not online ahead of time OR can you do either. I thought I read that Carnival does not have the excursion online, but that you can do it as a shore excursion once on the ship. Thanks.

[sjohnson529]

That is true, you cannot buy it ahead of time. However, since it's "at your leisure" you don't have to worry about it filling up. The busses run until about 1 PM for getting to the park and then the last one for coming back is around 6 PM. We purchased it as soon as the excursion desk opened, which was about 12:30. We took the first bus to the park so we were there early, and we came back at 4 PM because we wanted to go to dinner, and our seating was at 5:45.

 

I want to hear what you think when you return! I'll be watching the board. :D

[jpurdy]

Thanks so much. We are very excited to try Xcaret. We did our own excursions last year on the Legend while in St. Thomas and Tortola. It was ok, but those taxi rides up and down the mountains nearly did us in!!!

This time, we are happy it's practically next door!!!

[GotDrums]

We just cruised on the Fascination May 7/2007 and went to Xcaret. Overall the parks is great. My wife is legally blind but had no problem hanging on to me when going through some of the longer caves. It was really a great swim and they give you at least 2 places to get out if you dont want to swim the whole half mile. The beach is pristine and there was lots of it. Nothing like kicking your feet up in a hammock between two palm trees as you hear the Caribbean sea break on the beach. AHHH. Ive never seen turtles so huge as well. They had like new bornes middle size turtles and turtles with a shell span about the size of my Nissan. The birds here are beautiful as well. Tons of iguanas running loose all over the place as well. Saw one iguana eyeballing a parrot (are they meat eaters?). the parrot was having none of that and fluffed up and the iguana made hast out of there. The iguanas and parrots Im sure are used to people but I wouldnt get to close or atept to pet them since they are wild. The disappointment was in the botanical gardens. It was more like botanical shrubbery. Not very well kept at all but this park is a work in progress so I cut them a certain amount of slack. The orchids as well were not very well kept for but the perhaps ten that were alive in the greenhouse were stunning and wonderfully fragrant. Lockers are only 2 bucks with a 5 dollar deposit. I also got my deposit back in American money not pesos without even asking. The tour is well organzed through Carnival and it cost us 59.00n each and that included transportation. The bus returns to the ship once every hour. But we went back on the 1/2 hour with only one other guy in the bus and there was no fuss about this. Keep in mind Xcaret and Calica are 1 hour behind on Central time and the ship departs on Eastern time. So bring a watch with you or keep that in mind. And even if you dont have the money go watch the dophin encounter its really a hoot to watch how different people react to being pushed by a dophin. Very funny stuff.:D

All in all a very worth while shore excursion. Try the Paradise river cruise at Xcaret as well it was pretty neat and included in the price of admission. Snorkel gear and things like the doplhin encounter are extra.

I would do this place again.

Peace

Tim:cool:

[ATLcruzer25]

Info/Tips/Review:

We booked our Xcaret excursion ahead of time online through Carnival's website.

Locker rental is USD $2 a day plus $5 deposit, we received change in pesos (and couldn't exchange them back anywhere so I still have them and am waiting for my next trip through the airport to exchange back). There are lockers by the entrance and back by the beach area - use the beach area ones, they are a much more central location.

Expect to do a lot of walking (sandals are fine, just be prepared, there seems to be no direct route anywhere and things are spread out).

Renting snorkel equipment is $10 a person and you get to keep the mouthpiece as a souveneir.

There are 2 "underground rivers", both part of the admission fee. The natural one (on the right of the "T") is completely underground, the man-made one is only partially covered (on the left fo the "T") and we did the man-made one since I am clausterphobic. The areas where the man-made river was covered I used my flippers to kick like heck and speed through and that worked for me. Also, the man-made river has clear water with a few fish (mostly of the same species) and a bottom that is mostly rocky. Expect it to be more of a lazy river experience than anything else.

Be sure to visit the dolphin areas of the park to watch them do tricks, it is quite the site to see (and it's free to watch, yay).

The hammock area right on the ocean was beautiful and my favorite area of the park!

The snorkeling inlet is shallow and crowded and not filled with a lot of large variety of fish, and not any of them were very colorful either.

The park has many employees all around the park trying to take your picture (they display them at the front for you to purchase).

The aquarium was decent. I really liked all of the turtles at the end of it.

Overall, my DB and I (in our early 20's) thought that Xcaret was just decent (for $59 a person we expected a lot more). In hindsight we wish we had just gone to Playa Del Carmen instead, but we still made the most of our experience at Xcaret.

[lovetocruise99]

Xcaret was so much fun, especially the underground river through the caves. I only wish we could've had more time and seen the night show which I've heard is spectacular. We enjoyed the aviary since we have parrots of our own. There must have been 75 or more wild birds wandering around the aviary. One of the Macaws kept stealing my hat. When I took that away from him, he tried to chew my wrist band off.

 

Here are my favorite pictures of Xcaret

 

http://familytravelfun.com/xcaret-park-picture.html

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review.

[mainer208]

We were on the Fascination and had early dinner 6:15...we would not rush back next time. It was formal night and the dining room was empty....everyone came back late and ate in the informal area after 7 or so.

 

Enjoy!