Ferry to Playa Del Carmen from Cozumel

Just looking for experiences from people who have taken the ferry from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen. We have not done this and my husband is wanting to go to Playa while we are in Cozumel in a couple of weeks. He is just wanting to go to Playa (not necessarily on a Carnival sponsored excursion). Yay or Nay? Also, what did you do in Playa while there?

Just looking for experiences from people who have taken the ferry from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen. We have not done this and my husband is wanting to go to Playa while we are in Cozumel in a couple of weeks. He is just wanting to go to Playa (not necessarily on a Carnival sponsored excursion). Yay or Nay? Also, what did you do in Playa while there?

Have done the opposite, Playa Del Carmen to Cozumel. Yay or nay is a little vague, so I'm not sure what specifically you are wanting to know. It's roughly about a 45 minute ride. It's cheap, though I don't remember the price. The ride is a little rough. My wife got mildly sea sick. Lots to do in Carmen, shopping, beach, the usual. I hope this was helpful in some way.

 

edit: Playa Del Carmen is pretty nice. It's worth the trip if you are tired of Cozumel.

We have done it twice. No issues at all and would definitely do it again. Playa Del Carmen was a fun day, and a change from Cozumel.

 

 

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Have done the opposite, Playa Del Carmen to Cozumel. Yay or nay is a little vague, so I'm not sure what specifically you are wanting to know. It's roughly about a 45 minute ride. It's cheap, though I don't remember the price. The ride is a little rough. My wife got mildly sea sick. Lots to do in Carmen, shopping, beach, the usual. I hope this was helpful in some way.

 

edit: Playa Del Carmen is pretty nice. It's worth the trip if you are tired of Cozumel.

Thanks! Not really sure what I was looking for.....kind of a little leary about doing anything that isn't sponsored by Carnival. Call me crazy, but I guess you never know about safe or not. But, I was wanting information on what to do in Playa if not on an excursion. :)

I know some go on their own or private tours, but I would only try on a ship tour. I've gone to Tulum on a ship tour.

 

I think if you try on your own, you would need to get to/from the ferry pier downtown. Ship tours seem to have a charter ferry from near the cruise pier.

 

The water can be rough at times, depending on winds, etc.

Thanks! Not really sure what I was looking for.....kind of a little leary about doing anything that isn't sponsored by Carnival. Call me crazy, but I guess you never know about safe or not. But, I was wanting information on what to do in Playa if not on an excursion. :)

Okay. I understand your question now. Yes, the ferry is safe. The risk involved would be in getting back to the ship late. If you do it, go early. The reason we did this trip backwards to what you are inquiring about is that we were staying at a resort near Tulum and wanted to spend a day at Cozumel. I've never done it while on a cruise, so I'm hesitant to say, yeah, you'll be fine. At forty-five minutes each way, plus time waiting in line, you're looking at probably 2 1/2 hours, plus whatever time you spend in Playa Del Carmen. Just be wary of the time and allow yourself plenty of time to get back to the dock at Cozumel and then time to catch a taxi back to the ship.

This ferry runs fairly often and is very safe, no worries. We have never done a Carnival tour. Private or on your own tours are lots of fun. Carnival uses this care tactic to make you use their tours, more expensive, more people, meet here, go there, buses, not thanks.

Hi,

I was going to try this twice during my last B2B in Feb off the Breeze.There are a lot of Logistics that have to be put into play when trying to do this off a Carnival Cruise.On my last sailing we Docked at Playa Maya, the Second time at the Dock next to it.....Both times were not a Cozumel Plus Cruise. First you need to get off the ship....

 

I looked at the Freedom in Nov 2018 out of Galveston, The Carnival Web site states it gets in at 10:00 am and leaves at 6:00 pm...So say you finally get off the ship, then it takes 15 -20 min to get thru the port area, then wait in lines, or walk to the street and try to hail a cab then another 15 min to the Ferry....Unless your very lucky, your going to miss the 11:00 sailing ,putting you at 12:00 ...taking 45 minutes getting in at 1:00...then you might have 3 hours....then getting to the Ferry at 4:00pm.... Hoping that that sailing isn't canceled...then arriving at 5:00 taking 15 minutes to get pack to the Port...Then taking another 15 -20 minutes...finally possibly making it on the ship around 5:40.....You've got to think is all this hassle worth a 3 hours in Playa???

 

If your Cruise is A Cozumel Plus you will have about a extra hour to play around with!!!

 

Hope this Helps, It looks easy when your trying to plan it at Home ,In Mexico its a little different no matter what people say.

 

Mike

Mpdog42

Hi,

 

I was going to try this twice during my last B2B in Feb off the Breeze.There are a lot of Logistics that have to be put into play when trying to do this off a Carnival Cruise.On my last sailing we Docked at Playa Maya, the Second time at the Dock next to it.....Both times were not a Cozumel Plus Cruise. First you need to get off the ship....

 

 

 

I looked at the Freedom in Nov 2018 out of Galveston, The Carnival Web site states it gets in at 10:00 am and leaves at 6:00 pm...So say you finally get off the ship, then it takes 15 -20 min to get thru the port area, then wait in lines, or walk to the street and try to hail a cab then another 15 min to the Ferry....Unless your very lucky, your going to miss the 11:00 sailing ,putting you at 12:00 ...taking 45 minutes getting in at 1:00...then you might have 3 hours....then getting to the Ferry at 4:00pm.... Hoping that that sailing isn't canceled...then arriving at 5:00 taking 15 minutes to get pack to the Port...Then taking another 15 -20 minutes...finally possibly making it on the ship around 5:40.....You've got to think is all this hassle worth a 3 hours in Playa???

 

 

 

If your Cruise is A Cozumel Plus you will have about a extra hour to play around with!!!

 

 

 

Hope this Helps, It looks easy when your trying to plan it at Home ,In Mexico its a little different no matter what people say.

 

 

 

Mike

 

Mpdog42

 

 

 

Other than cancelling a ferry (which would impact everybody), we found the frequent times of the fairy and the time spent in Playa perfect. It is true you have to get over being in your own. The first time, we did just as you said, about 3 1/2 hours (there was another later time that would work) and it was a fun afternoon. The 2nd time it was a late debarked and we spent about 6 hours over there. Great time.

 

 

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We rode the ferry from Playa Del Carmen to Cozumel several years ago. Since we were the last to board, we were put down in the bottom of the ferry. During the entire trip, I kept telling myself that "this was one of those ferrys that we occasionally see on TV after a disaster". It was scary, a very rough ride and heavily overloaded. Never again!

 

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Hi,

I was going to try this twice during my last B2B in Feb off the Breeze.There are a lot of Logistics that have to be put into play when trying to do this off a Carnival Cruise.On my last sailing we Docked at Playa Maya, the Second time at the Dock next to it.....Both times were not a Cozumel Plus Cruise. First you need to get off the ship....

 

I looked at the Freedom in Nov 2018 out of Galveston, The Carnival Web site states it gets in at 10:00 am and leaves at 6:00 pm...So say you finally get off the ship, then it takes 15 -20 min to get thru the port area, then wait in lines, or walk to the street and try to hail a cab then another 15 min to the Ferry....Unless your very lucky, your going to miss the 11:00 sailing ,putting you at 12:00 ...taking 45 minutes getting in at 1:00...then you might have 3 hours....then getting to the Ferry at 4:00pm.... Hoping that that sailing isn't canceled...then arriving at 5:00 taking 15 minutes to get pack to the Port...Then taking another 15 -20 minutes...finally possibly making it on the ship around 5:40.....You've got to think is all this hassle worth a 3 hours in Playa???

 

If your Cruise is A Cozumel Plus you will have about a extra hour to play around with!!!

 

Hope this Helps, It looks easy when your trying to plan it at Home ,In Mexico its a little different no matter what people say.

 

Mike

Mpdog42

 

thank you for your post. I guess safety is my main concern. Would rather go in/with a group rather than just off on our (my husband and myself).

This ferry runs fairly often and is very safe, no worries. We have never done a Carnival tour. Private or on your own tours are lots of fun. Carnival uses this care tactic to make you use their tours, more expensive, more people, meet here, go there, buses, not thanks.

 

we have never done a Carnival sponsored excursion either. My main concern is safety. I worry about "what might happen"...crazy, I know. :) I would just rather go with a group than by ourselves. I am sure there will be several people going that direction and we would not be alone. We aren't wanting to spend a whole lot of time there, but just go there for the experience. So, being late getting back to the ship is not a major concern of mine. Thanks!! I think we may just take the ferry to Playa for a couple of hours.

We did this and plan to do it again. Had a great day at one of the beach clubs and spent an hour or so going through small shops. We bought the ferry ticket from the excursion desk on NCL. Our ferry was very late coming back but because we bought it onboard...we were safe!!! I think we were almost two hours late. We were all tipsy and I remember folks telling us to "run" once we reached the ship.....That's the only time We've ever been late back to the ship!

Oh and it was a rough ride on the ferry....nervous on the way there, not so much on the way back due to tequila! lol