Which Mayan excursion?

[Plankton1]

I'll be on the Ryndam in December and my entire family wants to go on at least one outing to see the Mayan ruins. However, there are so many different choices of excursions that it's hard to know which one to pick. A couple are definitely out because I have a disabled daughter who could not do all the heavy-duty walking, but otherwise the rest of the trips in the Holland-America brochure sound about the same and it's hard to know which ones are best. So, I'd love to hear about your experiences taking these trips OR just going on excursions on your own--bypassing the Holland-America middleman. Thanks.:confused:

[chrismch]

It might help if you mentioned for which port you want the info. Mayan ruins can be seen in several locations. Also check the ports section.

[CowPrincess]

If your daughter has a disability, you MAY be better off sticking with the HAL-sponsored excursions, for accessibility. Certainly something you need to consider and ensure that non-HAL tours can accommodate her.

 

Another thing to consider is how long you want to be on a bus or whatever method of transport they use. We did a bus tour in Mexico last year, and I swear I can still at times feel how sore my butt was at the end of that day :D That has SERIOUSLY affected the shore excursions we now consider -- anything over an hour or so each way in a bus? No thanks!

 

We've narrowed our search down to either Altun Ha or Chacchoben (sp??) simply because we don't want to spend too much time on the road to the ruins.

[JimVrhovac]

What ports are you going into?????

 

Ruth & Jim

[RMLincoln]

We enjoyed the ride to Altun Ha...got to see some of the country and had our tour guide give us very good comentary.

[billroddy]

If you stop at Chiapas, Mexico you can take the excursion to the Mayan site at Izapa.

The bus picks you up at the dock and when you get to the ruins there is little walkng.

This PhotoShow has music.

 

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/be4ft3xK

 

Bill

Ancient Mariner

[Plankton1]

Costa Maya, Belize City and Santo Tomas, Guatemala are the ports.

[babyclaw]

We will be going to this itinerary too! We are currently looking into 3 diff Mayan ruins excursions at each port call - Belize (Mayan Ruins of Xunantunich & Marimba Lunch), Santo Tomas (Quirigua Archaeological Ruins), Costa Maya (Kohunlich Mayan Ruins With LunchKohunlich Mayan Ruins With Lunch or Chacchoben Mayan Ruins). We are planning for an ultimate Mayan ruins cruise but don't know if it's worth of going for all 3 excursions or not. It will be great if anyone can share their experience cuz 3 days going to ruins could be pretty "geek-out"!

Can't wait till then =D

[Loreto]

We will be going to this itinerary too! We are currently looking into 3 diff Mayan ruins excursions at each port call - Belize (Mayan Ruins of Xunantunich & Marimba Lunch), Santo Tomas (Quirigua Archaeological Ruins), Costa Maya (Kohunlich Mayan Ruins With LunchKohunlich Mayan Ruins With Lunch or Chacchoben Mayan Ruins). We are planning for an ultimate Mayan ruins cruise but don't know if it's worth of going for all 3 excursions or not. It will be great if anyone can share their experience cuz 3 days going to ruins could be pretty "geek-out"!

Can't wait till then =D

 

We toured Quirigua with HAL and found it fascinating. Also did Kohunlich with lunch. With HAL you have a licensed archeological guide...ours were great. In both cases it is a long bus ride which might be taxing for someone with disabilities. Both involved lots of walking on uneven surfaces. We took Quirigua in the afternoon and harbor/nature cruise in the morning...amazing. The dockside market at Santo Tomas was extensive. We were very happy with both of our "ruins" choices!

 

Karen

[jtl513]

Another thing to consider is how long you want to be on a bus or whatever method of transport they use. We did a bus tour in Mexico last year, and I swear I can still at times feel how sore my butt was at the end of that day :D That has SERIOUSLY affected the shore excursions we now consider -- anything over an hour or so each way in a bus? No thanks!

 

We've narrowed our search down to either Altun Ha or Chacchoben (sp??) simply because we don't want to spend too much time on the road to the ruins.

Altun Ha is about a 1 hr ride each way, but we found it a bone-jarring ordeal because of the terrible condition of the road. This was just after an extended rainy period, and maybe that had washed holes into a lot of the gravel/dirt road. Also, it was 3 years ago, and maybe they have improved the road somehow by now.

 

We will be going to ... Santo Tomas (Quirigua Archaeological Ruins), ... It will be great if anyone can share their experience cuz 3 days going to ruins could be pretty "geek-out"!

Can't wait till then =D

The paved roads to/from Quirigua were immensely better than those to/from Altun Ha, but it required about 90 minutes each way on the bus for about 75 minutes at the site. It was much different than Altun Ha, because it consisted primarily of numerous carved stelae and zoomorphs, and just one relatively small set of stone steps at one end of a long park-like area. (I can't think of the word for that right now, but it was like one side of a pyramid, and not very high.)

 

I think if someone chose this as their only Mayan site they would be disappointed, as it really is not "ruins" as most people expect to see. If you want to see pictures, go to webshots.com and search on Quirigua.

[texancruzer]

We did Chacchoben while in port at Costa Maya. I really enjoyed this site. Smaller than some but still plenty to see and still being worked on. We did a private tour with David and Ivan and it was super.

[catl331]

(I can't think of the word for that right now, but it was like one side of a pyramid, and not very high.)

acropolis, because there's ruins of a few small buildings up there. It's about 18 steps high.

[CowPrincess]

we found it a bone-jarring ordeal because of the terrible condition of the road.

 

Thanks for that info, jtl513

[babyclaw]

We did Chacchoben while in port at Costa Maya. I really enjoyed this site. Smaller than some but still plenty to see and still being worked on. We did a private tour with David and Ivan and it was super.

 

Thank you so much for all the feedbacks! It seems like each Mayan ruins excursions at each port has its own uniqueness - and it's such a tough call between going to Chacchoben and Kohunich.

Read so much about Xunantunich that it seems like it's a good one that I wouldn't want to miss out. ... just don't know if we go for 3 days of mayan ruins excursions would be too "demanding" physically!?

Thoughts?!

[velvetred]

I have not been to Kohunlich but I have been to the other two sites you are considering. IMOH you cannot go wrong with either. We did the David and Ivan tour in Costa Maya - most enjoyable and we still had time to shop and hang out in the port area. Our guide was Carolina and she did a wonderful job explaining the Mayan culture. Xunantunich has a wondeful view from the top of the largest pyramid at the site plus the Marimba lunch was very good. The bus ride to Xunantunich travels over several different types of topography on the way to the site. If I were choosing between Chacchoben and Xunantunich again I would pick Xunantunich. However, the excursion to Xunantunich is basically an all day affair. There is considerable walking at both sites. As best I can recall, I believe the grounds are more uneven at Chaccoben.

[babyclaw]

I have not been to Kohunlich but I have been to the other two sites you are considering. IMOH you cannot go wrong with either. We did the David and Ivan tour in Costa Maya - most enjoyable and we still had time to shop and hang out in the port area. Our guide was Carolina and she did a wonderful job explaining the Mayan culture. Xunantunich has a wondeful view from the top of the largest pyramid at the site plus the Marimba lunch was very good. The bus ride to Xunantunich travels over several different types of topography on the way to the site. If I were choosing between Chacchoben and Xunantunich again I would pick Xunantunich. However, the excursion to Xunantunich is basically an all day affair. There is considerable walking at both sites. As best I can recall, I believe the grounds are more uneven at Chaccoben.

 

 

Thank you so much - well, it seems like we are for sure going for the Xunantunich & Marimba Lunch excursion at Belize and Quirigua at Santo Tomas ... cuz it seems like those 2 sites are hard to miss ^.*

Still can't decide if we're going for another Mayan ruin excursion at Costa Maya ... maybe Chacchoben instead ... a bit shorter and could give us time to do something else at the port =p

Thanks so much for all of your help - keep me posted on the Mayan ruins options - cuz we are ruins / history geek ... oughta do some cardio before this trip to keep up with all the walking =)

[texancruzer]

You know I had to come back and add a bit to my previous post.

 

We really enjoyed the Chacchoben tour with David and Ivan. Both of them were on our bus and then we split into two groups. If I remember correctly we had Ivan (his grandmother was village shaman or medicine woman)..... so all along the walk he explained flora and fauna and how these were used as medicines etc...... he would pick something and tell what it was used for (ie: cure headache etc). I was the only one who tasted them with him...... one he said made your tongue tingle and it did ! He of course also explained history, building techniques, archeological processes to find, research and preserve these sites, how they lived and well, you get the idea. Lots of interesting info. Walk was not hard nor terribly long. Or maybe it just went by quickly because it was interesting and entertaining.

 

Anyway - wanted to elaborate. ;)

[m steve]

see if there's a guy making a new calendar that starts on Dec. 13th, 2012.:rolleyes:

[Robin7]

We loved Altun Ha! We just went there (on a Carnival cruise) in September. We did not find the roads at all bad, although we were on a large bus so it might be different in a smaller vehicle. If you go there, do take bug spray. It was VERY mosquito-y. But it was fascinating! We even got to climb to the top of one of the temples.

 

Robin

 

 

 

[Big Al B.]

We did a tour from Beliz City which I can't remember the exact name right now. I do remember that we took a boat to get to them. The ruins may not be as spectacular as some, but the walking was fairly easy. We had a nice lunch there as part of the tour. It was a ship's tour.