Xcarett with Carnival

[kmacht]

I know this is an excursion question but figured I would get a better answer here rather than over on the Cozumel forum. My wife and I are on the Destiny in August and have a stop in Cozumel from 1pm to 10pm. I see that Xcarett is offered as an excursion but don't know what time you would typically arrive there and what time you would have to leave. For those of you who have done this excursion through Carnival with an afternoon stop in Cozume, what time did your excursion arrive at Xcarett, and how long did you have there before having to go back to the ship?

 

Thanks,

 

Keith

[rdreid]

We did a land trip 2 years ago and went to Xcarett, it is worth the trip, I do not know about the times with carnival, but y0u need as much time as you can get, we were there all day, and didnt see it all. Have fun

[ANGEL MOM]

I know this is an excursion question but figured I would get a better answer here rather than over on the Cozumel forum. My wife and I are on the Destiny in August and have a stop in Cozumel from 1pm to 10pm. I see that Xcarett is offered as an excursion but don't know what time you would typically arrive there and what time you would have to leave. For those of you who have done this excursion through Carnival with an afternoon stop in Cozume, what time did your excursion arrive at Xcarett, and how long did you have there before having to go back to the ship?

 

Thanks,

 

Keith

We went on this excursion with Carnival last March- and loved it. We swam in the underground river, and then saw the butterfly area, and had lunch. Really didn't enough time to see the whole park, and would go back again.

[Grits53]

From their web site: Xcaret, an unmissable spot if you are visiting the Mexican Caribbean, is located only 35 miles south from Cancun Mexico International Airport and 4 miles south from Playa del Carmen. It opens 365 days a year, from 8:30am to 21:00 in winter, and from 8:30 to 22:00 in summer.

Based on this, I am going to say that you could stay at Xcaret until around 8:30. You and the people who go to Tulum will be off the ship first and you'll go directly to the ferry that takes you to Playa del Carmen. It is a short bus ride from Playa del Carmen to Xcaret. I'm going to guess you will arrive at Xcaret between 2:00 and 2:30.

 

Whatever you do, be sure to do the Underground River! Don't waste time doing a tour with your tour guide. Get the maps and set off on your own to see and do what you want to do. We wasted a lot of time looking at things that did not interest us, because we went through part of the park with the tour guide from the bus. We loved Xcaret and would like to go on a land based vacation and spend the whole day there. But for 6 hours, I think it is still very much worth your time and money.

[rdreid]

and if you are not brave, dont pay to eat lunch inside the park, we did eat, but we didnt recognize anything :D but I liike to try new things, but like I said if you dont , take something and dont waste the time there. I think you could buy a ticket with or without the lunch, the park is great, we could have used two days there hubby and son did the Snuba excursion, they loved it, we3 did cave snorkel that was fun, saw th4e butterflys and the graves, stayed late for the dinner show, that was interesting. it is a large park, have fun

[Fergus]

Grits, can you expand a little on the underground river? What all is there to see in there? How deep is the water? Is it dark or is there artificial light? Just would like to know a little more before we take the kids there!!

 

Would also like to know what are the other "don't miss" parts of the park!

 

Thanks in advance!

[DALSAL]

I went thru Carnival, it was great. I love Xcaret! And, we did go before the hurricane that caused damage there, and we ate at their restaurant, and the food was buffet style, and very very good! We really enjoyed it. I did not do the river part, but from what I recall, you can get out at several places, and I think kids would enjoy it.

 

Xcaret is an all day excursion. But, spend as much time there as you like. It has a very nice beach area for relaxing.

 

I love both X and Chankanaab. Both all day fun places!

[tnincy]

never done the excursion with carnival. we were in cancun a few years back and did the trip to xcaret. would highly recommend. not sure if you will stay late enough to catch the performace they do in the evening, but it is awesome.

[kmacht]

I e-mailed Carnival this same question this morning and just heard back from them. They said that the average time spent at the park itself is 3 to 3.5 hours and you are returned to the ship at 8:30. No way is it worth it in that case. We had the same problem when we did the excursion though NCL. It took forever to get to x-caret and then with only 3 hours it was barely enough time to do the river and do a little snorkeling. I guess I'll have to find something else to do. I was really hoping that with 9 hours in port that we would have at least 5 or 6 hours over there.

 

Keith

[Grits53]

I e-mailed Carnival this same question this morning and just heard back from them. They said that the average time spent at the park itself is 3 to 3.5 hours and you are returned to the ship at 8:30. No way is it worth it in that case. We had the same problem when we did the excursion though NCL. It took forever to get to x-caret and then with only 3 hours it was barely enough time to do the river and do a little snorkeling. I guess I'll have to find something else to do. I was really hoping that with 9 hours in port that we would have at least 5 or 6 hours over there.

 

Keith

 

Well, darn! I'm sorry my calculations were wrong. I think the best way to do Xcaret is through a land vacation. What you get out of it on a cruise excursion is just enough to make you want more!

[Ithocles]

We did this excursion while on our Liberty cruise in January. We got on the ferry immediately after we got off the ship. It was about an hour from getting on the ferry until we were at Xcaret.

 

We were only there about three to four hours, but it was worth the money to see. We did do the tour and I would follow the recommendation to go on your own. The river is great. We also were able to see the manatees being fed. There is a ton of stuff to look at and you will not have near enough time to do it all.

 

We had plenty of time to get back to Cozumel and do some shopping before getting back on the ship. We even skipped dinner on the ship and had a nice meal while on the island.

 

It was a great experience.

[tnincy]

I think the best way to do Xcaret is through a land vacation. What you get out of it on a cruise excursion is just enough to make you want more!

 

couldn't agree with you more. takes a long time to see the whole park. the night show was spectacular. i don't know if they are still doing it.

[jamstew]

The first ferry after your arrival is 2:00, and it takes about an hour from the Cozumel ferry dock to Xcaret, so you'd get there around 3:00. Assuming you need to be back on the ship by 9:00, you'd have to catch the 8:00 ferry (there isn't another one until 10), which would put you leaving the park around 7:30ish, or a maximum of 4-1/2 hours for the park. To me, that's not nearly enough time. It's much, much better for a land based vacation.