Mayan Ruins? Which one to see? Costa Maya? Belize City? Roatan? Cozumel?

[cal4846]

We are shipping out the end of this month on the NCL Spirit and will be stopping at these four ports:

 

Costa Maya; Belize City; Roatan and Cozumel.

 

We can only afford one Mayan Ruins excursion. If you were only able to visit one of these, which one would you recommend? :confused:

 

Thanks!

[CruiserBruce]

These areas are covered on the Caribbean Ports boards, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

 

The "Mexican Rivera" is the Pacific side.

[MSN-Travelers]

This forum covers the Pacific coast of Mexico. You will likely get a better answer over on the Caribbean forum or one its sub-forums for those individual ports.

 

We sailed on NCL a few years ago and did a ship's excursion in Belize that was a combination nature boat ride and Mayan ruins. Was pretty interesting. (Had already done the massive Mayan Ruins at Chichen Itza so all the coastal sites are kinda wimpy.)

 

I understand that the Mayan ruins excursions for Cozumel and Roatan require transport from those islands to the mainland followed by a bus ride to the ruins.

 

Costa Maya is a great destination for a beach day. Belize is a great destination for cave tubing. Never been to Roatan and we hate Cozumel.

 

Having said that ... do the Mayan ruins from Cozumel just to get off the miserable rock!

 

Enjoy!

[Laughing Angel]

C'mon, MSN-Travelers--you didn't like Cozumel? ;)

 

My family love it! Lots to see and do, and some beautiful beaches. I hope to be heading off in March.

 

To the OP, visiting the ruins from Cozumel can be an involved trip. You take the ferry from Cozumel to the mainland (it is often a rough crossing), then you take a bus to the ruins. Just be aware that it is a long trip.

[MSN-Travelers]

C'mon, MSN-Travelers--you didn't like Cozumel? ;)

 

My family love it! Lots to see and do, and some beautiful beaches. I hope to be heading off in March.

 

To the OP, visiting the ruins from Cozumel can be an involved trip. You take the ferry from Cozumel to the mainland (it is often a rough crossing), then you take a bus to the ruins. Just be aware that it is a long trip.

 

Been there to many times and all it takes is being there when you are ship #11 of 13 in port to put you off on the place.

 

Way too many people!

[cal4846]

Thanks for the replies,,, sorry about the wrong thread ,, I'll get it over to the right one.... :o

[seahunters2000]

We are shipping out the end of this month on the NCL Spirit and will be stopping at these four ports:

 

Costa Maya; Belize City; Roatan and Cozumel.

 

We can only afford one Mayan Ruins excursion. If you were only able to visit one of these, which one would you recommend? :confused:

 

Thanks!

 

It good you a taking NCL the best Mayan Ruins in MHO is Lamanai in Belize. It is a long all day excusion but well worth the $. After you tender in you take a bus up to the New River, then boat up the river to the ruin site. Your boat guide will also be you ruin guide when you get there. You walk the rain forest & the ruins then lunch before heading back. This was the Best excusion we've ever been on!

[Bounty48]

We have done tours to both Tulum (2006) and to Altun-Ha & Rio Wallace in Belize (2008). The Tulum ruins are more extensive and there is a lovely beach and beautiful view of the Caribbean. Altun-ha is a better set of ruins than I expected and we really enjoyed the trip down the Rio Wallace. In between we had a stop at a restaurant (or it might have been a guest house, I don't remember) and we could purchase lunch. The best rice and beans with stewed chicken we've had. We saw big orange iguanas in the trees, several crocodiles, bats, monkeys and birds. They are both good excursions. It would depend on what you want.