Looking for ruins on Western Cruise

[Dennislee2]

Hello everyone,

 

I have to always say how much I love these boards! Everyone is great and the information gained is priceless!

 

I am looking at a Western Cruise for the first time and want to make sure I see some ruins. I have heard in general, these are awesome to see and climb on. Any suggestions of the best ports to visit? Any suggestions of the best sites to see?

 

I saw one excursion with a 45 minute boat ride, then a 3 hour bus ride to get to the ruins. I'm hoping not to spend almost 8 hours of travel for 4 hours or less of fun.

 

Please help!!!!!

 

We are considering Carnvial Miracle or Carnival Victory, but are open to anything right now.

 

Thanks, a million!

[mared1]

The ruins in Tulum are on a picturesque site - on a hill over looking the ocean - however,you would have to take a ferry from Cozumel to Playa de Carmen and then the bus ride to the ruins. Also I don't think you are allowed to climb on these - can't remember for sure. The whole tour takes about 7 hours but we felt is weas worth the time.

[Andee]

We also really enjoyed our trip to Tulum.

[ute_fan]

We went on the NCL Sea, and are doing a return trip in May. We went to Tulum -- the ruins are interesting, and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. We were there in January, 2004, and you weren't allowed to climb on any ruins. You can, if so inclined, go dressed in your swimming suit under your clothes and go swimming at the beach below the ruins. We went to Tulum from Cozumel. It included a ferry trip across to Playa del Carmen (probably about 20 minutes) and approximately an hour bus ride to the ruins.

 

In Belize, we went to Altun Ha. Totally different atmosphere, so we didn't feel that we were duplicating the Tulum excursion. I think Altun Ha has more buildings, and it is a more traditional setting. There was one temple that you were allowed to climb at Altun Ham, but they had added on stairs at the side of the temple -- you don't climb the front stairs. Belize is a tender-only port, so it was about a 15 minutes tender ride to the port, and then about a 45 minute bus ride to the ruins site.

 

In May, we're going on the NCL Sea again. This time, we've scheduled a tour to Lamanai -- this is the one that includes a bus ride from Belize City to the river, a river trip to the ruins, and about a 15 minute walk to the ruins. Since I haven't been yet, I obviously can't compare it to the other sites. While it is going to make for a long day, our kids (ages 21 and 19) think the boat ride up the river, where you hopefully get to see wildlife, sounds really neat. Most posts I've seen about this tour think it's wonderful.

 

Good luck choosing -- I know there are more choices than these 3, so keep doing your research to find just the right ruins site for you.

[Lois R]

Hi:) Some of the most famous ruins in the world are in Chichi Nitza. I am not sure if any of the cruiselines go there or not. I was there back in the mid 90s on a land vacation.

It was absolulety fantastic. You might want to do a search on them and then possibly see if they have cruiseline tours. I am sure there are independent operators who go there too.

I do know most of the cruiselines do go to Tulum though.

[spocruiser]

If you are going to Costa Maya, you may want to go to the Chacchoben Mayan ruins. We were scheduled to go there through a privately booked excursion with David and Ivan, two locals who grew up near the ruins. I have attached a link to their website. However, bad weather changed our itinerary, so we did not get there.

 

 

Very disapointed given the threads we had read about these tour guides (look for many threads under the Costa Maya board) and our interaction with them in booking the tour was great, very personal and helpful. So much so, that we plan to book another cruise in order to get to Costa Maya in the future.

 

Good luck. As an aside, I went to the ruins outside of Mexico City as a high school student in the 1970's. They were fantastic. Not quite sure how one would cruise there.:)

 

http://www.chacchobenruins.com/

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have some several ruins.

Belize - the Altun Ha ruins.

Mexicao - Chichen Itza, Tulum, San Gravisio (?).

On the westerdam side of Mexico - Copan and Tikal.

All were great - everyone is little different and as a result we always love to go to a ruin.

Most of the ruins are all day trips are they are not close to the ports.

[sportsterjohn]

Lamanai in Belize. This may be the one that you were thinking involves a long bus and boat ride. This is true, however the boat ride is a total blast and adds to the fun. Lamanai is out in the middle of the jungle, it's definetly not in a touristy area, it's in a natural setting. However, since it's a long excursion you can only do it if your ship is in port for at least 8 or 9 hrs.

[GCurry]

Many of the lines will drop you off at Playa Carmine before going on to Cozumel, so the trip to Tulum is a good choice, they may include snorkling at Xel-Ha as part of that tour, it's a saltwater lagoon. You return by ferry to Cozumel, hint, stay topside, I've seen a lot of seasick people on that boat, it's about twelve miles, and slow. Chichen Itza is fantastic, but it's a long trip. There are some ruins on Cozumel, but nothing impressive.

[Dennislee2]

Thanks to everyone and their advice and opinions....

 

Based on the 4 days in port and what we want to do, I'm leaning towards the Xunantunich ruins in Belize. It appears about a 45 minute bus ride to the site and very little walking to the site. If I'm correct, I read that these ruins can be climbed upon and the view is "breathtaking". If I read the posts correctly. *S*

 

Apparently you see the ruins, the jungle to get to the ruins and the view of the ocean and blue water once you climb up.

 

If anyone has been to Xunantunich and would like to share more information, please do so. I read that we can do a private tour and then stop on the way back and do a little shopping to kill any time before returning to the ship.

 

Thanks,

[MrsBoo]

We went on Carnival to Progreso, Yucatan, December before last. Very interesting tour, got to climb Chichen Itza. I think the bus ride was a couple of hours or so. Good roads all the way there. Check with cruise line to see if they still allow climbing - seems like there was talk of prohibiting it in the future.