May 28-June 2 Paradise Review Part Seven (Cozumel)

[CheckersMidwest]

Cozumel

 

We really liked Cozumel. It had an energetic atmosphere and was pretty. We drove through a shady part on the way to our tour, but other wise ok.

 

My daughter & I did the San Garvasio Mayan Ruin/Beach Day tour through Carnival. We had an hour to shop at port before our tour and planned to go downtown afterward. (That didn't happen) Our bus for the tour was 30 min late then it was too small when it arrived. We had about 15 people standing for a 20 min bumpy ride. They called for a bigger bus and we waited again. The bus stopped at a dirty little shop along the way with examples of how Mayan villages/people looked. The tour part was good. A young boy stood outside the ladies restroom & handed you paper towel for a tip. ?!

 

We drove onto San Garvasio. Be sure to bring bug spray or at least use theirs. You'll need it for the first stop as well though. There were a lot of mosquitoes. The San Garvasio ruins are small - as expected from reading reviews - but well maintained and interesting. I didn't want to spend a whole day going to the mainland, so this was suffecient for now. Afterward we went to a beach. It was SO disappointing. Getting off the bus, you were immediately ussered to a table in their restaurant without asking if you wanted to eat. Food was expensive and not good. Chips & salsa was $4. A mariachi band strolled around. When they finished by our table they stood for quite awhile, then leaned down and said "mam, we work for tips". RUDE. I didn't ask him to sing. The beach had a lot of trash and was so rocky with really rough capping surf that you couldn't actually get into the water. The pool was pretty. Overall, I don't recommend this excursion. Maybe the other Ruins are better, but just farther away. Since the buses were late and returned later to the port area, we didn't have time to go downtown, but that was ok because we found a lot of things in the port by the ship. The only thing I didn't find was Coach purses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My husband and son went scuba diving with Scuba Tony. It was a private operator I found through recommendations here and on TripAdvisor. Tony is a retired policeman from California. They were Excellent !! My husband is PADI certified, our 20 yr old son is not. He has, however, done the Discover Scuba course twice in the Bahamas then did 2-tank dives afterward. The divemaster was a woman and had him do the Discover Scuba stuff and off they went. By booking it this way, they had more one-on-one attention and got to dive together. Certified divers and non certified ones generally don't dive in the same groups. As it turns out, they were the only ones on the dive ! They saw tons of fish, a nurse shark, sea turtles, etc and went to about 65 feet, going to two different reefs. They were given water and orange wedges during surface intervals. Their guide was great to point out things too.

 

I booked on their website. They immediately sent me an email response with all the information I needed, including pictures of google maps of where they would be, information on how long the taxi ride would be and the cost, etc. They took a taxi to Caleta Harbor, which was kind of a shady looking place with a lot of other boats. My husband & son were pretty sure they were the only non-mexican people there. They arrived a little early. I highly recommend Scuba Tony for anyone wanting to dive. He has a website with prices and services offered.

 

My husband & son shopped downtown before they dove and were back on the ship in time for dinner afterward. My daughter & I shopped awhile longer and were aboard by 6:20. We were suppose to be on board by 7:30 and the ship sailed at 8:00.

 

The family at our table booked an all inclusive beach day that was fabulous ! The mom/daughter did a dolphin swim that was also excellent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Band playing in the Port shopping area.

[Gemynii]

Thank you :)

[CheckersMidwest]

Bump

[WorldCruzer]

Bump

 

Just a quick reminder on the CC rules:

 

Bumping

Please do not manipulate postings on the boards by "bumping" topics to the top of the forum. Members will assume something of value has been posted, only to find that the newest posting is nothing more than a "bump post". This only wastes everyone's time.

[CheckersMidwest]

Sorry. Someone posted that the only way they could find my reviews was to click my name and search threads. Thought I was helping. My mistake.