Rio Secreto!

[principessalia]

I really want to go to the Rio Secreto www.riosecreto.com but it's not offered on RC Liberty of the Seas. Any suggestions???

Thanks,

Leah

[thinfool]

I really want to go to the Rio Secreto www.riosecreto.com but it's not offered on RC Liberty of the Seas. Any suggestions???

Thanks,

Leah

 

You can book it yourself, but is your ship in port for the time required?

 

You have to take the ferry to the mainland and return to take this tour. On our Princess itinerary it is listed as an 8 hour tour beginning at 8:30 when you are picked up at the pier, returning at 5:30. The ship sails at 6:00.

[principessalia]

You can book it yourself, but is your ship in port for the time required?

 

You have to take the ferry to the mainland and return to take this tour. On our Princess itinerary it is listed as an 8 hour tour beginning at 8:30 when you are picked up at the pier, returning at 5:30. The ship sails at 6:00.

 

That's what I'm concerned about. Do you know if cruise lines ever add a trip if requested? :confused:

[queenL]

We are sailing on the Liberty in Dec too (Dec 12th). Which sailing are you on? We also want to go to Rio Secreto. The interesting thing is that when I first printed the RCL shore excursion brochure in July the tour was on the list. They called it the Amazing Secret River and Cavern. I went on yesterday to book and noticed it was absent from the choices. I am going to call RCL and see why they removed it. We are considering doing it on our own now. We have sailed to Playa on our own before but I am a little concerned only because there is little margin for error here. We dock at 7:30. We'd have to be on the 9:00 ferry. Doable. The tour starts at 10. They request that you be there 20 minutes early. That may be pushing it tight. I remember the ferry was about a 40 min ride. Even though they say it's not too far from the ferry. The next tour starts at 12 and that pushes it way too close to get back to the ship. If RCL has truly pulled this tour, I may call Rio and see would they wait if we got there at 10:15. If they will wait, I think we will take our chances.

[queenL]

You can book it yourself, but is your ship in port for the time required?

 

You have to take the ferry to the mainland and return to take this tour. On our Princess itinerary it is listed as an 8 hour tour beginning at 8:30 when you are picked up at the pier, returning at 5:30. The ship sails at 6:00.

 

On Rio's website it lists the tour length as 3 1/2 hrs. I'm figuring 2 hrs RT ferry time. Travel to Rio??? RCL's brochure said 7hrs leaving at 8am. I'm thinking that is a good estimate.

[principessalia]

We are sailing on the Liberty in Dec too (Dec 12th). Which sailing are you on? We also want to go to Rio Secreto. The interesting thing is that when I first printed the RCL shore excursion brochure in July the tour was on the list. They called it the Amazing Secret River and Cavern. I went on yesterday to book and noticed it was absent from the choices. I am going to call RCL and see why they removed it. We are considering doing it on our own now. We have sailed to Playa on our own before but I am a little concerned only because there is little margin for error here. We dock at 7:30. We'd have to be on the 9:00 ferry. Doable. The tour starts at 10. They request that you be there 20 minutes early. That may be pushing it tight. I remember the ferry was about a 40 min ride. Even though they say it's not too far from the ferry. The next tour starts at 12 and that pushes it way too close to get back to the ship. If RCL has truly pulled this tour, I may call Rio and see would they wait if we got there at 10:15. If they will wait, I think we will take our chances.

 

Let me know what you find out from Rio Secreto about the 10ish tour time. I also saw the posting as a shore excursion from RC & wondered why it was removed. I actually wrote them an email asking if they could add it back & they said no :(

[CDNJehn]

We saw this tour offered on our recent Carnival cruise. When I went to book it, it was no longer there. I called Carnival and while they couldn't specifically tell me what was going on, they did say torus 'come down' when they're negotiating with the provider. About a week later it was back on the excursion list. Long story short, if keep checking the cruise site for it to come back.

Edited November 21, 2013 by CDNJehn

[queenL]

I talked to RCL they said it was not offered for our sailing for sure. I asked if there was a chance it might return and she said sometimes they do make adjustments and add more excursions but it wasn't likely at this point. I called Rio Secreto too. The tours start promptly on the hour. They want guests to arrive early, so they will not wait.

 

I will keep watching to see if RCL adds it but if they don't we will go on our own anyway. We really want to do this tour. One key factor is that Cozumel will be on central time when we go next month. I forgot about that. That gives us some extra time. When we arrive 7: 30EST it will be 6:30 am there. I think we can get to the ferry and catch the 7am to Playa. She says its a 15-20min cab ride to Rio from the pier. It will cost about $13. That would put us there in time to take the 9am tour or the 10am tour. Rio says that the tours are precisely 3 1/2 hrs. We could be done in time to catch the 1pm ferry back. Worst case the 3:00 ferry back. Now we just have to decide whether we will purchase our tickets in advance or pay at the entrance. I will definitely post a review when I return.

[principessalia]

I talked to RCL they said it was not offered for our sailing for sure. I asked if there was a chance it might return and she said sometimes they do make adjustments and add more excursions but it wasn't likely at this point. I called Rio Secreto too. The tours start promptly on the hour. They want guests to arrive early, so they will not wait.

 

I will keep watching to see if RCL adds it but if they don't we will go on our own anyway. We really want to do this tour. One key factor is that Cozumel will be on central time when we go next month. I forgot about that. That gives us some extra time. When we arrive 7: 30EST it will be 6:30 am there. I think we can get to the ferry and catch the 7am to Playa. She says its a 15-20min cab ride to Rio from the pier. It will cost about $13. That would put us there in time to take the 9am tour or the 10am tour. Rio says that the tours are precisely 3 1/2 hrs. We could be done in time to catch the 1pm ferry back. Worst case the 3:00 ferry back. Now we just have to decide whether we will purchase our tickets in advance or pay at the entrance. I will definitely post a review when I return.

 

Can't wait to hear about your experience. I really want to take this tour also & as I stated in a previous post, we are sailing on 12/26/13. I hope it all works out. Worst case scenario, you retire in Mexico ;)

[Seavoyage]

Hello - if you can do this - go! It was one of the most amazing experiences! We booked through Holland America (last year) - it was an all day into night tour (as we had to take the ferry over to Cozumel - so if you do book on your own - be sure to have enough time on the return...

 

Also - as a side note - they(Rio Secreto) will provide you a wetsuit(ick) - but we brought our own...other folks that did not were wishing they did - they clean them as best they can but still those suits smelled funky:eek:

 

You will also have the option to purchase pictures the RS photographer takes in the cave as there are no cameras allowed in the caves - the pics are on the expensive side but totally worth it!!

 

Have fun!!

[sunfan03]

We are sailing on the Liberty in Dec too (Dec 12th). Which sailing are you on? We also want to go to Rio Secreto. The interesting thing is that when I first printed the RCL shore excursion brochure in July the tour was on the list. They called it the Amazing Secret River and Cavern. I went on yesterday to book and noticed it was absent from the choices. I am going to call RCL and see why they removed it. We are considering doing it on our own now. We have sailed to Playa on our own before but I am a little concerned only because there is little margin for error here. We dock at 7:30. We'd have to be on the 9:00 ferry. Doable. The tour starts at 10. They request that you be there 20 minutes early. That may be pushing it tight. I remember the ferry was about a 40 min ride. Even though they say it's not too far from the ferry. The next tour starts at 12 and that pushes it way too close to get back to the ship. If RCL has truly pulled this tour, I may call Rio and see would they wait if we got there at 10:15. If they will wait, I think we will take our chances.

 

We sail LOS in Mar 2014, so I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes if you decide to do this tour. It sounds awesome and is on the top of my excursion list for Cozumel.

[queenL]

We have been to Cozumel many times before. We have already done most of the excursions that held some appeal to us. We were looking for something a little different and decided to go to Rio Secreto. http://www.riosecreto.com/ The reviews on Trip Advisor and CC were so favorable that this became a must do for us. RCL does offer this excursion on some sailings as the Amazing Secret River and Cavern. For some reason, they changed course and decided not to offer it for our particular sailing. We still really wanted to go, so I begin to research doing this excursion on our own. I knew the time schedule would be tight but thanks to daylight savings time. I felt it was doable.

 

We had hoped to catch the 7am ferry to Playa (8am ship time) however, we were just approaching to pier at 7:30. By the time we cleared customs and were able to debark (the Liberty docks at the International Pier) it was 7:50. We didn’t have to wait for a cab ($8 per cab) but it was still about 8:05 (ship time) by the time we reached the ferry to Playa. The ferry must have been punctual because we couldn’t even see it in the distance. So, we waited for the next ferry 9am (ship time). This was great because most of the ferry schedules posted online showed no 9am ferry (ship time). There was in fact one that day. The ferry ride ($13pp each way) lasted about 40 minutes. Cabs were plentiful around the Playa pier. We made the mistake of getting a van to take us ($20 per cab) we later found out that we paid a premium for the van ride. An ordinary cab was ($13 per cab). We were pulling up at Rio around 10am (ship time). We booked the 10am tour (Cozumel time) however, we were glad to see that that was flexible. There were two tours about to depart when we arrived and we were able to join in with the 9am tour (Cozumel time).

 

The tour started with a brief video about the caves. Then we boarded another van which took us closer to the entrance. The van ride was very bumpy. I think every pothole in Playa must have been on this route. Anyway about 10 long minutes later we arrived. Along the way there were signs warning about wildlife, snakes, jaguars and coyotes etc. I’m thinking jaguars??? Do they like caves? Our tour guide – Alfredo was there to greet us. He ushered us to the lockers to store all our belongings. Warning to all camera junkies (myself included) no cameras are permitted. They do have a photographer that follows you the entire time and takes your pictures. They are available for $$$ at the end of the tour. Then we donned their wetsuits, water shoes, life vests and helmets. A short 5-10 minute walk later we were descending into the cave.

 

I’m a bit of a chicken when it comes to some things. I don’t like to swim when fish are around me (snorkeling is out of the question. I don’t even swim in the ocean.) You know how people say the animals are more afraid of you then you are of them? Not true in my case. I’m more afraid of them then they are of me. :) Also, I describe myself as having claustrophobic tendencies :) I am fine with elevators and things like that, but if I had to crawl through a 3ft by 3ft tunnel. I’d have a problem. So you might be wondering why in the world I would even be on a tour like this? So was I the second we took our first step down into the cave. Seriously though, some of my best experiences have occurred when I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone. So, I try and do that from time to time. I also discovered that the darkness of the cave exacerbated my fears. I began to think maybe I had seen Alien v/s Predator and the Cave too many times to complete this tour. All these fears joined together and stopped me dead in my tracks. 

 

Alfredo noticed the sheer look of terror on my face and tried to calm me down. For a brief minute I considered returning to the lockers to wait for the tour to end. The beautiful, well lit, shots that you see on Secreto’s website….all flash photography. There is NO light down there! It’s a cave so I knew there would be limited lighting, however this was total darkness. Other than the flashlight our guide was carrying and the lights mounted to our helmets we were in total darkness. At one point when we turned off all of our lights we literally could not see our hands in front of our faces. I’ll admit the first 15 minutes or so I didn’t notice any of the caves beauty. I was just scared and cold. After I got used to it though, the cave was really amazing. All of the stalactites and stalagmites, the crystal clear water. It was definitely an amazing sight. I was glad we didn’t have our 6yr old with us though. I think she would have been too scared to make it through the tour. There was a lady who couldn’t swim on the tour. Swimming isn’t necessary. The life vests are all you need to float your way through the tour.

 

We were exiting the cave 2 hours later, about 11:30(Cozumel time). This is where there is also some flexibility for cruise travelers. They advertise the tour length as 3 ½ hours. However, the next part of the tour was the Mexican lunch, viewing the photos, liquor tasting and browsing souvenirs. It was easy to speed up this part of the tour to save time. We were more concerned about making the return ferry than participating in any of this stuff. So, we grabbed a quick bite, got a CD of the photos taken ($69) and headed for the return shuttle van. Once we were back at the entrance, they called a cab for us ($13) and we were on our way back. It was a 10-15 minute drive back to the ferry. We were able to catch the 1:00(Cozumel time) ferry. Once we made it back to Cozumel we walked to Punta Langosta pier and shops. We did a little shopping and then grabbed a cab back to the International Pier. I worried for nothing we made it back to the ship with over an hour to spare. Rio Secreto was an awesome experience definitely an excursion worth doing. In the end I was glad I conquered my fear. It was a once in a lifetime experience. I have never done anything like that before.

[CruisinCrow]

Would love to see your pictures! How many were on the CD?

 

We've tried to do this tour twice and twice got cancelled. Once my husband was sick, the other time there was a problem with the Playa ferry. But we're going to do it one of these days!

[CDNJehn]

Thanks for posting. I'm planning to book this for our cruise as an Xmas gift for my husband. This is our 5th trip to Cozumel and the excursion is SO not in my comfort zone. I'm not sure if your review made me more comfortable or more terrified!! BUT our deal is that I do something crazy and out of my comfort zone...and hubby lays on the beach the rest of the time. So after ziplining (with a fear of heights) and snorkeling with sharks and stingrays (with a fear of fish) I think I can do it. Crawling into a cave (with a fear of confined spaces) seems like the next logical step. ;)

 

Was any part of the cave 'tight' at all, or is it pretty wide open?

Edited December 20, 2013 by CDNJehn

[Nightstarzz]

I did that one about two years ago! Just amazing, totally loved it and wouldnt mind doing it again some day!

[principessalia]

We were exiting the cave 2 hours later, about 11:30(Cozumel time). This is where there is also some flexibility for cruise travelers. They advertise the tour length as 3 ½ hours. However, the next part of the tour was the Mexican lunch, viewing the photos, liquor tasting and browsing souvenirs. It was easy to speed up this part of the tour to save time.

 

Thanks for the great review & letting us know it is possible to do this excursion on your own ;)

[queenL]

Would love to see your pictures! How many were on the CD?

 

!

I'm approximating about 60-70.

[queenL]

Was any part of the cave 'tight' at all, or is it pretty wide open?

 

It was fairly open. There weren't any really tight spaces. You are in water (at varying depths) most of the time. I do understand your reluctance. :) If I could do it, you can. I ziplined once on Oasis and I said never, ever again. I regretted doing that and I was shaking for about an hour afterwards. I'd do the cave again but not the zipline. So, you can make it. :) There were a few fish. They were about 1ft long very skinny. Scared the bejeepers out of me. :)

Edited December 22, 2013 by queenL

[CDNJehn]

It was fairly open. There weren't any really tight spaces. You are in water (at varying depths) most of the time. I do understand your reluctance. :) If I could do it, you can. I ziplined once on Oasis and I said never, ever again. I regretted doing that and I was shaking for about an hour afterwards. I'd do the cave again but not the zipline. So, you can make it. :) There were a few fish. They were about 1ft long very skinny. Scared the bejeepers out of me. :)

 

Excellent. I'll keep an eye out for the fish. ;) I booked and the confirmation page is wrapped...no going back now. Thanks again for sharing your experience.