Why Did Carnival Stop Calling at Calica?

[cruisexlife]

Just wonderin' :D

 

What was there to do once you left the ship? Were there any nearby beaches, shops, anything? Were there public buses to Xcaret or ferries to Cozumel? What were the excursions like?

 

Could anyone add pictures if they have any? Thank you!!:D

[jimbo5544]

Just wonderin' :D

 

What was there to do once you left the ship? Were there any nearby beaches, shops, anything? Were there public buses to Xcaret or ferries to Cozumel? What were the excursions like?

 

Could anyone add pictures if they have any? Thank you!!:D

 

Don't have any, sorry. Calica was a fill in for Costa Maya after it got whacked by a hurricane, which was a fill in for Cozumel after it go t whacked. Not much in Calica, except it is a deep water port.

[hockeyluver]

We went their twice when we cruised out of Mobile. We did a Carnival beach excurision. The beach was beautiful!!!

 

 

 

 

[mrmac]

Xcaret was just north of the industrial dock area, five minutes away. Playa del Carmen and beautiful beaches were north of there about another twenty minutes or so. We stopped on Celebrity way before the hurricane in Costa Maya and there were plenty of taxis and tours to take. Still trying to get back to Playa del Carmen.

[BallFour4]

Calica = gravel pit in Spanish.

I'd give a non-scientific reason was due to the a combination of rough, shallow water and a very narrow area for the ship to back in.

 

We've been there more than once but only aboard the Celebration and Ecstasy.

 

Shooting from the hip in on both.

 

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Edited December 18, 2014 by BallFour4

[Tapi]

The port of Calica by itself is probably one of the ugliest ports in the Caribbean (at least that's what my parents said when we arrived there :o). It's nothing more than a gravel pit with absolutely no visitor facilities within walking distance except for some temporary tents set up when a ship was in town.

 

However, Calica was an excellent "hop off" point for excursions to nearby Xcaret, Cancun, and Tulum. Much more convenient than Cozumel.

 

 

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[cruisexlife]

What were some popular excursions?

 

If you wanted to visit the beach, how long and how much was a public taxi or shuttle, if one was provided?

[idlenote]

It was about a thirty minute ride to Tulum, sure beat the drive from every other port that Carnival called at. We had a great day there on our one and only call there.

[CatgirlNC]

I only went to Calica once, and did a great excursion. I don't remember the name, but it was through Carnival. We went to a nature park, did kayaking, had lunch, and swimming in a cenote. Then afterwards the van gave us the option of being dropped off at the ship or in the PDC shopping area. We chose PDC, and then it was a quick cab ride when we were ready to go back to the ship. This was the Inspiration in April 2007.

[kybluecruiser]

This is what greeted you in 2010. I stayed on the ship.

[TNCruzer56]

It was a pig-butt ugly port, but Playa Del Carmen(a short taxi ride away) beat the hell out of Coz. Tons of great new beaches and things to do.

[kybluecruiser]

It was a pig-butt ugly port, but Playa Del Carmen(a short taxi ride away) beat the hell out of Coz. Tons of great new beaches and things to do.

 

Thats the way i feel about Freeport. Not many people here like it but once you get pat the port i think it has great beaches.

[poz222]

Because usage of the port was leased by carnival from the gravel company and carnival could not build to suit AND scheduling became a. Issue as cargo ships needed to have more flexibility to dock...

[Disconnections]

Edit.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Disconnections

[TNCruzer56]

One cruz, we actually had a stop there and in Coz, next day. You`d think they`d just pull up the hook and drift over................

[hockeyluver]

One cruz, we actually had a stop there and in Coz, next day. You`d think they`d just pull up the hook and drift over................

 

We did that cruise twice lol, its amaizing how it took all night to travel 90 minutes :p but it was a very relaxing cruise!!

[latunxitom]

We've been there more than once but only aboard the Celebration and Ecstasy.

[k2excursion]

Carnival went there all the time out of Galveston from at least 2003 thru 2005. We had stops in Calica cancelled because of hurricanes on 2 different cruises. When Hurricane Ivan was busy destroying the universe in Sep 2004, I was aboard the Celebration in the Gulf. We (and the Holiday from NOLA) were routed away from the Cozumel area, and decided to port in Progreso, which was not getting any consistent ships at the time. That was part of what started the switch. A year later, after another hurricane obliterated Cozumel & Playa del Carmen area in Oct 2005, our itinerary switched from Calica to Progreso, while keeping Cozumel. That confused me, but following that, all Calicas were switched to Progresos out of Galveston & NOLA, since Progreso was doing well with the ships. So it seemed that they just used that hurricane as an excuse to eliminate Calica. Mobile kept calling on Calica for several more years, allowing me 1 trip to my beloved port of Calica.

 

As others have said, Calica isn't much of a port in and of itself, and Carnival prefers ports where they can have tons of shops & a big setup right in front of the ship. Or, in Progreso's case, have the tons of shops where the free shuttle bus drops you off in town. Calica doesn't allow for any of this, and it wasn't free to get to Playa del Carmen. It was about $13 each way by cab. I don't think Carnival got any kickbacks from shops at Calica.

 

There are so many great things that can be done from Calica. I would so love to go back there again!!! I did the Tulum excursion, which was so much better than taking it from Cozumel (eliminating the ferry rides). Afterwards, I still had plenty of time to go into Playa del Carmen and check out the beautiful beach there. The city is very pretty too. Plus, Xcaret & Xel-Ha are nearby, which I haven't gotten to go to.

Edited December 18, 2014 by k2excursion
are

[jcearth]

I went to Calica once in 2009 on the Holiday out of Mobile. As others have said, there was nothing at port, but a 20 minute taxi ride into Playa del Carmen yielded beautiful white sand beaches. The setup was similar to Mahahual out of Costa Maya, where there were restaurants that would set you up on the beach and get you whatever you needed (drinks, food, excursions, etc.) I do remember that the taxis did drop you off a few blocks from the beach, which i though was strange.

[tkportersat]

Not much to look at when you first arrived but I really enjoyed my time there, nice snorkeling excursion when we visited in 2004 on the Celebration. I have often wondered why they stopped going.

[The4Cruisers]

We were there on the Inspiration (I think). Yes, there's not much at the port itself, but we took a short cab ride up to Playa del Carmen and spent the day wandering the area.

 

If we ever made it back to Calica, we planned to visit Tulum. However, that doesn't seem like it will happen anytime soon. And I won't visit Tulum from Cozumel. It's a pain in the butt to get to the mainland from that island.

[beamqueen]

We went to Calica on Fascination in 2007. We just took a bus to the beach...maybe 25 minute bus ride to where we went. I don't even remember now!