mayan ruins

[bubutig]

I will be leaving March1 on ncl dawn. Trying to decide which ruins to see. We will be going to cozumel, belize, roatan, and costa maya, however would prefer not to use my whole day at cozumel to see tulum. Any suggestions?

[biker@sea]

Lamanai and the new river tour was so fantastic we did it twice ! :D

 

Do it this excursion with the cruise line , it is a long day and you want NCL's guaranteed you will not to miss the ship . ;)

[Oldgoat61]

We have gone to Tulum twice, and enjoyed it both times, although the last time (late Mar) was HOT and HUMID. It does turn out to be a long day, but well worth it. If you decide on Tulum, wear your swim suit, it is on a cliff overlooking the aqua blue ocean.

 

We will be trying to get to the ruins at Belize, and Costa Maya next year.

 

It will be a great cruise....enjoy!:D

[quercus alba]

Loved Tulum, but it is a full day, as you say, and it looks like you'd have some other neat options.

I would echo the advice to use the ship's excursions for anything where you might be going much distance from the port--we got back fairly late from Tulum, and it was great to have the peace of mind that we wouldn't be left behind!

[dohboy43]

I enjoyed the Kohunlich ruins near Costa Maya last month. It's a long ride (2+ hours each way), but we were the only group that day so it wasn't crowded, and there were lots of great photo opportunities.

[Guindalf]

The ship tour to Alton Ha combined with the Old Belize River (including lunch) is pretty good.

 

Be aware that the river trip is 21 miles and takes over two hours, lunch is red beans and rice with chicken and a free soda (it's ok, nothing special), the bus to the ruins is bumpy and you MUST take insect repellent! I got covered in bites and this was in January.

 

Our guide, Merlene, was excellent.

[hawkshoe]

While I loved Tulum and Chichen Itza, I did them while vacationing on the Yucatan peninsula, not as a cruise excursion. When we went to Cozumel on a cruise ship, we opted to do the San Gervasio ruins right on Cozumel. While they are not as impressive as the other two, they were still enjoyable. Afterward we were able to enjoy some snorkeling and beach time.

[snowsuits]

Walked off the boat at Cozumel, rented a 4 door Jeep, drove to the Mayan ruins at San Gervasio and gave ourselves a tour (admission ~$11pp). Had plenty of time to explore the beaches and town.

[roger001]

We've done Costa Maya and Belize. Costa Maya is more undeveloped and as someone said, a longer bus ride. For your first visit, I'd recommed Belize. It's about a 45 bus minute ride and more open for viewing....and climbing. You'll find that then entire Yucatan and Central American area is covered with thousands of Mayan ruins, most not discovered (or excavated) yet. Very interesting though.

[mellygo]

We have been to Lamanai, and to Tulum, but our favorite tour was Chacchoben. It is a fairly recent dig - and we went with a man who was Mayan, and actually lived on the site until I think he said 1991? He was able to show us things that you wouldn't learn, unless you went with a Mayan. He showed us a plant they used as bug repellent, a plant they used as a spice like garlic, and an Allspice plant. He also gave us a realistic idea of what life was like there. I would highly recommend his tour!

[CorvetteLady]

I would suggest Altun Ha in Belize. You can do it with or without the boat ride down the river, it is an enjoyable ride, much better than the bus!

 

Of all the ruins I've visited, Tulum is my favorite. The only thing that keeps me from going again is the long ride to get there. We spent more time getting there and back than we spent at the ruins. It was a 7 hour excursion, there was no time to even shop at the pier.

 

If you've never been to any ruins I think Altun Ha is a good one to start with.

[HokiePoq]

Lamanai and the new river tour was so fantastic we did it twice ! :D

 

Do it this excursion with the cruise line , it is a long day and you want NCL's guaranteed you will not to miss the ship . ;)

 

Totally agree on Lamanai. We did our "Mayan Ruins Cruise" on the Dawn and this was our favorite by far. DH loved the climb up to the top which you cannot do many places. The river tour was great, too.

I agree about taking the ship's tour here. It is a long day and one person on our tour didn't follow directions and missed the boat, literally. We were on the last tender which waited an hour or more for the tour company to retrieve him and bring him to the ship.

We loved Tulum. It is beautiful and worth the day in my opinion.

We also went to the ruins out of Costa Maya....name escapes me. Not as impressive as the other two, but it has masks that are very interesting and the grounds are nice to walk. I was able to climb those as the steps weren't so steep as at Lamanai.

Enjoy your cruise!

[Byron_1978]

Only been to Tulum, and loved every bit of it. We could not climb any of the ruins however, so if that's a possibility on other sites...

 

The guide seemed to be a bit hit or miss in Tulum. We had a great guide who had Mayan origins and could tell us everything. The other groups seemed to fly by everything and were finished with the guided tour way before us.

 

A girl working in the local Dairy Queen in Tulum tried to (probably unintentionally) rip us off by asking over 20$ for a can of coke. We politely declined and purchased it at another stand :D

[GoofyCrew]

I highly recommend Chacchoben from Costa Maya. We did that last month and really enjoyed it. We booked directly through NCL and it was extremely organized and information (without being boring...). The bus ride was in an air conditioned Greyhound-style bus. It is a 45 minute ride on a very straight highway. There were several different ruins to see, some of which you could climb at least partial up. There was also a nice jungle walk (we got to see spider monkeys!). We were back to Costa Maya in time for a late lunch and then some shopping.

[Tricialy]

Lamanai and the new river tour was so fantastic we did it twice ! :D

 

Do it this excursion with the cruise line , it is a long day and you want NCL's guaranteed you will not to miss the ship . ;)

 

I was going to say the same thing- though we've only done Lamanai and Tulum. We preferred Lamanai in Belize - it had much more of a jungle atmosphere and they even had one ruin you could climb. Boy were my legs sore the next day, but I can say "I did it!"

 

We also took the NCL tour, especially since you go so far away from the port and the guide was excellent. He was self-educated and had started volunteering to help at the archealogical sites and studied everything he could over the last twenty years.