shorter (private?) tour of Tulum vs Carnival excursion?

[eepellet]

We will be sailing on the Carnival Paradise and in Cozumel on June 23rd. We are planning a beach day at the prior stop (Grand Cayman) so we really wanted to take our boys to see Tulum. The excursions all seem pretty long though and I was hoping for a little time to walk around before getting back on the boat. So first question: is it worth worrying about time to walk around? I don't really see that there is much to do except eat and drink. I was hoping to walk and see some of the atmosphere/culture and maybe shop a little. Is that reasonable in Cozumel? If it is - second question would be if anyone could recommend a good private tour company that would do tours to Tulum (a tour, not just an escort/ferry/ride there and back) and could do it in shorter time than a cruise excursion? Thanks in advance!

[JohninDC]

The challenge of a tour of Tulum from Coz is that you must ride the ferry (about 45 minutes each way) to get from Coz to Playa del Carmen. From PDC you would then need a van/bus to get south to Tulum -- the transportation alone makes it a long day. Most of the ship tours to Tulum include a short visit to the beach.

 

If you take a private tour or go on your own (buy a ferry ticket and hire a cab/private driver/tour guide) you could make the trip quicker than the ship tour, but if something goes wrong you could also miss the ship!

 

If you want to walk around the downtown section of Coz instead of shopping at the pier you can do that -- cabs are cheap and the distances are not far, just keep track of the time. We just love to hang out and watch the pier runners trying to make the ship in Cozumel.

[eepellet]

Thank you for the reply. That pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. Since the ruins were our main goal for this port when we booked the cruise I think we'll stick with one of the ship-offered excursions.

[JohninDC]

There are some small ruins on Cozumel - no where near as impressive as Tulum or Coba, but much more accessible from your cruise ship.