Magica 4/16: Any recent travelers to Cozumel?

[ElvisLover1]

I have a question for anyone who has returned from any recent stop in Cozumel. Since Hurricane Wilma has hit and I understand that the Puerta Maya Pier was destroyed, which is where Costa docked pre hurricane, do you drop anchor off shore and have to tender to the island? If so did this cause long wait times? Also, does anyone recall where it is you go ashore? I am trying to secure a car rental and am not sure which office to use. Any and all help is appreciated!!:cool:

[Joyce and Tim]

We were there last week on the Sun. The docks are destroyed (email me and I'll send photos jemagee2001@yahoo.com if you are interested) and the 5 or 6 ships in that day were all anchored. The good news is that they use local tenders, not the ship's lifeboats (at least Norwegian does). These are like ferry boats, and hold about 200 people (and you can even buy jewelry on board while you ride!) Our ship was anchored quite close to the main drag (where the 2-story dock area was last year, the Carlos and Charlie's area--sorry I don't know its name). We actually got off, took a snorkeling tour, and went back to the ship to change clothes, and went back for lunch at Pancho's Backyard. It's the first time we've EVER tendered twice in one day...it was that easy.

Some of the other ships were anchored quite a distance away--the Carnival one, for example. I don't know whether they just had a longer tender ride, or went to a different tender-docking area.

And there were two RCL ships in but not very far away. I don't remember seeing a Costa ship that day. Maybe someone else can help with that. Good luck!

[frugalcruiser]

Hello ElvisLover,

We were in Cozumel last week and we anchored just off the Maya Pier. Cozumel has, or should I say HAD, 3 piers:

 

Maya

Downtown

International

 

All 3 of them were destroyed by Hurrican Wilma. So all ships now

use tender boats. Maya pier is the furthest away from town but

it's only like a 5 minute cab ride or if you like to walk, you can

do so along the road that parallels the beach into town in 35 minutes.

Since Wilma, Cozumel looks bad, it's like someone dropped a nuke

on the poor guys. It reminded me of scenes from the movie "The Day

After". I was talking with the cruise ship agent that I met on the

tender boat and he told me that since all 3 piers are privately owned

by the cruise lines, they seem to have some problems coming to a

satisfactory resolution about the damage insurance companies will

or will not pay for. And the Mexican govt will not commit any funds

to rebuild any of the piers. We rented a car on-line from Avis, they

have an office right off the Maya Pier (Budget & Alamo have one too).

Enjoy Cozumel.