ATV in Cozumel

[KAWS]

We were going to book the beach ATV excursion with Carnival but saw that you had to be 18 to drive it. Too bad cause it was a nice length of tour for the money I thought.

 

So we booked with a private tour operator. At this place you need to be 16 with at least a learners permit. He'll be 17 and will have that permit by then, so he's good to go.

 

So we booked with Island Marketing for a 2 hour jungle atv tour ($66pp) that "goes through the Jungle of Cozumel and an ancient Mayan Ruin and interesting caves and wonderful scenery. The ATV Adventure begins from the historical El Cedral. " They offer a 4 hour tour as well but they said we wouldn't have time for it because since the tour starts at 12:30 local time it would get back right when the ship was to leave. I was pretty thankful that they told me THAT upfront!

 

Anyone gone on this tour and have a review that they can share?

 

Kim

[mjt2890]

From my miracle cruise review ...

 

This excursion was booked through http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com a week prior to the cruise. This was the best excursion during the whole cruise. First we arrived at the port; it wasn't the same as the meeting point area. So we had to take a taxi ($14 for 7 people) to the other pier which was about 4 miles away. We met them in front of the Burger King and started our adventure. We boarded a 14 passenger bus, just the 7 of us. We had two tour guides, Mike and Juan-Carlos, and the driver Freddie.

We drove down the only road that splits through the island. It took about 15 minutes and we were at the drop off point with a bunch of 4wheelers. They gave is the rules and helmets, and we were off on a 14 mile ride through a trail that went down onto the beaches, in the woods, over rocks, it was amazing. We ended up on a private beach where we stopped. We kayaked about a mile out to a reef where they tied up the kayaks. We snorkeled for about 30 minutes in the area of the reef. Kayaked back to shore, they fed us sandwiches with soda + water. Got back on the 4wheelers and stopped at a small Mayan ruin. More 4wheeling at which point it started to drizzle which was really nice timing. Turns out the port area got SOAKED! Get back to the bus, and they took us back to our actual pier for $14 instead of having to take a taxi from the original pickup spot. We had enough time to do some shopping too, but the whole mall style shopping isn't appealing to me.

 

 

That was the 4 hour. We are doing the 2 hour one next month!! It's a blast, one of the best excursions we've ever done. :)

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

I had been looking at the JEEP ADVENTURE excursion with the same company.

 

My only hesitation is that I am confused with whether the time in port will be sufficient for the trip.

 

Being new to cruising, I am still confused if the tim eon the intinerary is the ship's time or the local port's time. Those two hours could make a difference!

 

Anybody been on the JEEP tour???

 

Now you got me thinking about the ATVs too......

[KAWS]

They told me that I had to do the 2 hour because there wouldn't be enough time for the 4 hour. The time that they quote is local time (one hour earlier than ship time).

 

So if the tour starts at 12:30 for four hours, it's REALLY 1:30 getting back at 5:30 ship time. The ship leaves at 6 (ship time) and there wouldn't be enough time to get back from the place where the excursion is over to get to the ship on time.

 

So if we take the 12:30 one we're there till 2:30 (3:30 ship time) and even if they run a bit late, which I've heard can happen, we'll be ok. We can take in some shopping in town before we come back to the ship if we want.

 

Kim

[KAWS]

Deleted - somehow it was a double posting.

 

Kim

[mjt2890]

The jeep tour uses the same trail and seem to go slower. It was a concern when I first started on the trail on the ATV, going fast, blind corner, and <BAM> there is a jeep coming the other way and the off-road trail is not wide in most spots!!

 

We didn't do the jeep tour because it was more expensive for each of us to drive one. Who wants to sit in the jeep while someone else drives it?

 

Look at the time zone of the depature port for the beginning of your cruise. That's ship time (usually EST). Then find the time zone for your destination. Cozumel is Central Time Zone, and DOES observe daylight savings time. So I arrive at 7am ship time (EST) and my excursion is 8:30am, which is 9:30am ship time ... so I have 2.5 hours to kill before the start of the excursion.

 

Time Zones

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Hey MJT!

 

Thanx for the review of the ATV trip!

 

I'm leaning more towards that one now instead of the Jeep tour.

After all...we want to drive our own vehicles, too!

 

It looks like a blast.

 

The Radiance is in port from 9-4 (ship time) so that might mean we will have to do the 2-hour one too, if the times don't match up. Looks ile we might be too late for the early trip and get back to late for the afternoon 4-hour trip.

 

Did they privde snorkeling gear at the beach stop?

[mjt2890]

Yeah all the snorkel gear was provided. Had to wear a life vest, which wasn't really fun, cause you couldn't dive down into the coral reef. At one point they allowed us to remove them, but only for like 5 minutes. Guess it's a safety thing, so I can kinda understand. They also provided the kiyak (can't spell it) ... you know the canoe looking thing. And a small sandwich lunch w/ an apple and water.

 

We are bringing goggles this time because the trail is so dry and dusty that it got all in my eye. The guides had on goggles, but none provided for the guests.

 

You will have a lotta fun! Enjoy!

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Well....after spending WAYYYYY too much time trying to plan these shore excursions, I just went right to RCI and booked the identical toru through them.

 

As this is my first cruise, and I cannot seem to make any of the tour times fit into the schedule, I figure it was safest for me to do it directly through the cruiseline. At least that way I am sure to get off the ship and back on to it in plenty of time for the tour. It was also a bit longer at 3.5 hours than it would have been through the private operators, so I liked that too!

 

I can't wait to get on those ATVs and head into the jungle and out on to the beach! It'll be another "first" for me!

 

I'm just relieved the planning is done! HAHA!

 

:)