Chichen Itza, can you tour this mayan ruin on a port stop

[mommatigger]

We are going to be at Cozamel in November and would like to visit the Chichen Itza ruins. Does anyone know if there is a way to visit them?

[karen2cruz]

The only way to do this tour is if your port stop gives you about 12 hours in port and gets in early 7 am. There is a tour group that flies from cozumel to Chichen itza and then flies back. There is no other way to do this since the ferry ride to playa delcarmen takes 45 minutes and the bus ride to Chi.Itza takes several hours.

 

Good luck.

 

 

The best way to visit Chichen Itza is to do a land based vacation in Cancun and visit the ruins while there.

[TexBeaumont]

Chichen-Itza can be done while in port, but only from Progresso, Mexico. The Carnival Elation used to sail out of Galveston and this was one of the ports of call. Chichen- Itza is truly a mystical place and a must see for those interested in Mayan culture. I hope you are able to get there one day. Have a great cruise! If you are going to be in Cozumel and want to see Mayan culture, I would suggest Tulum on the mainland. It should be offered as an excursion on your ship.

[CrusinTex]

I'm investigating the same thing - going to Chichen Itza from Cozumel. A company called Aerosaab (www.aerosaab.com) has a tour there from Cozumel that they say gives you about 3 hours at the ruins. They fly you there on a 5.5 hour tour for about $300 each, so depends on how bad you want to go. Costs a little less if you get 3-4 passengers. We're also looking at Tulum, but not exactly in the same league.

 

Let us know how it goes if you decide to use them!

[dforeigner]

The only way to do this tour is if your port stop gives you about 12 hours in port and gets in early 7 am. There is a tour group that flies from cozumel to Chichen itza and then flies back. There is no other way to do this since the ferry ride to playa delcarmen takes 45 minutes and the bus ride to Chi.Itza takes several hours.

 

Good luck.

 

 

The best way to visit Chichen Itza is to do a land based vacation in Cancun and visit the ruins while there.

 

Princess does offer an excursion from Cozumel to Tulum. They used to have one to Chichen Itza but I cannot find it. My advice is that you take the excursion through the ship. This excursion takes 7 hours according to Princess. Therefore, if anything were to happen and you are running late, the ship will wait for those on the ship sponsored excursion.

[Nebr.cruiser]

My son and his wife went to Chichen-Itza last year; we were on the Carnival Triumph. This would only work if you are in port a long time; I think we sailed at 11 PM. They enjoyed the trip, but it was a very long day. They left early in the morning (can't remember the exact time) and got back around 7 ish, very tired. To me, this wouldn't be worth it,( I have been to Chichen Itza before on a land trip, however) but my son really, really wanted to see those ruins.

 

Tulum is great for a shorter excursion!

[mangowife]

My family and I did a day trip to Chitchen Itza from where we were staying near Playa Del Carmen (we were not on a cruise). It was already a full, long, exhausting day - can't imagine doing it while in port on a cruise, though it sounds like it could be possible.

[aas996]

Princess does offer an excursion from Cozumel to Tulum. They used to have one to Chichen Itza but I cannot find it. My advice is that you take the excursion through the ship. This excursion takes 7 hours according to Princess. Therefore, if anything were to happen and you are running late, the ship will wait for those on the ship sponsored excursion.

 

Could someone kindly advise how long does this excursion to Tulum through Princess take: how long is the travel from port to Tulum and how much time you actually get on the site? Will be in Cozumel on Star

Princess, Dec. 13.

[aas996]

Princess does offer an excursion from Cozumel to Tulum. They used to have one to Chichen Itza but I cannot find it. My advice is that you take the excursion through the ship. This excursion takes 7 hours according to Princess. Therefore, if anything were to happen and you are running late, the ship will wait for those on the ship sponsored excursion.

 

Could someone kindly advise how long does this excursion to Tulum through Princess take: how long is the travel from port to Tulum and how much time you actually get on the site? Will be in Cozumel on Star

Princess, Dec. 13.

[StMaartenboy]

Hey guys,

I'm on the Mariner Thanksgiving week. We will be in Cozumel on Friday but only from 10:00 - 7:00. I was considering the flight to Chichen Itza, but the cost is a bit much. I'm a history teacher and would really love to see the place, but am I better off waiting for a land trip? Is Tulum impressive enough?

[wdowns9]

We visited Tulum at the end of Sept and found the ruins to be very interesting. From the historical side, it is the only set of ruins on the water. We toured the ruins in 90 mins. There is a beach you can climb the stairs down to which is very nice. Bring insect repellant as they were everywhere. We shared ours with many people. We brought some bananas from the ship and managed to gather a large bunch of iguanas. We started feeding a small one and then they started coming out of no where. If you do not want to leave Cozumel you can visit San Gervasio which costs $5.50 ea and our tour guide was $17 for 3-people. These ruins are based around fertility. Nothing spectacular but interesting. We toured Tulum and Coba while we were in Calica (CCL Holiday) because I wanted to climb the 2nd largest pyramid on the Yucatan. Chitz is not the tallest but you can not climb it anymore.

[wdowns9]

Double post..

[Cap'n Cork]

I'd think that you'd be better off waiting for a land trip. Chichen Itza is a looooong way inland. So if you were, say, in port at Cozumel, first you'd have to take a bus or shuttle to the ferry terminal, then take the ferry across to Playa del Carmen, then take the long bus ride to Chichen Itza. I had a friend who took NCL's back in January, 2001, and she was on the tour for the better part of 12 hours.

 

I echo the other cruisers who suggest visiting Tulum and Coba instead of Chichen Itza if their ship was in Cozumel.If I were on a cruise ship with a lengthy stay at Progresso, though, I'd probably shrug off Chichen Itza and go see Uxmal instead. The Uxmal ruins are much closer to Progresso than are the Chichen Itza ruins and have been much restored from when I first saw them in 1973.

[gail811]

It was named one of the "new" Seven Wonders of the World today!

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/7Wonders/story?id=2657662&page=1

[dforeigner]

Could someone kindly advise how long does this excursion to Tulum through Princess take: how long is the travel from port to Tulum and how much time you actually get on the site? Will be in Cozumel on Star

Princess, Dec. 13.

 

If you click on the link of the original post (the word Tulum) it will tell you the different excursions they have to Tulum and the duration.

[dforeigner]

Sorry, the link Tulum is for all the excursions for Princess. This one is for the ones in Cozumel which include Tulum.

[jetskier]

If your ports of call are Cozumel and Calica (PDC), you can do what a couple on my second to last cruise did. They got permission to spend the night off the ship. (It is only 10 miles from COZ to PDC). They took the ferry to PDC and rented a car and drove to Chichen Itza. They spent the night there and drove back to PDC the next day, turned the car in, and reboarded the ship.

Dave