what to do

[majosa]

Okay i have read so many different things about Costa Maya. I have no idea as what to do while there. We are not wanting to any type of excursion. I have heard that swimming is not great. So basically I guess we will shop and grab a bite to eat. But where is the best place to have a late lunch? Thank you!

[bluefintuna]

Majosa, we have been to Costa Maya twice and most everyone loves it. Go to the end of the pier and keep walking toward the outside. There are taxis or a bus to take you to the town of Majarul (sp?) Cost into town was $3 and a taxi back $2. It is a short trip and when you get there it has a beautiful beach and several places to eat. Nachos were great. Read the threads on Costa Maya and have a great cruise.

[mrdood]

As you walk through town, there is a bar called Pez Quadro... it is the BOMB, you can grab a lounger, sit on the beach. We enjoyed playing in the water there, swimming was fine.

 

Go to the Costa Maya forum for details, that is where all the info is kept, hopefully you will read this post before it gets moved over there...

[Sea Island Lady]

Our favorite thing to do is to stay on the ship and enjoy the quiet. The view of Costa Maya from the sun deck is absolutely gorgeous!

[bonniemari]

Try the coconut shrimp at the Cat's Meow. The margaritas are pretty good also.

[red sox girl]

I agree with the other post go to Majarul (sp?) 3.00 fare to and 2.00 back. I spent the day at the Cats Meow Geroge was our waiter he was great we had a nice lunch many drinks he watched all our stuff while we went to the shops he arranged a massage for me for 20.00 for an hour that was fantastic right on the beach. My DH wanted some Cuban cigars and George went and got some for him anything we wanted he was right there for us. It was the perfect beach day. Have a great time

[jessemon]

Believe it or not...right at the port itself has a great lobster tail dish. it is cooked over an open fire and served with fresh veggies (red and green peppers...carrots and red cabbage). And of course there is rice and beans. It is great. It is under the very large tiki-hut building.

Have had it twice. Also their shrimp tacos are good.

[stephuney]

I've never been to Costa Maya (yet ... hoping to go on the Legend next summer) ... but I hear the Cat's Meow is a great place.

[Wennfred]

Okay i have read so many different things about Costa Maya. I have no idea as what to do while there. We are not wanting to any type of excursion. I have heard that swimming is not great. So basically I guess we will shop and grab a bite to eat. But where is the best place to have a late lunch? Thank you!

 

Take the bus to Fisherman's Village and once there get a massage, $15.-$20. for 45 minutes, well worth it. You can do all the shopping you want there and have a few drinks. From Fisherman's Village you can take a cab up the beach to a few spots that have less tourist where you can rest on a hammack and take in the view. We went to Las Brisas, its a nice quiet spot with tables hammacks and no one around.

 

 

Fred

[TheJunks]

We book our excursion through www.costamayacruiseexcursions.com. We were there in the spring on the Valor. We did the beach break party. It was a day on the beach with all you can drink for $30. We walked off the pier, took the taxi to the fisherman's village and walked down the road to the beach place. It had nice, clean bathrooms and nice beach chairs. They had a restaurant with great food. The shrimp tacos were great and cheap! We met a lot of people who just walked up and hung out for the day that didn't pay for the beach party. The only difference between us were the lovely pipe cleaner bracelets we got to show we were all you can drink people. A lot of the ship crew came to this place. We got to hang out with our waiter and one of the bartenders for the day and go to know them. It was a great day. You could always ask the some of the ship crew what to do. The area off the ship was so crowded around the pool area and it was very dirty. There were 3 ships in port that day. The shops were nice.

[scejas]

becareful of who you do business with ... I had a very bad experience dealing with the "locals" -- later I found out from talking to the real locals that most of these people get bused in from other parts of mexico on days ships dock.

 

do not book any excursion from the huts at the port. I booked one there thinking I had the safety of it being an excursion from a group that has some sort of supervision from the Gov.

 

it was a pretty big scam ... all you can drink premium brands ment generic rum and two choices of beer (non were brands sold in the U.S.).... soda came from a 3 liter non brand name soda bottle and our snorkeling vessel never showed.

 

The funny part is I am cuban and speak spanish fluently -- and I could hear the guy on the c.b. radio trying to get a boat to take out the group of 30 of us to snorkel ... and the guy would translate and say the boat is on the way... when the truth was no one wanted to to come pick us up.

 

When I returned to the port to get a refund they had quickly shut down the hut and disappeared (government officials said they could not help me out)... luckily i caught up to the guy in the parking lot and chased him down...

 

-----

 

As for the port itself -- drinks are very pricey there and not strong at all if you have to drink try to find somewhere on the beach that has brand name stuff.

 

If you have kids keep an eye on them had a couple guys with zip lock size bags of weed trying to sell them.... god knows what actually in the bag...lol

[lindnet]

Great place! One of my very favorite stops!! Both times I was there, we walked through the town almost to the end to Pez Quadro. You know it by the swings at the bar, in place of bar stools. They have great service, you can rent a lounger for the day for very cheap, there's a great place to eat right across from it. Beautiful beach, and my friends found some pretty good snorkeling too! :D

[tomko2]

The first time to Costa Maya we stayed at the port area and had a great time - free lounge chairs, two swimming pools and the restaurant upstairs by the pool has good food, good beer and awesome views (it is open air).

The second trip my DH booked a Horse Riding Excursion at one of the Kiosks and had a wonderful time. He had to take the bus $3.00 to Tequila Beach Resort and there he was met by his guide and taken for an 1/2 ride to the ranch. The horses were well cared for and in good shape (often a problem on some islands). He had a nice trek through the jungle with two guides explaining stuff to him; then a stop at a Mayan hut where a lady demonstrated cooking Mayan bread and offered him some; he was returned to Tequila Beach by a different route so he would see more of the countryside. All of this for $35.00! (Original asking price was $70.00 but with very little discussion my DH had the price down to $35.00). Amazingly enough he was the only person on the excursion.

I stayed on the bus to the Village and spent a couple of hours checking out the stands and taking photos.

See pics in link below.

Enjoy Costa Maya it is still in the early stages of commercialization!

Kathy:)

[cruisejunkie15]

becareful of who you do business with ... I had a very bad experience dealing with the "locals" -- later I found out from talking to the real locals that most of these people get bused in from other parts of mexico on days ships dock.

 

do not book any excursion from the huts at the port. I booked one there thinking I had the safety of it being an excursion from a group that has some sort of supervision from the Gov.

 

it was a pretty big scam ... all you can drink premium brands ment generic rum and two choices of beer (non were brands sold in the U.S.).... soda came from a 3 liter non brand name soda bottle and our snorkeling vessel never showed.

 

The funny part is I am cuban and speak spanish fluently -- and I could hear the guy on the c.b. radio trying to get a boat to take out the group of 30 of us to snorkel ... and the guy would translate and say the boat is on the way... when the truth was no one wanted to to come pick us up.

 

When I returned to the port to get a refund they had quickly shut down the hut and disappeared (government officials said they could not help me out)... luckily i caught up to the guy in the parking lot and chased him down...

 

-----

 

As for the port itself -- drinks are very pricey there and not strong at all if you have to drink try to find somewhere on the beach that has brand name stuff.

 

If you have kids keep an eye on them had a couple guys with zip lock size bags of weed trying to sell them.... god knows what actually in the bag...lol

 

 

I had this experience as well....I guess the best advice is to plan ahead and not do business with the huts at the pier. From what others are saying, there are obviously tons of great things to do in Costa Maya, too bad my one and only experience was horrible. The beach was horrible, it was full of fumes from the jet skis and if you did not stay up you would get your head chopped off. The so called "locals" were very rude, and they lied about our snorkling. Then they claimed they had no money to pay us our money back, when I had just given them the money. The food was horrible. But never mind that - had a great cruise and visited other great ports. Therefore best advice is, go with what others are mentioning here as great stops, that way you will have a higher chance of having a good memory to take with you.