Xel-Ha ---anyone been

[CharlotteCpl]

I am posting here because this is where our ship will be at port. I am really wanting to visit Xel-Ha on the mainland. I am curious to know if anyone has been there, if anyone has taken a ferry to the mainland, what costs are for the ferry and taxis, etc. ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

 

THANKS,

Erin:rolleyes:

[samonmain]

Another couple, my wife & I went to Xel-ha in Jan 2007 and loved it. I cannot tell you about the ferry b/c we were staying at an AI in Cancun. However I can tell you that we chose Xel-ha over Xcaret (the other eco-park on the mainland) for a couple of reasons: 1. Xel-ha was more about nature; 2. it was cheaper (more included in the price); 3. we did not want to spend the entire day on one activity (some of the more interesting events at Xcaret seem to be at night); and 4. snorkeling is supposedly better at Xel-ha (& it was GREAT). The food at Xel-ha was decent, but the drinks were great. In addition to the snorkeling, we did the cliff dive & floated down a river in some inner-tubes. We also got some great pictures with some beautiful Toucans. (Caveat- I understand that the cave snorkeling at Xcaret is very cool.)

P.S. If you're interested, you can find tours that combine Xel-ha w/ the nearby Tulum Mayan ruins. We did not do the ruins b/c we wanted to get to Xel-ha early - before a lot of people stirred up sand snorkeling - however, it turns out that the snorkeling is great regardless of when you get to the place & we probably should have done Tulum. I used a company run by "Brant" that came highly recommended. You can find his site by typing in "Entertainment Plus" and "Cancun" on google or Yahoo. I paid by credit card in advance and had absolutely no problems (we also did the ATV cenote tour with him - it's FANTASTIC). Have fun!

[shark_bait]

We were at Xel Ha on December 30th. Great place. We were staying in Playa Del Carmen right next to the Playa/Cozumel Pier. Taxi was $35 each way and takes about 30-45 minutes to get there depending on traffic. Make sure you negotiate this rate first. Note that taxi's can only hold 4 people. The ferry, I believe is $10.00 each way per person and runs every hour on the hour. if not faster.

 

Xel Ha is now All Inclusive, which includes all of your food and drink,snorkel equipment($20 deposit for snorkel equipment),towels,inner tubes,lockers. Plenty of bars and restaurants and as Samonmain said the food is decent. They serve breakfast up until 11:00am and than switch over to lunch/dinner fare. Park opens at 9:00am and they start closing down at 5:00pm, though it is much past 6:00pm before everybody is out of the restaurants.

 

I bought tickets ahead of time on their website for $67.50- it's $75.00 at the gate.

 

Recommendations- 1.Get there early, we specifically picked a day when there weren't any cruise ships in port and it still got pretty busy around 11:00am, though this was Christmas Week. 2. They don't allow sunscreen or suntan lotion so bother bringing it, they do have some eco friendly sunscreen they will sell you. Can't tell you the price, it was cloudy the day we were there. 3. It is a water park so bathing suits are the attire, even in the restaurants. We went exploring in our shirts and cover ups, than had to walk all the way back to the lockers to get ready to get wet. I would head straight to the lockers and drop off all dry goods right away. 4. Wear water shoes or waterproof sandles as this is an all natural water park so you will come acroos some rocks in the water and the walking paths can start to wear on the ole feet.

 

Attractions: Lazy River was cool. Snorkeling was good. swimming into the cenote was way cool. Walking across the floating bridge was fun, best done before the cocktails start flowing.:D Rope swing and jumping off the cliff looked like fun but did not participate. There is a swim with dolphins option that costs extra or you can watch for free. Lots of lounge chairs around for being lazy as well. Iguana's everywhere.

 

Hopefully you are in port early and leaving late so you can enjoy a full day here. It's a pretty expensive day once you factor in the transportaion and there is so much to do you really need the whole day.

[shag girl]

We were there in November 07. Our cruise ship docked in Playa Del Carmen and we negotiated our own cab. $35 to get there, about a 35 min ride. Tickets were $75 each at the door. I wish we had gotten there earlier (we were there about 10:30 am). It cost us $40 to get back to the port....less taxis to choose from at the end of the day. We left around 5 pm.

 

It was worth every penny, the hi light of our whole cruise. I really really enjoyed the food. There was a lovely Mexican buffet, beautifully dressed waitresses and the food was so fresh, and woooonderful!

 

The water is spectaular. We walked our legs off (it is a large place) trying to see every bit of it and take pictures of everything. I wish we had spent more time relaxing in some of the wooden lounge chairs, which are everywhere.

 

Don't miss the beach! There are hammocks and chairs under grass huts and it is spectacular! However, the shore is very rocky and we were unable to swim in the ocean. Got some fabulous pictures, though, it is PARADISE!

 

I would love to go back and spend another day, now that we have explored the whole park. I would spend more time just being lazy, enjoying the drinks (we had bloody marys that were to die for!) and I'd love to try each and every restaurant (we were so stuffed from the only one we went to, that we didn't want to look at anything else!)

[samonmain]

http://www.cozumelinsider.com/Trans