Royal Caribbean Tulum excursion question.

[jgiczewski]

We were looking to do the tulum excursion. a couple questions.

 

1) how long are you actually at the ruins? There seems to be quite a bit of travel time

 

2) are you allowed any time on your own or only with the tour guide?

 

3) do they feed you? this is a 6 1/2 hour tour..that seems like a long time without eating (especially if you are walking around, etc.)

 

thanks!

[SC_Sam]

This is from my review from January 2007. Hope it helps:

 

We booked the Tulum Express excursion through RCI.

 

It was neat to see, but took all day. When we disembarked, there was a 35 minute ferry ride to the mainland, then a fifteen minute walk through the city to the bus. Then a 75 minute bus ride (including the obligatory shopping/potty break at the Mayan craft cooperative store).

 

The ruins themselves were very interesting to see. We had good guides, and there were lots of iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks. There is a beautiful vista for picture-taking overlooking the beach. All told, we were at the actual ruins site for about an hour and a half. Then we had the hour long bus ride back the city, then the ferry ride back to Cozumel. The ferry did not take us back to the ship, but instead to the shopping area. Unfortunately, we only had about an hour before the ship was to sail, so we just had to grab a taxi back to the ship. It was not a bad day, but it was tiring, and did not give my in-laws a chance to see any of Cozumel. Grade: B-

 

To answer your questions not addressed by the review:

 

Time alone: Yes, I think I remember the guided tour taking about 50 minutes and then having about 40 minutes to explore and take pictures.

 

Food: Yes, but a box lunch. Definitely not up to the standard of the ship's food. Fortunately, we had carried a bunch of the little Froot Loops cereal boxes they have out at breakfast to tide us over until dinner.