Carnival excursion-Amazing Race

[repogirl49]

Wondering if any one has done the Carnival excursion- Amazing race? Good ? Bad? Thanks, Julie

[PH8]

Im a fan of the show...........is it anything like that???

[repogirl49]

Sound's like it! " An Interactice, clue-based game that's like a reality show! Egual parts live-action mystery novel, and scavenger hunt, it the best and most fun way to experience Cozumel " Julie

[Princess-of-Quite-alot]

Haha..they probably make you visit all the shops they own in port.:rolleyes:

[joy seas]

Has anyone actually done this tour? My family and I love this show. Would like to hear how it works as an excursion...?

[braycar]

We just got home and ran the race while in Cozumel. It was a lot of fun! You'd better be in shape if you plan to win - we ran about 3 miles total in a couple of hours. Our big question was if we would be out any more money on the race...they paid for admission fees and the taxi to the start and back afterwards. You can spend $2 at one place where you already are, or go somewhere else to get it for free - its up to you. Then the locals want you to buy things while at their places, but you don't have to. We just told everyone we'd come back after the race. The final "ceremony" was at a restaurant, but we were told that we didn't have to eat there - we did and the food was fine. We did tip one guy to delay the teams behind us, but I don't think he did.:) We are looking forward to our kids being teens and running the race again with them. Maybe they will make new clues between now and then.

[joy seas]

Thanks for the reply Braycar! Sounds like you had a good time. My kids are 12 and 14 - do you think they could keep up? Also did you have time after the race to see some of cozumel? Did alot of teams participate? We're torn between a day at the beach or the amazing race - any imput?

Thanks!

[braycar]

There was a sophomore in high school running with her dad on our race, and she had a lot of fun. I would even suggest you even split into 2 teams and compete against each other. That way more of your family will get to enjoy the "souveniers" that you acquire on the race. We only had 4 teams of 2 on our day. They require a minimum of 6 to be signed up by the night prior to the race or they will cancel.

 

After the race we had time to go shopping and we even went back to the ship early. You should have a good afternoon for the beach (if your race is in the morning like ours). That's what I would do if I had it to do all over again. A taxi ride for up to 4 people is $6.

 

Another tip...the area where the race is run has more marketplace-type shops, whereas the area around the ship is very tourist-oriented. We said afterwards that we wished we had shopped the race area rather than back at the port.

 

Hope this helps.

[joy seas]

Thanks Braycar! lots of helpful info - one more question:o The web site states the tour is 4 hours, did you race that whole time? or did that include the lunch. If so, could we skip the lunch without missing much? and does the race end in the marketplace shopping area, or would you have to backtrack to do some shopping after? ok I guess that was a few more questions.....Again Thanks!!:D

[braycar]

I've tried to remember what time we finished, but I believe the 4 hours includes lunch. We enjoyed the lunch - getting to know the other racers and the hosts, so I'm glad we stayed. They had the awards ceremony before we ate.

 

Without giving away locations, you do end up within walking distance of some true Mexican marketplaces. I would suggest that as you are going with the group to get in the first taxi, look around at the shops around the port. We were so excited to get started that I couldn't remember what was around the port and assumed it was the same type of shops as what we saw on the race. Also, the race zone and the port area are just 2 parts of Cozumel - you might do some research to know what areas you will want to shop (depending on what type of stuff you want), play, etc., then get a taxi there, either from the finish line or from the port area. The race pays for the taxi back to the port area, but it is just $6US for up to 4 people so that's not bad.

[blizzardescaper]

we did this excursion in December. Granted we had only watched the show once but figured this was your typical scavenger hunt. The hint for the first location of where to solve the first puzzle was not evident to us therefore we wasted about 15 minutes trying to figure out where to start. Once we got the hang of it, it was fun. It was a lot of walking/running, but saw a lot of Cozumel a lot of others never see. It did get a little scarry as you are never sure of what is "safe" and what isn't unless you have probably been there before.

 

The only complaint I have is we were not offered a taxi ride back to the ship. They told us we could get one for $6 but we wanted to do some shopping first. We asked how far of a walk it was back to the ship and they told us 2 miles. WELL, after an hour of walking we were only part way and figured it was more like 5 miles.

[jerry20001]

Every place you'd go in Cozumel will be safe. Just be careful of the condition of the sidewalks and traffic crossing streets outside the main tourism zone. Pay attention to where you step, the people won't bother you, would likely help with clues, but some sidewalks back in the 'hood could be "killers". LOL

 

The main taxi fare did go up in early December from $6 to $7 for up to four people.

[tacotam]

We did this last year in April. It was a blast. We were a group of 8. We made some "team' shirts and brought them with us. I don't want to give any clues away, but you actually see some fun places in cozumel during the race. The guides were awesome. Every place we went was very safe and they provided us with a cell phone to call them for help if needed. If you called for any hints, you were given penalty minutes in the race. We wasn't sure if we wanted to split into two teams or stay together, but before the first stop we split into two teams. There was only one other team in the race and they were serious about the race. They were very much in shape and came ready to run.

 

In our group, we had three ladies in 40's, a 20 year old girl, (2) 20 year olds guys, one 14 and one 15 year old girls. As we were all going to the first pit stop, the jewlers loured us into the stores with free shots. The kids didn't want to do all the stopping and took off running to try to win the race. The ladies had all decided that we were in this for fun only. We had a blast. We stopped at every bar along the way. We danced in the streets and really had a huge party. Even while drinking, we were still able to figure out all the clues. If you tip some of the locals, they will tell you lots of clues. lol

 

Michelle was our guide and she was a bunch of fun. During the race, you will see the guides a few times. Our "fast" team lead for much of the race, but they got stuck on the last clue and the other team passed them up. Of course, we came in last. They had prizes for everyone. They even went out and got us shot glasses for our prize.

 

I would recommend this excursion for anyone from 12 years old and up. Everyone had a blast.

[jpg1747]

Does anyone know how strict they are about the age requirements? I'm over 55. Thanks.