Mayan Ruins - Xunantunich or Tulum?

My family is cruising on Carnival next week and we really want to see some ruins. We are having trouble deciding between Tulum from Cozumel and Xunantunich from Belize City. Any opinions? Cheaper tours? Thanks!

[Kathie]

In Jan. 2003, we did a W. Carib. cruise on Explorer and booked the cruiselines tour that included a visit to the San Gervasio ruins only a few miles from the pier. Very enjoyable! A woman in our group said she like them better than Tulum because they were actually ruins, not just a pyramid (Tulum) The Tulum excursion was an 8 hr trip (mostly on the bus) and that's way too lengthy for us. Our bus driver was of Mayan descent and was a fount of knowledge.
Our tour also included a shopping stop, island tour and a beach stop. I don't know if Carnival offers a tour of the San Gervasio ruins, but it might be worth looking into.

Explorer-E. Carib. 1/12/02
Explorer-W. Carib. 1/18/03
Summit-Alaska cruise/tour 8/3/03
Adventure-S. Carib. 2/8/04

I'm Jeni's sister -- thanks for the info! We'll look to see if they offer San Gervasio ruins. I wonder if we could find a tour operator standing on the shore when we get off the ship?

Hi Jeni, my name is Nacho and I am a tour guide here in Belize. I have heard a lot of people complaining of the long trip to Tulum. To get to Xunantunich is only about two hours and you spend about 1 1/2hrs at the site then on the way back usually you would have lunch for another 45 minutes then journey back to Belize City, which takes approx. another 2 hrs. but you get to past thru a lot of the creole settlements along the way that moved away from the city because of hurricanes. Also you get to see a lot of the country side of Belilze.
Well I hope this information was helpful, but if you need more info feel free to contact me at kip2299@yahoo.com
Nacho