Taking my wife and three boys 10, 12 & 14 on the kids first cruise. What can we do for them at Playa del Carmen / Calica & Cozumel?? They love to swim. But need other fun things. What can the adults do.
Sailing on Carnival Jubilee out of Galveston, TX. August 18, 2003.
In Playa del Carmen a good time to be had by all is a trip to Xcaret. Its an ecological park and has lots to do and see for folks of all ages. There is a beach area and underground cave to swim in, mayan village, ruins, mayan shows, butterfly pavillon, turtles etc etc. Our family just loved this place. Happy sailing!
JSolis - I just asked this same question a week ago and got some information from the great folks on this board. For Cozumel look at cozumelinsider.com looks like fun. (My husband thinks we need to ride horses on the beach - so Mr. Sanchos it is.) In Playa del Carmen someone mentioned above Xcaret and their website is xcaretcancun.com - that really looks beautiful and there would be lots of things for kids to do. Of course there is Tulum, the Mayan ruins and someone recommended we rent a jeep and drive down there and then stop at a couple of the beaches. It all sounds wonderful to me. ENJOY!!
Le
Our favorite cruise day was spent in Playa del Carmen. We went on a jeep safari tour...it was great!!! We travelled through the town, did a little off-roading, hiked through a cave (where there was a beautiful blue hole for swimming) and ended up at one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. (lunch was provided and you could rent snorkel equipment, kayaks etc.)
After the jeep tour, we took the ferry back to Cozumel (that in itself was an adventure....it was a fun and bumpy ride and we saw several dolphins...it was amazing!!!)
In Cozumel we went on the Sunset Fiesta Party Cruise....that was a great time too!! Have fun whatever you decide to do!!
If you are looking to save money and do your own thing, this is what we did in Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen. We were there the first week in June. In Cozumel, go to Chankanaab Park. Taxi will cost you 10.00 and admission in 10.00 ea. To rent snorkle stuff it was 6.00 for fins, goggles and snorkle. We shared these. Park is beautiful, lots to do and we brought our own drinks. Taxi back to town is 10.00 and walked around the downtown area. Found vanilla in a grocery store for 1.82 a liter. Ended up buying a case. In Calica/Playa Del Carmen, we took the FREE Carnival Bus to Playa Del Carmen. They have many free beaches there and taxi ride back to pier is 10.00. Enjoy.
Now that sounds like a great adventure!!! A safari tour!!! Do I use a shore excursion from the ship or should I do that on my own? Also, would a family of five be able to take one of these jeeps?
My wife and I have been to Tulum about two years prior. Although I'm an avid history buff I would love to see Chichen Itza however, it appears that this is an ALL Day 12 hour tour. We want to see as much as we can and do as much as we can on the day we are in Playa. Then on our Cozumel day we would like to just shop and swim on a beach preferrably not too crowded. But that may be too much to ask for!
Chichen Itza uses to be offered as a shore excursion but was eventually replaced by Tulum because you get to see the ruins and swim/snorkel. Chichen Itza is worth seeing. You probably have to make your own arrangement.
We just returned from the Western Caribean cruise of the Triumph and had a great time. On Cozemel, we took the Eco-Jeep tour. It was great. If there are 4 of you, you will get your own jeep. We first went on a tour of a small village to see how the locals live and learn about some of thier early religion then made our way to a wild life refuge where we went to a light house and got to climb up it , then we went to a salt water lake where there are salt water crocidiles where we fed them chicken. It was alsome. Then we did so off road driving that was wild, make sure you have your seatbelt on! Then we went to a snorkling area and saw many beautiful fish and other underwater things. The tour lasted close to 5 hours and we had a great time. This would be alot of fun with children. We then went back to the boat and changed clothes and took a taxi downtown and enjoyed shopping until 10:00pm that night.
Thanks Gary & Deb. I too sailed on the Triumph earlier this year. Week of March 1st to be exact. Our itinerary at that time however, took us to San Juan, St. Thomas & St.Maarten.
All things considered...it appears that taking the ECO Jeep tour is the best option for us. Sounds like a winner to me. Now hopefully my wife can find some frozen cosmopolitans along the way!!
We are going on our first cruise in August. Three kids, two boys 11,14. For Cozumel someone had suggested Playa sol. Has pool, beach( with lots of beach toys for the kids), shade, food, drinks and everything else one could think of. That's my game plan.
We just came back from a 7-day Western Caribbean on the Carnival Paradise with our last stop being Cozumel --- I HIGHLY recommend the Eco-Adventure by Jeep. It is AMAZING and well-worth EVERY penny. Our tour guide was Lorenzo and he was great! We were very impressed with the stops we made throughout the day and felt it was a good use of our limited time in Cozumel. This excursion was set up through Carnival...
If you can go to Chichen Itza, do it by all means! We were there last month and we were all fascinated by this ruin. My son especially, it was all he could talk about and he avidly listened to the tour guide and even followed his suggestion of an excellent book to read about the Maya. But if time does not allow, we did Playa Del Sol with the kids a few years back and they really enjoyed that. There was plenty for them to do and because they were in the teens and under our supervision we allowed them to partake in the open bar (which IMHO the drinks are watered down). This was their best time in Coz.
We just returned from the Holiday. At Cozumel, we visited Playa Sol, the adventure beach. I have three kids, 16, 15, and 10. If you buy the excursion from Carnival ($29 per adult), you get an open bar the whole day, including rum punch, margaritas, strawberry dacquiri's and soft drinks. The taxi and lunch was NOT included (taxi was $14 each way), and we didn't each lunch (only nachos for a snack). It was so hot, we lost our appetites. They offered a Mexican buffet for around $10/adult, $6.00/children. We did use the open bar, however
The older kids rode on the jet skis, and everyone used the kayaks, ping pong tables, etc. They also had a small "zoo" where you could see the chimps.
Be forwarned, however. You have to walk through an area before getting into the beach where there are vendors who beg you to buy from them. We did not like this. We found this to be the norm in Cozumel and Playa.
At Playa, we just went to the free portion of the beach, and let the kids play. They love the beach, and didn't want to go on any excursions. Next time we will try the Tulum adventure. It's a beautiful beach.
Connect with Facebook
What to do Playa del Carmen / Cozumel
Linear Mode
