Western 7 Night Carib. on Legend, March 4th Excursion questions?

Hello,

Sailing on Legend of the Seas March 4th to

G. Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Belize City

and we've looked at the excursions arranged by Royal Caribbean, which
look great.

But we are wondering if there are any other can't miss, or don't miss,
sights sounds, adventures, shopping, restaurants that any not marked on
any cruise line web tour that you might have enjoyed, and would recommend?

On 2/12/06 1:37 PM Dale M consulted a Magic 8 Ball and declared:

Hello,

Sailing on Legend of the Seas March 4th to

G. Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Belize City

and we've looked at the excursions arranged by Royal Caribbean, which
look great.

But we are wondering if there are any other can't miss, or don't miss,
sights sounds, adventures, shopping, restaurants that any not marked
on any cruise line web tour that you might have enjoyed, and would
recommend?
In addition to an inexpensive bus ride to 7 Mile Beach, I enjoyed just
walking about the back roads on Grand Cayman with my camera. I felt
perfectly safe, and locals I met were friendly and helpful in pointing
the way to interesting things to photograph.

Take the ferry ride from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen. I just happen to
like Playa the tourist areas are smaller in scale as compared to
Cozumel. If you speak a little Spanish, check out things on 30th.
Thats where the locals shop and eat. You can have lunch or dinner for
as little as ninety-cents at one of the tacoterias. You'll get
authentic Mexican food, in a clean establishment.

In the north end of town are two inexpensive beach clubs. If a day at a
beach is what you want, without scuba diving these are the places to
go. Your entry fee gives you a place to change, a beach lounge and a
beach towel. Sometimes even the first drink is free. One of the beach
clubs is part of a hotel, with its own restaurant. It's a long but
interesting walk along Aveneda Quinta (5th Avenue), to the beach clubs.
It would probably be a good idea to take a cab. One of the clubs is
Natz-ti-ha.

If you opt to visit the Mayan ruins of Tulum, as costly as a ships
excursion may be you are probably better off. I've known people who
have done this on their own. But it involves a transfer over water; the
ferry from Cozumel. Then you need to find a means of getting to from
Tulum. Very few car rental agencies keep cars in Playa del Carmen. If
you rent a car, you'll have to wait for it to be brought down from
Cancun. Then you have to actually drive to Tulum. There is very little
signage at Tulum. That's why a guided tour is better. Also, the tour
operator is more likely to get you back to the ferry in Playa. Some tour
operators even have their own transport boats to get people to and from
Cozumel.

If you have iron clad sales resistance, you could tour an all inclusive
timeshare property. Most will give you a free day pass after a 90
minute sales pitch. I've done this at Occidental Allegro. Starting out
early, I still had enough time to enjoy the site and have free lunch.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Brian K wrote:

If you opt to visit the Mayan ruins of Tulum, as costly as a ships
excursion may be you are probably better off. I've known people who
have done this on their own. But it involves a transfer over water; the
ferry from Cozumel. Then you need to find a means of getting to from
Tulum. Very few car rental agencies keep cars in Playa del Carmen. If
you rent a car, you'll have to wait for it to be brought down from
Cancun. Then you have to actually drive to Tulum. There is very little
signage at Tulum. That's why a guided tour is better. Also, the tour
operator is more likely to get you back to the ferry in Playa. Some tour
operators even have their own transport boats to get people to and from
Cozumel.

We did Tulum on our own, from Cozumel, and had no problems with the
transportation logistics. Ths was, however, before Hurricane Wilma. I'm
not sure if the ferries between Coz. and Playa del Carmen are running
as often or as regularly as they were when we made the trip. At that
time, there was a ferry every hour, so it was easy to schedule the day.

As far as the rental car goes, we rented from National Rental Car which
had an office at a hotel that was literally steps from where you're let
off the ferry in Playa. The car itself was parked about a block away.
They were late model cars, mostly VWs, in excellent condition. Driving
to Tulum was painless. From the car park, we just drove west until we
hit the main north/south road (hard to miss). We turned left (south)
and then drove on that road to the entrance of Tulum. Really, a no
brainer.

Once we were there, we hired a tour guide for $20 to show us around.
That was $20 for the four of us...quite a steal. He was a great
guy..retired school teacher with an engineering degree, and completely
fluent in English.

I'd call the day a success, but even with no transportation glitches,
it's a long day. Too much time was spent getting to/from, and not
enough time was spent actually there (I would have liked the uxury of a
few more hours to enjoy the beach at Tulum which is absolutely
gorgeous). One of the pluses of doing it on your own is that you're not
forced into those shopping stops along the way. And, having a private
tour guide is nice as well.

For the four of us, it was a huge $$ savings, doing it on our own.
There was definitely some risk involved (transportation problems,
chance of missing the ship, etc.) but we allowed plenty of cushion in
our schedule to allow for unforseen problems. Whether you choose to do
it on your own is definitely a question of your comfort level and
tolerance for "adventure".

Lee

If you have iron clad sales resistance, you could tour an all inclusive
timeshare property. Most will give you a free day pass after a 90
minute sales pitch. I've done this at Occidental Allegro. Starting out
early, I still had enough time to enjoy the site and have free lunch.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951