Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt Has anyone taken this cruise? Was it a far trek to the Mayan Temples? The Ruins are on my bucket list, as well as the cruise & I really want to visit Key West so I'm leaving toward this one. Thanks for any input!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I assume you are discussing the Disney cruise? I cannot talk about that one. But we did go on a Western Caribbean Cruise and had a great time. I felt Key West was pretty much a waste of time tourist trap, but the Key Lime Pie was nice. The highlight were the mayan ruins in Tulum. We had a tended to Playa Del Car just south of Cancun, and we took about a 90 minute bus journey down to the ruins (the only coastal Mayan ruins in the world). we had a rest break halfway where there was a tourist market, loads of parrots and lizards of the jungle. Then we spent a few hours exploring the ruins which were facinating. and speaking with our guide was fab. Most of our fellow travellers weren't that interested so we pretty much got 2-1 attention. what was really cool was there were statues of bearded men, looking spanish, but they were carved about 200 years before the conquestedors arrived! awesome. The other things we did were a tour of Grand Cayman - 7 mile beach, millionaire row, a turtle farm, snorkelling with the sting rays and a visit to Hell. It was very cool. Jamaica involved a plantation visit including rum tasting, a drive past the house that inspired the writing of James Bond, a Blue Mountain coffee market and Dunn's River Falls (beautiful, but a tourist trap). Overall the west seemed to offer more activities than the East.
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt Thanks Dave, Tulum is on Disney excursion list but, it's 8 hrs... We were thinking something shorter. Disney has 3 different Mayan excursions to pick from. Kayaking at Key West looked fun & I would love to see the monument of the southern most US point. Yup, I'm a tourist! Can't go wrong with real Key Lime pie!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Hmmm, I would be a little wary of something shorter being of quality. There is xel Ha (Spelling?) which is a natural aquatic park with some underwater ruins visable by snorkling. The main event would be Chitzen Itza (which is amazing), but that is even further away than Tulum. where are the mayan expeds they are offering?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Hmmm, I would be a little wary of something shorter being of quality. There is xel Ha (Spelling?) which is a natural aquatic park with some underwater ruins visable by snorkling. The main event would be Chitzen Itza (which is amazing), but that is even further away than Tulum. where are the mayan expeds they are offering?
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt True, not sure if DH & kiddies want to spend 8 hrs on my venture... Something to think about
Originally Posted By Doobie We've taken the Western Caribbean two times. Unfortunately we did not do the Temples so can't help with that. While we stayed on the ship Rebekah's family did get off at Key West and really enjoyed it. They're not party people but they toured it by themselves by foot during the day and had a great time. And watching the sunset from a wooden deck chair on deck 4 was all it's cracked up to be! We all took a bus tour at Grand Cayman and really enjoyed seeing everything. It wasn't too long after a major hurricane so there was a lot of damage and a lot of "...used to be there..." from the tour guide but still well worth seeing and we had particular fun at the rum tasting and turtle farm. At Cozumel we got a cab and went to a beach that had been recommend (don't remember the name - sorry) and had a really great time just swimming on our own and beautiful waters. Rebekah made a fun video after the cruise. It includes a lot of the highlights I mention above. Anyone can check out here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzmo_1b-vdE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...o_1b-vdE</a> We've not taken the Eastern Caribbean so we can't compare, but we can easily recommend the Western. And of course ... we recommend MouseEarVacations.com Doobie.
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt Great video Doobie!! thank you so much! Free rum tasting got my attention! I did contast MouseEar....! We're looking at April school vacation 2012! thanks again!
