The third and final stop on my Royal Caribbean press trip in the Western Caribbean was Cozumel in Mexico. We hopped off the ship (well, not literally) for our shore excursion: ‘Mayan Ruins, Island Tour & Beach’.
Just like our port day in Jamaica two days before, Cozumel was another return trip for me. I spent a day in Cozumel when I was exploring Mexico with a digital nomad work and travel company a few years back. On that trip, we took the ferry to the island and hired the most charming clapped-out car. It was an amazing day so I was excited to be back again!
If you want to rent a car in Cozumel when you dock there on a cruise, be aware that it’s very expensive and the pickings are slim! Seriously, you’ll be lucky if the car has seatbelts…
Rather than spend on a rental car, it made sense to do a Royal Caribbean shore excursion in Cozumel. There’s a huge bonus to planning your onshore activities using the official excursions: you’re guaranteed to be brought back to the ship in time for departure.
My worse fear during a cruise would be to miss back on board time. Can you imagine everyone waving at you from the top deck as you stand on the pier, morosely watching them sail away?
Why I loved my shore excursion in Cozumel
Watch my Mexico City travel vlog on Youtube
The first part of our Cozumel excursion was seeing some of Cozumel’s native Mayan ruins at San Gervasio.
We had a brilliant guide called Juan who kept us all entertained as we strode around the archeological ruins and he explained all about the Mayan calendar, which was genuinely SO interesting. It made me want to go away and read more about the topic.
I enjoy seeing historic places like this but I do think that once you’ve seen one pile of rocks, you’ve seen them all. For this reason, I was pleased that we only visited the most important main ruins for a brief overview.
Culture sufficiently soaked up, we then headed to a beach – one that I had been to on my first visit – and ate tacos barefoot in the sand.
I had trouble finding genuinely good food in Mexico last time so was happy to go wherever the cruise line endorsed. Thankfully, the food was delicious. So were the cocktails!
The food and drink isn’t included in this particular Cozumel excursion so you do need to carry dollars if you choose this trip.
The beach itself is stunning; completely unspoilt with no big developments spilling onto the sand. I’ve heard there are sea turtles in the area but I didn’t see any on either visit.
When the bus dropped us back at the cruise ship terminal, we realised we still had some time to kill so we had a stroll around the streets near the seafront.
I just love all the colours in Mexico!
Other shore excursions we did on our cruise
River tubing and beach party in Jamaica
Dragon’s Breath Flight Line in Labadee
If you want to see all of my updates from my Caribbean cruise, follow me @danniellelily and check out my ‘Royal Caribbean Cruise’ highlight. I also wrote a full review of Harmony of the Seas, in case you’re thinking of sailing on her or her sister ship, Allure!
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was a guest of Royal Caribbean UK. Views are my own.
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