Photo Review: Caribbean Cruise Excursions (Disney Fantasy) - Tulum Ruins (Cozumel)

There are many, many options for excursions and what you can do in each port, so it can be difficult narrowing it down to the right activity, sights, shopping, etc.  I had a great time on my cruise last September to the Western Caribbean, and I thought I would share with you all what I did at the various stops.  Hopefully my experiences and insights will help others plan out their time better, and select excursions that really suit your party.



This will be a review of the Cozumel, Mexico stop only.  For other stops, look for future posts!

**If you are looking for a review of the ship & my stateroom, see this post.**

Departure Date: September 13, 2014
Departure Port:  Port Canaveral, Florida
Cruise Length: 7 days

Itinerary
Day 1	Embark/Sea Day
Day 2	Sea Day
Day 3	Cozumel, Mexico
Day 4	Grand Cayman
Day 5	Falmouth, Jamaica
Day 6	Sea Day
Day 7	Castaway Cay
Day 8	Disembark

Cozumel, Mexico - Tulum Ruins - $129 per adult

This was my second time in Cozumel, but the rest of my families first time here.  My dad had specifically mentioned wanting to visit some kind of ruins while on this trip, and I knew the perfect place to go.  

The Mayan Tulum Ruins are not on the island of Cozumel; you must take a 30-45 minute ferry ride to mainland Mexico and then a bus ride that takes about an hour after that.  We don't always book excursions through the cruise line, mainly because they are typically more expensive when you book with the cruise.  However, we booked this excursion through Disney for several reasons.  One, this excursion was quite lengthy, about 7 hours.  Because you only have a limited amount of time in each port, and you don't want to get left behind, booking through the cruise line makes sense.  They guarantee that they will not leave you behind on a cruise-booked excursion.  The other reason we booked this through Disney is because we didn't want to arrange the transfers from our ship to the ferry and then from a ferry to a bus in order to arrive at Tulum.

The ferry ride was actually quite enjoyable.  Disney provided motion sickness pills for all guests who wanted them before even departing the cruise ship, as well as suggesting we take a few towels.  I did not take my motion sickness pills because I wanted to see if I'd really even need them, as I have never been motion sick on the big cruise ships.  The ferry is much smaller in size, but still a very large boat, which probably seats 150 or so.  I sat outdoors on the second floor with my sister in a spot with fresh air blowing into my face.  The above deck seats are hard flat metal benches; not uncomfortable for the length of the trip.  They had an indoor section down a flight of stairs that was air conditioned and had more comfortable seats, as well.  The picture up above and to the left is a stock photo from the Mexico WaterJet's website.  It looks similar to the ferry we road on, except the back half had a more open feel to it.



After that, we arrived at the dock, where we followed one of our tour guides on a short walk to our motor coach (aka bus).  One slightly irritating thing was that our guides "required" us to take a picture with some rain forest-y greenery and ruin type thing behind us.  We could later purchase these photos for a small fee if we wished.  It was annoying because it took a good 20 minutes to get photos of every party in the group, when majority of the passengers didn't even purchase this photo.  The photo to the right was in the same general area as the required photo was.  Nothing that exciting.

To the left is an example of one of the shopping streets we walked down.  We didn't have time to stop at any of the stores, but we were approached by many vendors, mostly trying to make a quick few dollars selling us sombreros and hats with words like "Corona" embroidered on them.  The picture to the right shows a common "safety feature" added to fences in Mexico.  In the very corner of the picture you can just make out the edge of our bus.  This is apparently the only picture anyone in our group took of our tour bus!

Once on the bus, we pretty much had a non-stop narration of things about the Tulum Ruins, Mayans, and general things of that nature.  Our tour guide also told us not to buy the hand carved stone statues you would see in stores, as he personally carved some (and passed examples around) that he would sell to us for a better price.  They looked identical to all of the supposed "hand carved" stone statues you find in stores in Mexico, along with the accidentally left on "Made in China" stickers.  The tour guide also spent some time talking about the Mayan Calendar and pumping us up with how cool it was, so he could to try and sell you a birthday certificate of your own in the Mayan Calendar system.  

Once we arrived near the ruins, we were also warned to only shop in a particular store that was painted in yellow.  Our tour guides reasoning?  They allowed you to use their bathrooms for free, and he sort of implied that the other stores were very pushy, not as safe, etc.  I thought this was a little sketchy, but we did as our tour guide directed.

Now, according to the Disney website, there is a short walk from the bus drop-off point to the actual ruins.  The walk is about a mile long, or 15 minutes, and Disney says that this is not included in their price.  However, our tour guide gave all of us passes to ride this tram, so I'm not sure if Disney changed their policy or what.  To the left is a picture of the tram system.  It's basically a bunch of cars pulled by a big tractor.  There was a LOT of standing water at the boarding area.  You had to strategically jump across some well placed rocks/bricks to avoid getting soaking wet feet.

Another thing Disney promises that guests will receive is a headset that uses the "whisper system".  What Disney doesn't say that if there is inclement weather (also known as rain, which happens frequently in September) that the guides don't pass these out.  The headsets are supposed to allow you to focus on taking pictures but still hear what is going on.

The tour guide likes to lead you around to the various important sites, and in general talk quite a bit.  It was fine, and very informative, except I think way too much talking.  It was very hot and humid, so even standing in the shade you sweat quite a bit. I was tempted to wander off and do my own thing, but I did genuinely want to learn more about this amazingly beautiful site.  After about an hour, our tour guide let us go off on our own and we explored more of the areas that he didn't take us to.

There is a beach that you can access via stairway, which you can see in the picture to the right.  For some reason, however, the stairway was closed off and we weren't allowed to access the beach.  This was also slightly baffling, as Disney suggests in their excursion guide that guests bring a swim suit if they plan on swimming in the ocean while at the ruins.  Now, there was another portion of the beach closed off to tourists due to it being a prime turtle beach, but that doesn't explain why this portion was blocked off.  In the picture on the left you can see the fenced off turtle area beach.  I've heard other people say it was closed for them as well, but because of bad weather.  If the entire beach was closed due to turtle nesting, this is something that a Disney employee could have looked up and told guests before they departed on the excursion.  I was extremely disappointed that I was unable to get down in the sand and feel the water, and also upset that I missed the chance to take some spectacular ruins pictures from the ocean.

Here are some more photos from the ruins; there were tons of iguanas basking in the sunlight and on rocks here!

  

After we left the ruins, we took the tram back to the shopping area. Again, as instructed, we only shopped in the yellow store (I think it was labeled "Market" or something like that).  It was here that my sister realized she was sensitive to certain types of indoor lighting, and had the worst migraine of her life.  After a few minutes in the store, she grabbed my moms arm, started to shake, and told my mom she was having a hard time seeing (translate: couldn't see) and was going to throw up.  My mom quickly rushed her out of the store, where she leaned shakily against the building, trying to recover.  She did feel better after a bit, and walked around to some of the outdoor vendors, but was relieved when the bus arrived.  They were supposed to have our lunch on board (included in the price), and she was hungry.

Apparently it was just not my sisters day.  They only had ham sandwiches for everyone, along with a bag of chips, a juice box, a muffin and a banana.  My sister has quite a few allergies, along with being a vegetarian, which we told Disney employees.  They promised us that they would have something suitable for my sister when lunch time rolled around.  The only thing they had that she could eat was the bottle of water.  My sister is allergic to bananas and all poultry (this includes eggs), which rules out many bread products, such as muffins and sandwiches.  The tour guide acted like this was the first he heard of someone having an allergy and needing a different lunch (which it probably was), but didn't offer to do anything.  Finally the driver, a bit ungraciously said, well I can go get her a subway sandwich.  Luckily I brought some crackers (sealed) off the ship with me and she had a protein bar, or she would have been very hungry.  As a side note, be careful what you take of the ship; they are very strict about this, and you get get severely fined for taking off things like fruits.  That being said, if you are a picky eater, make sure to take snacks with you!

The ride back was fairly uneventful, if you don't consider my sister also getting carsick (or rather bus-sick) to be an event.  While my family loved seeing the ruins, we didn't appreciate the hospitality (or lack of it) from our tour guide/driver.  They seemed more interested in trying to sell you things and get a big tip than making sure you were enjoying yourself.  I was talking to our guide on the trip back, and he asked what my father did for a living.  I told him (my father is a retired environmental health specialist, also known as a health inspector), the guide just nodded like it was interesting.  Then his friend asked (in Spanish) where does he work?  And the guide responded (in Spanish) it's nothing important.  Now, I'm not fluent in Spanish by any means, but "trabajo", "nada" and "importante" are words just about any high school Spanish student understands.  For that reason alone, I told my parents that these guides didn't deserve a large tip from us, if any tip, at all.

Now, before people reading this think that this is a horrible trip to take and should avoid it, I want you to know that this was one of the best excursions I have ever taken.  Not because of mediocre tour guides, but because of the incredible scenery and history of the Tulum Ruins.  That, and Disney went above and beyond trying to make up this horrible (well, my sister said it was horrible, I quite enjoyed it) experience.

Excursion Rating: 7.5/10

The slightly lower rating is due to the bad tour operators.  We approached the Disney excursion planners (not sure of their official title on board) and told them of our experiences.  They said that there was some kind of miscommunication between them and the tour operators, because they did call and inform them of a food allergy and asked them to have something suitable for my sister.  However, they were unsure as to why we were told to only go into the "yellow market" store, or of all the random sales pitches we received en route to Tulum, and made a note of it to look into their current vendors, because that shouldn't have happened.

Disney Rating: 10/10

Disney went above and beyond apologizing to us, and in general were awesome.  They took down detailed notes of my sisters allergies and promised they would be in close contact with our next booked excursion with them (coming up in Jamaica).  Let's just say, they did not disappoint.  More details on how Disney showed us they care about their passengers and go out of their way to make you feel special and important in my next blog posting, when I cover our excursion in Falmouth, Jamaica.

For now, please enjoy more of the photos I took from the Tulum Ruins.

Thanks for reading!

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Review: Disney Fantasy - Ship & Stateroom Review (with pictures!)

Review: Disney Fantasy - 7 Days - September 13, 2014 - Western Caribbean

I am super excited to finally publish this post reviewing my experience (as well as experiences from family) aboard the Disney Fantasy.  I hope this review helps anyone reading it, and please feel free to ask questions in the comments!

**This will only be a review of the ship, what we did on board, and our staterooms.  There will be another blog posting which details what we did on our excursions while on this cruise**


Departure Date: September 13, 2014
Departure Port:  Port Canaveral, Florida
Cruise Length: 7 days

Itinerary
Day 1	Embark/Sea Day
Day 2	Sea Day
Day 3	Cozumel, Mexico
Day 4	Grand Cayman
Day 5	Falmouth, Jamaica
Day 6	Sea Day
Day 7	Castaway Cay
Day 8	Disembark

Stateroom Review #10664 (Aft Balcony)
We were very excited about our stateroom on this cruise!  It was the first time we ever booked ourselves a balcony, and we opted to book an extended balcony at the rear of the ship.  The room itself was amazing, and the balcony offered great views of Port Canaveral.

One of our favorite features of this room was the split bathroom.  The toilet was separate from the shower, allowing more than one person to get ready at a time.  Both rooms had a sink, as well!  Another nice feature on this ship was that the beds were elevated off the ground, enabling some extra storage space underneath the beds.  This is particularly nice when sharing a room with 3 other people!

**The Negatives About This Room**:  While this balcony room was pretty amazing, it had some negatives that caused us to eventually change rooms the next day.

• Noise: This room was literally right below Cabanas; as a result, we enjoyed chairs scraping across the deck around 6:00am every morning as first Disney employees arranged/cleaned the buffet area in preparation for breakfast, and then as passengers scooted their chairs forward/backward while eating.
• Diesel:  We had previously read some mixed reviews online that this room was downwind of the diesel engines exhaust; some people had a problem with this, others didn't, so we risked booking this room.  This was a secondary reason for why we would not choose this room again, as the smell was very strong during certain parts of the day, and there was black dust/fallout from the diesel engines that we woke up to in the morning, coating our deck and lounge chairs.
• Vibrations: There were subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) vibrations in this room.  We aren't sure why, but it's probably due to this room being at the rear of the ship above any propellers or propulsion system the ship uses.

Stateroom Review # Starboard Balcony (deck 10, room #10536 mid-ship)
This room was nearly identical to the first, except the balcony was much smaller (your standard 2 chairs and a table balcony).  Being midship, we also decided the motion of the ship swaying was slightly reduced as well, compared to our last room.


Ship Review - Disney Fantasy
"Building on the classic style of her sister ship, the Disney Dream, the Disney Fantasy™ is the regal fourth cruise liner in the expanding Disney Cruise Line fleet". This 130,000-ton vessel offers: 

• 14 towering decks 
• 1,250 staterooms 
• The capacity to comfortably accommodate 4,000 passengers—along with the over 1,450 Cast and Crew Members who tend to the needs of every cruise Guest each day
• Total ship length of 1,115 feet and a maximum width of 125 feet

This ship has some amazing amenities done exceptionally well in the Disney style.  Some of the things I enjoyed the most on this ship are:

• Goofy's Sports Deck:  Besides actually having a basketball hoop (2 I believe), they also had several ping pong tables and foosball.  These were fun ways to pass the time for my family; we had some very intense table tennis matches!

• Pools/Spas: Contrary to popular belief, Disney cruise's are NOT just for kids!  They have multiple areas on the ship that are exclusively for 18+ years of age, including pool areas.  We loved discovering that the spas had a "window" in the bottom that allowed you to see out over the edge of the ship while relaxing in them!

• Mini-Golf:  The mini-golf course was adorably themed and fun for all ages.

Disney Fantasy - Restaurants
I cannot say enough good things about their restaurants and wait staff on this ship.  Two members of our party have food allergies, and one in particular has multiple severe food allergies.  After learning this on night one, each evening they would send out the next days menu, and my sister (the severe food allergy person) would select things she would like to eat on the menu, and the chefs would work miracles to try and adapt them to fit her needs.  There were a couple of times that they couldn't make what she wanted, so they would call our room and ask if there was something else they could make for her.  They went above and beyond to make sure my sister didn't get sick (or worse) from eating food prepared for her by them.  She never once complained about the food upsetting her, which she says is the first time this has happened in YEARS, even including cooking her own food for herself!


Food Quality:  Let me just put it out there - I am a very picky eater, and even I found something I liked every single night, regardless of the restaurant.  Each night there was a theme to the food (such as "Prince and Princess" where they had foods various Disney royalty might have eaten or Pacific Rim Cuisine, Continental Market, French Dinner, etc).  They had new items each night, and standard stuff they had every night, such as steak and come kind of chicken.  Personally, I loved the desserts...they were so well presented and tasty!  So mostly what I'll be grading the restaurants on is ambiance.

  

Cabanas:  Your typical buffet (bumped up many notches Disney style), we didn't eat here except mainly for breakfast, because the main dining restaurants are so beautiful.  However, I really loved the breakfast they did serve here.  All kinds of pastries, juice, milk, chocolate milk, coffee, tea, soda, water, cereals, fruits, eggs, sausages, donuts (Krispy Kreme), toast, pancakes, hash, potatoes, french toast, waffles (mickey shaped!), eggs benedict...you name it, they had it.

 

Animator's Palate:  One of the coolest restaurants on the ship, particularly when they had their design a character night.  At your table, your waiter brought everyone a large paper where you were to design your own animated character that would come to life later that night in a show that took place on the video screens around the room.  It was awesome!

Enchanted Garden:  This room was incredibly beautiful, and made you forget you were at sea.  The garden decor was peaceful and relaxing, with large flower-shaped lights that slowly opened as the evening meal progressed.

Royal Court:  The general theme of this restaurant was that of Prince and Princess. This was the "fancy" restaurant on the ship, where people tended to dress up regardless of whether it was formal night or not.  Probably my least favorite of the restaurants in terms of ambiance, because it was in general just a fancy opulent look.  However, they had some sort of "side" dining rooms (it wasn't just one large room) that we ate in, and that room had some beautiful artwork featuring princesses and their princes.

Eye Scream:  Your average frozen yogurt machine with cones available.  They had at least 2 machines, and besides chocolate and vanilla, they also occasionally had banana flavored ice cream.
Flo's Cafe:  You know those amazing cream-cheese filled pretzels you can buy in Disneyland or Disney World?  Or how about the Mickey Mouse shaped pretzels with cheese dipping sauce?  Both of these were served (free of charge) at this cafe on one of the days.  They also had your typical burgers, salads, chicken, wraps, pizza and fruit.
Room Service:  You can get just about anything delivered (free of charge) from room service.  The only down side was that it could take 30 minutes plus to receive your bowl of macaroni and cheese and 3 cookies (I would know...we ordered this on several occasions!).
Remy and Palo: These are two adults only restaurant venues and we never felt like we needed to pay more to eat food when in the main dining food was already incredible.  They run $25 per person and up.

Rotational Dining:  This cool feature ensures that you experience each dining venue at least once, and that your wait staff follows you from venue to venue.  You won't have to change waiters when you go from Animators Palate to Royal Court, and so on!  The only time you will not have your dining staff is for lunch in the main dining restaurants or if you decide to go to Cabanas instead.  However, your waiters have made extensive notes on any allergies or preferences you might have, so those substitute waiters will already know lots about you.  It's a very nice dining feature!




Entertainment
There were many activities to do on sea days, and amazing shows to see at night.  This was our second Disney cruise, so some things (like Mickey's 500 Race Cars) we skipped, since they are geared more towards children and we had all adults with us.  Here are some of the things we did on our cruise, and what we enjoyed most.

Midship Detective Agency:  This is a nifty way to pass the time.  There are several "cases" you can solve that involve you going around the ship and looking for clues in artwork.  These pieces of art will come to life and send you on your way towards your next clue and so on, until you solve the mystery.


Character Meen'n'Greet:  Besides the classics like Mickey, Minnie. Goofy, Pluto, Donald and Daisy, you could also meet Elsa and Anna, Jack Sparrow, Aurora, Cinderella, Aladdin, Jessie, Woody, Genie, Chip & Dale, Tinker Bell, Doc McStuffins, Sofia, Stitch (also Pirate Stitch!), Hook & Smee, Peter Pan, and many others.

Shows:  On this cruise, we had the shows called Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular (almost identical to the Aladdin show you can see in Disney's California Adventure), Disney's Wishes, and Disney's Believe.  Believe was easily the best of the bunch, but all of them were really well done, so do not miss these shows!


Pirate Night/Fireworks:  This was one of the coolest things I have ever done at sea.  The entire day is pirate themed, from the food to the decor to the uniforms that staff wear.  Guests of all ages are actively encouraged to dress up in pirate gear, and in my family we went above and beyond!  Pirate games for the whole family started at 7:30 on deck 11 & 12, followed by a pirate themed show involving the Fab 5 and Jack Sparrow, and then the fireworks show was shot off on the starboard side of the ship.  The show isn't as lengthy as the shows in the park, but this is still something worth doing.  Get a good spot early on near the stage where they do the show, as they get taken up very fast.

First-run Movies:  Not only do they have midnight premieres if a movie is coming out while you are on the cruise (I saw Maleficent on a Disney cruise back in May at a midnight premiere) but they show movies that are currently in theaters such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Hundred-Foot Journey, Million Dollar Arm, Guardians of the Galaxy, Planes: Fire & Rescue and Disney Nature movies like Bears.


AquaDuck/Pools:  Easily the coolest thing on this ship is the AquaDuck.  Easily visble from anywhere on the top decks, this giant tube slide is called a "water coaster" and circles the ship and takes you on a 765 foot journey, part of which extends you out over the ocean.  Aqua Lab is for families, with leaky pipes and water fun, and Nemo's Reef is for toddlers and younger children.  Mickey's Pool and Donald's Pool are for families, while Quiet Cove Pool and Satellite Falls are for adults only.

Halloween on the High Seas
During a specific time of the year (September-October generally), Disney Cruises celebrates Halloween on the High Seas.  This fun event means that there will be specific Halloween themed events, such as Mickey's Mouse-querade Party, which involves trick-or-treating for all ages, costumes and your favorite Disney characters in their Halloween costumes.  Halloween themed activities include mask making, pumpkin carving, scary stories, and more.  There is also a special adults-only costume party, where prizes are given for the best costumes.

Overall Experience Rating:  9/10
Quite honestly, it would be a 10/10 if not for a couple of things.  One, we were very disappointed to have to change rooms from our initially over-sized balcony room to the smaller balcony.  Two, there were literally so many people trying to fight for a spot to see the fireworks on the starboard side of the ship or watch the pirate show, it just felt overwhelming and claustrophobic.  Other than that, we really had no complaints.  The food was great, the service great, the shows great...everything was really fantastic.

If you are an adult thinking Disney is only for families with kids, think again!  This party of 4 adults had a blast with no children present.  Plan on participating in things like dressing up like a pirate, or you will feel very left out and wishing that you had brought the appropriate attire.

Thanks for reading my review, and if you have any questions, please ask!

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