Costa Maya About This Page:

[stitchprincess]

Just returned from our 7 day "Twice the Magic" cruise to CC x 2, Costa Maya, and Cozumel...Costa Maya was a place I would not return to for a number of reasons...the merchants are so aggressive you can't even go to the restroom, the Jungle Beach Break was a big, pricey disappointment. Our original excursion was cancelled before we even got on the Magic -Catamaran Snorkel-we were on the Jungle Beach Break.
arded a relatively cool bus and then amidst a very visible military presence proceeded about 35 minutes to a beach that was dirty, food that was poor in quality, a dressing room that consisted of a shower that was a rusty pipe out of the wall. We were harassed just sitting on the beach. Never again. Back at the port, merchants stand outside their establishments and follow people to try to sell to them. Going to the ladies room became an adventure. Disney should reconsider this port...it is not ready to provide the kind of experience that Disney would recommend...Never again.

[JennyinMD]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I agree that there is not much to do at the port, but I can say that our experience was a bit better than yours, sounds like.

We booked the Dolphin Encounter excursion for myself and my two kids. My DH and BIL and SIL stayed at port and on ship. My kids and I took a 30 minute bus ride to the dolphin excursion area. Once there, we heard a 10 minute safety presentation, then spent about 30-45 minutes with the dolphins. There was a small gift shop, a small market for souvenirs, and an open bar which was included in the price of our ticket. They claimed to have filtration system so the water could be trusted to drink, but we didn't really drink much just in case! There was food for sale for pretty cheap prices. Clean bathrooms. The beach was nice if a bit shallow - not a wide sandy beach, but usable. There was watercraft (kayak, canoe) for free use, and jet skis for rent. There were over 1000 lounge chairs according to the guide - and it appeared to be true. About 1/2 of them were accompanied by a beach umbrella. Almost none were in use, but we were there on a rainy day. We had booked our tour for something like 10:30am - if we had been earlier, we could have spent more time at the excursion place but as it was, because it was rainy and because the rest of our party were back on the ship, we headed back pretty much right away and didn't really use the facilities. But they did look reasonable, and would have made what I thought was an expensive excursion a bit more acceptable. Too bad we didn't use more of the place.

The rest of our party had more of an experience like yours in port. They didn't report being hounded by merchants, but they did note that there was nothing at all to do in port except shop for things they didn't really want or need. They described the port as a "Mexican strip mall". They did go looking for some cold medicine, and in the process were very entertained by the "pharmacy" selling all kinds of American prescription drugs. But yes, the port itself is not much of anything. I do think that if you give it another 15 years, it will be more like Playa del Carmen, which is the mainland port at Cozumel. Playa del Carmen was a fishing village with 100 families 25 years ago. Now it is a bustling tourist stop with over 100,000 people living in town to support the toursim. Costa Maya will be so in a few years, I bet.

[tio marco]

Costa Maya is a definite "must skip." Besides the fact it's nothing more than a flea market with a pool, i was continually offered drugs when we were there in November. Stay on the ship....

[disneymom9092]

I'm so sorry that happened to you. Doesn't sound like a nice place to bring the kids [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].

We had similar problems with drugs, etc. when in Jamaica on our honeymoon cruise MANY moons ago [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[Samnalsdad]

I'm going in December with my wife and 10 and 11 yo kids. Does anyone have pointers for excursions. We're thinking about either Khunlich or Chaccoben Mayan ruins. Can anyone tell me which is better?

[djandkatie]

Hi all - Well, I actually enjoyed this stop. My family and I love Mexico, so we are use to handling the persistent sales people. You joke with them and they tend to buzz off. My favorite is "so, did your grandmother make this". They will say yes and then I really tease them.

I agree that Costa Maya is a strip mall. We actually went outside of the gate to take a cab to the next town. If you get a cab inside the gate, there is a long line and the prices are much higher. In Mexico, you need to neogotiate the cab fare before you get in.

The closest small town (can't remember the name) had all sorts of street vendors. It was on a beautiful beach and had lots of beach chairs and nice swimming. A massage on the beach was $20, but there was no cabana. I did the massage and it was great.

The prices were 1/3 to 1/2 what they were in the strip mall. A silver bracelet with onxy was $10 (make sure that silver jewelry is marked .925). We bought lots of stuff here. I'm not sure if there will be as many vendors now as we saw one vendor that we had visted in Cancun in previous years (Cancun was still be rebuilt after the hurricane, so some of the vendors came down to Costa Maya).

There was obvious poverty in the town. There were some stray dogs that were very skinny. The dogs were very friendly and we ended up buying some food for them.

Besides Castaway Cay, this was our favorite stop.

Deb

[VB_Family]

Well for Costa Maya we did a thing with Zac and not the Disney thing... In Costa Maya there is a little area right there at the port, but to see the town you have to take a taxi (about 5-10 minutes) to the beach and all the shops... I think with Zack it cost us $25 per adult (kids $15) and you get food and drinks of ANY kind...
Plus you get chairs, table and umbrella on the beach... not a bad deal!! Anyone that has to go to Costa Maya and might be interested contact superzack2@hotmail.com
Let me know if you want more info...
Mark