Costa Maya Shore Excursion: Chacchoben Day Trip

My husband and I took this excursion from our recent cruise. I was extremely pleased with the entire process. The transportation from the pier was easy to find, and the staff was very friendly and helpful. They provided us with water and soft drinks which was great. Our guide, Gus (Gustavo), was absolutely wonderful! He delighted us with stories during the ride, and during the tour he gave us all kinds of information about the ruins and other things like local trees and products that are made from them. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. If you go to Costa Maya, I would highly recommend this excursion.

We were a group of four. This excursion is very popular. We had to wait for our small minibus to come and it was comfortable and with lots of drinks from water to pop and fizzy drinks. Everyone in the minibus love the lady who is great in explaining the history and taking pictures for us. She was patient to make sure we had toilet breaks and waiting for one another to regroup regularly. Con- Not easy to find. When we arrived at the pickup centre we did not even know we have arrived. No sign to indicate it is the viator pickup for the excursion. The centre has lots of seat to sit and wait. The manager there was friendly.

Chacchoben was truly amazing. The ruins are in great shape. But, what even made it better was that the guide we had, Brian Cardenas, was an offical guide for this specific set of ruins. He knew everything about them and several other topics such as the Mayan use of plants in their rituals, medicines and foods. He expressed a willingness to provide tours of other ruins over an extended time frame, and if I were to go back I would take him up on his offer. His command of English is good and his is friendly without being overbearing.

We did this excursion while on the MSC Armonia. Finding where to meet was easy, but we waiting about a half hour before we got on the bus. Once on the bus the drive was an hour. Our tour guide, Brian, was just OK. He never spoke on the way to and from the ruins, and was just OK while we were there. At one point we joined another tour group to listen to their tour guide explained a ruin that our tour guide never explained. On the way back we stopped for pineapple. There was confusion on who was supposed to get a bag of pineapple. It was supposed to be one per couple, but we all paid the same price for the excision. My husband and I were the last to board the van back, so we got separated inside the van. I was in the front and he was in the back. I had pineapple handed to me, but i guess he never got one, because we were supposed to share. I never heard these instructions in the back of the van, so i ate all of the pineapple, and my husband never got any. Then that's all i heard the rest of the trip, was how i ate his pineapple. But if we could have sit together that never would have been a problem. . .

This is a wonderfully, beautiful excursion! Once we left the cruise port, the office to check in was easy to find. Nice comfortable ride out to the ruins, slept the way there... Once we arrived, there were a lot a people there, but our guide used the time wisely to talk to us about the history while other tours were around and when the other tours moved on, we approached the ruins thus allowing us to capture pictures without obstructions and people in view. Very informative guide, so sweet, kind and patient. Highly recommend!!!

We did not enjoy this trip because the guide was totally silent during the drive to and from ruins. On most other excursions we have taken, the driver (also guide) would give some information on the culture, geography, country, etc. during the drive. This 2 hours was totally wasted.

After having gone on the ship excursions in Ocho Rios and Conzumel, this was by far the best experience. Our guide Coral was knowledgable and fun. We especially loved the small 18 number van.

My family and I just returned from our cruise. We took the Chacchoben excursion with Mayan Tours. Our tour guide Coral was amazing. She was awesome! We even stopped for fresh pineapple

We were a family of 9 visiting the port while on a cruise. Finding the location of the tour company was a little challenging. It's important to note that the port shopping area is huge and you just need to keep walking until you get out of the port area and the tour company is on the left right before the gated area. Once we arrived, we waited for another group before departing within 30 minutes. The ride to the ruins takes about an hour. Roberto, our guide, began his VERY INFORMATIVE hour long recitation shortly after departing. It's clear Roberto has done his homework and is very adept at Mayan history. His English was very good and I didn't have any trouble understanding him and learned a lot about the history and culture of the Mayan people. The ruins were great. It's unfortunate they are closed off to climbing, but understandable given the damage that can be done. Roberto continued with his history lesson at the site as we walked along. At the end, we visited the gift shop which also had snacks and tamales available for purchase. On our return, we stopped on the side of the road and Roberto purchased us some fresh pineapple and chili powder. YUMMMOOOO!! Rocky, our driver did a great job getting us to and from the ruins. Thank you to Rocky and Roberto for a wonderful trip! Highly recommend.