Our first stop on our 7 night Disney Western Caribbean cruise was Cozumel. We had been to this small island once before with the girls, on our first Disney cruise, but we knew there was so much more to see and wanted to do something a little more adventurous. We had spent the day prior to our visit onboard enjoying a relaxing sea day. The evening before we arrived in port we visited the shore excursions desk onboard and booked a tour hosted through Disney Cruise line.
Watching the Disney Fantasy pull into port in Cozumel
Our excursion departure time was 9:45, which gave us plenty time to have breakfast at Cabanas and prepare for our day touring the island. At the appointed time we went to our meeting place which was in the Buena Vista theatre; there the staff checked our tickets and confirmed with us that we had all of the required documentation to exit the ship (our Key to the World ship ID card and picture ID). There was even a staff member handing out beach towels in the theatre and we collected a few from him.
Right on time we were escorted off the ship with our group where we met our tour guide, Juan. He performed a quick count of our group and then we walked down the pier and into the port shopping area which we had to pass through to reach the bus and taxi terminal.
Upon boarding the bus we immediately noted that there were not enough seats for the group members. Some guests were kind enough to double up on seats with small children but it was annoying that something so basic could be overlooked. I am not sure who was at fault, the cruise staff selling the tour package or the tour company. Fortunately we were able to secure relatively comfortable seats (hubby had his own seat and I shared two seats with my girls).
Our tour guide was kind, humorous and very knowledgeable about his island and the culture found there. Our first stop was to visit the Mayan ruins at San Gervasio.
Juan led us on a tour of the beautiful grounds, sharing the history of the Mayan diaspora from Central America to Mexico and Cozumel.
He did an excellent job of engaging the adults and children alike with stories of the culture and advanced scientific and mathematical aspects of Mayan architecture.
At the end of the tour we were allowed a few minutes to wander around the main center, grabbing a snack or cold drink, shopping or taking pictures.
Our next stop was the Mayan Cacao Company located at the entrance to Playa Mia Beach Club and Water Park. We first entered a small museum of sorts where Juan gave us the history of cacao in Mexican culture including harvesting and preparation of the beans for consumption. You can read more about our time there in this blog post.
At the appointed time we said goodbye to the Mayan Cacao Company & Playa Mia Ocean club, boarding our bus back to the port. We thoroughly enjoyed our day on Cozumel but we were eager to get back to our home away from home!
WE TOOK THIS PIC HEADED BACK TO THE PORT AND AS YOU CAN SEE THE KIDS WERE (PLEASANTLY) EXHAUSTED 🙂
When we boarded around 3:45 we headed straight up to the pool deck where the girls wanted to take a dip for awhile in the pools. After a short time there we went down to our room to prepare for our scheduled dining time of 5:45pm.
Dinner that night was in the Enchanted Garden dining room which was a delight as always, but more so this time because it was Pirate Night!! We forgot our costumes at home but were happy to make use of the bandanas that were made available to us in our stateroom earlier that day. We enjoyed the special pirate/Caribbean themed menu and admired the families costumed around us.
After dinner the girls opted to hang out in the kids club that evening as there were plenty of pirate themed games and activities for them to enjoy there. Hubby and I crashed in the stateroom and watched a movie on our television. As this was not our first Pirate Night or Disney cruise we didn’t feel we were missing out on the activities this time. We were all in bed early that night as we were exhausted from our full day exploring Cozumel.
As always, it was a perfectly magical day on Disney Cruise Lines! Have any of you been to Cozumel? If so, what were your favorite activities there?
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