One of my favorite destinations while cruising is Cozumel Mexico. The weather is beautiful, the beaches are amazing and the people are incredibly friendly. Each time we visit Cozumel we have tried a different shore excursion. From delicious Food Tours to relaxing Beach Breaks we have always had an absolutely amazing time. This time on our Dad and Me at Sea cruise aboard Celebrity Cruise Lines we decided to take it up a notch and be more adventurous. We booked Xplor Cancun, (technically it is south of Cancun) and set ourselves off on an absolutely amazing journey.
Xplor Cancun – 4 Incredible Experiences in One Park + Pro Tips
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Pro Tip #1 – On a Shore Excursion? -Book through your Cruise Line
If you are traveling to Cozumel on a cruise I highly recommend booking the shore excursion through the ship itself. In the past, I have booked shore excursions on my own, but with Celebrity Cruise Lines it is definitely worth it to book through the ship for a few reasons.
- Transportation – To get to Xplor Cancun, you have to take a ferry from Cozumel to get to Playa Del Carmen (45 minutes), then you must take a bus takes you to the Xplor Park (15 minutes). Celebrity guided us every step of the way from the ferry to the buses and then into the park. Our guide was both informative and hilarious which made the experience even better. Navigating this journey is way too much stress when you have such a short travel window.
- Fast Passes – When you book through Celebrity the guide gives you a Fastpass to basically skip the lines for the zip line (which is by far the longest line in the park). Instead of waiting an hour we were ziplining in minutes
Xplor Cancun – Arrival & Purchasing Tickets
When you arrive at Xplor Park, the grounds are simply amazing, from walking through incredible caves to watching people zipline overhead you cannot believe the amazing surroundings. There are a couple of things to think about when you purchase your tickets. If you are pre-booked like we were through Celebrity, you can simply get your wristband, helmet and go, but you can also purchase photo packages.
Pro Tip #2 – Buy the photo package, skip the 360 zipline video
I purchased both the photo package and the 360 zipline video. The photo package is fantastic, throughout the park there is photo stops to takes some super fun pictures including some photo shots while on the zipline. The 360 zipline video is pretty cool, but the only platform I can really view the video is Facebook and thus I don’t really think it’s worth it.
Pro Tip #3 – Bring Organic Sunscreen otherwise it will be held until you leave and cannot be used
Xplor Park is all about sustainability. To prevent damaging the water and the cenotes Xplor park insists on organic sunscreen. We were lucky in the fact that our favorite sunscreen, Alba Botanica, is one of the sunscreens allowed, so we were in the clear. The rest of the group was buying sunscreen at the gift shop.
Experience #1 – Zip lining at Xplor Park
Our first stop after the changing rooms was ziplining. Luckily, we had the fast passes through the cruise line so we jumped right on the ziplines and away we flew. We have been zip lining many times before and honestly, I thought the kids would be bored ziplining once more. These zip lines were a ton of fun. They were fast some were incredibly long, almost 1/2 a mile (900 Meters). Along the path, you might see some iguanas basking in the sun, plus check out the incredible views on top of the towers. The last zip line is just a ridiculous amount of fun as you zipline into a cenote.
Pro Tip #4
If you don’t have a Fast Pass, I recommend hitting this attraction towards the end of your journey as it seems to be everyone’s first stop. If you have the fast pass, head over to ziplines first and enjoy not waiting in line.
Experience #2 Amphibious Vehicles
Ok, now this was definitely my favorite part of the day. The kids and I hopped in one of Xplor Cancun’s amphibious vehicles and went racing through the jungle. You go in and out of caves, splash down in some water (a lot of water) and travel all throughout the park. What is pretty amazing about the way the park is laid out is you barely notice the vehicles while you are walking around, and never hear their noise.
Lunch Time
After a couple of adventures, our guide told us it was time to have some lunch. At Xplor they have a buffet with a vast amount of food. You can pretty much have anything from pasta to burgers to Mexican cuisine. I went with some fajitas and fresh juice. If you are not in the mood for a full meal, you can head over to one of Xplor Parks smoothie bars. All the food and drinks (there is no alcohol in the park) is included with admission
Experience # 3 – River Float
While the river float seems like it would be the most relaxing of the adventures it was probably the one that took the most effort, so don’t let the name fool you. You have two options for the river float, one route is 45 minutes to one hour and the other route is 15-20 minutes. You get in a small float and have hand paddles to navigate you through the cave.
I saw several people struggling to get through and I don’t think my 9-year-old daughter could have done it alone. Luckily you can pair up into groups of two on the river float. Inside the river float it is absolutely beautiful. The caves and the water are magnificent and it is definitely something you should do if you are at Xplor Cancun.
Pro Tip #5 – If you are tired or short on time – take the shorter route on the River Float
Experience #4 – Cave Swim
The cave swim was at first my daughter’s least favorite part of the trip and then transformed into her favorite part. You swim through some absolutely stunning caves, the water is quite chilly so be prepared for that. This is one of those experiences where it is definitely worth it to have the picture package. I could not get any good shots with my GoPro in the dark caves but Xplor has several picture spots that gave us some amazing photos.
At the end of the cave swim, you end up under a circular waterfall which is simply amazing.
Pro Tip # 6 – In the cave swim you might see some bats flying by (yes, bats) but they are fruit-eating bats and there is absolutely nothing to worry about.
After our Cave Swim, we grabbed a smoothie at the smoothie bar and relaxed on some hammocks for a bit and then headed back to the lockers to get ready to head back to the ship.
Conclusion
All in all, the Xplor Cancun Park was one of my favorite excursions we have done off Cozumel and I am surprised I never went on our couple trips to Cancun. I feel like we were really fortunate to have booked the excursion through Celebrity Cruise Lines as our guide lead us on the perfect path for our tour and we arrived back on our cruise ship in plenty of time.
Have you been to Xplor Park? Do you have any tips we might be missing? Let us know in the comments.
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