Tour Reviews

Lyn Conaughty
Harmony, Florida USA
Chacchoben Ruins
Enchanted Princess

Chacchoben Ruins Tour

This was by far the best excursion we got to experience on our 7 days cruise. The checked in process was easy and very organized. And they have nice AC transportations. Our tour guide Joel Bartolo Perez Alonzo was amazing. My family really had the best time and enjoyed this tour so much. The Mayan lunch experience was amazing . The ladies who prepped and made our food was super nice and friendly. What a great presentation. We loved it. The food was great and we were served with Hibiscus tea which I loved so much. Our 3 boys really had the best time and we would love to do this again great people, great service and all. We definitely commend this company 100%.

Brad P
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Mayan Family + Seven Color Lagoon
Enchanted Princess

Wonderful Experience!

This experience was really great and was definitely worth a little extra walk outside the cruise port area. After providing our bar code for the tour, and meeting up with our small tour group, we were led to a large passenger van with good air conditioning, and met our wonderful tour guide, Maggie. We were offered a bottle of water while waiting a few minutes for the rest of the group. We had a nice, small tour group of just 12 people. NOTE, one in our family had a child in a wheelchair, and the tour company, Maggie and our drivers were very helpful to accommodate his needs. I think that family was also very pleased.
Our drivers, Ramon & later Laura, did a very good job also.
In case you don't know, Costa Maya is not a real town, so it does take a good bit of driving for any excursion in this area. We drove to a small town to meet with a group of Mayan ladies who would help us prepare our lunch. As we had some time to pass on the way to this part of the tour, Maggie, our tour guide, explained that these women spoke one of several Mayan languages more than they spoke Spanish. So, Maggie taught us how to say "hello", "thank you", and "yum!/delicious!"; hint: "thank you", is not "gracias"!
When we arrived at the lunch site, another tour was finishing up and Maggie explained how the numerous trees and plants in a Mayan home's garden are used for cooking, and we got to smell and taste several different plants. We (just our small tour group) next met the Mayan ladies and were taught how to make our tamales. This was easy and fun! Everyone got to make a tamale. We took our tamale to another of the ladies to cook it on a wood stove. Afterward, we were directed to a nice, covered outdoor table and presented with chicken baked with traditional Mayan spices, rice, beans, our tamales (of course!), and a few other items. The food was very, very good. We also had hibiscus tea to drink; I'm not much for flavored teas, but this was very good and refreshing. We finished lunch with homemade flan that was excellent!
Next, we drove to the 7-colors lagoon. It took some time to get there, but we each were offered 2 alcoholic drinks, a nice beach chair, and a beautiful lagoon to swim or kayak in. At the lagoon, we were not the only tour group, but there was plenty of room, and maybe just another 10-20 people there; not crowded at all! It was cloudy, so we didn't see 7-colors, but was very nice, and very clear water. We didn't have very long here, of course based on the cruise ship schedule, but Maggie made sure we were back at the port an hour before we were required to be. This gave us just enough time to do a little shopping where the cruise company wants to you to shop. It was a very different experience from most excursions, and was very intimate and small. Overall, my wife and really, really enjoyed this experience and we would definitely do this again and recommend it to anyone.

Lisa Masto
Florida
Mayan Experience
Wonder OTS

Amazing

this was the most amazing tour and we had the best time. Our guide at the ruins grew up there and was so knowledgeable and Maria was our guide and she was over-the-top wonderful!
she was so patient
and knowledgeable
we loved cooking with the Mayan women. It was all one of the best experiences of our lives.
Our only complaint is it is kinda hard to find the tour company when you get off the ship. They should have more signs we missed our tour and we’re late, but they still accommodated us.

Anna LeRoy
Marietta
Chacchoben Ruins
Royal Caribbean

Choccoben Ruins Tour

We were beyond happy with our decision to us Native Choice Tours for our excersion to the Choccoben Ruins! To start, they were $30 cheaper per ticket, their office was a short walk from the port (well worth it) and the overall experience was wonderful. Our van driver, Edgar, and tour guide, Edder, were both excelent. Edder had so much knowledge to share with us, gave us insight on the plants and animals that are native to the area, and did a fantastic job walking us through the Choccoben ruins and Mayan history. We highly reccomend booking with them!

John P
Puyallup, Washington USA
Mayan Family + Seven Color Lagoon
MSC World America

Authentic and relaxing day!

Super attentive tour guide - we learned about the region and then enjoyed a wonderful (private) experience at the Mayan home with a cooking lesson and lunch. We then enjoyed the lagoon with a nice breeze and drinks. Wonderful morning and afternoon! Kudos to Amari and team.

Mandi Taylor
Herriman, Ut
Private Chacchoben + Mayan Family
Enchanted Princess

10/10 TOUR! Best of our trip!

This tour was absolutely fantastic! Our guide, Alondra and our driver were so knowledgeable and fun. We were wondering if the tour would even happen because it was pouring rain and they showed up with umbrellas for all of us and cold water bottles had It was a very nice and clean ACTUAL AIR CONDITIONED tour van! ???? Alondra had a headset microphone so everyone could hear her. Honestly, I was a little nervous about going to a private family home for a meal and it was the most amazing experience. I wasn’t worried about sanitary standards at all. It was so clean and we had such a neat and personalized experience. The meal was absolutely fantastic and authentic. I can’t say enough positive about this company and our experience with them. The Mayan ruins were so absolutely great and Alondra knew so much information about them and the Mayan culture. So absolutely fascinating and left me wanting to learn more..We want to do this tour again and bring all of our kids back for it.

Dianne
Terre Haute, IN USA
Chacchoben Extreme
Enchanted Princess

Bucket List Checked

The Chacchoben Ruins were amazing and satisfied one of our bucket list items. Better yet, the location was very clean and well-run, and our tour guide and driver were terrific at their jobs. We got to the ruins and lagoon a little late because our ship did not disembark on time; however, we were still the first group (of 15) at the site. Yoshi is from Mayan descent and educated us about the temples we saw, as well as the Mayan culture. Victor, our driver ensured we got to the sites and returned in plenty of time to get back on our ship nearly two hours before departure. You should book this trip!!

Nikki
Clarksville TN US
Mayan Experience
Mariner of the seas

Book it!

Book the excursion with Native Choice and you will be glad you did. I was traveling with my family. First trip on a cruise and out of the country. I felt safe the entire time. The guide was Lorenzo and he knows all the details and is outstanding at what he does! Miguel was our driver and I felt very safe the entire time. He never did any risky or crazy driving. They both were very personable and really wanted you to have a nice comfortable trip. I highly recommend using this tour group. They had us back at port exactly at 430 with plenty of time to shop if you wanted to.