NCL Majesty Review

We booked our shore excursion at the price of $63.00 per person with visions of enjoying an adventure involving sightseeing by Jeep, snorkeling, and enjoying a beautiful private beach with lunch.

NCL describes the excursion as a "journey all the way around Cozumel in a Jeep Wrangler®". A stop would be made to explore a small Mayan ruin while traveling along a scenic coastal road. Also included in the trip would be a Mexican lunch and free time on a private beach as well as a guided snorkel tour. NCL also informed us that the jeep had a manual transmission. The adventure was to last 4 ½ hours.

Our excursion began with the meeting of fellow excursionists at the end of the Pier, Ashore at 11:50. There are two jeep excursions offered by NCL but the other one is called EcoJeep & Snorkel Adventure Tour. We had no problem finding our guide and after checking in were asked to sign a waiver along with our fellow excursionists. The guide introduced himself and told us we would leave in around 15 minutes. The 15 minutes turned in to 30 minutes. At this time the guide informed us of what our schedule would be and told us that the tour also included some shopping. This point had not been included in NCL's description of the adventure.

The guide then led us through a shopping square to a parking lot where the jeeps were located. The jeeps were all straight drives instead of manual transmissions. We were told we would be riding four to a jeep. There were 27 people in our party. The guide informed us that we were to stay closely together as we would be leaving town in heavy traffic. We were instructed to make sure and allow no one to get between the jeeps as he did not want anyone to become lost. My friend and I paired up with a nice couple and we were happy to let the man in our group drive. The tops were all up on the Jeeps but the guide quickly popped them down for us. Our jeep was the last in line and we were instructed that we would have our lights on and should weave in and out periodically to let the guide know that we were all still together in our group. If anyone broke down in front of us we were all instructed to pull over.

We pulled out of the parking lot onto the busy Cozumel street and the first thing that happened was the driver in front of us let two vehicles get between her and the jeep in front of her. We did manage to stay together and eventually got all lined up again. However, staying together remained stressful as the driver in front of us still would not follow closely enough and continued to allow other vehicles between her and the jeeps ahead. Once out of town it did become easier to see further ahead and that alleviated some of our stress.

Our first part of our adventure led us to the snorkeling location. This seemed kind of backwards to me as I really didn't want to get wet and then go looking at Mayan Ruins. When we parked the jeeps we were informed to leave our keys in them. We crossed a busy street and went to get our fins, masks, snorkel and life vests at the rental place. We then had a short information session on gearing up but no actual instruction was given on snorkeling. There was a pool at this location and anyone who chose not to snorkel could remain at the pool. Those snorkeling crossed the busy street again to get to the water. Once in the water, the guide took off swimming and instructed us to follow him to see the fish. Many people could not keep up who were inexperienced with snorkeling. They were given no instruction on what to do and were left on their own. I followed the guide who had some fish food that attracted quite a few different type fish. I had taken an underwater disposable camera and got quite a few good shots as well as some photos of scuba divers. I had a wonderful time snorkeling. However, for those who had never done so this part of the trip was a huge disappointment as they had thought there would be more interaction between the guide and themselves. After returning our gear, we went back to our jeeps to discover that our jeep was gone. The guide told us to take another one that sitting there. This jeep was not as nice and would not start in the beginning. After many attempts, it did finally start and we were on our way once again.

Our next stop was at the Mayan Ruin. NCL describes this as a "small Mayan Ruin" and rightly so. It was not very impressive as it was so tiny and we were not allowed to go inside. This was a disappointment to many in our party. The guide did include an informative session on the Mayan Ruins which was interesting. We were here a very short time.

We loaded up in the jeeps again and had the same starter problems. Finally the jeep started and once again we were on our way. This part of our trip was very beautiful as we drove along the coastal highway. The clear water and white sands were lovely and only a few people were seen on the beach along the way. This did afford us views that we would otherwise not have seen without the excursion. Around this time a jeep somewhere in front of us had broken down but at that time there were many jeeps along the road. The driver behind that jeep did not realize or neglected to pull over thereby everyone else drove right by the broken down jeep in our own party. The guide did realize something had happened and pulled us all over and counted the jeeps. He went back to get the party and they left the jeep on the side of the road. It had a flat tire.

We then took off again on our scenic drive and ended up at a beautiful private beach where another party had just ended. Our guide informed us we would have a wonderful Mexican lunch of chicken and beef fajitas, refried beans, and papayas. While waiting on lunch, we could explore the beach, swim or play volleyball. We would have approximately 45 - 60 minutes there. There were umbrellas set up with some plastic chairs under them and some Mexican blankets to throw on the ground. I decided to swim first and got in the water for about five minutes until lunch was ready. The lunch was a disappointment as it did not have the chicken fajitas or the refried beans. Everything looked as if it had been picked over by the group before us. It wasn't long after lunch before the guide said it was time to go. We were there thirty minutes at most. This was also a disappointment. Once again, our jeep did its usual.

On the way back toward town, we stopped at a little souvenir place on the side of the road called PeePee's. We were given 10-15 minutes to shop and then proceeded back to town to turn in the jeeps.

The stick shift transmissions, poor transportation, lack of guidance in snorkeling, lack of time on the beach combined with the disappointing lunch plus the overall stress of keeping up with everyone else on the tour made this excursion a disappointment. Although the adventure did last the 4 ½ hours as described everything was done at a very rushed pace.

On a plus side the guide was informative and entertaining. The coastal views were breathtaking and for those experienced the snorkeling was acceptable. On the down side, NCL could have done much better.