Cozumel beach recommendations

[kcbonnies]

We are going on our first cruise on the Wonder in April. There will be 6 of us. 2 adults and 4 kids ages 13, 11, 11 and 8. We want a family beach day. Right now we are signed up for the beach break through Disney at playa de maya beach club. After reading some reviews we are now nervous about this choice. We really want a good beach and possibly a pool. Any recommendations?

 

[Dreamtrip*]

I'm not sure that I should be replying, considering we take our cruise NEXT month. However, I think I have spent close to 3 hours reading up on this exact question. My girls are 7 and 9. We also want a beach break, but did not want to book through the cruise because a friend of mine said that we could save some money doing it on our own. After a lot of research, we decided that we are going to do Paradise Beach. It's a ten minute taxi ride from the port. Looks like an amazing pool and it won't be a very expensive day. Mr. Sancho's was our second choice and also looks great, but the pool didn't look as big as the one at Paradise Beach. Also, there is an all-inclusive day option at Mr. Sanchos if you want to go that route. Good luck and have fun!

 

[CamColt]

We have done Paradise Beach on our own twice and plan to go back this summer. I would say its about 15 minutes from the port and it can be relatively inexpensive. They do ask that you spend a minimum of $10.00 per person on food/drink, but that is easy to do. The pool is wonderful and the beach is a lot of fun, especially for active kids. It seemed clean and safe.

 

[AAAG]

We went to Playa Mia, on our own. We booked on their website and took a taxi there. Way cheaper than booking through DCL, and you have the advantage of coming and going when you want. There were times when it was quite busy there with all the cruise ship tours, and other times where it was nice and quiet.
The beach is okay. Nice but not spectacular. my kids, who were 2 and 5, enjoyed it.
There were various activities going on, like water balloon toss, becah volleyball etc, that your kids might like.
The pool and waterpark were definitely a plus. The water was pretty cold though. It was a cool, windy day when we were there (probably 20-21 degrees C), and because the water was cold, we didn't spend long in the waterpark or pools. From memory, there were about 2-3 waterslides that would be appropriate for your kids; the rest of the waterpark is more geared towards younger kids. But there is a pool.
The buffet food included is just horrible, but the food you could order and pay for from the restaurant looked much better. Were I to go again, I would still book directly with Playa Mia, but I wouldn't choose the all-inclusive package. I would just pay for the food myself.

 

[momtoleasawav]

I have been to Mr. Sanchos and loved it. Nice beach, slides in water were extra. We rented jet skis and I got a massage. We did the all inclusive so we had food and drinks all day. The kids loved that they could get alcohol free pina coladas and strawberry daquaris. we plan on going again next year.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

LOVED Playa Mia! Best excursion of our entire trip.

 

[GeneMachine]

We were just at Playa Mia this past week. Normally I book excursions on my own, but for this cruise I didn't want to think about anything and just signed up for the excursion. At times it was crowded and empty, depending on the cruise ships. They stagger the arrivals and departures, so that it starts to fill during the morning, be at its peak around lunchtime, and then it starts to fade as more people depart. We enjoyed the day. The beach is okay, but it did have a lot of equipment for use (kayaks, pedal boats, water trampoline and climbing area) and plenty of life jackets for use. The pool area and waterslides were great, and there is a little area that is great for small kids (more of a splash zone than pool). Food was not great, but I didn't care all that much. We were there for about 3.5 hours.

If I were to do it over again, I'd probably seek out a smaller, less crowded beach, or arrive on my own. It depends on what you want: quiet beach day with fewer activities or access to a lot of things but with more crowds. It will be fine either way, you'll have a good time!

 

[DisneyPrincess]

How much should the taxi cost to get to Paradise Beach? I always worry about being taken advantage of

 

[WIFamily]

We also did Playa Mia - in 2014. I think it was a 15-20 minute drive from the port. Nice water park, descent beach. it did get crowded later in the day, but was not unbearable.

My kids have taken to calling it "Break-a Knee-a" because it was a windy day and my youngest and I swam out to the floating adventure park - a bunch of floating rafts set up almost like a WipeOut show. So we get out there, and the rafts and bobbing up and down in the waves. We go around a few of the spots and then I decide I need to stand up, and as soon as I get up, a wave hits the raft, my foot slips out from under me and I go down with my knee bending 90 degrees the wrong way. I ended up with grade 2 tear in my MCL. I didn't let that ruin my cruise though but the toughest part was walking through sand from then on.

Anyway, we really enjoyed it, the pools were clean, the water park was fun, and I was surprised with the buffet lunch, it wasn't bad at all. Drinks were flowing, I even got one of the attendants to bring me a bag of ice for my knee. We would definitely do Playa Mia again. In all there were 15 of us from 65 down to 3, and we all still talk about it today.

 

[sdjen]

How much should the taxi cost to get to Paradise Beach? I always worry about being taken advantage of

We went in February. It was $20 including a $4 tip for 4 of us. We really enjoyed Paradise Beach and would recommend.

 

[CamColt]

We went in February. It was $20 including a $4 tip for 4 of us. We really enjoyed Paradise Beach and would recommend.

Just to expand on this, if you plan to go on your own be sure to walk through the mall area and ignore the vendors trying to get you there. At the bottom where you come out to the street you will see cabs and a sign with pricing listed there. I had thought I researched this well but our first time we were stopped by quite a few "tour guides" trying to get us before we got to the cabs. When we said where we were going we told everything from that's really expensive (and they quoted us a very high price), that's over 1/2 hour away, etc... I was almost ready to turn around and go back to the ship because I thought I had all wrong info. I was glad I didn't listen to them and just kept going.

 

[ADP]

Another shout out for Mr. Sanchos. Service was great. They literally stumbled over themselves to bring us as much food & drink as possible.

 

[JW9DVC]

Mr Sanchos wasn't that nice of beach in my nor the wife's opinion. Water wasn't clear and had lots of weeds. Just an FYI

 

[Imedley200]

We did Playa Mia in February through DCL. It was hubby & I plus our toddler. We waited till the night before Cozumel to book to make sure that the weather was going to be okay (our previous cruise the weather in Cozumel was horrible & they canceled all water adventures). We normally book independent companies but decided to go with DCL for less stress (especially with our little one). We had a great day! We live in Florida so we have much better beaches but we were pleased. We didn't find it too overcrowded (they section the beach off to regulate crowds). Our little one liked the kids pool even though it was freezing! That all being said, since you have a larger family (with some older kids) I'd probably try another place just so you get little more bang for your buck.

 

[krisinparis]

We've done Paradise Beach a couple of times on our own-- very easy to get to, great beach and pool and the cleanest bathrooms you will ever see! Food isn't bad either!

 

[Sparkie]

How much should the taxi cost to get to Paradise Beach? I always worry about being taken advantage of

I feel ya on this one. I think we were taken advantage of. We were a party of 10 so we required more than 1 car. If I remember correctly, it was a van and 1 car. We went the the dolphin swim at Chankannab and then to Paradise Beach. The day we were there, a storm was off in the distance and the water was very murky. You couldnt see the bottom at all. Which made it difficult to avoid the rocks. The charge for the water activities was $12/person. We bought more than our share of the $10/person lunch. The wait staff was falling all over us until we realized that we needed to stop spending money so we could have enough to get back to the ship. We tipped them well but they acted snarky about the amount- like we owed them more- BTW we barely did have enough to cover a cab back to the ship-

I would recommend negotiating the cab fare before you get into the cab. I know they say you really dont have to do that anymore but our fare to our destination was more than we anticipated and made for a stressful trip back worrying if we had enough to cover it.

We have also done Playa Mia on our own. We went early and the on your own customers have a different section of the beach from the tour groups. It seemed expensive because we paid for everything individually. Park entry, chairs, umbrella, lunch, drink, snorkle, I do remember the raft being free. The beach area seemed nice and the water was good the day we went. I think the water in Cozumel can be very variable depending on sea and weather conditions and which side of the island you are on. Not related but when we went to Playa Del Carmen, the ocean was very rough and the waves were HUGE.
I have always avoided the pools because I dont know if they are maintained like to public pools in the United States. Having been sick once from water in Mexico, Im extra careful.... probably too much.

We are headed back to Cozumel in May and I am searching for a family activity as well. So thanks for all the other reports.

 

[scootch]

We did Playa Mia through DCL as my girls were afraid of taxi(two teen girls and dad doesn't cruise with us). We had a fun day but I was so leary of the food. It was on ice but the sour cream was like milk, so we didn't eat. I purchased some chips and cans of pop to eat.
We really wanted to go to Paradise Beach and had arranged another family to go with us via taxi, but they cancelled on us... so that is why we ended up going with DCL last minute. We had a good day. They are really close to each other. If you do take a taxi, dont' be concerned if you go out a highway to get there that has trees on both sides. Looks like you are going nowhere and I think if we would have taken a taxi, would have been a bit nervous. Now that we have gone once, we will likely try Paradise Beach via taxi next time.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

We took a taxi to Mr. Sancho's in Cozumel. All inclusive food and alcohol. Chairs, etc included. They also have a nice pool and pool bar. Our girls (12&14) loved it. They went horseback riding and played on the inflatable water toys. It was a great day!