We've been on 40 cruises all over the world with stops in a wide variety of ports and I have to honestly say that Costa Maya was one of our least favorite places we've visited.

I recently posted a review on our cruise on the Celebrity Eclipse that we took just a couple of weeks ago. Here's what I had to say about it;

Today we had planned ahead of time to visit the Maya Palms resort. This turned out to be a very good idea. The port of Costa Maya does not have a lot to offer – basically just a bunch of shops, a big pool, and bars, but no beach. They have a pool for dolphins and it’s really rather disgusting – way too small and the water is obviously too hot. Vendors like this should not be allowed to conduct business and passengers should be discouraged from using them – but that’s just my personal opinion. When visiting Costa Maya, you really do have to plan for some type of excursion. There are places to rent golf carts and dune buggies, but we did not enquire as to the prices. We walked through the gambit of people trying to sell us stuff and made our way to the taxi stand. We asked how much and they wanted $40 each way. I was already told it should cost no more than $20 to get us to the resort, so after a short negotiation, we agreed on the reduced price and away we went. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the resort. Along the way, we went through the town, which wasn’t much, and passed several places where you could go to the beach and enjoy a bar. We had read several message boards recommending places in Majahual, but from what we saw, it’s just not all that great, but fine for those not wanting to go far, do much, or not minding the crowd. They did have some bars on the beach with white sand, which were nice, but no real amenities. When we arrived at the resort, Mark was there to meet us and show us around the facility. There were only 12 guests staying there at the time and 11 of them were out on a scuba dive, so we basically had the place to ourselves. The resort is beautifully kept with lots of trees and flowers. They had a nice big fresh-water pool and a lovely white sandy beach. From what I read and what I got from divers, the scuba diving in this area is absolutely wonderful. I would have loved to give it a try, but alas, today was to be filled with drink, food, and just being lazy. Kathy & Doug have built a fantastic resort – it’s American owned and operated by West End Divers, which also own and operate the Bonne Terre Mine diving operation in Missouri, so there’s an 800-number in the U.S. making it really easy to book and discuss options. Guests are asked what they like and don’t like in the way of food, so they can accommodate everyone’s needs. And I must say the food was outstanding, especially the fresh pico de gallo. Everything was made on the premises from fresh local supplies. We would really have liked to stay for dinner, which was a seasoned roast that looked delicious, but too bad we weren’t going to be there that long. Dinner the following night was going to be a pig roast and sounded awesome. The staff is very attentive and always seeking to please the guests. In our mind, there was no other place we wanted to go and nothing we would have rather done while in Costa Maya than to visit this resort – truly a wonderful day. We would love to visit for a week and enjoy the fantastic hospitality, food, and diving. With only 12 rooms, the place would never be busy. Our day visit was $32 per person, which included unlimited alcohol and we paid the additional $10 for a great lunch consisting of typical Mexican fare.

With the taxi, our day-long excursion was $120 for the two us. When you consider that most excursions run about $45 - $75 per person for a 3-hour adventure and usually don’t include an unlimited bar and food, the price we paid for an outstanding all day adventure was fine with us, especially given that we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves.