we were in cozumel on labor day 2006
we caught a cheap cab from the ship to the park
after buying tickets $16us we were shuttled to the beach and told about the damage to the park
It seems that hurricane wilma kicked thier ass
Chankanaab was closed for 9 months and only been open 3 months when we arrived, the nature trail areas with the statues, lagoon, ect were all closed!! the reef offshore was also gone!!! they used to have 5 or 6 underwater statues, they have 1 left...snorkeling sucked and thats what i was mainly there for...I felt ripped off!! I don't know why they don't charge like half price while rebuilding, its not even worth that!! they dont mention this till after you pay, and i looked online for info on this area.. oh ZHUL-HA right down the road was also decimated..now to see any reef you must go further out like palancar reef...but the greedy merchants dont mention how bad it is cause they feed on tourist dollars...on the subject of greedy mexicans not giving full disclosure, we stayed in Playa del carmen in July and the beach was gone!! it got rebuilt in cancun first and they were just getting around to starting to move sand back to playa's 5'-20' beach...beach clubs come and go down there, so i didnt expect it to be the same as the posts from 2003-05 quoted but i'm here to tell you the beach and reef suffered massive damage there...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tom Ogg,

Hello wise2u, welcome to cruise-chat. Thanks for heads-up. I'll stay away from the park until things improve. It's seems to me the cruise ships should let their passengers know about the price of admission, and what you get for that price. Is there anything good in Cozumel?

Thanks for the heads up wise2U.. The wife was thinking of doing Chakanababa (or however its spelled) when we go, but now I can tell her we should save the $$.

I was thinking of going to paradise beach and doing some snorkeling with the kiddos. Anyone been there within the last month or so to give areport on it?

hi, and thanks for the welcome, my wife's brother-in-law plays for the Kilties drum and bugle corps out of racine..(small world)..i can tell you what not to do in cozumel..rent scooters..(very ugly when people wreck), pay the first price for any item (except in the pharmacy or grocery store, no haggling), try to snorkel from the beach (must take a boat), tulum tour is also a bad deal, it takes 7 hours because you have to take a ferry into playa (40 minutes), then ride 60-70 miles to the south...you actually only get a few hours at tulum and the price is allways high for that tour...there are other ports in mexico closer to there. Xcaret is also a long ,expensive tour, its sortta like discovery cove in orlando...its a natural water park down towards tulum, but it may have suffered damage too, i'd have to make sure before going. for tourist stuff cozumel is the most expensive, followed by cancun then playa del carmen. so if you want a bunch of silver or a really good deal on a large purchase it's best to take the ferry to playa del carmen. they have a large tourist area with the pedestrian only 5th ave. having a ton of shops and the farther away from the ferry pier you get the cheaper the prices go. if you like diving or snorkeling take a boat, the water has great visibility ( better than hawaii which i thought was the best) but like i said wilma beat them up bad down there..the only good tour i heard about from two of our table mates was something they found on their own...they went to the end of the taxi line and found a guy with a horse drawn buggy to take them on a local tour, he spoke english and showed them churches and other sites of interest at a leisurely pace, it only costs $30 for the 2 of them and they were very pleased. It will be a while before mexico rebuilds so even if the price is great on the cruise its not much of a bargain to tour beat up ports...the cruise pier was in many pieces and was still being repaired while we were there..the massive damage was noticable in grand cayman, and jamaica too, but mexico is the worst...other than cancun it will take them years to fix that whole area back up.

we didnt take the ships excursion to Chankanaab, it was $40 a head. we went on our own because my wife and i own snorkel gear and from my research i found out it was a short cab ride and only $16 to get in..so total cost was only $48 they did have beach facilities open...no dolphins (i guess they swam away) also no corona beer was available at the onsite hut..they wanted $3 for the beer they did have...we did much better at grand cayman... they offer many snorkeling tours that take you out on a boat, for $40 each, to a site that you can walk to from the ship and reach from shore..(go to the left from the tender piers)..if you like snorkeling you can find the shipwreck
Cali, and some nice reef to the left of it, in front of "hammerheads bar & grill" there is a small dive shop next door and i think they rent gear and they have a small pier with ladders ( the big one that used to be there was in pieces underwater)it was free to snorkel, i almost felt sorry for the schmucks who paid all that money for 45 minutes of time at the site...it was nice between tour boats when the place was uncrowded...also nice was joining my wife for $8 rumrunners on the deck of hammerheads with its own ladder into the water. next time i might go to see the stingrays but it was freaky to hear of steve irwin's death by stingray during our trip, so i went for the shore snorkel.

Hi wise2u,

Welcome to C-C also. I am sorry about the park as well. I have been told was open, well I guess that is a far cry from being back to the original. I have even reccomended people to go there to support the rebuilding. I will now rethink that, as well as my own vist Oct. 31.

I want to thank you so much for the info. I only wish you could have seen it before. This is a tremendous loss of a Nature Park.

I am taking people with me now that I have told how great it was and is 80% back

I joined these boards to warn people not to get ripped off by this park. lots of people take reviews with a grain of salt and you sometimes see conflicting stories about the same place....I offer proof with pictures of the international pier in cozumel on 9-4-2006 see them here: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cashkicker/albums

Of course mexico isnt going to tell you they were decimated by the hurricane last year, they want your money....canada and the usa sent sand dredgers to help them replace cancun's beaches in the spirit of nafta. but that is the only place that has been fixed up to anything near what it was before...playa del carmen's beaches were being worked on in july but were really bad looking, so i wouldnt hold out hope for the poorer areas south of there. flying in to cancun i looked down at the grey deadwood of knocked over trees and it looked like half the jungle was on the ground.

wise2u,

Thanks for the pics, it does look pretty bad. Is that the newer pier that "use" to have the walk through mall type store?

Everytime I email Chankanaab it comes back undeliverable.

We were just in Cozumel on the Carnival Fantasy, and the pier with the walk-through mall type stores is almost completely gone. There is a tiny section left, and that is where the tenders drop you off. As far as work on it is concerned, we saw several men working underwater with scuba gear, but to the eye, you can see no progress.

the international pier is the one pictured in my link....they took a crane lowered a big metal box down and divers filled it, when they had a few they would barge the debri away, this has been going on a while and they were only 1/4 the way down the dock after a year...

they should tow the debri out to where the reef disappeared and dump it to start the reef again nearshore.

IslandCruz,
getting closer to your cruise, what do you plan on doing in Mexico? Are you going to try Xel-Ha?, Xcaret, or an offshore trip?
Dont waste your time with Chankanaab i'm sure an extra month hasn't done much to improve things there.

Going to Paradise Beach and taking the snorkeling trip to Palancar Reef. Decided to give Chankanaab some time to restore. I would like to go in and take a look see, but is no way to contact them.

Hi Islandcruz,

You are better off not going like wise2u said. You can definately tell that entire side of the beach isn't back yet. We went to Playa Mia, and it is still under constuction. There were not any shops, and the dining area was covered with a plastic canopy. The trees were still blown and the palms were just trunks, no leaves at all. Our cabbie also said Chanknaub isn't near what it used to be, but hopefully will be back in several months. I think Paradise beach is a good choice. Have fun.

Hi Julie k,

Yes I am disappointed about Chankanaab as was one of my favorite places. But will try something new this time. wise2u and yourcontact have been a great help. I have been speaking with one of the Mgrs at Paradise Beach and they offered to comp my snorkel trip for me, so is a no brainer now.

The whole thing has been a little funny trying to figure out what time we are suppose to be there. The time changes while we are on the ship and the ship is on EST and they are on CST. It is at least going back an hour, instead of forward. Can you imagine the people that might miss the ship if the other way around?

Hi all

Well, I'm sorry wise2u feels so badly about Chankanaab. It is essentially just a beach now and I agree, the fee is quite high compared with other beaches, many of which are free and all offer pretty much the same sort of snorkeling.

That said, when you visit Chankanaab you're supporting some of the most important natural resources on the island and your entry fee (apart from the large slice the cruise line takes if you buy their tour) goes into helping rebuild and conserve some very precious ecological treasures.

Of course, you're on vacation not a charity trip, so if you prefer to save money go to another privately owned, commercial beach club...

If you are looking for pristine reefs you really need to take a boat trip to the south. That said, if you just want to experience snorkeling in beautiful water and see tropical fish, you'll find the shore snorkeling top class still.

I do have to take issue with all the generalisations that "mexicans" are "greedy" and trying to rip people off. This is utter tosh and dare I say it, bordering on racist.

You have to bear in mind that following Wilma we have had the lowest summer season in many, many years so yes, locals will be keen to sell you things as they literally need the money to feed their children. But no, in general they are not greedy nor dishonest. Chankanaab also desperately needs revenue after being closed so long and having to spend so much on recovering.

If you bought the tickets yourself you could have checked the Park's website before hand, it is up-to-date and only advertises the attractions that are open. They also have a $2 off coupon.

You can see a full review of Chankanaab on this Cozumel news site if anyone would like a more balanced view.

As for the piers being damaged - well yes some are. But Punta Langosta pier is already completely repaired and docking two ships, the International Pier can dock one ship and hopefully two by the end of the year. And the piers that are not docking are accepting tenders instead. Given that all the piers were flattened just under a year ago, after the most powerful Atlantic hurricane in recorded-history sat on the island for almost 3 days, I reckon that's quite impressive progress for a bunch of 'greedy Mexicans'?

Optimistic best wishes from Cozumel

Ian

Sorry yourcontact, i didnt mean it to sound like all mexicans are greedy, but i did check the official site before i went and it had no mention of all the closed or missing attractions, no mention was made in onboard shore excursion descriptions and no mention was made at the ticket window of the park itself!!!
It wasn't untill we were on the shuttle from the ticket window to the beach that we were told. Since no current info was available for me, i wanted to join this and other forums to let people know what a ripoff it is. I feel its greedy to charge full price for a place thats not even half what it was. I feel its dishonest to hide the extent of the damage untill after you have paid...so my description of them as greedy and dishonest is fair. I understand that they need the money to help rebuild, but why not charge half price and be honest about the damage? I need to write letters to all the major cruise lines and let them know what a ripoff it is so they can inform thier passengers. news stories and park websites can paint a rosey picture if they want but i've been there and know it's crap.

As far as charitable contributions to help them rebuild...who do you think rebuilt cancun's beaches? not mexico, they didnt have the technology, but in the spirit of nafta the usa and canada with the help of a belgian company, jan de nul, took 2 ships that sucked up sand 20 miles offshore and using huge pipes laid down a half a mile of new beach a week. Cancun's beaches were on the average 70' wide, now they average 140'...and because of that the hotels are still booked at near pre-hurricane levels. Mexico owns very few of the resorts, so most restoration money comes from european companies.
from what i've seen in the area the mexicans are just standing there with thier hands out.
It would take years to clean up just the deadwood left from the hurricane but it doesnt look like they even tried in playacar, where piles of deadwood and trash are visible right off the side of the road.

they were just getting to playacar's beaches in july when i was there and they were in bad shape 5'-20' and areas south of there were beat up just as bad...mexicans in this area are dependant on tourist dollars so rebuilding resorts and beaches are the priority. after seeing the devistation firsthand i can understand why they try to make things sound better than they are...they dont want to tell the truth because the tourist would go elsewhere given an informed choice. The thing that makes me mad is they don't tell you the truth, most hotels unless you ask them directly will not mention that they are still rebuilding, so when you get there you have to put up with construction..and parks like Chankanaab say everything is fine untill after they have your money then the truth comes out...i hope it goes out of business, its crap now. give it up..the reef is gone, its a waste of money to rebuild it. build a new park near one of the cruise ship piers that has no local attractions. If i want to give charity to a hurricane ravaged city i will vacation in New Orleans. when i go to mexico i want to get what i pay for. I stayed in playacar in july and will be staying in cancun in dec. so i am bringing my tourist dollars to the area...i just dont like being lied to and told everything is fine when it isnt, and wont be for a long long time.

I will be leaving from Houston this Saturday 10/21/06 on the NCL Dream with a stop in Cozumel. I appreciate the information about the beaches and parks as it is nice to have a forum to tell us what to expect so informed decisions can be made about how to spend our vacation dollars. However I too read the original as bordering on racist comments and I am surprised that someone would spend as much time in this part of the world while holding such negative views of the people. I was in Cozumel in Dec. 2005 right after the hurricanes had destroyed this area and was glad to have an opportunitry to spend some tourism dollars there despite how bad of shape Cozumel was in, Chankanaab was not open and getting to the southern end of the island was nearly impossible as many of the roads and beaches were destroyed. I've never felt better about spending money while not getting my money's worth because I plan to return again many times over. I believe that I have recieved more than my money's worth on many trips before the hurricanes devastation a year ago and I believe I will get more than my money's worth from this beautiful part of the world for years to come. We all need to be patient and try not to have too high of expectations during this rebuilding time, and for that I truly appreciate the critical reviews but the name calling is unfair and I hope most who read these reviews do not get the wrong impression of what I have found to be the very honest, hard working people of Mexico who cater to our every vacation wish to the best of their ability at very fair prices. I can't wait to see the progress made in one year and will celebrate that progress while keeping my expectations reasonable.

I too will celebrate the day when mexico has recovered from this disaster. I love the area, prices, and people. I am not racist at all, I have mexican friends. please dont take my comments the wrong way. I should have said the "greedy mexicans" of Chankanaab park didnt tell you anything untill after you paid. It was not meant to be a comment about all mexicans. I have found most to be honest and hard working.

I just want full disclosure before i spend my money there now, because if you don't ask they won't tell. Most people don't know that south of cancun looks like it was bombed. they see old posts about places that no longer exist, travel brochures with pre-storm pictures, and websites that say "it's all good"...well i swore i would let people know, that at Chankanaab park, this is not the case.

Well, I disagree about the 'Mexicans at Chankanaab Park' being greedy I'm afraid. they are simply trying to recuperate lost revenue, nothing to do with greed.

I do concede that $16 ($14 with a discount coupon - see below) is quite a lot for what is only really a beach now. That said, $16 is not an awful lot when you compare it to the entrance fees for some attractions (here and elsewhere). But as I explained above, Chankanaab is not run for profit, it is a 'natural' park operated by a federal foundation.

I do also concede that they don't directly state that parts of the Park are closed, then again they don't lie and say they are open. People that have been before may be disappointed, but people that haven't been before will probably thinks its still pretty good value.

I have sent a link to this thread to the Park's marketing people so they can see the feedback.

I'm not going to get into politics about what country has helped rebuild beaches etc, suffice to say that if you were here after Wilma you would have seen Mexicans working VERY hard to rebuild very fast, they certainly were't "standing thier (sic) with their hands out".

Neither do I find the comment "i hope [Chankanaab] goes out of business, its crap now" very helpful. How would you feel if someone said something like that about one of your country's ecological treasures after a major hurricane and a lot of effort to rebuild..?

A $2 off coupon is available on the Park's website - the coupon request form is in Spanish - were it says "Descuento en entradas al Parque" beneath the title of the website you need to select your date next to 'Fecha', then how many adults - adultos - and how many children - niños - then click send - enviar.

At the very least, let's hope that this thread helps people make their own informed decision on whether to visit Chankanaab or not - for that I do thank wise2u for starting an interesting discussion.

Ian

Ian,

Is Paradise Beach to the right of the pier past Chankanaab?

Also, If you could reccomend a decent Pharmacy?

Still trying to contact Chank to get a walkthru.

Thanks Friend,
IslandCruz