I apologize if this has already been asked but can't seem to find the answer on any of the forums. We are planning a trip to the Riviera Maya & I am wondering where the Ports of Call are for the cruise ships. I know there's Cozumel, Cancun & Playa but are there others? We want to stay at an all-inclusive resort & realize that there will be a lot of people at the resorts but would like to avoid the extra people coming in off the cruise ships if possible. Also, do you know of any all-inclusive resorts that have private beaches? I'm not having any luck finding any so I'm assuming no. Thanks!
Riviera Maya Ports of Call
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all beaches in mexico are puiblic. costa maya is the other cruise port
As above, beaches in Mexico are all public.
Realize that most AI resorts are off by themselves, not near any cruise ship docking spots. For example when a resort says its in Playa del Carmen, it could well be 5 miles out of town. Most of the mega resorts along the coast are carved out of the jungle. Cancun and two or three in downtown Playa would be the exception. Not sure about Cozumel. It would be very unlikely your chosen hotel would be swamped with cruise ship folks.
Check if the resort sells "day passes". If they don't do that, there shouldn't be any effect of the cruiseship being in port.
Cruise ships do not dock in Cancun or Playa. Playa does receive tenders from Cozumel for the cruises. The ports of call are Cozumel and Costa Maya (which is far south). The cruise tenders that arrive in Playa do so at Constituyentes which is not the usually ferry dock to Cozumel but is further north on the beach. Playacar AI's would not be a place people would easily walk to. Royal, Gran, Mahekal and Las Palmas would all be within walking distance of the tender folks.
Even though the beaches in Mexico are public, you will probably not have any issues with cruise passengers walking through the hotel's beach area. The exception is the beach clubs like Mamasita by the Mahekal and Las Palmas and the beach area by 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen and Sr. Frogs in Playa del Carmen. However, those hotels are not AI's. The Royal and Grand Porto Real are AI's in that area, but it's really out of the way for people to walk on the Royal's Beach area. Even though people can walk and plop down on the beach they can not use the chairs or loungers unless they have paid a fee to do so.
Any of the AI's beyond that area are quite secluded and far from the hwy. People just don't have the ability to walk off the street and walk on the beach at many of them.
You'll probably find more of an influx of cruise passengers in Cozumel. However, there are several beach clubs and Chankanaab Park that they can spend the day at instead of buying a hotel's day pass. We've been to that area many times and never had issues with an influx of cruise ship passengers.
I can understand your concern, but in that area it really is a non-issue.
The cruise tender leaves people off on the pier between the Royal and the Gran not the ferry dock at the south end of town. I watch them all the time with their signs coming and going. It is not a long walk for people to come to the beach clubs next to the Royal such as Kool and mamitas. Mamitas is right next to Las Palmas and Mahekal.