Cozumel Jeep Tour from Cancun and Riviera Maya

A bitter disappointment

The trip was a disappointment from start to finish. First of all, I had booked the trip separately because it included the reserve and the trip to the lighthouse. I did this trip with another friend 4 years ago on Cozumel in a jeep, just as it was initially described in this trip. It was such a beautiful day back then. Thank God I had taken screenshots so that I could prove this afterwards. The description was changed after I complained to Wisest Travel. One day before the tour, the trip was canceled due to alleged weather-related events. When I asked a friend who also works in the travel industry in Playa del Carmen, he told me that there were no warnings and that I should request confirmation to get my money back. I did that in Spanish. I was then offered the trip the following day. This was then confirmed to me. It also said that we were going to the reserve and that we were snorkeling in the coral reef and that we were traveling in a 4-man jeep as self-drivers. We were picked up promptly at 7am. Then we were driven to a supermarket, where we were made to wait 40 minutes until another car took us to the port. Here we had to wait again. At 9am we got on the ferry and a guide asked us to pay $25 per person, so $100, even though our tour only cost $10 in reservation tax (which has since been changed). The guide was initially friendly and helpful and spoke to the company. Finally he said that if we didn't pay the $100, there would be no program. But by then we were already on Cozumel and were about to be taken to our jeep. So we paid. We were then taken over by a new guide. He took us to our jeep. At that point we realized that we had been ripped off. It was an absolute piece of junk and we squeezed into the jeep with 5 people and the guide drove us. We complained, but had no chance. We had to get in or there would be no tour. We were not driven to the reserve or to a coral reef. We were driven around the island. We had to have lunch at 11 a.m. and then were given the opportunity to snorkel for 30 minutes to look at fish and were supposed to leave our things unlocked somewhere so that nobody would steal anything. Of course we didn't do that, so only 3 people went snorkeling. Afterwards, without any further explanation from the guide, we went on a trip around the city and arrived back at our destination at 2 p.m. His favorite saying during the trip: not included! We were supposed to spend time there to take the ferry back at 6 p.m. But thank God we had our return ticket and then took the ferry on our own at 4 p.m. and had a nice band on the ship and were then able to look around the shops in Playa del Carmen (much cheaper than Cozumel). Finally, we took a taxi on our own and discovered that our hotel was only a maximum of 10 minutes' drive away from the hotel. So we had been picked up in the morning in a totally uncoordinated manner. I complained about the trip immediately. The company communicated with me via WhatsApp and initially acted ignorant but friendly and always referred to the "new" description; but as mentioned above, I had copies. I requested a 50 percent refund via Tripadvisor. I got 38 euros back per person from the organizer. Even so, the trip with the tax was still far too expensive for what we got. It's a shame that our day was ruined like that. In the end, we made the best of it and had a great evening in our hotel.

Response from the operator: Dear Jana, We sincerely apologize for the disappointing experience you had on our excursion, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. Your concerns are of utmost importance to us, as we strive to provide memorable and enjoyable experiences for our guests. We understand the frustration caused by the changes in the itinerary and the quality of the vehicle provided. We are genuinely sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused during your day. Your comments regarding the communication issues and the misalignment with the initial description of the tour are duly noted, and we are actively investigating and addressing these matters internally. In an effort to make amends, we have taken your feedback seriously and are working to improve our communication processes and ensure the accuracy of our tour descriptions. Additionally, we appreciate your understanding in accepting the partial refund, and we would like to assure you that steps are being taken to prevent such occurrences in the future. Please know that your experience is not reflective of the high standards we aim to uphold, and we are committed to learning from this situation to enhance our services. We value your business and hope you will consider giving us another opportunity to provide you with the exceptional experience you deserve. If you have any further concerns or would like to discuss your experience in more detail, please feel free to contact us directly. We are here to address any remaining issues and to ensure your future interactions with us are positive and memorable. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we look forward to the possibility of regaining your trust. Sincerely,

via Tripadvisor (translated)

Very dissapointed

We were looking for a tour of Cozumel where we would see as much of the island as possible. The description of this trip seemed to have everything we were looking for despite the fact that 2 of the 4 reviews had negative remarks. First of all, I should mention a positive - the guides who met us at the ferry landing in PDC and in Cozumel when we were leaving to go back were excellent. They paid so much attention to all of us coming and going and we felt very safe in their hands. Now, for the not so good. Viator should mention on the overview that you have to pay extra for the ferry from PDC so that you know it up front. But that was the least of our issues with this tour company. As soon as we got to the meeting area we were taken to the car we were supposed to drive. It was a very old, rundown, rusty Jeep Renegade, not the bright, shiny Jeep Wrangler that was in all the pictures on the website. We told our guide, Reyes, that this was not acceptable, nor was it representative of the car pictured. He made a call to someone who authorized him to give us a nicer, newer, although not great, 4 door Jeep Wrangler. The overview makes it sound like you will have your own Jeep with a tour guide riding with you to tell you about the island and its people and culture as you drive. What we found out was that we were going to have another passenger ride with us. He was a very nice young man who was upset because he also thought he would have his own Jeep as well. We all decided to make it work, think positive, and off we went with our guide, Reyes, driving in his own car with us and another family following in our cars. First stop was Chankanaab Adventure Beach Park. When we got there the skies were looking like rain. We walked to the snorkel booth, got our equipment and walked to the edge of the bay where we were going to swim. As we were entering the water there was a huge crack of lightening right over our heads and the downpour began. Reyes asked us if we still wanted to snorkel and since we were aleady wet from the rain, everyone agreed to give it a try. We went into the water, but it was very rough and my husband and I got out almost immediately. Of course, the weather was no fault of the tour, but we felt that going into the water with lightening and thunder all around us was not a safe thing to do. We dried off as much as possible and waited under the palapa until lunch was ready. It was a nice buffet of chicken and carne asada tacos, rice, beans, soft drinks, beer and water. As soon as we were done with lunch the clouds parted and it was beautiful, but unfortunately it was time to leave for our next stop so we never did get to snorkel there. Next stop was Del Cielo, an incredibly beautiful beach with the whitest, softest sand! We relaxed and enjoyed the warm Caribbean ocean for about an hour. Our guide Reyes was nearby but didn't really interact with us much at all. The third stop was at the lighthouse at Punta Sur. There we did some tequila tasting and saw 'Faro de Celarain', Cozumel's original lighthouse. At that stop, the family in the other car noticed that one of their tires was going flat. Reyes called someone to ask for another car to meet us, then offered to have the family drive his car and he drove theirs until the replacement car met us along the route. At that point we also learned that our car had no break lights in the rear! We drove along the coast until we made it back, in the pouring rain again, and windshield wipers barely working. to our original meeting place, just in time to board the ferry back to PDC. There was no time to spend in the area near the ferry to do any shopping. It was nice to see so much of Cozumel, and Reyes was a nice man, but our expectations for the tour, based on the description on the Viator website and on the Wisest Tours website was definitely not what we had anticipated or paid for. Reyes never talked to us about the culture or the people, which is something we love to learn about when we travel. We did not "embark on a city tour to see how the locals live" as stated in the overview of the tour. Nor did we "stop at an original Mayan building, called the 'seashell tomb', then continue to Colombia Lagoon, home to over fifty types of native bird species and what the locals call 'yellow crocodiles'." Reyes did try to find a crocolile that hung out near Punta Sur but we never saw it. Again, not his fault and not a big deal. Our BIGGEST issue was the obviously poor maintanence of the vehicles, especially since we, as tourists, were the ones driving in a foreign country on unfamiliar roads. We feel that the most important responsibility of a tour company is the safety and well-being of the tourists in its care. For the money we spent, we did not feel that we got what we paid for from beginning to end. Viator needs to vet their tours better to make sure what they are describing is actually true and up to date, and Wisest Tours needs to do a better job of supplying safe, well-maintained vehicles that are representative of the pictures on their website. We have used Viator in the past to book tours in San Francisco, Boston and Washington, DC that were great so that is why we felt we could trust them for one of our Mexico tours, but going forward we will be looking for other companies when we book tours. (And please don't blame any of this on COVID!!!) And by the way, just so you know we aren't So that is why we suggest that if you're looking for a tour of Cozumel, look for a different one.

Response from the operator: Hello Patti, We deeply appreciate your feedback. We will take action on these notes along with our tour staff to offer a great experience to our customers. We are happy to offer you a discount on any service for your future vacations to México or Punta Cana. Please write us to info@wisest.travel We remain at your service!

via Viator

Family trip

Second time on this excursion and it was fun, informative and the snorkeling was stunning. Our guide, Maui, is the best!

via Viator

Not what we expected

First let me say our tour guide Maui was great and informative! Now let’s say some other things were not great! We booked this Jeep tour online for 5 adults, full price, no discounts. When we arrived at the ferry in Playa we were notified we needed to pay an additional 60.00 USD (I assume for the ferry tickets but we thought everything was included in our booking)., Okay, I quickly forgave that. Next we arrived at the place in Cozumel and discovered we were not getting Jeeps, but instead worn out looking modified open door cars and to top that off they put all five of us in one of those cars, which included my seventy year old parents, one of which has had hip surgery and had an extremely hard time getting in the low vehicle with a really high raised modified door plate. (Website said it was max 4 people per Jeep). Really upset we drove to our first stop and and I informed our tour guide to tell his company that we were not leaving that stop until we received another car that my parents could get in and out of. On a positive note they did bring us a Jeep which was great (but not 2, we still had to cram five adults into one Jeep) This did make the tour better but definitely not good! Lastly the only thing that made this tour enjoyable was our guide Maui but other than that, I would find something else for your precious vacation day!

via Viator

Cozumel Jeep Tour

This excursion was a lot of fun. Our guides were a lot awesome and we pretty much got to see the whole island. We had a great time, would definitely recommend it!

via Viator