I purchased the Bacalar Fort & Seven Colors Lagoon with Lunch excursion directly thru Carnival and was very happy. They make sure that you get back on time an no issue with missing the time to get back on the cruise ship. It is also helpful if there are any problems with the cruise day and time changing to book directly. There is a bit of a walk on the long pier, about 10-15 minutes from the cruise ship, but you eventually get to the covered area where all the excursions are gathering. Make sure to get to the gathering spot at least 15 minutes early as our tour started to leave about 20 minutes early before the time on the ticket. It was warm in June but the bus driver will give you a bottle of water when you get on the bus and the air conditioning on the bus is nice after a few minutes with the bus on it eventually cooled off. The bus driver was very nice, friendly, professional, and it was a pleasant 90 minute ride to the boat and fort. There is some room for bags, supplies, etc. but if you have a large camera case, like carry on size, it will not fit in the overhead section so you will have to hold on to it. Carlos was our guide and was extremely friendly and professional. He told us all about the history of the area, the main road we would be traveling, the large fruit stand that sells sweet pineapples, the Mayan culture, and what we would be doing in the water spots traveling by boat, the lunch at the restaurant, the Fort Bacalar, and our trip back to the cruise ship. I appreciated his humor, story telling, and then letting us get some rest on the 90 minute ride to the boat. We get to the restaurant, I think it was Kai Pez, after about 90 minutes, there are some bathrooms to change into swimming attire, then get on the boat and head to the beautiful crystal blue water. There is a nice size boat to take about 40 people and you get a life-jacket. There was plenty of room for my large camera bag. You take a nice, easy, calm ride from the dock in front of the restaurant to some crystal blue waters, then to a 500 foot deep black cenote that you can't see the bottom of, pretty cool. Then you get to go to a spot where you can jump in and it is about up to your elbows. We spent about 30-40 minutes there, a little too long for me because I would have liked more time at the second water spot or at the fort. The first spot is very popular with many people and tours pulling up in their boats. Our boat had a large speaker and played some fun music to pass the time. We got to go to the second water spot, on the way you pass bird island which had some migrating birds, but not as much as other times. You also get to hear about the pirates and the fort and the stories of what happened to the pirates. The second water spot was fun, the water was only about belly button high, but there is a spot where people were putting mud on and some were jumping off a concrete structure into the water. Again the water was crystal blue. We only spent about 15-20 minutes and then we headed back to the restaurant for a nice lunch. The lunch had chicken, rice, beans, fried fish, guacamole, and salad. It was very tasty. I think we spent about 25 minutes and were able to change out of swimming attire. We then got back into the bus for the less than 5 minute ride to the fort. We did not get to go in the fort but we got about 10 minutes to walk around the outside, take pics of the fort and the iguanas, the water, etc. The fort looked pretty neat but it was closed and there was an extra fee, and we did not have time to get inside. Oh well some other time. On the 90 minute bus ride back to the pier, Carlos had the bus stop at the large fruit stand and he got us some of that sweet pineapple. It was delicious and not acidic like the pineapples in the USA. I wish we had that here in California. The excursion was worth the price, it was great to get off the ship, explore, see some things I have never seen before, meet some people, try some things, and enjoy some time in the beautiful water. read more

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