21 Mar 2024
To sum up my experience with this tour, I will say: DO NOT book this through Viator. You are far better off to go directly with a reputable tour company, where you can go for clarity and to resolve any issues. There were more things wrong with this tour than right. First off, since Viator is the middleman, communication on what is included was not consistent from Viator to the local operator. (On Viator’s site, it states that you will have everything you need for the tour. NOT true) After verifying what fees I was responsible for well in advance of our tour (mind you there were several of us on a friend/family group), we receive an email the day prior stating that we will owe an additional $10 each for the transportation. A few things wrong with this: 1. The day prior is completely unacceptable given this request was submitted more than a month before our trip 2. This charge came well within the “free cancellation” window, leaving us no choice but to accept whatever charges to avoid losing our money on the tour and 3. The morning of the tour, local operators actually tried collecting $15pp instead of the $10. Our group refused and they accepted the $10, although later on they credited us back for this after complaining. Speaking of morning of, the tour operators were 1 HOUR late to pick up the group. They said 6:30am and came at 7:30am, which meant we were all up earlier then we needed to be and we missed breakfast because that opened at 7 and we all were told to be in the lobby at 6:30 for pickup. Once on the bus, we were driven 45 minutes south to playa del carmen to pick up another group before coming 45 minutes back to where we were picked up to start on our journey to the first stop on our tour, which was the cenote. Complete and utter waste of time! While on the bus, the operators told everyone that if they wanted any bottled water, they would have to spend $15 pp for the day. Oh, and life jackets at the cenote (a requirement) were $3.00pp. Lastly, the buffet lunch that was included did NOT include drinks..yep, had to buy those too…and, they tried taking away the water you may have brought with you so as to force you to buy their drinks. Completely ridiculous…very nickel and dime behavior. Because we were already behind schedule due to being driven south and then north again, the operators tried cutting short the time at each of our stops to make up for their lack of planning and judgement. Our group kindly reminded them of the time that we were told (and paid for) for the tour stops. The operators reluctantly relented with the exception of the last stop on the tour (Villadolid). There, we were supposed to have an hour and were given 20 minutes. Also, beware of them asking you to fill out a card for a Mayan calendar…what they don’t clarify is that if you fill them out and give them to the operator, it is like an agreement to buy the calendar, which is $28 per calendar. Everyone was so incredibly frustrated and exhausted from the behavior of the operators on this tour. Although the sites were great to see, I cannot emphasize enough to avoid booking through Viator for this one in the future..you don’t know the operators and at the end of the day, all they care about is the money. Our group finally arrived back at the hotel at about 9:45pm, well past when we were supposed to be back, and too late for even the buffet for dinner, which closed at 10pm. Upon complaining to Viator about our experience, all we heard back was “sorry this happened, we can’t refund any of the tour back but we hope you’ll consider booking with us again”. Yeah, that would be an ABSOLUTELY NOT!!