14 Day Caribbean Cruise
Cozumel, Mexico
Nov. 15, 2010
7 am – 4 pm
Description & Accessibility
This was a nice port, plenty of shopping at the port area.
We never found a suitable excursion through the cruise line so I just pre-bought admission tickets on the web for Chankanaab National Park, we took a taxi to the park, and stayed a few hours there, there is a sea lion show, those who are able bodied could go and get a picture with the sea lion which you had the opportunity to buy later. Always ask the taxi for the cost of the ride before you get in the cab, we where quoted $ 10 US for the ride, and part way there the driver said sorry he made a mistake that it was a $ 12 US fare which I said ok to; there are 2 ports there and we where at the further port from this park. There is a couple of shops near the entrance or exit from the ruins replicas that you can bargain with, the gift shop at the entrance to the park is as it is priced take it or leave it.
Of the two ports in Cozumel, I felt that the port we where at was actually the better port and at the shopping district.
The pier port area shopping if you have not experience it yet has shop staff that come out and do their best to try and leer you into their shop and buy. This approach did not bother me because I have some experience with this, but some may find this over aggressive, they mean no harm to anyone it is just their way there, but nevertheless some will take offence to their approach. You do have some bargaining ability here if you see something you like.
Accessibility:
Around the port shopping area is almost all accessible. Chankanaab National Park is mostly accessible, the area where the replicas of ruins are is ruff going, and one wooden bridge that had several inches of leaves on it, I got hung up on this with my scooter, and had to be assisted to get past it, if the leaves had been cleared off I would not have had an issue with it. The sea lion show there was accessible but you will not be able to get a picture with the sea lion as the route to the sea lion is not accessible. They did however allow me to go around the area where the swim with the dolphins where after the sea lion show just for a few minutes I believe it was because I was in a scooter that they allowed me to do this. The beach area is sand, and wheelchairs / scooters do not fair well with sand and unless you want to get stuck do not try. I believe they rent sand wheelchairs but they are of the push type and you will need an able bodied person to push them.
Now the taxi I took was a regular taxi and I was ok with that since my scooter could easily come apart and be placed into the trunk and I could get into the taxi. If you cannot do that then you need to seek an accessible vehicle / taxi, check ahead of time to be sure they are available in Cozumel.
There is another park called Discover Mexico that I understand is not far from the port and from what I read on the website is completely accessible.
Like a lot of places once you get out of the tourist area accessibility can vary. It is always best if you wish to venture onto nearby streets go from the pier / port in your mobility device rather than being dropped off and thinking it will be no problem getting back as it is close by to only find out that you come across something that is not passable in the wheelchair or scooter. If you come from the port at least you can turn around and get back to the port / pier.
By: Donald Kerr