Cozumel: cruise ship traffic

[MidOH]

Seemed fine to me. Even at the paid beaches. Not many go in the water. Had a great time snorkeling by the pier.

When I dived CZ from a Norwegian ship, we only had cruise ship people on the dive boat. Same group I dived with at 3 different islands. Single serving friends. IIRC, the op really wanted us weighted heavier, but we had all dived the day before. I think I took 1 extra weight.

Wasnt crowded after diving. We stopped for tacos at an upstairs bar.

No idea what the bar on the far side of the island was called. All by itsself, nothing but beach around it. Grass roof. That was excellent. "Coconuts" maybe. If the port closes, try that.

CZ just has plenty of room to spread out. And good tequila.

 

[judydivescoz]

I take a class 3 days a week at 9am just off the square. Melgar can get a bit crowded when I head back home at 10 although some of it might be folks off the ferry. By 3, it’s back to normal. We have dinner at Serenos often and love watching them sail away.

 

[BRT]

Sounds lovely

When I was there in 2020 there were no shops open and restaurants were takeout only. We were the only tourists.

 

[ChuckP]

Cruise ships here are very little effect on you unless you are down in the two areas the ships dock.

The East side will have more traffic in the beach clubs, the west side beach clubs will be busy, you'll see lines of buggys driving thru town and there will be much more traffic in the Puerta Maya area.

It's not overwhelming at all, the Puerta Maya traffic if I have to head downtown is all that effects me. Cozumel has soooo many shops and places to eat/drink, they easily absorb the crowds. On days with few ships, sometimes you wonder how places stay open when you see only a few tables full of people......

 

[DandyDon]

When I was there in 2020 there were no shops open and restaurants were takeout only. We were the only tourists.

I have to wonder why you were. I just donated to food banks.

Cruise ships here are very little effect on you unless you are down in the two areas the ships dock.

So many of them do stay close to the ship piers or book excursions with the ships that cater to barge people, if they leave the ship at all. Many don't. Barge people often book just for the barge experiences. I guess that some get downtown, but they don't bother me. If anything, they help distract the sidewalk hawkers.

 

[azstinger11]

I would add that the cruise ships are fun to look at while watching them arrive pre-dawn, exit after sunset, or cruise by in a little panga boat on the way to a dive site. They are incredible feats of engineering.

It is quite impressive they can cram that much harm to the environment and viral/bacterial hauling capacity into something so small.

 

[MidOH]

Would you rather have 35 more resorts? Because thats how big one or two ships are.

Not too bad, when its put into perspective. But it would be nice if cruise directors followed their own rules. And if the ports wern't corrupt morons making it so hard to play fair. There's no excuses for the dumping issues these two entities have caused.

 

[azstinger11]

Would you rather have 35 more resorts? Because thats how big one or two ships are.

Not too bad, when its put into perspective. But it would be nice if cruise directors followed their own rules.

Resorts rarely drag anchors over reefs, dump trash and sewage into the ocean, use toxic paints, or produce the same CO2 as thousands of car per ship. So yeah… sure let build more resorts if that’s the only alternative .

Really is one of those things that needs to go away. Like leaded paint, popcorn ceiling, carpet in bathrooms, asbestos insulation, a legacy of bygone era that need to go away.

They aren’t alone, aviation needs to get its **** together too. Aviation related pollution is also a large and important issue. Hard for the modern world to live out it though. Cruises on the other hand, well the worlds been ok without chamber pots for a bit, so think we can eek by without cruise ships too. I mean they are full of

 

[MidOH]

Sure they do. Ask the caves under PDC. Or any slum around Cancun.

 

[azstinger11]

I’m impressed a resort dragged an anchor over the Cenotes or generated 12-14,000 cars worth of CO2.

Land based tourism is far from perfect, buts it’s a hell of a lot better than cruises. Cruising is just a needlessly wasteful and destructive method of tourism.