Transportation to/from Coz airport & Occidental

[ReefHound]

So, pricing it at 274.00 round trip through the Occidental, would booking the private van at the airport be a considerable savings? Is it cash only at the airport, or can you use a credit card? Looking through some searched posts it looks like booking at the airport is still going to be close to 100.00 USD for four people each way.

The van from the airport might be $100 (captive market) but going back will be less. Even at $100 each way, you save $74.

 

[ReefHound]

Btw, hotels cannot provide transport service directly and only the licensed shuttles can carry you from the airport so Occidental is most likely just booking the airport van for you and you would be on the same exact van as if you paid for it yourself (for much less).

 

[lionfish-eater]

Four people with lots of gear will mostly fill a van.
My recommendation would be to buy 4 normal tickets to hotel upon arrival.
Load family and pile of gear in van and offer the driver $20 and say "Let's go now"
The 20 is more than he would earn from filling the van with other passengers.
If he says he needs to wait than just hold on to the 20 for a tip at the end.

If he leaves quickly, he can get back fast for a second fare.


On the return, there are plenty of taxis waiting outside the southern hotels for trips to the airport. The hotel staff will call one in for you. Definitely less than $100.

My advise in general is to not book anything in advance and use pesos.
The ATM's at Mega or Chedraui are safe and easy to access.
If the driver agrees to take your group, he would probably also agree to stop so you can hit up an ATM and get pesos right away.
Especially if you mention that you might need a driver throughout your stay.

 

[living4experiences]

The hotel is gouging you with that pricing. Cozumel doesn't work like other foreign countries at the airport because of the taxi mafia. Don't bother pre-booking a ride. The pre-booked rides require prepayment, and if your flight is delayed or cancelled, you probably can't make changes to the reservation and it's nonrefundable. It's set up so that when you leave customs, go to the shuttle booth and buy your tickets in Pesos, USD, or credit card. Pesos is best, as you'll know what you're paying for and not have to do the calculations for the poor exchange rate in USD. Since there's no market competition, you'll see there's a long row of shuttle buses and they're filling them up and leave once the bus is full of people or there's no more room for luggage. You might wait 15 minutes or so, or you could be whisked away pretty quickly.

It's easier to have your Pesos purchased in the U.S. rather than the extra hassle after a long day of travel to find an ATM in Mexico. Your driver likely will not speak any English. You can buy foreign currency through Wells Fargo or if you have the Charles Schwab debit card, you can use that and not be charged transaction fees, ATM fees, and whatever other fee they want to charge. If your trip is early June, you'll want to order from Wells Fargo ASAP.

And with the taxi mafia, hotels and dive shops are prohibited from providing transportation, so have the hotel arrange your taxi for return to the airport and get a firm price before you get in the taxi. The same applies if you're using taxis generally in Mexico...get a firm price before entering the taxi and carrying exact change and use Pesos. The driver will usually give you the price in USD because he/she makes more money off you in USD.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[DandyDon]

The hotel is gouging you with that pricing.

Many packages are sold with ground transportation included, but you're paying more for the same van & taxi rides, plus you have to keep up with the coupons.

You can buy foreign currency through Wells Fargo

I never do as they give a lousy exchange rate.

 

[gopbroek]

There are ATM's at the airport. Leave the arrival area walk about 20 yards east and go into the departure area. There is a cluster of legitimate bank ATM's to the left near the restrooms. The Banamex machine charges 31.8 Pesos service fee (1.75 USD) and the actual exchange rate is set by your home bank.

 

[ggunn]

How much is the shuttle to the Occidental? From the airport to Blue Angel recently was only US$11 per person, which is not enough of a hit to warrant going to the airport ATM to get pesos in addition to the rest of the task loading associated with arriving in Cozumel.

 

[DandyDon]

How much is the shuttle to the Occidental? From the airport to Blue Angel recently was only US$11 per person, which is not enough of a hit to warrant going to the airport ATM to get pesos in addition to the rest of the task loading associated with arriving in Cozumel.

Ok, time to bring in the experts ... @El Graduado (try his Shuttle info: Cozumel Airport Shuttle Rates and Routes - EverythingCozumel)

208 MXN or about $12 USD. A Private cab service for four would be 865 MXN or about $48 USD. The hybrid cab should suffice, and they should be able to provide one big enough for all of the bags.

 

[ggunn]

Something has changed, though, with the shuttles. They used to back up angle parked to the curb right outside the doors from Customs, but the last two times we arrived, after I paid at the same window I have always gone to we had to schlep our equipaje across those lanes out to the parking lot to load the shuttle. What's up with that?

 

[DandyDon]

we had to schlep our equipaje across those lanes out to the parking lot to load the shuttle. What's up with that?

Yeah, that happened to me last trip. The driver or director did drag one bag for me. I guess the curbside was getting too crowded.