Maya Adrenaline — Local services in Quintana Roo

Tulum and Coba with Cenote and “Aldea Maya” -disappointing and wonderful. Maya Adrenaline combines different tours into the same transportation and groups are divided at each step. Remove your belongings from the van at each step until Coba. Lockers available at the Tulum site. Take or wear your swimsuit,bring a change of clothes -long ride from the cenote to Cobá. VERY limited time to change after the cenote Tulum Ruins Site: plaza with kiosks all with and a large store -including bathrooms. What we were not given (as we had on both tours we’d taken in previous days) were bottles of water or even told to drink up, so when we started I asked about drinking water. I was told I should have gotten it at the store. Nacho was the English speaking guide. It was hot, little shade and the first trolley was full, so Nacho decided we could walk. He walked at a very fast pace which not ok for everyone and started talking before all were gathered. We stopped at several significant sites and got some history but then we were allowed free time which gave us time to explore on our own. Regrouped into various vans and then drove over bumpy roads for a basic lunch. Nothing special. After lunch we regrouped again to ride a few more kilometers to the cenote. I will say here that I don’t know whether it was time constraints for those who were continuing to other activities or not but at this point things became very rushed. The lockers are small and several people took more than one so some of us had to go to another area to use those lockers. We had to get life vests, change and lock up but my husband did not have time to remove his hearing aids and the guide pushed us to leave so he skipped the cenote. This cenote was quite nice though there was no lighting as there had been in several others we visited. We were given flashlights but our guide’s batteries were dead so he took mine because I had my phone. I did not get the name of the cenote but it was large with a number of really nice formations. Afterwards, we quickly changed and were on our way back to the lunch stop where, once again, we changed the group. One couple had stayed and another had joined so we ended up only being 6 in the group which was the first good thing about this portion. We drove back down the long rutted road and then another ½ -¾ hour to Cobá. There we had an EXCELLENT guide, Nico who is not only a teacher of the Maya language but full of history and interesting information about Mayan language, Cobá and all delivered with excellent English (his 3rd language) and insight. After the guided part of the tour at the area called the Church, he directed us to the tricycles where for $mx180 we could hire a guide to “drive” us (2 people sit on a bench on the front of a bike driven by the guide to the main temple, Temple of Nonoch wich is the tallest in the Yucatan. We passed a number of buildings on the way which we stopped at on our return including the larger of the 2 ball courts at Cobá. Our last stop was at a delightful Aldea Maya (Mayan village) called Yuum Kin where we were first experienced a blessing by a shaman then were treated to fresh tortillas with delicious filings of scrambled eggs with chaya ( somewhat like spinach) and a pumpkin seed tomato sauce paste that was delicious. There is a small shop there as well. This portion of the trip was made excellent by Nico’s passion for sharing his culture and knowledge. Everyone has bad days so I do not want to say that Nacho is a bad guide. But, since we did 4 different tours with 4 different outfits we saw how attentive and considerate some guides are. He clearly has experience but we felt rushed and confused by the inclusion of so many different groups until we got to Coba and left feeling that we would have preferred a trip that was limited to Tulum Ruins, Cobá and the Aldea Maya with perhaps a cenote stop between Tulum and Cobá with lunch or simply the opportunity to eat at Cobá. Even with all the rushing we arrived back in Tulum 2 hours after our...

Firstly this score is not a representation of how much you’ll enjoy the day, the activities are fun due to their nature and the setting but the way this tour is run is a shambles honestly.

Firstly the tour notes on what you need to bring leave out some important stuff which they then are there ready to upsell you from the start. If you have these, bring; Sunglasses for ATV eye protection Facemask or bandana for ATV dust and dirt Wet shoes for the whole day including cenote Waterproof phone case as you are allowed to film on this tour which is good!

The first part is ATV’s and honestly the condition of these machines is shocking. None of the brakes work so keep your distance from the person ahead of you despite the tour guide constantly telling you to close up. Someone flipped ahead of me and if I hadn’t kept a good 50yd distance I wouldn’t have been able to stop in time!

Then comes zip lining. Frankly the helmets and even the harnesses stink to high heaven so if you aren’t prepared for that it can be very jarring. If you accept that probably 1000’s of people have sweated into this equipment and it’s barely been sprayed clean then you’ll be ok, think of the worst gym sweat in existence x100. Anyway zip lining is fun but come the last one you are expected to zip line WITH all your possessions and bag from the locker! We had 2 tote bags and it was an utter shock that one slip and all our belongings could be scattered across the jungle, top tip, bring a zip closeable backpack for this.

Finally comes the cenote. Personally I’m not a big swimmer so without warning being led through the dark cave waters for almost an hour was not my jam. Even the good swimmers in our group were tired and cold and done with it by the end. This may be down to our tour guide but a heads up would have been good.

Transport was fine, don’t pay too much attention to the 5 minute wait time rule as we were picked up first and our driver waited up to 20+ minutes for some people. I don’t know what their pickup time was meant to be but the fact that he was pacing back and forth looking around and calling them the entire time suggests they want each tour to be full whatever happens because….

Tips. These lot are relentless in hunting for tips. Aside from upselling all that equipment that they DIDNT mention you needed, they bombard you with stories of how your cash helps the indigenous Maya communities and not the company. Fine, fair enough but after buying some stuff you get to the next part and another bombardment of tips and merch requests for a DIFFERENT Maya community unrelated to the last and of course, the company. Hmmmm.

The lunch is ok, empanadas rice and beans nothing major. Here they will try to upsell you soft drinks and tequila tasting and your photos.

Final point, our transport home we had a few seats in our bus free so they decided to load these up with employees and workers.

Overall, compared to a very similar polished and well organised tour we had in Cancun this was quite badly run and you’ll have a much better time if you go into it with your eyes open to the above on...

While we enjoyed this activity, there was much to be desired.

We booked the activity for 1115. (Pick up would be two hours earlier) The tour offered pick up in Playa Del Carmen at your hotel, which you had to list at booking.

The night before our tour we were notified that they don't do hotel pick ups in Playa, but they did have a meeting place. Ok, but I'm not sure why that couldn't be disclosed at booking. Then we were told that the only pick ups were at 540 am or 1140 am for Playa. I didn't choose 540 am because we have a teenager. Again, if your pick up times in Playa are only these times...why offer other times on the booking page?

The 1140 pick up put us in for a 1pm activity.

I intentionally plan activities- this day happened to be the day before we flew home, so I needed to check in to our flights at 24 hours (Southwest, so it mattered.) We were going to be in a Cenote at time of check in with this schedule.

Anyway, no refunds. So, 1140 it is. I let them know I didn't appreciate this all not being disclosed at booking. I was told they were trying their best, and it's busy season. 1) offering booking times that don't exist and pick up services that don't exist on your website has nothing to do with that. And 2) it's NOT high season in July. Lol It's low season.

I let them know we had 2 vegetarians for the meal being served and they thanked me for letting them know. No vegetarian food when we got there. Basically, what they mean when they say they offer that, is... the regular food being served without all of the meat items. Since pick up was before lunch, and you finish after dinner...kind of a long day of activity without fuel.

Also, there are only three zip lines...not 4, as advertised in the activity.

The guide was great. Very knowledgeable, funny, and personable. The activities were alright. The zip lines are uncomfortable because they all use ropes to stop you, not hand brakes. The ATV was fun... but, basically you just go up and down the service roads. So, frequently you're running into shuttles bringing people in and out. The cenote is nice. But, short and you don't really go through it. You just swim inside the entrance for a short period.

The shuttle there was fine. But, we had a different, bigger shuttle back. With about 12 more people. The driver told one of our passengers she couldn't get on the shuttle without a shirt (swim top). It was the rule. She didn't bring a shirt, she came just like she was. No towel. They weren't going to let her on the bus. Let people know this stuff in advance.

Also, this made the trip back much longer due to all the additional stops.

Overall not a great experience, but not a terrible one either- just an inconvenient one. I'm giving 2 stars, because I booked through GetYourGuide- I tried to rate it there...and it kept giving more stars then I was clicking. Then it wouldn't even let me leave a review. It...