5 Worst and Best Things About Cruising to Cozumel

Worst thing number one, sargassum.

That's that brown seaweed-like stuff, but it's a little different than seaweed, that washes up on some Caribbean beaches, and Cozumel gets its fair share of it.

It's seasonal and it's unpredictable, so it really comes down to basically timing a little bit, but also luck.

Some sailings, you'll step onto a beach that looks like a postcard.

Other times, though, you'll find piles of it along the waterline, and when it sits and bakes in the sun, it smells not good.

The beach clubs, they rake it and bulldoze it constantly, but on a bad week, no amount of raking or bulldozing is going to win over sargassum.

It's the one part of your beach day that you just cannot control, and nobody warns first timers about it.

Now, my honest tip, it varies a lot year to year and month to month, so it's worth a quick search for recent Cozumel beach reports of the time that you're going to go, so at least you know what you might be walking into.

But it is unpredictable, and that's a bad thing about cruising to Cozumel.

Worst thing number two, you're on an island.

It's a beautiful island, but that means your day is basically beaches and water.

And I know that sounds like a complaint written by someone who hates joy, but stick with me.

Cozumel is an island off the coast of Mexico, which means that your day here is mostly beach clubs, snorkeling, diving, and pool time.

Now, If that's your idea of a good time, that's awesome.

You're going to love it.

But if you're the kind of traveler who wants ancient ruins, history, culture, and those big jaw-dropping moments, the island itself is pretty limited.

Worst thing number three.

Related to that, the truly incredible cultural stuff, that's on the mainland.

And it's tough to get there on a cruise clock.

Like I mentioned, the famous Mayan ruins, they're in this region, just not on Cozumel.

You get the little tiny and man-made ones on Cozumel.

The big famous ones like Chichen Itza and the big beautiful cenotes, you're going to find those on the mainland.

Now, I did recently check out some cenotes in Cozumel.

They're okay, but they're certainly not like what you're going to find across the water in Playa del Carmen.

Now, you can get there.