Professor Melissa's Cruise Pod
Oct 2, 2026 · 9 min · 9 segments
Is Costa Maya still worth visiting before Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day Mexico changes this Western Caribbean cruise port? We discuss five downsides and five reasons Costa Maya is still one of my…
Worst thing number one: this port is about to be transformed, and not entirely for the better.
Costa Maya is right in the middle of this massive makeover that's tied to Royal Caribbean's upcoming Perfect Day Mexico project.
Now, that's exciting in a lot of ways.
They're pouring multi-millions, hundreds of millions of dollars into this.
But here's the downside almost nobody is talking about.
As Royal Caribbean pours in and builds out its own branded mega destination here, there is a very real chance that this port becomes more locked down and more Royal-centric, which could mean fewer options and a lot less of the authentic go-do-your-own-thing Costa Maya that exists right now, or has existed in the past.
So if you love the current version, the one where you can slip out of the gates to the real Mahahual, this genuinely might be your window because Costa Maya you visit a couple years from now might not be the same place at all.
And I haven't personally visited Costa Maya in about four or five months, but I'm hearing that right now it's in the midst of this transformation.
There's a lot of political turmoil about the future of this project.
And basically, the terminal, that while overly commercialized has been typically very lovely, is not being maintained.
But I actually think that's an opportunity for folks to engage in the five best things about Costa Maya, which we'll get to in a moment.
Worst thing number one: this port is about to be transformed, and not entirely for the better.
Costa Maya is right in the middle of this massive makeover that's tied to Royal Caribbean's upcoming Perfect Day Mexico project.
Now, that's exciting in a lot of ways.
They're pouring multi-millions, hundreds of millions of dollars into this.
But here's the downside almost nobody is talking about.
As Royal Caribbean pours in and builds out its own branded mega destination here, there is a very real chance that this port becomes more locked down and more Royal-centric, which could mean fewer options and a lot less of the authentic go-do-your-own-thing Costa Maya that exists right now, or has existed in the past.
So if you love the current version, the one where you can slip out of the gates to the real Mahahual, this genuinely might be your window because Costa Maya you visit a couple years from now might not be the same place at all.
And I haven't personally visited Costa Maya in about four or five months, but I'm hearing that right now it's in the midst of this transformation.
There's a lot of political turmoil about the future of this project.
And basically, the terminal, that while overly commercialized has been typically very lovely, is not being maintained.
But I actually think that's an opportunity for folks to engage in the five best things about Costa Maya, which we'll get to in a moment.
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