Recommendation for Visiting Cancun, Mexico

Background

A group of friends with some 9-12 years old kids will visit Cancun in November. After some research, I found some interesting recommendation. If any reader has better ideas, please share them by using the comment area below.

Cancun Weather in November

Temperature in Cancun in November is between 68 low and 80 high. It may have some rain in November.

Source: Weather Channel

Airport Pickup

Cancun airport can be a headache on getting a taxi – a lot of sales people pushing time-share to visitors. You can get a shuttle to hotel district from airport or get a taxi outside of the airport. The cost is around $9/person. It is easier to book a taxi on line ahead of time. Driver will hold your name up on a board outside the arrival area. Three companies are highly recommended:

1. Cancun-Cab: it is around $60 for a three person round trip from Cancun airport to Cancun Hotel district. You can pay drive cash when you arrive.
2. Greyline also picks up from Cancun airport. It costs around $96 for a three person round trip from Cancun airport to Cancun Hotel district. Greyline is an international company. It should be trust worthy.
3. Best-Day: it costs round $66 for a three person round trip from Cancun airport to Cancun Hotel district

Day Trip Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza was recommended to me by an American friend and a Mexican friend. Both of them said that Chichen Itza was a must see in Cancun. A little research shows that  Chichen Itza is a large Mayan archaeological site and one of the most notable and recognized landmarks on the Yucatán. It is one of the seven new wonders of the world. However, the site is two and half hours away from Cancun’s hotel district. This trip will take a whole day from Cancun. The cost is around $100/person.

Chicken Itza Source:

1. Chichen Itza information from US News and World Report
2. Chichen Itza With Jerry on Trip Advisor

Snorkel Trip with Cancun-Mermaid

Cancun is next to the second biggest coral  reef  in the world. A snorkeller potentially can see a lot of beautiful sea creature, including tropical fish, sea turtle and colorful reef. However, some snorkel tour companies have huge tour groups. Some tours go to three snorkel sites. It is great if you have the stamina to swim all day.

Cancun-Mermaid Snorkel tour is an one day tour to one snorkel site. Cost is around $100/person.

Recommendations:

1. Bring sea-sick medicine if you are sea sick.
2. Bring water-proof camera. Southern Telecom Emerson Action Camera Black Digital Cameras is a low cost ($32) under water camera.
3. Only bio-degradable sun-screen is allowed. You maybe able to purchase a small bottle for $15 from the tour company. However, you can bring your own bio-degradable sun screen.
4. Bring some Mexico peso so you can do some local shopping.

Snorkel Trip Sources:

1. Cancun-Mermaid Snorkel Tour

Power

Mexico uses the North America standard, which is 120VAC. Electrical appliances from United States and Canada should have no problems in Mexico.

Telephone

Using US telephone service providers in Mexico can be costly. You should contact your service provider for detail cost. Here are some telephone cost as November 2013.

1. T-Mobile: $0.69/min for voice call, $0.50 per out-going text message, $0.20 per in-coming text message, $15/MB data. However, you can add WIFI calling on T-Mobile, which is free and WIFI call is free in Mexico to numbers in Mexico and United States
2. AT&T has an International text message plan, which is $10 for 50 out-going text messages.
3. AT&T’s GoPhone: $0.25/min for voice local call, $0.20/min for text message

If you not intend to use the phone in Mexico, power down the phone when you get on air plan. If you want to use it to take pictures or listen to music, put it to air plane mode (which disables the phone function) and keep it in air plane mode until you are back to US.

Language

Cancun is part of Mexico. Mexican speaks Spanish. However, in the hotel district, most people can understand English. Some Mexican in hotel district speak good English. For anyone want to venture out of the hotel district, an English/Spanish dictionary is handy. If you have an Android phone, you can download Google Translate App, which supports online mode. The application seems accurate and have a big enough vocabulary. You can download Google Translate’s dictionary before you leave US.