What is the best port of call to take either a guided or self-guided tour to Mayan ruins? Which are the best ruins to visit? Tips on how to get there and how many hours are necessary to make it work?

More info please, where are you planning to go? There are several places with Mayan ruins.

The best way to visit the Mayan ruins of the Yucatan is to fly into Cancun and spend a week or so going to the different sites.

Off a cruise ship, you are severely limited in the time you will spend at the parks and there will be a lot of travel time to fill your day. You would be better off to spend that day on the beach.

Tulum is the easiest to reach from Cozumel but some ships offer excursions to Chichen Itza too. The problem with these tours is that they arrive at the sites when they are most crowded. Sometimes, there are buses from three or four other cruise ships already there.

Of course, there are high end cruises that cater to the wealthy that focus on touring the various ruins. Lindblad comes to mind. But, these are very expensive.

If I want to spend a lot of time on a Mayan ruin, I wouldn't take a crusie to see that. However, If I wnat to sampple a Mayan Ruin, one stop off a crusie ship is not bad.

Since the question is wich crusie ships port of calls with excursions to Mayan Ruins, the answer is Cozumel.

You have the choice of Tulum and Coba (both on the main land and travel by ferry and bus is needed)
You also have choices on the island. As a matter of fact, tehre are several on the island taht is not offered by the crusie ship but you can hire a local guide and stop at several of them as the ruins on teh island are smaller in scale compared to the one accessible from Playa de Carman.

If you have not been at any Mayan ruin, go to Tulum. If you like a semi-discovered jungle setting, go to Coba. If you like to explore on your own, stay on the island and go to San Gervasio, el Cedral, Castillo real, and el Caracol .

Both Tulum and Coba will take about an hour and 45 minutes to get there and similar time to get back. Most ships docks at 8 am and leaves around 6 pm. That will leave you with a couple hours only at the ruin itself at the most. Tulum has a beach area and some tours include half an hour to an hour at the beach.

San Gervasio is on the island, probably half an hour away from the dock and you can explore the whole place within a couple hours or less. It is smaller in scale in comparison to Tulum and Coba. Since it takes less time to get there, you can make stops at the other three places, which is even smaller in scale.

Alternately, go to san Gervasio only, go back to the dock and enjoy other local attractions and markets.

Actually, a lot of Western Caribbean cruises call at Costa Maya, and that's a good jumping-off destination to see some of the less-visited Mayan ruins like Kohunlich and Chacchoben (many are within a 60- to 90-minute bus ride from there).

Chichen Itza may be easier to reach from Progreso, and some cruises go there. The ruins are about 75 miles from Merida.

Tulum is actually a lot easier to reach from Calica, which is on the mainland (saves the ferry time from Cozumel).

Hi Doug,
Which cruise line stops at Progreso?
Great info on the Kohunlich and Chacchoben. I have to look them up and get more info on them now. Thanks!

Sory, I can't tell you specifically which cruises stop in Progreso (a few do, though it's not the most popular cruise stop), but you can quickly do a search on any cruise-line booking engine. Look for Western Caribbean itineraries.

You asked which ruins are the best, which is a very good way to pose the question as to which is, consequently, the best port.

Tough to beat Chichen Itza for which Progreso is the port of call. That said, nowhere near enough time to do it right. Chichen Itza is one of the Seven Wonders of the New World and as such, it ought to be done right. Hence, I would not recommend using a cruise route as means to explore Chichen Itza....unless it is the only opportunity you believe you'll ever get to get that close to it, in which case, then better something than nothing....

Tulum is great also; very impressive, smaller and easier to explore. Definitely the easiest port of call to access Tulum is Calica. There are excellent local private guides at Tulum; about $30/hour. Once at the ticket booth ask for a (English-speaking) guide and they will hook you up; quick and easy.

All these ports are Carnival Cruise Line-accesible from Florida ports.