long, exhausting shore excursions
 

If you have recently gone on a really elaborate or intense shore excusion that left you eager to get back on the ship and relax, please contact me at [email protected]! (I'm a travel reporter)

Hannah:

Interesting idea for an article. Quick suggestion for you: go to the Carnival board on CruiseCritic and ask people about the Tulum excursion in Cozumel (it's an 8-hour day involving two ferry boat rides and two bus rides).

Good luck.

Another suggestion for you. We are scheduled to fly to Moscow from St. Petersburg on the Jewel of the Seas for a one day excursion. The total time will be 16 1/2 hours. We will leave at 8am and get back around midnight. Sounds like it would hit your criteria quite well! Sorry but I'm not comfortable using someone's e-mail address from a sight like this.

Took the Island tour of Bermuda on our last trip. Far to long, with not enough stops on the way. The driver was very informative,but it became a very tiring, & long ride.

From Belize City, we took a bus to the airport. Then flew on a Cessna for a flight into Guatemala. Then took a bus ride to Tikal, Mayan ruins in the hot and humid jungle, spending several hours there. Then a stop at a "gift shop". Then retraced the same transport to get home. It was an 8.5 hr shore excursion... very exhausting.

Don't remember the ride to Tulum to be that long. However, I do remember a native Indian engaged in telling the history of the area and of his people, and when we got there: WOW, the most beautiful beach and a fascinating temple. Beats an afternoon in a bar in Cancun IMO.

Be prepared for poverty.

I have also done the Tikal tour that mistik321 mentioned. It was a long tour, but worth the time. I could have used more time at the gift shop, there were a lot of really nice things there. They held the ship for us, since we were a little late getting back to Belize.

The most physically-challenging tour I ever did was a snorkel trip at the Baths in Virgin Gorda - too many people, and very very rough water. The tour consisted of going in the water at one spot, and swimming / snorkelling quite a distance to the next (against a very strong current), and back again.

I was in pretty good physical shape at the time, and was still glad when it was over.