We went over to the Mexican mainland for the tour of the Mayan ruins of Tulum. Here is a rundown on what I would have loved to have known before we went. I wish they had told us to take a bottle of water for every person in your party. The cruise line does not give or sell bottled water that morning, and there is none to be had on the pier. Fortunately we did take the two bottles from our fridge in our stateroom (for which we were of course billed later). But we were glad we had. When we left the ship, we went about half way on the pier, there was a sign for the tour (boat) to take us from Cozumel to the mainland of Mexico. We were on a very rough crossing of about 50 minutes, and many on this shuttle boat got seasick. I was glad we were seated on the lower level. Inside. It seemed to help. When we got to the mainland we were in a town called Playa del Carmen. We got off the boat and were led off the pier and up the main street (pedestrian) toward the place where we were assigned a bus. We did not stay together. Our family of 14, as a result, were separated, put on 3 different buses and did not see others in our family for the rest of the day. The bus made one stop on the way to Tulum. It is a rest stop and souvenir shop. There were some nice bargains to be found in the silver jewelry line, and some haggling is okay. Our high school age child tried out Spanish II in the haggling. At the ruins, we were offered the chance to walk to the ruins or ride a tram which costs $2 per person round trip. We walked to the ruins (15 minutes at a steady pace) but bought the tram ticket for the ride back. Buy the tram ticket. After we got to the ruins, we went down a pathway off to the left toward the entrance. It took time. Then once inside the entrance, we climbed up and over the old wall, and there in front of us was the whole complex. We didn't have a map (find one on line and take it with you if you are going on this tour), the tour didn't not provide one. So it was a bit of a challenge to figure out what is what. We had no more than 35-40 minutes to see the actual site. The views over the sea are marvelous, the beach is stunning and makes you wish you could stay all day and swim (if we had but known we would have dressed accordingly and had a dip). We found the ruins to be overcrowded which meant it was hard to take photos without anyone in them. We compromised and put members of our own group in the foreground and then the rest of the throngs in the background did not seem as intrusive. My sister-in-law did get a super photo of a huge iguana sunning at the base of the big temple. There are LOTS of fist sized loose rocks all over the place, so it was a bit of a chore for those who were not nimble. Our eldest (age 69 with bad knees) found it hard to get close to the bigger temples due to the rocks underfoot. When you make the return trip to Cozumel you are plopped down in the town, about 2 miles from the ship. Our plan was to shop but we had no more than 45 minutes to do that before heading back by taxi (small taxi holds no more than 4; there are vans, too) and the trip is $6. We did go to the $10 Silver shop, and found many reasonable and charming items on sale there. I would say it is your best shopping bet in Cozumel. Avoid at all costs the chain of shops called Diamonds International. They had a coupon in the VIP book for a bracelet, but even though they have 7 shops in Cozumel, the three we managed to try all said they were “sold out” of this “free” come on. We were not amused.