Cancun Passion

The tour is a long day and gives you a taste on Chichen Izza and Cenote — just a taste. A family of four should request seating facing each other with a table. Bring games to play (cards) to break up the ride. Chichen Izza is amazing, but the 100’s of vendors «cat calling» take away from the experience — very disappointing! If you want to spend more time than the tour, rent a car instead. Cenote was impressive and fun. Wear your suit so you don’t waste time changing clothes. Overall the tour was worth the value. The guide and servers were very good. I (personally) am tired of Mexico and the nickel/​dime approach to the culture. In Cancun, it’s all about how much $‘s they can squeeze out of you in tips and bargains one peso at a time. I don’t believe we’ll be back.

We took two trips with Cancun Passion– one to Xel Ha and the other to Chizchen Itza.
For the trip to Xel Ha– we had a small van pick us up at our hotel. There was another family of four there already and they picked up a family of 4 after us. They gave us great directions and instructions– where to go and when to be back, etc. It was nicely air conditioned– however my husband who is 6’1″ said there wasnt enough leg room.
For our trip to C.I. our guides were entertaining and very knowledgeable. We were in a large tour bus that was very comfortable. My one complaint was that they spoke the entire trip there, giving us the history of the place, which is fine. But, you should be able to choose to not listen (especially if you have to be downstairs at 7:15am and have 2 small kids). I really wanted to close my eyes and rest but they kept passing things out to pass around the bus! It was actually really annoying. So my suggestion here is for them not to pass out pictures and other things for us to look at. or they should have one of there staff members stationed half way down the bus to pass things around.
On the way back, we stopped at a Cenote– this was actually very very cool and a much needed cooling off.

Truly an amazing tour!
Worth every penny to visit one of the 7 wonders!
3 of us went to Cancun with the mindset that we would visit one of the Mayan ruins and cenotes but we didn’t exactly buy a specific tour until we got to Cancun. Our hotel, Presidente Intercontinental offered awesome packages and this one of them.
There are different packages available for the Chichen itza and cenotes Samula but we did the $ 82 per person package that was below the deluxe. Passions picked us up in the early morning around 7:45. (Note, they will pick you up at the bus station if you’re staying at the Presidente, as the bus is too big to come up the driveway of the hotel. Victor walked up to get us, luckily, since we were cluelessly waiting.)
The bus is huge and comfy. Some seats are facing each other so that you can converse during the drive. It was around 2hr 30 mins drive to Chichen itza, which was perfect for napping. Victor woke us up about an hour early to go over rules and guidelines along with informative information about Chichen itza. Victor was a great speaker and was super funny and friendly.
Once we got to Chichen itza, we had our bathroom break and broke up into an English and Spanish speaking groups. Was sad to see Victor instructing the Spanish group, but we loved Jaime as well! (Pronounced Haime)
Jaime knew what he was talking about and was very educated. We stayed with Jaime throughout the whole tour as he took us around the temple showing and teaching us interesting facts. He wasn’t your typical tour guide that just had a set script but really dissected into deep discussions. He also had great stories about how he met Lance Armstrong and Ozzy Osborne!
The 2 hour tour went quickly and was entertaining. After we made our way to the bus, the tour took us to a beautiful Mayan buffet 10 minutes out called the Restaurante Pueblo Maya. We were all greeted with a shot of green juice and then free time to feast! We enjoyed the food as well as the scenary. Exit was connected to a goodies/​souvenirs shop. Would advise to pick up something here or back at Chichen itza for more of the Chichen itza items since everywhere else in the Cancun hotel strip would mostly offer Mexico or Cancun souvenirs.
Another 40 minutes drive or so, we made to cenotes Samula. It’s beautiful from the top to bottom. To be able to swim in it, you must rinse yourself in the back with the showers, out in the open. (Of course with your swimsuits on) To warn you, the water was cold… Put a life jacket and head down to the cave. I would advise you to rent a locker to put your belongings and only take your shoes and towels to keep next to the cave to dry off and put on shoes afterwards.
Down the stairs, there’s 2 staircases that take you into the water or an open ledge where you can jump in. Unfortunately for me, I only coaxed my feet in water as I’m not good with cold water, while my friends were having a blast jumping off the ledge. Oh, just to note, there’s tiny fishes in the water!
After you dry off a bit, we got into the bus and another 2 hours and 30 minutes afterwards, we made it back to the hotel. This tour is organized to the T and seriously the best tour that I went where I was actually paying attention to the tour guide!
I would seriously recommend this tour to anyone going to Cancun. Thank you Victor and Jaime, and Jose, our driver who took and brought us back safely while driving when it was poring down.
Don’t forget to show the staff your appreciation and tipping them at the end. They serous deserve it for working long hours and providing everyone super duper service! Thank you again!

Amazing experience our bus staff was Carlos, noe, Paul, Luis they were superb hats off to those guys they were so funny entertaining and guide was so knowledgable and clear about history, must must must go with them, bus was very good, food was amazing for both veg and non vegetarians and shots of tequila during our back to hotel by Carlos in his cool costume in bus were a nice surprise and yeah with Mexican famous song Taquila

Awesome time! My wife and I booked a trip to Chitzen Itza last month and we had such a great time. Our tour guides, Felipe, Felipe Jr., and Julien were awesome.
The tour was about 12 hours, they picked us up at hotel at 7:30am and served us breakfast on our ride to Chichen Itza. The guides were very knowledgable and went into great detail about the Mayan history and culture. They brought us to a shop/​restaurant where we ate a really good lunch and could purchase souvenirs. Afterwards, we went to a cenote to go for a swim, which felt amazing after a day in the hot and humid jungle.
Overall we had a great time and would recommend Cancun Passion for a guided tour of Chitzen Itza. Please do remember to tip those guys, they spend all day serving you and sharing their knowledge and that’s how they make a living and feed their families.

During our stay in Cancun, we went on two excursions operated by Cancun Passion, and both were great! Both were booked through the concierge at our hotel the day before each excursion. Both days they were on time picking us up.
The first tour we went on was the day trip to Chichen Itza, with a stop at the Cenote Ik Kil. I HIGHLY recommend this tour and I DEFINITELY recommend going big and getting the more expensive package. We were a bit unsure if the additional things were worth the extra $ 20…but I assure you they WERE. We laughed when doing our booking at the «aromatic towels» being listed. But after several hours walking around in the dusty, humid heat at the archeologically site, they were the best thing on the planet! We got breakfast on the way to Chichen Itza. Nothing fancy: pastries and coffee and juice. Our tour guides were entertaining on the bus (very entertaining!) and informative as our guides at the site. The food for lunch, at a super touristy place, was really quite good. They have more accessible options if you aren’t adventurous enough to try the Mayan specialties. But live a little and try the goodies! To exit you *have* to go through the market, but you can get out without buying anything if you can say no. They were the least pushy vendors I encountered during our entire week in Cancun. The Cenote was beautiful. My only complaint is that I wish we had more time there. We really only had enough time to change into our suits, trek down to the water, jump in and swim for maybe 5 – 10 minutes and then we had to change back and get back on the bus. More time would have made it perfect. (lockers at the cenote are not included, have cash). AND THEN… The flowing tequila on the way back to Cancun! YES. The guides danced around the bus filling our glasses… I think they were having just as much fun as we were. For real… go for the premium package.
Our second trip was to Rio Secreto. It is close to Cancun but a bit off the beaten path. The day felt completely different. We were picked by a small van, as well as several other patrons from other hotels. Then we stopped at a bus stop downtown and hopped on to the Cancun Passion tour bus. The trip was good, but not as much as the first one. *AT* Rio Secreto, the tour, caving, lunch and everything was great. Cancun Passion was mostly just for transportation on this excursion and it all felt a little more low-​key. Which isn’t bad, just different. The weirdest part though was on the way home… when we basically pulled over to the side of the road… the highway… and hopped off the bus to get back on to the small van for the rest of the trip again.
Still despite the strange transfer, I would 100% recommend Cancun Passion for tours and excursions while in the area.

The church door’s thrown open
I can hear the organ’s song
But the congregation’s gone
My city of ruins
(Bruce Springsteen)
We just finished a 12 hour day under the care of Cancun Passion as we toured the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, had a very nice buffet lunch, dunked ourselves in a massive sinkhole, saw enough Mexican souvenirs and trinkets to fill Yankee Stadium to the brim, and even drank Coronas and shots of tequila on the bus.
Our crew of Mario, Samuel, Felipe, and especially Carlos were top notch. Carlos was great –funny as can be, and besides, how can you not smile at someone pouring you tequila shots while wearing a sombrero and a Lucha Libre mask?
Our day started with an early pick-​up at our hotel in a pretty spiffy bus. As a few Unilocalers have mentioned, the bus has standard seating for twos, with a few extra tables for four tossed in near the back. Our party of three was escorted to a table, and we really lucked out when our 4^th party turned out to be a charming young woman from British Columbia Canada. By the end of the day, we were trading jokes like long lost friends.
The Cancun Passion crew of four was lead by Carlos, a real funny guy whose jokes and wise-​cracks were always funny. They served a continental breakfast (juice, coffee, pastries, and bananas) and we were off on the 2 hour drive to see the Chichen Izta ruins.
The ruins are simply amazing, they were built between 900 and 1300 AD. There were at least a dozen buildings and pyramids including a huge ballfield where the Mayans played a Quidditch like game. But honestly, I was surprised at the hundreds of flea market tables of merchants selling their wares. It seemed inappropriate to have so many of them within feet of these historic treasures.
After the tour, we jumped back on the bus for some cold Cervezas, which came in handy on a day where the temp hit 111 F. We rode over to Restaurante Pueblo Mayan for a nice lunch and more souvenir buying opportunities.
Our last stop was a giant sinkhole, where you could walk down 100 steps and dive into a pool of water. I intended to do so, but I was so tired and beat from the heat, I descended the ladder, put one foot in the frigid water and said «no mas».
On the ride back, people were snoozing when the song «Tequila» by the Champs came over the loud speakers. Our tour guide, Carlos, was wearing a serape, huge sombrero and a Lucha Libre mask, and he was carrying a big bottle of tequila to pour out shots for the passengers.
That’s what I call «Customer Service».

My husband and I were staying at Secrets Capri for our honeymoon (October 2014), and decided to book the excursion trip to Chichen Itza. I’m not sure what we paid for the trip, as my husband handled all of those details. The trip was booked through Cancun Passion, and we were set to head out on the tour the next day.
Our resort shuttled us to downtown Playa del Carmen — after stopping at other resorts to pick up passengers along the way — and dropped us off right across from the Señor Frogs souvenir shop. Eventually a bus pulled up that was ours, so we waited in line to get on it. Once we got on we noticed that the bus was pretty full — and these weren’t the people who we picked up along the way. So the bus picked up passengers from other resorts before heading downtown to pick up the rest of our group. The majority of the seats were laid out like a normal bus, but once you got to the back it was a different story. The back seat was a bench, there were 2 tables on either side, and 2 normal chairs seated across from each table. Lucky for us — we got to sit at a table across from 2 complete strangers. Yay. I’m being sarcastic in case you had difficulty picking up on that.
So we had to sit at this tiny table — with zero leg room — across from a couple we’ve never met. Normally wouldn’t be a big deal, BUT this chick didn’t have her shoes on! To make matters worse, she left her shoes down there to take up even more of the limited leg/​foot room we had — instead of putting them next to her on the bench seat. I wasn’t happy. Things got worse when she decided to put her foot on her other leg, and kept touching me with her foot. I wanted to tell her off, but my husband gave me attitude like I was being unreasonable. She has her foot on me! I had no idea the trip there was 2 hrs (I didn’t read the booklet), but I was pretty bummed when I found out. It was like a slow torture.
We got to Chichen Itza first. The ruins were breathtaking! It was so surreal being there, and walking through all the structures. Our guide was awesome! He was very informative and answered any questions our group had. The other half of our group went with the other tour guide. I think Ramon was the name of one of the tour guides. I could be completely wrong though. I wish I could remember or would’ve wrote it down. Anyways — I had no complaints at all with the Chichen Itza tour. I felt like we were given plenty of information. We were also given plenty of advice beforehand on the plethora of merchants set up selling jaguar whistles and whatnot throughout the tour.
From there we headed to a buffet for lunch. I was starving and thirsty by that point, so it was perfect timing. In contrast to the other reviewer, I thought the food was very authentic — not «fake» at all. Alot of the food was unfamiliar to me. Nothing at all like what I’ve seen in Detroit or San Antonio. They had different varieties of tamales (which weren’t called tamales) and they also had charros. There were 3 women that would dance intermittently throughout the lunch service — with empty glass soda bottles on their heads. The first time they danced I was entertained, but by the 2^nd/​3^rd/​4^th time I was over it. Especially when they were right next to our table. They were «calling» loudly and stomping their feet. After we finished eating, we walked through the place. Along the way they had several large cutouts to pose with. I thought those were cool. We found a couple in our group to take our picture for us. From there was the store. Kind of similar to the merchants at Chichen Itza — trying to sell you something. I had a sample of this «drink» they sell. I think it was something like Anise Seed. It was the tiniest sample, but man that stuff was rough! He told me to sip it, but it was too strong to sip so I did a quick shot. Vanilla, purses, coin purses, keychains, shot glasses — basic souvenirs — but they also sold some other things like statues and wood carvings. Once we got on the bus, the tour guides gave Coronas to anyone who wanted one. Very cool!
From there we headed to Cenote Ik-​Kil — which was super refreshing after the hot, sweaty tour of Chichen Itza. Only bad part was we got caught in a downpour and had to wear wet clothes for the 2 hr trip back to Playa del Carmen. Well… there was another bad part. That couple I complained about earlier? We still had to sit with them, but now she had her shoes AND socks off. Same issues. Foot kept hitting my leg. My husband was more tolerant, but I ended up kicking her shoes out of my way. I was frustrated with her inconsiderateness.
Overall we loved the tour and thought the tour guides were great. Yes, they gave you the option to buy a Mayan necklace personalized with your name, but I didn’t think they were pushy. FYI — excursion description says breakfast is included. Breakfast was bananas and I think donuts/​bread.

Chichén Itzá Tour ! I booked my Chichén Itza tour (93 $US) for 1 day/​12h excursion from my hotel (Westin Cancun) via Best Day Travel Desk inside the hotel lobby and I end up being picked up by a guide from ”Cancun Passion” the next morning. He was on time at 7AM in the lobby, I was the first in the bus than we picked up for more than an hour everyone else along Kukulkan boulevard (Zona Hotelera) into differents hotels… mostly americans… Than the full bus with more than 50 people left from Cancun to Chichén Itzá area. The ride is about 2h. The guide was professional and as well, gave us all clear instructions about our day. First stop, was the Cenote (sinkhole) where you can swim into the water down inside the pit if you want or just take pictures. Than second stop, lunchtime, they make you walk along and inside a bazaar of Maya goods (cups/​t-​shirts/​sombrero/​…) to buy and than you finally arrive at a restaurant. Very very touristic ! I’m not difficult concerning food but that ”bad” and ”fake” mexican food was the worst I ever ate. Hospital /​industrial food look a like, very bad. Alcohol is not included in the package. Than after that, the last activity is finally to visit Chichén Itza, the pre-​Columbian city built by the Maya. The guide explains you all the facts concerning the pyramid (El Castillo), the Temple of a Thousand Warriors and the Great Ball Court. You have about 1h free to visit yourself the entire site. I did enjoy the professional speech of the guide but I didn’t like the order of the day, maybe this company should think about rescheduling the planning, first the visit and after eat/​lunchtime. As well, it was too much touristic for me + too money oriented, they even try to sell you on the bus some necklaces with your name, mayan style, you see what I mean. I have to give a 2 out of 5.