I'm bumping this thread up to give a current review (April 2024) of Cozumel Amazing Race:
We were cruising on the Magic and scheduled to be in port very early (8 or 9am) but on the first day of the cruise they announced that we would be late and wouldn't be able to get off the ship until 10:30am. Amazing Race Cozumel starts at 10:45am and is a 15 minute walk from the pier so we were nervous! Luckily the currents weren't as bad as expected so we got off the ship by 9:15-9:30am. Still later than expected, but it would not impede our excursion.
The walk from the pier to Mercado Municipal (the start point of the race was simple). Be cautious that drivers and motorcyclists take the right of way over pedestrians. Our major home city is like this too, so we could tell right away and we were safe, but if you are from a place where pedestrians have the right of way be careful!
As we approached the Mercado a woman I didn't even notice at first on a bench said, "Are you here for the Amazing Race?" (How did she know?!? A family of 4 in baseball caps...did we look like tourists?!?) She was Ada, and she got us all checked in. We had to sign photo & liability waivers and create a team name. She gave us all lanyards to wear and a Nokia cell phone if we got lost. We were also given a map, a folder to contain all our clues, a Sharpie, and a description of the Mayan number system.
While Ada was explaining things to us a man came over to my husband and put his hand (to shake) right up close to DH's chest. DH didn't respond and luckily Ada spoke to the man in Spanish and got him to eventually go away. She handled the situation well and I was thankful for her presence and composure. She did say that since the Mercado is just a bit away from the tourist area and more frequented by locals that there can be some problems of alcoholics asking for money. Of our entire time in Cozumel, this was the only instance that I felt uncomfortable.
We had plenty of time to walk around the small, but very authentic market. There were restaurants, fruit & veg stalls, meat, fish, shoes, clothing. It really felt like the places you see on the show. (There is a Walgreens across the street with A/C which Ada suggested to us, but we didn't go in.)
On this particular day there was only one other team/family signed up and they were from the Carnival ship which was docked further away. Ada said their booking cost more, but included the taxi from the pier. Even though the Carnival ship docked earlier that morning than the Magic did, that family was late, arriving after 11am. (It was hot & humid so we got a little bit bored waiting, but we managed and didn't hold it against anyone.)
Just prior to the other team's arrival, Ada left us for a few moments to go into the market. Once we got the first clue (which was a VERY difficult puzzle to solve) and we realized we needed to go into the market to look for stalls with certain signs, it became obvious that she had been hanging the signs and giving the clues to the venders when she briefly left us.
I won't spoil the clues or the places we went, but the map that is given to you at the beginning contains many places that you don't go to, this is because the course/race/clues changes every 6 months. There are two Race coordinators and they stay pretty central to you the entire race. They each have whistles to blow if they see you going to far in the wrong direction.
We were given a 15 minute break in the middle of the race which was great for us to get Gelato because it was hot! We did not have any clues that required us to get wet, but we wore bathing suits underneath our clothes because we were unsure.
My family was 2 adults and the children were 15 & 10. It's very helpful if you have someone that is a good map reader. My 10 year old needed to be specifically given instructions about how to help solve the clues and we were quite competitive so we might not have given him as much of a chance to participate as if it weren't a race. My 15 yr old child was very much involved. The locals noticed us since were were tourists with the lanyards and the map so they would shout out "go this way", "go there" etc. which was helpful, but then we would shout back, "don't tell the other team!" LOL
The Race ends at a local restaurant where you get drink tickets (you can get one alcoholic drink per person or a soda & a water per person.) We tipped the waiter for the drinks, but we decided not to get lunch at the restaurant b/c we weren't very hungry. As we were resting and drinking, we used the restroom at the restaurant and Ada (and her colleague, Naomi) organized all of our clues and figured out each team's time. Then they give the top 3 teams medals and take your photo with your camera & their's. (Since our day only had two teams we both got medals, but technically we beat the other team by 15 minutes...total 1.5 hours of racing plus check-in, break, and award ceremony) The other team was 2 adults and 2 boys that looked to be in high school at least.
We tipped Ada & Naomi. It was so fun, plus they really do a lot of work to make sure no one goes too far off the beaten path.
I really wanted to swim after the Race so I asked Ada if there was a public beach we could go to. She gave us perfect directions. If you're facing the ocean go on the main road to the right. You'll see a church (de la Santa Cruz) and there are about 3-4 little "beach club restaurants" there. She said if you go to the last one, that's where the locals use the beach. We just walked right onto the beach. We didn't have to go through a restaurant or buy anything. There were some locals there on the beach and then we dropped our backpack and went in. (We took turns holding our fannypack b/c I wouldn't leave that down at any beach.) We had a good view of the ships at the pier and big planes were coming in to land at the nearby airport. The shore was rocky, but once you got in the water was beautiful and it stayed a safe depth for a while.
I saw somewhere nearby a bathroom for $10 but that was too expensive for my taste so we just toweled off as best we could and put our clothes back on top and walked back to the ship.
I would highly recommend Cozumel Amazing Race and swimming at the public beach to anyone! Good times had by all and we were able to see local murals of art, learn a bit about Mayan numbers and symbols, and see a lot of the local statues. We tried to go fast, but I snapped a few photos and for the landmarks that I missed during the race, we took some photos afterwards.
