Exploring Cozumel Mexico - the worst 'TOURIST TRAP' yet?!

Thanks so much for watching this video! It would be great if you’d consider hitting both the LIKE and SUBSCRIBE buttons - welcome onboard!

Hi Fraser: Some of the comments about your video are unfair. I believe you were simply sharing your impressions of the immediate port area. Having been there, I would agree that the terminal area is all about selling tourist merchandise. Sellers can be quite aggressive. The same can be said of 5th Avenue in Playa Del Carmen. Having said that, there are tourist traps and there is the real Mexico. Pre-covid I spent 5 winters on the Yucatan and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is a large and vibrant ex-pat community of Americans and Canadians living there. There is so much to learn and enjoy with regard to Mexican culture, history, cuisine, and drink. While it is true that you can’t appreciate all of that on a cruise port day, that is also true on many Caribbean cruise stops. Even a really great excursion can only provide an impression of the place. I’m not sure that you deserved some of the defensive comments you received. I watched your video a second time just to make sure I hadn’t missed something. Honestly, I interpreted your comments as reflecting what you observed in the immediate port area and didn’t interrupt it as being a commentary on Mexico as a tourist destination. Stay calm and carry on!

I really enjoyed your video today. I love the way you explore the world and share your adventures with us. Keep up the great work! New Sub!👍👍

That museum was a nice find! They really should have a more prominent sign to let people know it's there. I wouldn't have minded a bit more time touring inside but I understand why you did not.

Enjoyed this, thanks. I'm a big ship geek as well. I'm the one taking 20 pics of each ship I see, especially if they (or us) are moving.😂

My understanding is the ship doesn't wait for late passengers unless they are on a cruise-sponsored tour. So, your complaint might be about the failure of your cruise line's tours.

Love a towel animal 😻

Spend 3-24 days on the island sometime. You got a skewed view of Cozumel by stopping for a few hours, while cruising.

Walkers shortbread all the rage here in Kyrenia North Cyprus too! Retired here. Not cheap! £3/4 for a small box of shortbread : ( Makes a good birthday gift as all my Turkish friends like it. (I like Edinburgh shortbread, much more refined and delicious, but you cannot get it here.)

Hi Frasier. Great vids btw, ploughing my way through. You have a very addictive way of presenting and inspiring me for my next cruise, hopefully a World Cruise taking my 3 Turkish friends. Looking for a good deal. Anyhoo... Cruise channels never tell me if l can sit in the Sauna free - obviously, no treatments. I think we could use the Sauna free on Costa every day? That was years ago before covld. What was annoying is ships that made us pay eg MSC weren't charging the gymsters who popped in the Sauna after their workouts. Of course, the gym is free, so they assumed the Sauna was too but noone policed it. It just seemed unfair because l wasn't using the gym that we should be charged. So clarity would be a plus please if you / anyone knows the position. Very frustrating since l'm paying for 4. (Expat Brit, Kyrenia, North Cyprus.)

Interesting experience you had there. Don’t know why people are angry… you did say you had a really nice day. It’s obvious you aren’t getting a full Mexico experience with only being there a few hours but I appreciate you talking us through the port area itself as if you didn’t want to take an excursion there was nothing else on offer. I saw that orange drink you like in Asda last week and I thought if you.

Oh wow, sorry you're getting these comments. There are the touristy trap parts of mexico and that includes a lot of the immediate coastal areas- even if people travel to mexico to stay (i.e. not on a cruise ship), there are so many who stay at resorts etc. I'm cruising to cozumel in December and excited they added a ruins tour to the excursion list- I think once you are further inland, you get to actually experience the people and the culture and not the tourist trap-esque ports. The only other cruise I have been on was a school trip in 2008 (Carnival Ecstasy - RIP!) and we came to cozumel and as someone whose only other experience in Mexico was Juarez (inland) and Cabo San Lucas (resort), my impression of cozumel was fairly similar in the port area. All this to say, there is nothing inherently wrong with a tourist trap, it's just merely something to be aware of... Also I appreciate the ship spotting - how fun!

Try Passion island or Punta sur next time

Dear Fraser, if one is NOT on a cruise ship, then Cozumel, Merida, Cancun, and the rest of the Yucatan are about 1,000% the very best places to visit, or even in live, in Mexico these days. In Mexico, there is the omnipresence of violent crime almost everywhere. That being said, with a few recent exceptions, the Yucatan has remained far safer and far more charming, than the rest of Mexico. It truly is a shame because Mexico is just one of those very, very special places that should be on anyone's bucket list. You need to get off a cruise ship and go visit San Miguel de Allende, or any of the towns of the Guanajuato; or if you have Mexican friends, then try Veracruz. Explore the Yucatan with a Mexican guide. Mexico City, with all due respect, is one big polluted mess with the worst air on the planet and there are far prettier capitals in Latin America (think Buenos Aires). But the food, the warmth of the locals (just watch out for pickpockets and muggers in the evening), and the constant effusion of color. And if you learned Spanish Spanish in your British schools, it will be practically of no use to you in Mexico. While the local vernacular is indeed Spanish, it has, while respecting traditional Spanish grammar, developed its own vocabulary, unrecognizable to the rest of Latin America. For example, in Spain the question of "where to catch the bus" translates in Mexico to the most vulgar of vulgarities and might you get punched (seriously so). So yes, Cozumel, for the daytripping white gringo from the Mid-West, whose world view is limited to a Big Mac and fries, Cozumel might appear as a tourist trap. To the rest of us, however, it is about as good as it gets in Latin America. Kind regards, Lulú du Furet

I'm thinking there must be another area where cruise ships dock in Cozumel as this looks nothing like I remember. I took a lovely walk right along the shoreline. Isn't Fanta orange the best...and what a wonder of a gesture...pay it forward for sure! Blow that horn and pull away!! Entitlement! lol

Fanta is also one of my favorites also.

As with some of the tourons of London Horse Guards, some ppl think they're on vacation and can behave badly on purpose... rather than show some decorum...

stay at the landmark resort and no hucksters there. We live there half the time, and know the island and where locals hang.

I love towel animals!

10:14 you captured a UFO. In the sky, middle left. Just a floating black dot / orb. Unless it was a gnat on your camera lens?