RCI reps at Hotel Y Villas Solaris helped greatly with plans for the tours we had planned before we left home. Loreena, our RCI rep, helped so much and made sure we were invited to special activities and dinners. The four tours we did were Isla Mujeres/Garrafon Park, Jungle Tour, Chichen-Itza, and Xcaret.
Isla Mujeres was our free tour, and it was just beautiful. There was a very nice facility with an excellent restaurant and a sea walk along the edge of the island with great sea views of the reef, etc. The snorkeling was just great off the dock, with crystal-clear water that was very calm. There were not a lot of fish, but it was still quite beautiful. Barracuda lay underneath the dock. It was a great first day visit in Cancun.
The Jungle Tour was quite unique in that you drove your own speed boat following the tour guide's boat through some mangroves and out into the bay to a reef for snorkeling. It was a little rough getting used to handling the boat but a lot of fun and quite fast!! The snorkeling was also great, with very clear waters and a good variety of fish. The coral, as at Garrafon, was quite varied. Chichen-Itza was more incredible than the pictures. You have no sense of the size of the main temples and ball courts from photos. Plus, many temples in varied conditions of reconstruction were there. You get the feel that there were a lot of people in this huge number of temple grounds. Our guide demonstrated the knowledge of acoustics the Mayans were clearly aware of. The ball court was 170m long, and you could hear from one end to the other. Echoes off the temples just amazed you. The warrior temple, not shown in many pictures, was with huge number of pillars. It is just an incredible site if you're interested in this history.
The Chichen-Itza tour includes a stop at a Cenote, which was just beautiful--don't miss it.
Xcaret was our final tour, and you must go for the night show!! That was worth the entire trip. Hundreds of players in this live show of Mexican history and the costumes, especially of the Mayan-Aztec depictions, were incredible. The demonstrated the Mayan ball game and "hockey with fire balls!" It was a huge football stadium-like facility with eagles and macaws flying from end to end. Your entrance to the show is flanked by people in Mayan costumes--incredible. Xcaret is too big, though, to catch in a short day. Our tour did not get there until nearly noon. I would definitely say to skip the snorkeling trip offshore-- it was a very shallow reef with rough waters and very few fish, which was disappointing. We saw more fish in the snorkeling inlets right at the beach. There was a lot to do.
On snorkeling trips, bring your own fins from home. I had rented fins on other trips and had problems with fit, etc. I brought a pair of $50 full foot-split fins from home, and what a difference!! They are the best fins I have ever used!! Mexico requires life vests, but that was okay.