We are looking at booking a tour (Canada Transfers) for one of these sites with a cenote add on for a day while at TTR in December. It is a private car, with only us going. The more people in the group, the lower the per person cost. They will pick us up and drop us off right at the front door. Both sites allow access to the temple stairs, as well as the rest of the ruins. We'd prefer the Ek Balam trip, (only because he has visited Coba before) but are open for either one. Flexible on date choice. PM or reply if you are interested. We are a non-lifestyle, very friendly couple from Canada. He is a repeat TTR vet, she has never been.
Wife and I went for a day long, (bought at TTR excursion desk) trip to Xcaret. Was a very fun place to visit and it took up the whole day. We opted for the dinner and photo pack. When we exited the tour bus we left the guide standing there with the other groups exiting their respective buses. Went directly to the options counter and were helped almost immediately. The others that waited to hear the tour guide speech (possibly the same speech he gave on the bus) had to all get in the now long line and I figure waited around 30-45 minutes extra, not to mention got worse seats for the dinner, less available times on the various options such as stingray, shark or dolphin encounter, speedboat ride, etc.
UPDATE: Headed to TTR tomorrow (Sunday) and already booked the Coba tour with cenote swim for Saturday the 16th. We are able to add more to the group up until Friday night, so if you are interested, come find us by the pool and say hello! Not going to be checking for messages when we get there. Free wifi or not, we prefer to stay disconnected while in paradise. ...We both have large maps tattooed on our backs, so we should be easy to spot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Does X mark the spot . . . . or do we meet at the Y ? But, seriously, Wish we were there and could join you all. Kudos for arranging all this with old (not age) strangers and without your electronic monkeys on your back.