From the Airport-After you deplane, you will need to first clear Mexican Customs and Immigration at the Cozumel Airport. Make certain that you have properly completed the Customs form that was handed out on the airplane and the Immigration form as well. Have your passport ready to show the Customs officer together with these forms. The Customs officer will give you back both forms and it is important that you retain the Customs form with your passport, because you will need to give that form back when you depart Mexico. You can then secure the Customs form, but keep the Immigration form out because you will use it after you gather your luggage.
As you pick up your luggage prior to clearing Immigration, there will be luggage handlers with carts next to the luggage carousel who are there to help you for an appropriate tip. If you have a lot of gear, it is a good investment to have these guys help you with your luggage. We usually tip $3.00 US for carrying four or five bags to the taxi stand and that appears to be appropriate for the maximum ten minutes of work that is required.
Once you have your luggage, or the handler has it for you, you will need to head toward the famous "stop light" that is the icon of Mexican Immigration. You will hand the official your Immigration card (one per family) and then be invited to push the bottom on the "stop light". If you get a green light (Paseo) you are free to move on. If you get a red light (Alto) you will then have your luggage searched.
Please do your homework on what you may or may not bring into Mexico and carefully consider the terms of the Immigration card that you fill out and sign.
After clearing Immigration you will come into an area where there will be many vendors trying to gain your attention. If you have reserved Casa Carlita, this is where a representative of our property manager will be waiting to find you. This representative will be holding a sign either with your name on it, Casa Carlita on it or Cozumel Vacation Villas on it. This is the case because there may be more than one group that is being met by this representative. The representative will know your name, so just hang on, even though it may appear hectic, you will hook up.
If there is a problem, primarily due to flight delays and the resulting off-schedule arrivals, in contacting the representative, the departure packet that you will be issued will provide you with the protocol to follow in order to contact the airport representative.
You are able to leave the airport in one of two ways. If you are renting a car from a company that has a desk at the airport, currently Avis and Executive, that is one of the ways to leave the airport. If that is the case the airport representative will show you how to get to the rental car desk and he will tell you how to drive to Casa Carlita.
If you are not renting a car from the airport, the only other way to leave the airport is to ride on the shuttle vans that are readily available. The taxi union in Cozumel is quite strong and as a result, they control the ingress and egress from the airport. When leaving the airport the shuttle vans are the only option .The representative will show you how to buy tickets for the vans and he will assist you in getting on the correct van. The price to be paid for a van ticket depends on the location to which you will be delivered. Casa Carlita is in the second "zone", so make certain that you pay for the ticket to the correct "zone". These tickets are currently about $7.50 US per person. At first this may seem a bit hectic, but it will work out fine-part of the adventure.
The vans themselves are usually well cared for Chevrolet Suburbans which the drivers insist on filling with passengers before they leave the airport. The method for the stowing of luggage in/on the van is not very scientific, so keep a careful eye to make sure that your luggage got in the same van you did. If there is too much luggage, the driver will often tie extra luggage on the roof of the van. As crude as it may appear, it works However, if you are carrying a laptop or other fragile equipment, carry those fragile things with you in the van.
The representative will make sure that the driver of the shuttle van knows you are to be dropped off at Casa Carlita. And, the representative will be at Casa Carlita when you arrive there (he drives faster than the shuttle driver) to orient you to the property.
