Progreso excursions?

[Paula_MacFan]

Does anyone have any advice on some good excursions in Progreso?

 

We can't decide between the ruins at Chichen and Uxmal, or some of the 'adventure' type excursions, like cenote swimming or ATVs.

 

All I know is the gulf water is murky so we don't want to do a beach day.

 

Anyone have any recent experience with Progreso excursions they'd like to share?

 

Thanks!!

[tnsail]

We were in Progreso the middle of Oct and did a tour to Uxmal.... Used www.mayanroutes.com as our guides and transport...It was an interesting tour if you have any sense for history at all... :cool: The crowds were non-exisit. We noticed several smaller groups moving around with their guides...

 

This is a pricey tour for just a couple of folks.... If you are traveling with a group or your in a roll call where others would be interested the price pp drops within reason.... Also there is the matter of the 3 total hours that you will be on the road (there and back, 1 and half each way) We were in a large group with a few kids and there was plenty to see going and returning.......

 

If you have any other questions just ask....

 

Joey

[Paula_MacFan]

Thanks for the feedback. Did you take a bus to the ruins, and if so, was it fairly modern (air conditioning, etc)?

 

I have mental images of being stuck on a crappy bus for hours on end...not my idea of an ideal vacation day! Maybe that's why I'm having such a hard time making up my mind.

[donnachipper]

We were also in Progreso last week. We did a tour with a local company, That cost 40$, it took us to Dzibilchaltum Ruins and a city tour of Merida. The Museum was closed when we were there, but the ruins were interesting. Though not as large as Chichen or Uxmal it was plenty to see.

My uncle, who was with us, has been to both of the other big ruins, said this was enjoyable too. At least you are not in a bus all day. Carnival charges 51$ to just go to Dzibilchaltum.

 

You can find this tour immediatly when you get off the pier. I think it is

auto-progreso or something like that. They have other package tours. The bus was very nice,AC etc. Our guide was veryyyyy good. Have fun.

[back2tampa]

We were on our first cruise and thanks to huricane Wilma we ended up at Progresso and we had never even heard of Progresso.We went on this excursion that was the ruins,rodeo and mexican dinner.We had a great time and the tour guide was very informative.I liked it so much I would do it again.We booked it through Carnival.What ever you do,dont stay at the dock ....there is only about two shops and a little bar at the end of the dock.rember ...this is one of ( if not the longest docks in the world)I think they said it was 7 miles.Have a good time and good luck!Hope this helped!

[tnsail]

Actually it was an air conditioned van.... The tour company provided drinks but the driver/guide wasn't passing them out too quickly :rolleyes: ... The ruins by far were the highlight of the trip... Our guide was informative about the history of the area... I give it an 7.5 to 8 out of 10..... One thing that we learned that even though it is a long day, don't get the meal plan offered by the tour company... Unless you have someone who can speak the local language with you, you're gonna have to take a chance on what you order and the bill is to be handled by you and your party...:eek: ..Also you will need to convert a few dollars to pesos as everything at Uxmal is priced in pesos... Even though they will accept dollars you may not get as good an exchange rate....:o

 

But I agree with donnachipper that this is not the port that you want to arrive at without some sorta plan.... We have heard of autoprogreso and they have been spoken of highly by some that have used their services...

 

If you want to shop, do some kind of tour and then head back to the ship on the longest pier that you've ever seen and there is shopping at the area where you enter to re-board the ship... Prices there weren't that out of line with other areas that we tried. You just need to be smart and look at several shops before you start to buy....:cool:

 

Joey

[Paula_MacFan]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I have spent a lot of time reading through the Progreso board here as well, but there isn't as much activity as some of the other port pages. I did a search on CruiseCal and it looked like the three main ships that visit Progreso regularly are all Carnival ships -- so I figured somebody over here would have some feedback from recent trips.

 

Has anyone been to the Rancho Grande that several of the excursions mention? (biking, ATV, dune buggy, horseback riding)

[Paula_MacFan]

We were also in Progreso last week. We did a tour with a local company, That cost 40$, it took us to Dzibilchaltum Ruins and a city tour of Merida. The Museum was closed when we were there, but the ruins were interesting. Though not as large as Chichen or Uxmal it was plenty to see.

My uncle, who was with us, has been to both of the other big ruins, said this was enjoyable too. At least you are not in a bus all day. Carnival charges 51$ to just go to Dzibilchaltum.

 

You can find this tour immediatly when you get off the pier. I think it is

auto-progreso or something like that. They have other package tours. The bus was very nice,AC etc. Our guide was veryyyyy good. Have fun.

 

About how long was this excursion? Did you have to book it immediately upon arriving at the pier? Our ship is in port 8am-8pm, so wondering if we need to get off first thing and book a tour, even if it's scheduled to leave later in the day?

[donnachipper]

We walked off the boat at about 0830 and booked the tour for 10am (the only choice) They added another bus on for more people. We were back by

3:30pm. Our boat left at 4pm.

If I had as much time as you do ,I would book the longer tour to the big ruins. I did not inquire about it due to our limited time. Donnachipper

[Paula_MacFan]

Gee thanks moderator for moving my post....I purposely posted it on the Carnival board (as I mentioned) because three of their ships regularly visit Progreso and I wanted some additional feedback from recent cruisers. There seems to be a lot more activity over there versus the Progreso page.

[slynn66]

Thank you for the info. We are going the week of Jan 7th. We want to go to Uxmal. We have been to Chichen Itza. We planed on using the Carnival excursion because it is so far out. We were worried about making it back. It is $69 pp with Carnival.

Stacy