Just got back from our cruise on Carnival Ecstasy,sailed 5/15/06, out of Galvaston. When we first found out we were going to Progreso instead of Playa Del Carmen we were disapointed. We got frustrated trying to find out what there was to do in Progreso.
We docked in Progreso about 7 am and frittered away about an hour getting our party of 6 off the boat. We had decided to try an independant tour guide.Carnival wanted $55 per person for the tour to the Mayan ruins at Dzibilchaltun.
When you first look at the port at Progreso you think man thats a really long pier. Takes about 5 minutes on the free shuttles to get to Progreso proper. When you get off your cruise ship you walk a ways and pass a cluster of shops. There we found people holding signs with various tours on them. First ones you see are the ones that are collecting the Carnival booked tours. Walked by them after they politely smiled and told us to go around the corner. Sure enough in the crowd are another bunch of signs. I saw at least 3 for Dzibilchaltun. I smiled at them and held up 6 fingers and said tour for 6? One of them smiled back and said follow me in perfect english. We went over to his counter and I noted the name. Out of Progreso. They have all the major tours listed with prices in a three ring binder. He offered the Dzilchaltun for $30 per or offered to include a tour of Merida for $40. We took the combo, I paid him and he escorted us to a bus that took us to the Out of Progreso compound where we were told we would depart at 10. They have a flea market with reasonable souvineers where I bought some Cuban cigars for $15. Of course they were all smoked and none made it back to the USA, because it is illegal to bring back Cuban Cigars.
A side note here, if you are the type of travelers that just love to eat at McDonalds or Burger King while in a foreign country, just buy your tour through your travel lines. Do not buy through an independant vender cause you will be out of your comfort zone. If you like tour guides that will tell you things that you won't get on mainline tours and offer authentic Mexican meals then you might give Out of Progreso a try.
They assured us that they would have us back to the boat by 2:30. Thats when Carnival said to be back for a 3pm sailing. Twas very close.
At 10 am we climbed on an air conditioned bus that would have seated 40 people with 14 people in our group total. I did not know any of the other folks,just our 6. Our tour guide introduced himself as Eban, he laughed and said thats like Ivan in English. Eban told us point blank that since we were trying to do 2 tours in 4 hours that we would have to hustle.
Dzibilchaltun is located between Progreso an Merida. Hard surface roads all the way. Eban kept up a running dialog about Mayan history and things in general. We loved the Dzibilchaltun tour. My wife had given me a new camera for an anniversary present and I took 198 pictures at Progreso total. Having a huge memory card really gives you the freedom to take lots of pictures. The ruins there are huge. Most have damage from when the Spanish civilized the Mayans. The ball court at Dz was the same size as the one at Chichen Itza but the Spanish tore most of it down and used the limestone blocks for their building projects. You will see evidence of this in the old building at Merida. There are still a large number of ruins with even more that heve not been excavated. We did a fast walking tour, my group climbed a pyramid,took various pics and then went to the cenote. Eban mentioned that the Cenote had not been fully explored, said that the last 2 divers that went deep never came up.
Then it was off to Merida. On the way Eban said do to time constraints that we would not have time to have a sit down meal in Merida but that he could call ahead and get us our choice of chicken or beef tacos, chips salsa ,bean soup and hot sauce with a drink. $9 for each meal, I grinned to myself, I figured he was making about $5 per meal but what the heck, the man had to make a living and we had already planned to tip him. Anyway we did a whirlwind tour of the old buildings around the town square. Beautiful buildings all dating from the 1500's. Eban made sure we were all there and all safe as we crossed the streets, matter of fact ,Police cars would stop and stop traffic while we crossed. Eban laughed and called them the tourist cops.
Back on the bus at 2:10 and I was nervous as a young mother. He gave us our meals, only 8 out of 14 took him up. My chicken tacos,well back in the USA we would have called them soft tacos or fajitas. Lots of chicken,peppers and seasoning. They were the best thing I had tasted in a while. There were 2 sauces included, a green and a red besides the bowl of salsa. The green will light your life up, but good. The bean soup was pinto beans that tasted so good my 18 year old daughter ate them.
Now the bus is stuck at a traffic light in Progreso and I am preparing the speech to my family that we could rent a car to Cozumel. We rolled back into the terminal at the end of the pier at about 2:38. I am one of those techno geeks with the watch that gets set every day by the atomic clock up in Colorado. We could see the huge line waiting to get back on the Ecstasy when we were pulling up so we were relieved. As we walked through the shops on our way to get in line the shop keepers teased us saying things like,"They already left, or You better hurry they will leave you." This was said with a smile ,and some of our group actually stoped and bought some stuff. We trucked back to the gate where we showed our ID's to the Mexican guards and I realized that 30 or 40 of the people who had done the Corona Beach Break were still hanging around drinking more free beer. We were not the last in line because when those folks saw that there were about 40 people left in line they came weaving back to get in line. They all acted like that they had had a really good time, so I guess if you want to do something on the beach and drink lots of beer the Corona Beach Break might be for you. We did the all inclusive the next day at the San Fransisco beach break in Cozumel.
Summing up I would have to recommend Out of Progreso(just get arround earlier than we did) tours and highly recommend Eban. If you are lucky enough to get Eban as your tour guide tell him That the really tall red bearded man says hello and that he should keep listening to his grandmother and keep telling her stories to the tourists. Eban tells you the official line and then says, My Grandmother told us that.....
Have fun in Progreso. Okiefarmer
Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers
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Centrum Deck
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Cruise Places
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Progreso/Merida
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Just back from Progreso,Dzibilchaltun,Merida
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