Just back from Progreso

We were on the 10/1 Fantasy. We were in Progreso on Wednesday and had a wonderful time! We booked the Uxmal tour from Carnival, $69 pp. It was worth every penny! From CC, I knew Chichen Itza would be more crowded, so we went to Uxmal. There were 9 buses to Chichen Itza and only our one bus to Uxmal. Our bus tour guide was Tony; he talked the whole 1.5 hour trip to Uxmal and I was enthralled. He was so interesting and gave us great info on Mayans past and present. We were on a Mercedes tour bus (I'd never seen a Mercedes bus) and it was very comfortable. I can't remember the name of the guide while we were on site, but he was reallly good, too. it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! We were able to climb/walk through all of the ruins, which were spectacular; with the guide to point out things and explain, it was so interesting. When we got to the Great Pyramid he said we could climb all the way to the top. One of my group was hell-bent on doing it, and I couldn't be called a chicken, so I went too. It was terrifying!!!! I climbed to the top and was absolutely terrified of going down! A third of our group talked me down step by step, and I scooted on my rear end all the way down. Afterward, I was quite proud of myself, but I've never been so scared!:eek: We had a sack lunch which I thought was good - sandwich, chips, banana, water. There were vendors set up outside the park, and I got a cute dress for $18 (a friend got the same one the next day in Cozumel for $38!) Going back to the ship, we went through Muna, a true Mexican village. $69 may sound high, but the park tickets alone were $45. There were lots of twisty, windy roads and several turns. I'd have been afraid to rent a van for the 6 of us and have any hope of making it back to the ship on time! For the transportation and lunch, it was well worht the $24 difference, plus the guides were awesome! Back by the ship there are several shops; the deals there were much better than in Cozumel. We bought several things there. All in all, it was a terrific day and I would love to do it again. BTW, the beach area at the end of the pier looked sorta yucky; I'm glad we didn't plan to spend the day there. Feel free to ask any questions! Oh - one of our group had been to Chichen Itza and said Uxmal was much more impressive to her, plus the ability to walk through and climb added to the experience.

We will be on Fantsy 2/4/08 and one of the tours we were lokking at is Uxmal. Have a few questions:

What time did the tour leave pier?

How long was tour?

How long were you all in port?

Did you have enough time after tour to do any thing else?

I am sure I will have more ?s later.

Thanks: JimmyJames

We will be on Fantsy 2/4/08 and one of the tours we were lokking at is Uxmal. Have a few questions:

What time did the tour leave pier?

How long was tour?

How long were you all in port?

Did you have enough time after tour to do any thing else?

 

I am sure I will have more ?s later.

Thanks: JimmyJames

We docked during the night I guess... we were docked when we woke up. The tour bus left at 7:00, and they just let us off the ship just before 7:00 (but since it was booked through Carnival, we knew they wouldn't leave without us.) The bus left a little after 7:00 and returned at 1:30 or so. We didn't have to be back on the ship until 3:30, so we shopped around at the shops right beside the where the ship was docked. There were several shops, and like I said, the prices were MUCH cheaper than we saw in Cozumel the next day. You might have time to take some type of transportation back to Progreso, but I'm not sure what there is to do there. There is a little bar/restaurant where the shops are located, but we didn't get go there. We loved Uxmal - but I'm not sure what else in Progreso would interest us. I liked that we had 1 bus and Chichen Itza had 9 - we were not crowded at all and it was absolutely amazing! Feel free to ask whatever and I'll answer as best as I can!:D

Carnival lists this tour as 6.5 hours with lunch included for $71 (Jan. 06 price). Some of the independant tours should run around $50-$60. Departure time is as soon as you can disembark. I don't know about shopping time on this tour, but there are shops on the pier that you HAVE to go by when you return to the ship. (A La Disney);)

Ours was $69 charged to our sign and sail card. Oh - FYI - we booked our excursion before we ever went up to the Lido deck upon embarkation. There was no line at all. An hour or so later, the line was WAY backed up. (Ours was not available to book online ahead of time; they may be available online now, but it wasn't ready in time for our cruise on 10/1.) So if you know you're going to book one through Carnival on the ship, I'd do it ASAP to avoid lines. No one wants to waste cruise time standing in line!

We didn't have to be back on the ship until 3:30, so we shopped around at the shops right beside the where the ship was docked. There were several shops, and like I said, the prices were MUCH cheaper than we saw in Cozumel the next day. !:D

can you bargain like in cozumel? or are the prices set?

did you use pesos or american $$

Bargaining/haggling is the same in Progreso as it was in Cozumel - I got everything cheaper than the original price. (for example, got a hat for $15 they asked $30 for originally.) And they took US dollars and gave change in US dollars, at least the vendors I purchased from did.

We did this tour back in June and absolutely loved it. We, too, had a great tour guide on the bus - Hugo and Manuel was our guide at Uxmal. It was very hot in June - I hope it was a little cooler for you. Our excursion cost $71 but I noticed that the price has gone down to $69. So glad you enjoyed Uxmal. I highly recommend it, too. Travelgirl

The temp was in the 90's; the bus was comfortable, though. I probably wouldn't have been so hot if I hadn't climbed the Great Pyramid! I was sweating bullets, but probably as much from fear as from the temperature!:D Progreso felt much hotter than Cozumel to me. I would recommend this excursion to anyone!

How Do You Book This Before You Go On Cruise Through Cruiseline

We weren't able to book it ahead of time; Costa Maya changed to Progreso and Carnival didn't get all the new excursions posted in time to book ahead of time (I think they were on the Wednesday before we sailed, but you can't book an excursion within 5 days - I think- of sailing, so we had to do it on the ship.) To do so on Carnival's site, you have to be paid in full I think. If you have your booking number, you have to fill out your fun pass. Then it will give you all of the current available excursion options; you simply click on what you want and they'll charge your credit/debit card. We had done that for Costa Maya, and they credited our account quickly when we had to change ports. Let me know if that doesn't work for you and I'll look at the Carnival site, but I looked at it so many times I'm pretty sure that is how it worked.

i went to the site and they must have removed th uxmal tour it is not on the list, it is on the board but not at the carnivial site, could I do that with someone in port?

The people at the excursion desk on the Fantasy said they were still in the process of putting all the Progreso excursions together, which is why we couldn't book them online ahead of time. When is your cruise? I think I read somewhere that people were booking privately, but I only saw one elderly couple that seemed to be at Uxmal privately the day we were there; everyone else was, I believe, with our tour. There was another tour bus coming as we left, but they were not with the cruise ships (Fantasy and Ecstasy were the only 2 docked that day, and we both sailed away in the afternoon fairly early.) You might call Carnival, or you could wait and book on the ship like we did, or you could check out the site yucatantoday dot com - I think it has info about autoprogreso tours that are separate from the ship. As a newbie, I just wasn't comfortable not being on a ship's excursion - too afraid of being left behind!

thanks for your speady reply, we leave 10/20 I have done private trips before, but only with recomendation

What ship are you on?

the fantacy

Irv

We will be sailing with you I have been in touch with Progreso tours by phone and e-mail. They will be there when we arrive at port. They have several areas to go to and their tours are much cheaper than Carnival. I have also rented a car but if the difference is not much in $ for us to take a tour I'll let them do the driving. Progreso is about $40 pp where as Carnival for Uxmal is $89pp. But it's up to you just some ideas.

Who are you going through to get the Progreso tours?

Carnival must have gone up; we just paid $69 pp on Oct. 3rd.

thanks for the info, we will be at meet n greet 1130pm check out roll call

The price was the last I saw on Carnival, so they probably are $69. As for the Progreso tours just get off the ship and seek them out at the wharf or in town by the flea market. We decided to do Dzilichaltun Ruins and Merida if they don't offer Uxmal. It's about 6 hrs. See everyone at the Meet/Greet.:)