Tour Progreso - Merida - Dzibilchaltun

Doing Carnival Holiday cruise this Sat. Four adults and 2 children 8 and 9. My plan is to do Mayan ruins and Mexican culture touring in Progreso and do water/beach activities in Cozumel. This is 1st time to Progreso. Will be there 7am-4pm. My tentative plan is take free shuttle from ship to mainland. Do Progreso Tour Bus $2/person. Walk 3 blocks into town to Bus Terminal. Take bus to Merida at $3/person round-trip. Once in Merida, do sight-seeing bus tour (cannot find info on location or cost??). Shop some and eat lunch. Hire taxi to go to Dz ruins and wait abt 2 hrs, then to Progreso port. Have no idea on cost of taxi. Has anyone done anything similiar or have advice, costs, etc. Is the time frame reasonable to get us back by 4pm? I think Merida is 30 min from Progreso and Dz is 15 min from Progreso. Thx for any help.

It's a very tight schedule. You have your distances about right, but you are not factoring in the different pace of life in Yucatan.

I have a 2nd home outside of Progreso, and after many trips to the area I can tell you that I always allow twice as long as I think something will take.

You may want to consider this: get off ship and take shuttle down pier to Progreso town. If you are off ship right away and on one of the first buses, this should take you about 20-30 minutes. You can easily walk to the bus station, it's a couple of blocks south and a few more blocks east from the pier. Walk should take you around 20 minutes if you don't stop. Buying your ticket and waiting for your bus to depart should be around 30 minutes to an hour, they leave about every 30 minutes or so. Bus ride into Merida bus station will take you about 40 minutes, it's about 28 miles. Then you'll most likely take a taxi to the historic district, Centro, for about $3-$5, 5-10 minutes. Have them drop you at the main square, Plaza Grand. Your best bet here is to take a horse and buggy tour from the square. Takes about 40-50 minutes, think it's around $40. The bus you are referring to is kind of difficult, it takes a long route, and is the hop on/hop off kind, but doesn't run very often, so it will take you the entire day to do the loop. After your buggy tour, have lunch on the square, or at one of the many restaurants around on side streets - lots of great food in Merida. Then back to the bus and out to Progreso. Walk the Malecon (boardwalk) and then back on the ship. You will probably just make it.

The other option is to take shuttle bus down pier to Progreso, do Progreso bus tour, take a taxi to Dzibilchaltun, should cost you around $25 one way, it's about 20 minutes from Progreso. If you want them to wait for you and bring you back, be sure you work this out with them and get the rate. Tour the museum there, about 45 minutes, tour the ruins there, about 1 hour, and then take a swim in the cenote, about 30 minutes. Cab back to Progreso, have a late lunch (only snacks are at DZ), walk the Malecon, and then back on the ship.

That's my two cents!