What we did in Progreso 8/22/11

Day 3 has us up early as we came into port in Progreso. I wanted to get off the ship early so we could be prepared for debark in Coz since we booked a private excursion and had a set appointment time. My first reaction to Progreso when we hit the Lido for breakfast was yuck. There was a smell in the air, but it quickly disappeared. Debark was fairly easy. Do not bother to ride the elevator all the way down to 3. Stop at the Riviera Deck and wait by the stairs. You’ll take the stairs down to debark.

Once off the ship, it was an easy walk to the Duty Free shops. Lots of shops through the terminal and its tempting to stop but we continued out to the free buses. You’ll ride the free bus to town from the circular drive right in front of the terminal.

Once we arrived in Progreso, we immediately took the double decker bus for $3 a person. It’s a great little tour that shows you the town and gives you a lay of the land for when you navigate your way through the market to the beach and restaurants. It was entertaining and we enjoyed it. Its interesting to see how another culture lives…..and drives!

Next was the market where we spent more than we wanted to but still felt like we got a lot for our money. Bring small bills and fold the ones on top! This is were we bought all of our souvenirs. I highly recommend when you go into ports to separate your money. Keep your taxi/transportation money, lunch money, and spending money separate from each other. That way you don’t over spend and run out of money. We also split the cash between us so that it wasn’t all in one place. It wasn’t that we felt unsafe, we’re just not used to carrying that amount of cash on us at one time. We also took our passports and a credit card off the boat with us in each stop as well. Its one thing to get left behind for what ever reason, it’s a totally different problem to get left behind with no ID or money!

The market was really neat and we enjoyed looking at all the stuff the locals were selling. However, many of them were selling the exact same thing so I’m not sure if you’d get a better deal deeper into the market or not. A simple no thank you was enough most of the time and you could usually get them down a couple dollars if you haggled. But, please don’t insult these people. WE are THEIR income.

Fair warning: Not everything in these shops are for young eyes. DH and I thought it was funny, but....our DS was at home with his grandparents. Just watch what your kids pick up.

After we had spent all that we brought for shopping, we walked down to the beach and settled in front of Le Saint Bonnet. This was probably our only mistake this cruise. The service was fine and the food ok. But, our total bill ended up to be $60, about $20 more than I had calculated in my head. I would suggest paying as you go instead of running up a tab as I heard of a similar complaint on CC regarding a waiter that got angry when he was challenged about the bill. We had the cash so it wasn’t a big deal but it was unnerving and it did piss us off. He also wouldn’t honor a coupon that I had printed off their website for a free margarita. I let it go, but next time we’ll walk 20 feet further and park in front of Buddy’s.

The beach was beautiful by my experience with beaches. The Texas coast has nothing on Progreso. The water was a beautiful light blue and the beaches were fairly clean (comparing of course to the nastiness of Galveston). The temperature was also cool enough with a cool breeze to chill me sitting in the shade, so I took the opportunity to lay out in the sun. I’m pretty sure most of the passengers got their first burns in Progreso as the weather was so nice and pleasant you just didn’t notice the sun.

The beach vendors were plentiful and about every minute or so one would come to sell you something. A simple no thank you sent them on to the next tourist. I did have to laugh at the guys selling DVDs. I’m not sure why they thought Americans would want to buy Spanish DVDs of American movies but they had them by the fistfuls. The ladies offering massages were also plentiful and they didn’t care if you were laying out half asleep either. Every few minutes…”Heeeeyyy Laaadddyyyy, you want a massage?” Again, a no thank you sent them on their way until the next one came along. Again, this is how they make their living so you can’t blame them for trying.

Overall, I think this is a great port and with time will get even better. There are excursions to the ruins if you like but since we went in August, we decided a beach day would be better time spent than hiking. Though, on this particular day, it would have been nice.

We will be going back. :)

Nice review of the port, thanks!!

Thanks for the great review!! We'll be there this coming Tuesday, yay! Glad to know about Le Saint Bonnet.. we'll be hitting Buddy's :) How much time would you say you spent at the beach vs shopping? Just trying to get a good idea on how to budget our time (7 am to 4 pm).

We probably spent an hour or two shopping and the rest on the beach. We were there for the same amount of time.

Thanks for the review and pics! We were there in 12/09 and it was nice seeing how the progress is coming in Progreso! Is the pier complete?

We went to the ruins at Uxmal and LOVED it!

Julie in TN :)

Great review!! :)

we will be in pregresso at the end of the month! and since this is a last minute booking I hadnt had time to plan... some really great ideas;)

Love the pics, TX.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

However, words, along with pictures are priceless.

We'll be there in Nov., so thanks for taking the time to post.

GP

I also strongly suggest pay as you go on the beach at the restaurants. We had similar issue with tab. They wanted to run a tab, but I am suspicious of tabs by nature and had been listening to other tables around us complain for itemized bills.

We were there in March 2011 and no amount of reading prepared me for the thousand times I said "no thank you" to the vendors on the beach.

Next time I will pay to take an excursion in Progresso.

Thanks for the great thread! We will be going there next month. :) Lots of great pics too!

Thanks for the great review. We will be in Progreso in Oct. We have been there once before, but did the ruins and beack break combo through the ship so we didn't get to explore the port. We are all looking forward to the double decker bus and hanging at Buddys!!

The beach was beautiful by my experience with beaches. The Texas coast has nothing on Progreso. The water was a beautiful light blue and the beaches were fairly clean (comparing of course to the nastiness of Galveston). The temperature was also cool enough with a cool breeze to chill me sitting in the shade, so I took the opportunity to lay out in the sun. I’m pretty sure most of the passengers got their first burns in Progreso as the weather was so nice and pleasant you just didn’t notice the sun.

 

The beach vendors were plentiful and about every minute or so one would come to sell you something. A simple no thank you sent them on to the next tourist. I did have to laugh at the guys selling DVDs. I’m not sure why they thought Americans would want to buy Spanish DVDs of American movies but they had them by the fistfuls. The ladies offering massages were also plentiful and they didn’t care if you were laying out half asleep either. Every few minutes…”Heeeeyyy Laaadddyyyy, you want a massage?” Again, a no thank you sent them on their way until the next one came along. Again, this is how they make their living so you can’t blame them for trying.

 

 

Overall, I think this is a great port and with time will get even better. There are excursions to the ruins if you like but since we went in August, we decided a beach day would be better time spent than hiking. Though, on this particular day, it would have been nice.

 

We will be going back. :)

Loved all the pix.

Been to Progreso many times, but never got a beach massage. Thinking I may do that on 9/10/12 trip. How much are they charging nowadays?

Also, don't think they had the double-decker tour bus on our last visit (two years ago, I think). Will probably include that...

Again thanks......

Nice Review of Progreso!! We've been there several times...going back again in November...and our expierences pretty much mirror what you posted. We like the double-decker bus tour too, and even tho we've done it each time, we'll do it again as its fun. We always buy several 'goodies' at the market...and usually end up at Buddys on the beach. The first time there, we ate at Le St Bonnet before getting back on the ship, and we thought the food was just average...but I've also heard folks that really liked the food there...so maybe we just caught them on an 'average' day. Buddys has good beach/bar food...and good fish tacos. My wife likes the strawberry margaritas there. We enjoy Progreso, and look forward to going back on our next cruise!!:)

Thank you so much for the review of Progreso! There is so little information on this port & I really appreciate the insight & photos!

Thank you so much for the review of Progreso! There is so little information on this port & I really appreciate the insight & photos!

I wonder why I don't see any pictures. :-(