Chichén Itzá - Carnival Valor

[boopuff]

Looking to book the Valor.  Considering a few shore excursions.  Chichén Itzá is a bucket list item for me.  It seems from the description that the majority of the trip is on the bus, and only a small time exploring the ruins. Anyone take the tour?  I'd love to hear some first hand accounts.  Also if you cruised the Valor, how's the ship?

[jsglow]

I like Valor quite a bit.  She's an 'above average' Conquest Class ship and sailing out of New Orleans is fantastic. Probably my second favorite embarkation port.

 

As to Chichen Itza, it's quite a distance from the port but 'doable' and a common excursion from Progreso. I've not done it on an excursion from a ship but I have been there.  I don't believe you are allowed to climb up the pyramid any longer. I was able to do that 35 years ago.

 

One more thing. Your best source of info on this will likely be in the Caribbean>Progreso board here on CC where I suspect the mods will move this thread.  Good luck with your decision and enjoy your cruise. 

[Drazil65]

We cruised Valor a few years ago (pre covid) and it was fine, not our fav but not the worst ship by far. 

 

About 5 or 6 years ago we cruised around Fathers Day and DS and I gave DH a day to Chichén Itzá excursion.  He is a enthusiastic photographer and something he wanted to do for a while.  He still talks about that trip and loved it.  I do recall him saying the bus ride was long but the pictures he took were amazing and he said the experience as a whole was worth every minute of it.  

Edited April 12, 2023 by Drazil65

[Mallow]

When we went to Chichén Itzá, we had a choice of cruise excursion or make separate trip of it.  We decided to fly to Cancun and stay at an Xcaret resort with their excursion.  I wouldn't want to be so rushed on the time allowed on site with a shore excursion.  It takes a while to take it all in.

[ColeThornton]

1 hour ago, jsglow said:

I don't believe you are allowed to climb up the pyramid any longer. I was able to do that 35 years ago.

 

 

That is correct.    Wish I hadn't climbed up it, scared the crap out of me coming down because it was so steep and the steps were tiny.  lol

[jsglow]

33 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

That is correct.    Wish I hadn't climbed up it, scared the crap out of me coming down because it was so steep and the steps were tiny.  lol

I LOVED it.  But I was 26 years old at the time. 😎

[prmssk]

On 4/12/2023 at 8:50 AM, boopuff said:

Chichén Itzá is a bucket list item for me.  It seems from the description that the majority of the trip is on the bus, and only a small time exploring the ruins. Anyone take the tour?  I'd love to hear some first hand accounts. 

 

We did this trip from Progreso in September on the Carnival Ecstasy.  It was actually the sole reason we booked this cruise.  It was absolutely worth it.  It's about 2.5 hour bus ride each way which is long but the buses were comfortable.  We had about 1.5 hours at the site which is plenty of time to see it.

 

I have a personal blog where I document all our trips.  In case you are interested in reading more about our day, here is a link to that day:  https://rebecca-travel-log.blogspot.com/2022/09/carnival-ecstasy-cruise-september-6.html

 

FYI - This excursion is sometimes also available from Cozumel.  We were originally going to book the excursion on a different ship that stopped at Cozumel.  But it is an even longer day with less time at the site if you go from Cozumel because you have to add the time it takes to ferry from the island to the main land.

Edited April 19, 2023 by prmssk

[boopuff]

Thanks everyone for the info.  

[elklemi]

Two months ago I did tour the site with a group tour not from a ship and I say you need to do this as a group tour so you bypass the huge crowd waiting to buy tickets, we walked right past everyone in line and the line was huge, it is an impressive site and you will get a feel in 1.5 hours and the advantage of a land tour is we were in a hotel so close we  could see one of temples from our grounds, it is worth seeing and doing the bus ride to get there and Progresso would be much better than Cozumel.  Enjoy your visit.

[WomanWillSail]

Personally 5 hours or more on the bus (there is construction on the highway now because of the Mayan Train being built along the highway) is far too much time getting there and back. I would recommend visiting another site like Uxmal and if Chichen is really on your bucket list, zip down to Merida and stay for a week and spend a goodly amount of time at Chichen to really get what the site is all about.