What are some favorites of things to do for those that have been to Progresso? None of us traveling have ever been to Mexico so we do want to get off at the port and explore a bit. I was thinking we might see a Mayan ruin, hang out at the beach, eat lunch, and shop briefly. Some of us traveling would enjoy the cenotes and seeing wildlife. I did see Sergio’s Tours advertised. Has anyone tried those? Any and all advice is appreciated.
1 Like
We stopped at Progresso in October ‘23 and enjoyed it. We did our own thing and stayed to the port area beach.
We got 90 minute massages at Marinas Massage for about $30usd each. We paid in Peso They had a partnership with a restaurant that has beach chairs and umbrellas that we used and ate under. Food was fine and inexpensive.
The pier at this port is something crazy like 5 miles long so you must take a bus to and from the ship to the port area, but the main tour operator there picks up at the ship as well. The area around the port, as you drive into town, looks quite rundown but is fine. Once you get into the port area, it’s more developed and as you’d expect. To walk to the beach you’ll go past some shops and restaurants the be out on the main beach.
5 Likes
Oh, so you’re not asking for soup recommendations? I’m more of a Campbell’s person than Progresso myself 
Never been to Mexico so can’t help you there
3 Likes
We’ve walked around the little town quite a bit. We’ve done one tour but it looks like there is a lot of long drives to get anywhere. The main beach strip is nice. Walk down a few blocks past the main tourist area.
We have only done Progresso with Carnival. They drop you off a couple blocks off the beach in a little market like area. It’s all torist trap stuff. Most places take USD. If you have pesos it’s probably appreciated. You may also be able to negotiate a cheaper price. We don’t do a top of shopping there.
We don’t spend the whole day there. I generally go back early and enjoy the ship with fewer people on it. At least for Carnival, spa services are less expensive on port days too. So Ill often book a service early afternoon. Masages are definitely cheaper on shore though!
2 Likes
The photos have me excited to visit there. Massages on the beach sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing!
2 Likes
Thank you, this is helpful to know ahead of time.
2 Likes
Bring water shoes or flip flops. The beach isn’t the smoothest sand, and lots of shells out. The sargassum was tame but present when we went.
This photo shows the dried up sargassum and shells a little better. The water was super calm though, as the bay is protected pretty well.
2 Likes
My only day at Progresso was… challenging. I’m trusting you have good intel from @SamRothstein
1 Like
foot issue?
no - it was in 2019.
I went rogue and it wasn’t pretty.
I actually wondered if we’d paid someone to kidnap us.
Clearly, it all worked out. But it wasn’t relaxing at all. 
2 Likes
Oh I think I rember the random taxi you went in that brought you on a tour?
1 Like
I don’t know when you are traveling but we just got back from a cruise to Progresso a few days ago. We did the Disney Excursion to Ake ruins and Cenote swim, it was a good excursion and I would consider it again. We had never done a Disney excursion before, always exploring on our own or booking something 3rd party.
Pros-
- Unique look at Mexican/Mayan culture. We did not just stay in the tourist part of Mexico.
- Comfortable bus, felt safe entire time. Both with the environment and the drivers abilities on small roads.
- Cave swim (cenote) was cool and very unique to the area. Very glad we did a tour that included this.
- Awesome lunch at the cave swim. Very good, fresh, Mayan food. We did not pick what we ate. It came preplated but was very good, even my picky eaters ate most of it.
- Ake ruins are not as impressive as some others so not overcrowded, they are also not completely escavated yet so you are allowed to climb all of them which is amazing. Our tour group was the only one at this site at the time.
- Tour included a photographer who took pictures throughout. On the trip home she showed the pictures on an iPad and offered the digitize images for sale. I expected them to be way overcharged but I paid $30 for 25 images of my family. All of them in focus and very good. This was an extra cost but optional.
- Cost was reasonable for what it included.
- Didn’t have to worry about getting back to ship on time since this was a Disney excursion.
- Got back early enough to do some shopping in the part area.
Cons
- It was long 7.5 hours. We got tired.
- 4 hours of this time in spend on the bus. The tour guide did a good job of providing interesting detail, especially on the way out but also recognizing people were tired and giving a chance to rest/sleep.
- The bus was cold (AC) after being wet/damp from the cave swim. The description from DCL said to wear swim wear under your clothes. There are places to change so it would have been nice to know that so we would not have had to sit in wet swim suits on a cold bus.
- I knew we had a long bus ride (90 minutes) on the way to and from the ship. I wasn’t aware that there was also a long bus ride (60 minutes) between the 2 activities.
5 Likes
That does sound like an interesting excursion! I did something similar when I visited Cancun. We went to Chichen Itza and then to a cenote. That was back when you could climb on the pyramid. (I think it was the last year it was allowed!) I remember the cenote being beautiful.
2 Likes
We are officially signed up for the River Wildlife, Mayan Ruins at Xcambo, and Beach (PGO26). I’ll share an update once we experience it.
Thanks to everyone that shared insights. It helped us make a decision that feels right for us this time around.
4 Likes