Friday, July 12, 2019

Dreams Do Come True- Progreso

Progreso… Back and Forth
Progreso, Mexico 
Tuesday, July 2, 2019 
Hello Gorgeous!



Morning 
We woke up to an alarm sounding around 8AM. We both had better night’s sleep and were ready for a day exploring a new port. We had never been to Progreso in all of our 17 cruises but it is known for being a “terrible port” and “The worst in the Caribbean”. We were ready to make our own opinion. 

We grabbed breakfast at the once again crowded buffet and Blue Iguana and then made our way to Deck 11 to watch what remained of the approach into Progreso. This is always a favorite thing of mine! It is so cool to see them tie up this MASSIVE ship!

Progreso Basic Info
Progreso is on the northern tip of Mexico in the Yucatan area of the mainland. It is near the historical city of Merida, which is only a short 30-40 minute bus ride. It offers local shops and boutiques as well as small strip of public beaches. The cruise ship terminal is 3 miles away from the mainland and is only accessible via the SHUTTLES and Vans that transport passengers to and from the city. . The city of Progreso offers FREE shuttles to and from the cruise ship every 20 minutes. The cruise ship terminal also has a small shopping area with Duty Free shops and even some small restaurants. 

This service is completely free and runs every 20 minutes to and from the ship. 

A view of the cruise terminal area. 

This terminal offered Duty Free shops as well as lots of locals selling ALL KINDS of stuff! 

Despite this being our first time to Progreso, we decided to do an excursion through a 3rd party company. (This goes against EVERYTHING I suggest to people and our past history but this excursion just felt right). We booked an all-inclusive beach resort day through Shore Excursioneer. We have used this company MANY times with no issues so I was not worried. However, since this was not with the cruise line, we chose to get off early and make sure we were at the designated meeting spot on time. We were supposed to meet at the meeting point by 10:45AM for an 11AM departure time to our resort. 

When I booked this excursion online, it was described as providing transportation from the Progreso Bus Terminal. This meant we needed to ride the FREE shuttle bus from the cruise ship to downtown Progreso. We hurried off the ship and got on one of the 1st vans to downtown Progreso. The ride in was very interesting as we were stopped by Mexican police to investigate the van and it’s passengers. And the whole pier was completely man-made and barricaded by HUGE concrete blocks. It was really weird! 



A view of the beach area near Progreso.


Our traditional "Mexican Taxi" (Or in this case 15 passenger van) selfie!
INBOUND shuttle (to Progresso) in Time Lapse!

 We got to the bus terminal in Progreso around 10:20AM. We got off the bus and I kept looking for the Tourist Stand with Shore Excursioneer. I looked for about 5 minutes before pulling up the actual tickets in my bag. Sure enough… It said to meet outside the TERMINAL (near the ship). Right then and there, my stomach started getting nervous. Chris was not feeling well due to something he ate at breakfast so I was running all over this 3rd world country bus terminal by myself asking for any and all help. “Stupid American” one guy said in Spanish. Little did he know that this HOUSTON teacher knows Spanish “decently” well. I said “Por Favor Amigo. No Comprende Donde es la playa. Por Favor”. 

Finally, we got back on a bus to go BACK to the ship. By this time it was 10:45AM and we knew the travel time back to the ship would be at least 20 minutes. I started to panic so decided to call the number on the tickets and speak to someone to explain me being an idiot. Despite that call costing me $100 I’m sure, the company workers waited for us at the terminal. In fact, as soon as we stepped off the bus at the cruise  terminal, JOSE (a worker for this company) was waiting on us and ran us, literally, over to the small van that would take us to the resort. As soon as we got in the van JOSE said we were being upgraded to a better beach club. I was so shaken up from the whole thing I just rolled with it and gave him the remainder of our balance in cash (plus a HEALTHY tip due to lack of change and them waiting on us).


Progreso OUTBOUND (to the Ship) shuttle in Time Lapse


It was a WILD AND CRAZY start to our day and I will go back to my original advice… Always take an excursion with the Cruise Line if it is your 1st time at a port. And here is some new advice… READ THE TICKETS! Like, completely! I was relying on what the website said when I purchased the tickets and didn’t go back and re-read the tickets CAREFULLY! This is a rookie mistake and we are anything but! 

Despite this back and forth adventure, we finally made it to our resort, Silcer Beach Club, and got some great seats IN THE SHADE. We set up camp and got a few drinks and then just laughed about the morning! 

Silcer Beach 
The “Upgraded Beach” we were sent to was Silcer Beach on the east side of the pier about 10 blocks from downtown Progreso. I had read that most of the beaches only extend to about 6 blocks out so this was a little more secluded than the one we were supposed to go to. (Even though I NEVER SAW our original beach “Vista Mar” advertised ANYWHERE.) This resort offered a restaurant area with a buffet and made to order food options, a small pool, large covered lounge area, kayaks and much more. We mainly spent time in the shade on the extravagant lounge chairs; however, we ventured into the water many times throughout the day. The water was VERY choppy which made for more athletic beach day and less relaxed. The water was teal green but not near as clear as Cozumel and offered NO SNORKELING or reefs to view. It was just pretty water!  



We LOVED this shaded area! It was perfect for our delicate skin! 



The guacamole was AMAZING! 


The sand was a little rocky... This bech was full of shells.
 It wasn't too bad but if you have water shoes... BRING THEM! 

Picture perfect (in my opinion)! 


The buffet and restaurant area. It was well laid out and clean! 


The pool was MUCH smaller and we didn't even get in but it was there! 


The food and drinks at Silcer Beach club were fine and we had no real issues. The drinks were more watered down than we would have liked but we made it work. This resort offered exceptionally good WiFi and the service was incredible. 
CHEERS to new places and SHADE! 

Ooops… I messed up. Or did I? Once we got home I looked up things on Shore Excursioneer and while I should have re-read the tickets, the website says 2 different things for meeting points! So again… READ YOUR TICKETS CAREFULLY! I also looked up the Silcer Beach Club and it was $24 more per person than the “Vista Mar” we originally booked. So it was an official upgrade and I would recommend it to guests of Progreso. 

Afternoon
We packed up and got ready to leave on the “Early Departure Bus” back to the ship at 2:30PM. We made our way to the restaurant and told JOSE we were ready to go and he said we needed to wait and this beach club did not offer an early departure. I exclaimed that we paid for the other beach club partly because of an early bus. After about 20 minutes, a taxi van came and took us and another couple straight back to the ship (Thank you JOSE. Once again… great service). We did a little shopping for souvenirs and the kids and we were back on the Carnival Dream by 4PM. 

Even in this shipyard type of a place... She is a Beauty! 


This shirt always makes me laugh a little! 



Goodbye Progreso... You were fun! 



She is starting to show that she needs a little facelift! 


Evening
We showered and freshened up and then went exploring the ship before dinner! I watched the busses pull in while Chris enjoyed time at the bar in the Atrium!
Haha... I'm stalking him from the glass elevator!

More of the pier... You can see busses still rolling in! 

It was a little WINDY!

TIP from #CruiseLikeaDavis from PROGRESO! 

It was a WINDY Sail Away from Progreso! 


This was the AFT POOL around 5:30PM.
 TIP- These pools are usually not as busy around the time the ship leaves port! 

The Goodbye Progreso Deck Party! 

After getting showered we went to dinner and once again had excellent service by our waiter Putu and his team. We were once again in and out of the MDR within 1 Hour and 15 minutes which allowed us to enjoy the nightly “Showtime” song and dance by the wait staff without our food getting cold (as is typical on previous Carnival cruises). After dinner we tried to catch a sunset at the very far forward but once again the hazy clouds covered most of the sun setting. 



Ronnie... Our assistant waiter was the best Carnival Dancer on the ship! I think he liked dancing more than waiting tables! HE was hilarious! 

We never learned what this boat was but it followed us out of Progreso for about 15 minutes. Up to speed and everything! 


The Pilot Boat out of Progreso! 



The best sunset we were going to get! And it is still GORGEOUS! 


We got in the VERY LONG line for the America Rocks show in the Encore Theatre. TIP- This is an INCREDIBLE show and is very family friendly. The musicians do a FANTASTIC job and the props and technical aspect is just incredible. It IS family and kid friendly so take the whole family. They offer an early (8PM) and a late (10PM) show. Be sure to check your FunTimes for specific times. 

The line to get into the EARLY show for America Rocks!

After the show we made our way to the aft for the Punchline Comedy Club adult comedy show. This show was a repeat of one of the comedians on board but we enjoyed him and the show. We especially enjoyed him making fun of Progreso. Now that we had been there we understood the jokes the comedians make about how terrible it is! TIP- Once again, the Punchliner offers both FAMILY and ADULTS ONLY shows. Be sure to check your FunTimes for times. This is literally one of our favorite things Carnival offers and we have noticed a gap in other cruise lines with the comedians and comedy shows. Check it out if that is your thing! 

After the comedy show we went up to the Lido deck for the 80s Deck Party with the CD, Gary. This is a traditional party Carnival does on most of their ships and is not to be missed. Lots of 80s songs, dancing and even some contests. In fact, Gary hosted a sing along contest and Chris was randomly (Like, I seriously don’t know how or why) pulled from the audience to go up on stage and sing a high note. He did remarkably well and even won a “SHIP ON A STICK” and a bottle of Champagne. Way to go Chris! 

Gary was a great CD! 


Thank you Carnival! 



Another "Piece of SHIP on a Stick" ! 



Chris singing with Gary! 
There is NEVER a dull moment with Chris Davis! Everyone always loves him! Great job honey! 

We ended the night at Bonsai Sushi for some late night sushi rolls. We had tried Bonsai on previous cruises and we were not disappointed on the Dream. The sushi was large and incredibly flavorful, especially for $5-7 per roll. It’s a great way to end an evening! TIP- We noticed it was not very busy LATE at night (after 11PM) and while it was not advertised, you could order your sushi TO GO! 



The $5 California Roll! Not even HEB has them that cheap!

AND THEY ARE AMAZING! 



We called it a night shortly after midnight! 

It was a great day in a new port full of fun and adventures. We would not put Progreso HIGH on the list of places in the Western Caribbean but it was not quite as bad as the cruise industry makes it out to be. IE… “The Armpit of the Caribbean”. We would go back to take our kids but I would like to go to the Ruins or a Carnival organized excursion! 

Thanks for following along! 

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