On 12/24/21, we were on the first Disney ship (the Wonder) to dock at Progreso. So, I thought I would give a super-thorough report of the excursion we did, “Chichen Itza with Cenote Swim”, since it might be useful for other people whenever Disney goes back there. Progreso was a replacement for Grand Cayman on our cruise, and while we were at first disappointed to miss Grand Cayman, we loved this excursion, and are very glad it changed. This was during Covid restriction times, so some of our excursion was definitely influenced by that. We were a family of 4, with parents and 13 and 20 year old daughters. Other families on the excursion included some much younger kids. It was a relatively expensive excursion: $150 per person in our party.
We met in Azure about 15 minutes before the official docking time (I think it was 8:15; the official docking time was 8:30). I think we were the second group off the ship (after a beach break group), and we grabbed the towels, went through security, and lined up to walk to the buses. They divided our excursion group into two, one for each of two buses; our bus had about 25 people on it, plus a couple of guides. The bus itself was pretty nice – a “touring” bus, that included a bathroom onboard, had reclining seats, window shades that you could pull to block the sun, etc. And, with just 25 of us on board, there was plenty of room for everyone.
Quick side notes: Progreso has the world’s longest pier, so we were way out there, a few miles from shore. If you were going on your own, you’d have to take a cab or something from the ship just to town. And, there were a lot of people there greeting us – some in traditional “costume” (not sure if that’s the right word – Mayan-inspired elaborate outfits), and several people recording video. I didn’t know at the time that this was the first Disney stop there, and I think that explained some of it; I wouldn’t expect it to always be that way.
We started with about a 2 hour drive toward Chichen Itza. During the first half of this or so, one of the guides gave us some background on the Mayan civilization, Chichen Itza, etc. We drove through Progreso itself (not very scenic beyond the beach), through a pretty big city (Merida), and then through a bunch of countryside. I wouldn’t say this was the most scenic drive, but it did let me see what the Yucatan looked like.
A little before arriving at Chichen Itza, the bus made a stop at a place to use bathrooms; we were told we were stopping here since they were clean and we could be isolated from others (it was just our bus, but then the other bus showed up shortly after). There was also a gift store/souvenir place there, but due to Covid we were asked to just use the bathrooms if needed and not go in the store. It did give a chance to stretch for a minute.
The drive from here to Chichen Itza was pretty short, and we arrived probably 2.5 hours after leaving the ship (around 11:00). We were able to leave things we wanted to on the bus (e.g. we left our towels and such). At Chichen Itza, they divided our bus into two groups, and one guide took each group. We each got a bottle of water to carry in. We were there in winter, and it was still in the 80s and very warm; in the summer I imagine that water would be a lifesaver! The entry area to Chichen Itza was crowded – there were LOTS of people around in the entry area, and while the guides did an admirable job trying to keep our group separate, right here at the beginning there were lots of other people around, lots of tour groups trying to navigate around each other, etc. The guide gave us tickets, and we went through the entry gates, though, and from then on we were back in a “bubble” of just our little group.
Chichen Itza was interesting. The original description of the excursion had said we’d have about 2.5 hours there. In reality, the guide said we were trying to spend about 1 hour there, and in the end we were there for 1.5 hours total. This was enough time to see the “highlights”, but you could certainly spend a lot longer there, and we stayed just near the central area on our tour. When going into Chichen Itza, you walk down a path lined with vendors on both sides trying to get you to buy things. Our guide told us we were not supposed to buy anything or interact with them (since it would break our Covid “bubble”), but I know some families did buy some things quickly while we passed…
We had a chance to see the “Castillo” the temple of the Warriors, several of the platforms, and the Great Ball Court. It was an interesting tour, and I’m really glad to get to have finally seen this. I guess one thing that was highlighted was that there are a lot of things we don’t know but have to infer about how the Mayan culture worked. It made me want to learn more about it. As our guide said, he was telling us the best interpretation they had right now, but if we came back in 5 years, that might have changed! We were able to take some pictures there; our guide had told us we had to leave masks on, but basically everyone on the tour convinced him we didn’t need to when we were both outdoors and separated by 20+ feet from other people! So, while we wore our masks most of the tour, we did take them off briefly for pictures.
After this, we reboarded the bus, and they stopped shortly after and got ice pops for everyone on the bus – these were actually really good, and perfect after the hot walk at Chichen Itza. From here we drove about 15 minutes (maybe?) to the Tsukan cenote and park.
This was not what I expected. First, it was more of a “park” than just a cenote. We got off the bus, and went to restrooms where people could change into swimsuits if needed (though they had told us to wear swimsuits under our clothes), and where we had to rinse in a shower before heading to the cenote. Then, we walked to pick up life vests (required) and walked down a long set of stairs to the cenote. There were benches there where we could leave items, and then could swim in the cenote itself. It was, I believe, just our bus in the cenote, and we eventually had to leave once another group showed up. We probably had 30-45 minutes to swim there (just a guess) and probably could have stayed longer, but time was an issue.
The cenote was way cooler than I had expected. Basically we were in an underground cavern (with lots of stalagmites/stalactites), with a couple of small holes in the top letting light (and birds!) in. Evidently the water went down 60 meters – it was very deep, and even though it was clear, you couldn’t see the bottom except near the edges. Somehow there were fish in there, which made me wonder how they got there and made me curious about the ecology of cenotes… You can see some pictures at their website: https://tsukan.com.mx/
From there, we dried off/got dressed, returned the life vests, and walked to another part of the park where there was a restaurant, and we had lunch. This was a pretty small lunch, but had 3 items and lemonade. The 3 items were evidently traditional Yucatan dishes: a small empanada (cheese in a folded tortilla), and two other things I can’t remember, but were basically a small tortilla with chicken and some lettuce/etc, with one having some cheese and one having some beans. At lunch, each family was at a separate table, and it was all outdoors in a pavilion area. The lunch was pretty small (and one daughter did not like anything but the empanada), but was enough to get us back to the ship. We were leaving Tsukan about 3:15.
After this, we boarded the bus and drove back to the ship. The drive was about 2 hours. I think at this point everyone on the bus was sleeping for much of this drive. The first part of the road on the return was not as smooth as the highway we had taken in, but it was still fine. The guide let everyone sleep until the last 15 minutes or so, as we approached Progreso, and when we got to the end of the pier, we walked back to the ship. Note that on the Disney excursions during Covid, you have to stay with your group all the way until you are back on the ship. We were back onboard about 5:15, which was about 30 minutes before the “all aboard” time.
Overall: the excursion was the highlight of our cruise. For most of us, seeing Chichen Itza was a major deal. We all enjoyed the cenote a lot, and my youngest daughter thought that was the most fun part of the whole trip. I really wish there was just more time overall, and in Chichen Itza especially (and my daughter would have said she wanted a lot more time in the cenote), but that would have been hard – we basically used up the entire time in port, and we couldn’t have cut much (maybe lunch?). I am not sure if I’d have been as happy if it was just the Chichen Itza part or just the cenote swim, but the combination was perfect for our family, with some “historical” stuff, and some “active” stuff. Both parts are going to be lifelong memories.
Re: Covid stuff; I understand where Disney is coming from regarding the restrictions, and I think our guide was being extremely strict since he was trying to follow Disney’s guidelines. As he said, they really wanted to do what Disney wanted so that Disney would continue to come to Progreso! But, the restrictions, whether from Disney or from him just being super-careful, were a little bit unreasonable (as I said, the masks when outdoors and nowhere near another party felt unnecessary, and we really just ignored it). And, I would have liked to have known that there’d be no chance to interact with vendors before we went, as it would have been nice to have 15 minutes to look for a souvenir or something; other excursions did have such opportunities, so this felt overly restrictive on ours. I’d assume that after Covid, this will be relaxed a lot, though.
We met in Azure about 15 minutes before the official docking time (I think it was 8:15; the official docking time was 8:30). I think we were the second group off the ship (after a beach break group), and we grabbed the towels, went through security, and lined up to walk to the buses. They divided our excursion group into two, one for each of two buses; our bus had about 25 people on it, plus a couple of guides. The bus itself was pretty nice – a “touring” bus, that included a bathroom onboard, had reclining seats, window shades that you could pull to block the sun, etc. And, with just 25 of us on board, there was plenty of room for everyone.
Quick side notes: Progreso has the world’s longest pier, so we were way out there, a few miles from shore. If you were going on your own, you’d have to take a cab or something from the ship just to town. And, there were a lot of people there greeting us – some in traditional “costume” (not sure if that’s the right word – Mayan-inspired elaborate outfits), and several people recording video. I didn’t know at the time that this was the first Disney stop there, and I think that explained some of it; I wouldn’t expect it to always be that way.
We started with about a 2 hour drive toward Chichen Itza. During the first half of this or so, one of the guides gave us some background on the Mayan civilization, Chichen Itza, etc. We drove through Progreso itself (not very scenic beyond the beach), through a pretty big city (Merida), and then through a bunch of countryside. I wouldn’t say this was the most scenic drive, but it did let me see what the Yucatan looked like.
A little before arriving at Chichen Itza, the bus made a stop at a place to use bathrooms; we were told we were stopping here since they were clean and we could be isolated from others (it was just our bus, but then the other bus showed up shortly after). There was also a gift store/souvenir place there, but due to Covid we were asked to just use the bathrooms if needed and not go in the store. It did give a chance to stretch for a minute.
The drive from here to Chichen Itza was pretty short, and we arrived probably 2.5 hours after leaving the ship (around 11:00). We were able to leave things we wanted to on the bus (e.g. we left our towels and such). At Chichen Itza, they divided our bus into two groups, and one guide took each group. We each got a bottle of water to carry in. We were there in winter, and it was still in the 80s and very warm; in the summer I imagine that water would be a lifesaver! The entry area to Chichen Itza was crowded – there were LOTS of people around in the entry area, and while the guides did an admirable job trying to keep our group separate, right here at the beginning there were lots of other people around, lots of tour groups trying to navigate around each other, etc. The guide gave us tickets, and we went through the entry gates, though, and from then on we were back in a “bubble” of just our little group.
Chichen Itza was interesting. The original description of the excursion had said we’d have about 2.5 hours there. In reality, the guide said we were trying to spend about 1 hour there, and in the end we were there for 1.5 hours total. This was enough time to see the “highlights”, but you could certainly spend a lot longer there, and we stayed just near the central area on our tour. When going into Chichen Itza, you walk down a path lined with vendors on both sides trying to get you to buy things. Our guide told us we were not supposed to buy anything or interact with them (since it would break our Covid “bubble”), but I know some families did buy some things quickly while we passed…
We had a chance to see the “Castillo” the temple of the Warriors, several of the platforms, and the Great Ball Court. It was an interesting tour, and I’m really glad to get to have finally seen this. I guess one thing that was highlighted was that there are a lot of things we don’t know but have to infer about how the Mayan culture worked. It made me want to learn more about it. As our guide said, he was telling us the best interpretation they had right now, but if we came back in 5 years, that might have changed! We were able to take some pictures there; our guide had told us we had to leave masks on, but basically everyone on the tour convinced him we didn’t need to when we were both outdoors and separated by 20+ feet from other people! So, while we wore our masks most of the tour, we did take them off briefly for pictures.
After this, we reboarded the bus, and they stopped shortly after and got ice pops for everyone on the bus – these were actually really good, and perfect after the hot walk at Chichen Itza. From here we drove about 15 minutes (maybe?) to the Tsukan cenote and park.
This was not what I expected. First, it was more of a “park” than just a cenote. We got off the bus, and went to restrooms where people could change into swimsuits if needed (though they had told us to wear swimsuits under our clothes), and where we had to rinse in a shower before heading to the cenote. Then, we walked to pick up life vests (required) and walked down a long set of stairs to the cenote. There were benches there where we could leave items, and then could swim in the cenote itself. It was, I believe, just our bus in the cenote, and we eventually had to leave once another group showed up. We probably had 30-45 minutes to swim there (just a guess) and probably could have stayed longer, but time was an issue.
The cenote was way cooler than I had expected. Basically we were in an underground cavern (with lots of stalagmites/stalactites), with a couple of small holes in the top letting light (and birds!) in. Evidently the water went down 60 meters – it was very deep, and even though it was clear, you couldn’t see the bottom except near the edges. Somehow there were fish in there, which made me wonder how they got there and made me curious about the ecology of cenotes… You can see some pictures at their website: https://tsukan.com.mx/
From there, we dried off/got dressed, returned the life vests, and walked to another part of the park where there was a restaurant, and we had lunch. This was a pretty small lunch, but had 3 items and lemonade. The 3 items were evidently traditional Yucatan dishes: a small empanada (cheese in a folded tortilla), and two other things I can’t remember, but were basically a small tortilla with chicken and some lettuce/etc, with one having some cheese and one having some beans. At lunch, each family was at a separate table, and it was all outdoors in a pavilion area. The lunch was pretty small (and one daughter did not like anything but the empanada), but was enough to get us back to the ship. We were leaving Tsukan about 3:15.
After this, we boarded the bus and drove back to the ship. The drive was about 2 hours. I think at this point everyone on the bus was sleeping for much of this drive. The first part of the road on the return was not as smooth as the highway we had taken in, but it was still fine. The guide let everyone sleep until the last 15 minutes or so, as we approached Progreso, and when we got to the end of the pier, we walked back to the ship. Note that on the Disney excursions during Covid, you have to stay with your group all the way until you are back on the ship. We were back onboard about 5:15, which was about 30 minutes before the “all aboard” time.
Overall: the excursion was the highlight of our cruise. For most of us, seeing Chichen Itza was a major deal. We all enjoyed the cenote a lot, and my youngest daughter thought that was the most fun part of the whole trip. I really wish there was just more time overall, and in Chichen Itza especially (and my daughter would have said she wanted a lot more time in the cenote), but that would have been hard – we basically used up the entire time in port, and we couldn’t have cut much (maybe lunch?). I am not sure if I’d have been as happy if it was just the Chichen Itza part or just the cenote swim, but the combination was perfect for our family, with some “historical” stuff, and some “active” stuff. Both parts are going to be lifelong memories.
Re: Covid stuff; I understand where Disney is coming from regarding the restrictions, and I think our guide was being extremely strict since he was trying to follow Disney’s guidelines. As he said, they really wanted to do what Disney wanted so that Disney would continue to come to Progreso! But, the restrictions, whether from Disney or from him just being super-careful, were a little bit unreasonable (as I said, the masks when outdoors and nowhere near another party felt unnecessary, and we really just ignored it). And, I would have liked to have known that there’d be no chance to interact with vendors before we went, as it would have been nice to have 15 minutes to look for a souvenir or something; other excursions did have such opportunities, so this felt overly restrictive on ours. I’d assume that after Covid, this will be relaxed a lot, though.
