Small, but not too bad.  We didn't spend much time in the cabin.  Walls were pretty thin and we could hear people laughing and talking next to us.  On Deck 2 we could hear a lot of engine/motor noises, creaking, banging, and humming.  At least we didn't hear the theater that was right above us.

My husband booked this jeep tour a couple of weeks before our cruise.  The response was quick.  We were given instructions of where to meet.  The location changed and we were alerted in plenty of time.  It was easy to find the Hard Rock Café.

Francisco was our tour guide for the trip.  He informed us that my husband had to at least drive out of the town limits due to taxi union rules.  My husband decided to drive the entire tour.

Francisco gave us some history of the island to start the tour.  He was an amiable and patient tour guide.

The nice thing about a private tour is that we got to choose the places that we wanted to go to.  Francisco did suggest several places.  We stopped to see Felipe’s Mayan art and where to get a ripe mango (yum!).  We opted to make a couple photo op stops to take pictures of the water since it is an incredible color.
At Punta Sure Eco Park we saw a crocodile hiding under the boardwalk, a coatimundi opening a wad of foil, iguanas, and lizards.  There was a small museum at the lighthouse.

We were surprised that the “free lunch” was a choice of fajitas, quesadillas, or tacos.  If you wanted a drink of any kind, guacamole, or chips and salsa, you had to buy it.

The snorkeling was good at the beach at the restaurant.  The equipment was part of the cost of the tour.

While it was nice not to be in a caravan of jeeps, and we were able to make our own itinerary, we felt that their website inaccurately said they offered soda in addition to water and beer and snacks.  On our tour, there was only beer and water even though we told Francisco that we didn’t drink alcohol. We were also surprised the meal did not include any drink unless we paid extra.

Before the cruise w private researched excursions because we didn’t care for the excursions offered by Carnival.  Lawson was willing to work the itinerary that we selected.

The only bit of anxiety that we had was that the bus shuttle dropped us further from Lawson’s than we expected.  Fortunately a local was able to point us in the right direction.  Ralph was on the corner looking for us.

We had a driver, Freddy Reyes, and guide, Diego Cabrera and a large air conditioned van waiting for us.  We were on the road quite quickly.  There was a cooler with sodas and water.  We added our own water bottles to the cooler to keep them cool during the tour.

Diego had our day all planned out.  We drove into Merida and stopped along the way to look at architecture.  We drove down to the center of town to see the cathedral, government building and House of Montejo, cultural museum and a historical style home (16C) of the founding father of Merida.  The plaza was shaded, landscaped and quite alive with people.

After the downtown walk, Freddy greeted us with cold wash cloths to wipe our faces.  What a nice touch!

Lunch was at an authentic Mayan cantina.  We had pork tacos which ended up being meat piled on three small flour tortillas- that’s all.  The waiter brought three kinds of sauce to put on the tacos.  Lunch included a non-alcoholic drink.

Next was a stop at an ice cream shop.  I had a cup of mango.  The color was right, but I didn’t taste much of a mango flavor.  My husband had some other kind of fruit.  It was a pretty good size serving. 

Our other request was to visit a Mayan ruin.  They took us to Dzibilchaltun.  We walked around the different ruins as Diego explained about them.  At the back of the property there was a cenote (a natural spring0 where we cooled our feet for a few minutes.  The tour of the ruins ended with a walk through the museum.
Fortunately, Freddy drove us back to our ship so we didn’t have to take the shuttle.  That was SO nice!

We enjoyed the day and would highly recommend this company if you are in Progresso and want a private tour.

Our Washington Dining room wait staff- Kittasak, Lidia, and Sawitree gave us wonderful service and were very pleasant.So we were disappointed to dine alone this whole cruise.

Carnival Valor Review

Not too impressed

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