We took the free shuttle into Progreso, and walked around the flea market while local vendors offered various excursions. Autoprogreso offers a lot of excursions at good prices, but even though we had arrived around 8am and were the only ship in port, their trip to the ruins (forget the name, about 30 min away) and cenote wasn't leaving until 10:45. We found another vendor who could leave right away, but it turned out our driver didn't speak English and didn't come in with us so we were on our own at the ruins site. If this is important to you, be sure and ask before you commit. 
The ruins site was amazing! You could climb on the structures and we got some awesome pictures. It's a pretty large site so be prepared to walk. We were there in early June, and it was very hot and humid - I can't imagine how hot it would be later in the summer. We were most looking forward to swimming in the cenote, but the water level was way down, and the combination of lily pads and little fish that nibbled at my feet was enough to keep me out. I didn't see anyone else swimming in it, either, although I heard other guides talking about it. 
We could have stayed longer but decided we'd had enough and ended up doing quite a bit of shopping. Glad we didn't pay the cruise line price for this trip - the local vendors were about $30 cheaper. It turned around to be a good idea to come back early. We watched people getting back on the ship, and saw how long the lines got even 2 hours before sailing. There was no shade and no breeze - no fun. 
The discussion boards indicated that a lot of people just go shopping at this port - the prices were good and the vendors will bargain. Now that we've seen a Mayan ruin, I might do the same next time. 


Progreso

We reserved the beach day at Nachi Cocom because we wanted a private beach where we could also do a reef snorkel. We had about an hour and a half to make it there before our scheduled snorkel trip, but were delayed with a contact lens emergency. The snorkel boat had left, but they were able to get us on another trip that turned out to be spectacular. The seas were somewhat choppy, but the snorkel guide kept us together and I felt completely safe. He took my underwater camera down to the bottom to take pictures a couple times, and I can't wait to see how they come out. 
We had an open bar and a three course meal. The food was great - especially the guacamole and grilled shrimp. Our server was attentive but not annoying and kept the drinks coming. The ocean was beautiful, the sand soft, and the pool very nice. I don't know how many people were there that day, but we felt like we almost had the place to ourselves. 
When we were ready to go a taxi was right there, and got us back to town quickly. The taxi ride is $15 each way, so factor that into your costs. The shopping was good, more selection than Progreso but a little more expensive. We lucked out getting back on board because we were in the shade of the ship. 
At Progreso we only needed our S&S cards to get back on the ship, but at Cozumel they asked for ID, so we were glad we had copies of our passports with us (rather than the actual passports which we left in the safe). 
Overall, a very good excursion, though a little pricey. 


Cozumel

Lots of storage space and room to move around.  Some vibration during docking but not bad.  Just around the corner from elevators so it wasn't noisy but was close enough to be handy.  The major disadvantage to being on Deck 2 was the fact that the Lido deck was quite a ways away.  Otherwise, we liked the location.

Overall First-Time Cruiser Impression - This cruise was a very different type of vacation for us, and we most enjoyed the endless food and great service.We ended up spending most of our time outside on Deck 3, on both sides of the ship near Guest Services.

Carnival Triumph Review

Great First-Time Cruise Experience, Only a Few Negatives

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