This was supposed to be a sweet and special trip for us and it has left us completely bitter. Avoid Total Gusto and Carnival.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
The pre-excitement of a cruise was the best part.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
All the food taste the same and not very pleasant, ridiculous lines, main ice cream station was down the entire trip, and the soft drink package is a complete rip off and hassle! Why do I have to stand in two separate lines just to get a soda?
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Booooooooorrrrrrrring. Pool always packed like an unopened sardine can.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The entertainment forgot about the entertainment part of the trip aside from Gustavo the pianist.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Our room attendant was very pleasant but the rest of the staff was quite rude and gave off the feeling as if we were bothering them anytime we had a simple question.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Clean, sturdy, and we were very thankful for the available maps to get around the maze of a ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Balcony, beautiful view, but we still felt like we had little privacy due to nosey/noisy/annoying neighbors.
Ship tip
Stay away from excursions because they are a rip off. Especially Total Gusto in Progresso. We were ripped off by them for a picture package and Carnival refuses to help us.
Again, the excursion/tour company that Carnival endorses is a complete and total rip off, Total Gusto. 1hr 40 minutes bus ride to the location, then another 1.5 hours back (which was okay I guess) and they refused to give us any water until after the first stop in which we were allocated 1 very small (Kroger type mini) bottle of water in 95 degree heat.
But it does. It is clearly printed and I have copied and pasted directly from Carnival’s website! It couldn’t be more clear.
Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico
Moderate Activity Level
No Minimum Age
Snack Only
5.0 hours
Good to Know: Traveling time to the Mayan ruins is 1.5 hours. Guests should expect to walk on uneven and gravel terrain. Children 5 years and under are free
I always bring a water bottle you have to be responsible for yourself just remember sometimes the ship won’t let you bring water back on board so dump your reusable bottle and hold it upside down so they can see it’s empty
We just did our excursion on our cruise (Royal Caribbean, July 6-10th) with Total Gusto and had a great time. We did their tour of the Mayan Ruins at Dzibilchaltun which also included a tour of Merida and lunch at a restaurant in Merida. The trip was great and our tour guides (Adam, Queenie, and Gustavo) were awesome. Yeah, they gave us each one complimentary bottle of water but there were places for us to get our own water during the three segments of the tour and we knew we were in Mexico in July so we took bottled waters with us from the ship. Plus we were in an air conditioned bus for the drives in between. I've sailed on 20+ cruises and i was impressed with the tour and with Total Gusto. Maybe you just got their B team?
Thank you for clarification. I am on Carnival’s website as I type this response and I am reading the following: Travel time to the Mayan ruins is 1.5 hours. Bottle of water and snack provided. It has 30, 5-star reviews with zero reviews of a lesser rating. I get you are disappointed by your experience, but the things you are upset about were printed for your review. Should you choose to cruise again, pay attention to the listings and plan accordingly.
Lack of water when it is scorching hot is worth calling anything a rip off when it should be readily available. The excursion is supposed to be 8 hours, it was 6.5 hours with 3hr 10minutes of travel time in which was not disclosed when booking without any sort of refreshments other than ONE puny bottle of water so that gave us 3 hours for the 2 stops together. It was the Chichen Itza excursion Mayan Pan Ruins and the caverns (which were beautiful, but no pictures because they told us to leave our phones and belongings)…. So it was a RIP OFF. Everyone that we spoke to afterward felt the same.
The tours are listed in Carnival by name, not operator. Your review would be better if you listed the tour name and why it was a rip-off (other than the lack of water)
Carnival needs to make it right because the way that we were ripped off on through Total Gusto/Carnival can NEVER be duplicated and it is completely absurd how they haven’t tried to make it right at all in any way.
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