Mexican Riviera

[Gus47]

Cruising on Carnival Pride next week to Mexican Riviera? Do we need to take the ship tours or can we go it alone???

Edit: Moved to Ports of Call Chat. RF

[LisaP]

It depends on what you'd like to do. In many cases, you can easily get into and around town on your own. However, if you'd like to venture out, such as go up into the Sierra Madres, I'd recommend a ship tour to ensure you'll make it back before the ship leaves.

Check out our sister site, http://www.mexicoportreviews.com/ for some ideas as to what the ports offer.

I love this itinerary. Have a wonderful cruise!

[showcat]

Try this link www.mazatlanfrank.com he does private tours has options the ship does not have such as city tour and beach time combined. I want to do this cruise this fall and I will use him, he gets great reviews just search Mazatlan Frank in a search engine. But in Puerto Vallerta I want to do the ships swim with sea lions!

I too will be going on the Pride in November to the same place so let me know how your cruise was when you get back! I would really love to hear from others who have taken the one. I will be checking to see what other info you get and share with you any I might find.
Thanks

[ANGELCRUISER]

I'm also planning to go this September. What's the weather like?

[farmerjohn]

You will love your cruise on the Pacific coast of Mexico. We have done this three times and it is one of my favorite itineraries.

We did this once in November and had nice weather—80+ degree days. We have done it twice in January. On one of the January cruises we had overcast weather and 70 degree temperatures. The next time in January we had clear days and 80 degree temperatures. In September there is a change you will get a few thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Puerto Vallarta is a beautiful city set between the ocean and the Sierra Madre. As you move south of town, the mountains come right down to the ocean. The sand is not as soft as the Caribbean side of Mexico, but there are still some nice areas. There are many tours available; fishing, horseback riding, mountain biking, canopy tour, and tours to some outlying beaches and small villages. We have done both the mountain biking and the canopy tour and enjoyed them both. There is also ample shopping and sightseeing in the city itself.

Mazatlan is a more industrial city and port. There are two hotel areas, the Golden Zone and the Zona Romantica—older hotel area. The older hotel area has some very nice architecture. The shopping is in the Golden Zone. The prices in Mazatlan will probably be the lowest of the ports you stop at. The last time we were in Mazatlan we took the Sierra Madre tour to Concordia and Copala. This was a very interesting tour to visit some old colonial villages.

In Cabo San Lucas we typically take a kayak tour to Los Arco. You kayak across the bay to the arch and stop at Lover’s beach. There is also lots of shopping in Cabo, but I generally find it more expensive than the other ports. There are several other tours offered and lots of people speak highly of the ATV tours.

Hope this helps.

[fivepoints]

Originally posted by Gus47:
Cruising on Carnival Pride next week to Mexican Riviera? Do we need to take the ship tours or can we go it alone???

Edit: Moved to Ports of Call Chat. RF

For what this is worth to anyone...I ran into a good friend who I have worked with for 25 years yesterday. Anyway, she has been a travel agent for at least that many years. I told her we were going to the Mex-Riv on the Pride June 25. She said all of the mattresses on ship are new and if it were her she would rent one of the cabs that waits next to the ship to go on tours. She said those cabs are licensed and pretty well known.

There are some things we want to do like horseback riding. I forgot to ask her about that, however...

[barbarah33]

You should have no problems doing tours on your own for that cruise. In each port you will find cabs lined up waiting to serve you and take you wherever you want to go. There will also be tour companies right there on the dock.

We did everything on our own and had a blast. In Mazatlan our drivers even arranged for us to use a hotel's property so we got to sit by their pool for a couple of hours. (And we were with a group of 20 so we took up some space.) No charge or anything - just a nice tip for the driver.