CA_Cruzing

1 hour ago, JMAE said:

I was thinking about switching to a TA but she told me that with CCL she has been only able to give is $50 OBC.  She told me RCCL gives OBC, specialty dining, priority boarding and wine.  I often get the $50 OBC from my PVP, for our next cruise I will have to compare to see where I get the best deal. 

With the big box store that rhymes with Bosco, between their gift card, credit card and executive membership we average around 11% discount on our cruise fare. 

Thats enough to motivate me to use them. 

Choose wisely and and to each their own. 

5 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

This thread reminds me of our recent (2-3 weeks ago) experience on Chic night aboard the still elegant Constellation.    DH and and I, and the majority of other passengers, were all dressed up in the theater waiting for the show to start.  Two rows ahead is a family of 4-5.  They had arrived earlier and had taken front rail seats in the balcony.  They were engaged in a game of dice of some sort.  Beer bottles and glasses were placed on the railing.  The dice was handed back and forth, and the cocktail tables or bench seats were used as a rolling table.  All were dressed casually in shorts and tops.  But the most offensive was a young adult male dressed in basketball shorts and tank (wife beater).  So DH and I being dressed up on Chic night had the privileged of looking into the hairy armpits of the young man seating below.  

 

Fast forward a few nights later (it may have been the 2nd Chic night, though I cannot recall) when after a comedian had begun his show, this same family walks in... late.  The young male adult had on the same basketball outfit! The comedian looks up, see's the family and makes a comment about their late arrival.  Then the comedian made a timely comment about the young man's lack of appropriate dress.  Everyone in the theater clapped in agreement!   It was great, and I think I clapped the loudest. 👍

you're being facetious, right?

Long Beach has a few nice hotels in the downtown/port area. We usually bid ours on Priceline and save over rack rate. We just stayed at the Marriott Renaissance for $85 a night which was $5 less than Priceline's Express Deal for the same hotel.

If you're coming to CA for a longer pre-cruise stay, there are MANY great places to see and experience in SoCal. Just chime in if you're seeking additional input/suggestions.

If this helps your decision or adds comfort, our last six cruises were Carnival and we’ve booked our first X cruise, a 10 day S Carib for March 2020. Our “jump off” would have been this March to X on the same 10 day itinerary but work got in the way of that trip so we last-minute booked a spa cabin on Carnival for $90 day p/p for a quick 7 day Mex Riviera. 

We’re looking forward to a more adult experience in a more relaxed environment. 

We’re also hopeful there aren’t chair hogs on X but I’ll wait to be surprised. 

At this stage of vacationing, value is more important than price. With time being more valuable, we just want to have excellent experiences at a reasonable cost. 

We’re all in to see how this goes. 

12 hours ago, naxer said:

Two pages now.  I tried to resist checking the thread, but I just couldn't.  🤣  

The unavoidable train wreck. You just have to see it for yourself. 

how will those that take butter back to their room for other reasons survive this change?

Balcony has always had good ice cream. The darkness at sea, the waves; keeps life fun. 

You can can mix and match who stays in which rooms for sleeping. Guest services will make you whichever keys for your rooms you want, regardless of names booked into your cabins. 

Have fun. Live it up some. You’ll dial this all in and have a great vacation. 

Is this an “ice cream” question?

Not sure I understand fully. Maybe you can expand some more before I get foot deeper in mouth. 

I’m thinking Mike and I should write a book on MX Riv cruising. 

What Mike said, plus; old town PV has some nice shops and local artist wares. We’ve looked and metal art but haven’t bought due to having to fly it home. Once day we’ll pull trigger. We also found local art shops in old town PV too (paintings). 

Cabo’s marina has local vendors but you’ll see some of the same stuff at many different place in MX. In Cabo we’ve gone to the mall at the end of the marina and have built a collection of Mexican plate ware. Think salsa bowls, guacamole bowls, Mexican glassware, spoon rests, shot glasses and margarita glasses. 

The port in PV had some decent jewelry and we were able to make some good deals. 

Mazatlan is usually just a beach day for us. We really haven’t bought much there over the years but we do like visiting the Gold Zone for food, fun, drink and stuff (things one doesn’t need but occasionally buys). 

Hope this helps. 

4 hours ago, coevan said:

What about the $200 jeans that girls buy with rips and tears?

If you’re going to wear girls jeans, that’d be weird but probably okay. 

29 minutes ago, MissKIA said:

You seem to be correct about PV being the better place to do this at, however we have friends in PV so we will be spending the day with them there visiting their favourite places, and we have something planned for Cabo already so Mazatlan is the only option left for an AI if we decide to do that.  I will check out the suggestions you guys have given, thank you!

check out TripAdvisor and sort hotels by "Traveler Ranked." From there dive in to see which ones interest you and contact your top 5 and see if they offer what you seek.

Las Flores is possibly, IMO, the best beach area in the Gold Zone. It's long and has enough space between you and the ocean.

If you do head to Las Flores, go early if you want to rent chaises and umbrellas. Both items do sell out fast and the sun in Mazatlan can be quite hot and cause sunburns if you're ill prepared. I speak from experience.

And bring a bunch of small US bills to tip and pay for things. And pay cash for your food and drink so you're not getting jacked into conversion prices (peso to usd). know your exchange rates so you'll get your best value. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=usd+to+peso&atb=v158-1&ia=currency

Same goes for Cabo and PV. When we use a US issued credit card we always pay in Pesos as we have no-cost exchange rates on our card and don't overpay based on what the merchant chooses to give you as their exchange rate.

Have a great trip and enjoy your vacation!

November will be better than October. That’d be a good choice for less humid weather. 

PV is summer is brutally humid and hot. Worse than Miami in summer. 

And then hurricane season can be unpredictable in MX Riv. 

4 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

Years ago, we had a day pass (NOT all-inclusive) for Las Flores Beach Resort in the Golden Zone in Mazatlan.  We enjoyed the pool and the beach in front of the hotel.  We ate at the café and had beverages from the bar.  All NON-inclusive, but prices were reasonable.  Bathrooms were clean!!  We did not stay at Las Flores all day, but used it as our command post for exploring Golden Zone.

 

Same here. That’s our goto place for Mazatlan. Decent beach, decent food and drinks but nowhere near the quality and experience level of PV resorts. 

Las Flores is a safe and central launch/base for Mazatlan. 

8 hours ago, Ranyw said:

I was actually looking for an answer to see which of the two ports we should do a day pass in.

See my thread from a few months ago on this exact subject. 

There were great posts with pricing and options. 

We elected Secrets in PV and had an amazing day and stay. Well worth the $75 pp day pass fee. 

I’d recco PV for this type of day. The resorts in PV are much nicer than Mazatlan, IMO. 

Efficiency of time. It’s my vacation time and I don’t want to wait in lines. 

I work way way too hard to not enjoy every minute of my family and wife time. We lead busy lives and vacations are important to us so if we can increase the experience quality at a reasonable cost, then I’m buying it. 

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

ROFL!  While I might agree with you on principle, you are wrong to tie the percentage of alcohol to Tequilia in the USA vs Mexico.  For example, one of the more popular cheap Tequilia's in Mexico (used by many bars) is called El Compadre which I believe is only 30%  alcohol...although it is 100% Agave.  But El Compadre costs about $5 a liter :).  The truth is that plenty of Mexicans (and we Gringos who live in Mexico at least part of the time) buy cheap Tequilia on either side of the border.  Keep in mind that the largest selling brand of Tequila in mexico is El Jimador (I use their reposado in my margaritas) which is hardly anything special.   When we first started living in Mexico (13 years ago) it was nearly impossible to find any Patron Tequilia in Puerto Vallarta.  Now, the decent liquor stores sell Patron because it is something wanted by Americans (not sure any Mexicans drink the stuff).  But I do think that Patron is quite decent...if not a bit overpriced.

 

Hank

To each their own. Patron is crap compared to many finer tequilas. 

Clase Azul used to be my goto but since then I’ve found many better and finer extra anejo tequilas on different trips to MX. 

Sipping tequilas rival some bourbons and the market is growing and expanding for quality tequilas. 

Go go try some Cava de Oro Extra Anejo and reply back. Until then, you’re missing some of the great tequilas of Mexico. 

As for mixed drinks, I have a few goto brands but never Patron. 

Try some Tiera Sagrada if you want an elevated experience. I was blown away and bought a few on our last trip. 

https://www.oldtowntequila.com/tierra-sagrada-extra-anejo-tequila/

And in the states tequila must be 40% to be legally imported. And that’s why you won’t find many of the better tequilas stateside. They’re only available in MX. 

If your tequila is 40%, it’s available in USA. If your tequila is 38%, it’s in Mexico and not the states.

Don’t waste your time buying gringo tequila. There’s some amazing stuff in Mexico you should experience when you’re there. And it’s tequila you’ll never get here (legally). 

We just brought home 7 750ml bottles on our last cruise. Should be enough to get us till next year. 

8 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Costa built several Concordia class ships, so there is more than one still sailing. 

Correct. Six built, five remain in service including Splendor. 

Having sailed Splendor twice, she still remains my least favorite ship due to no Funship 2.0 upgrades (yet) and very long wait times for YTD seating as we just experienced this March. 

9 hours ago, five. said:

That explains why it is a class in of itself. I always wondered why there was only the one ship in that class.

Think Costa Concordia. Twin ship but only one remains sailing. 

Water taxi is 5 mins and then a 5 min walk to the tender dock (with booze in ya). 

No no tequila makes everyone walk faster but why would you do that in Cabo!?!?

$5 a person from Medano back to port. 

Goto to google maps and run a walk from The Office to Senor Frogs in the port. 

Drunk walk is 40 mins (experienced here). 

Here’s the link to my now semi famous map. 

And yes to your last question. The water taxi dudes will do as you wish. 

What time of year are you seeking to cruise and what’s your home city?

We’ve done S Carib 2x on Vista, 8 days each time and MX Riv 4 times in 4 different seasons. I’ll offer pros and cons based on your reply. 

Both are are unique and deliver very different experiences. 

PV will be HAF and humid. Just plan for it. Cabo will be dry and hot and spectacular. Mazatlan beaches will be great in the Gold Zone. We went to Las Flores hotel beach and had a great time. 

Bring lots of of sunscreen and have a great time. You have nothing to worry about.