what to do in port with family?

[rsjj]

am new to this board...will be visiting mazatlan, cabo san lucas, & puerto vallarta. am interested in what others have to say about things to do in those ports. will be traveling in august, with 2 small children. (so nothing really "adventurous" yet!) the excursions being offered on our cruise ship seem on the high end. am looking into booking something on our own. any ideas/suggestions will be greatly appreciated! thank you in advance! :)

[star gazer]

I enjoy walking and sight seeing with my lady and she shops along the way.

In PV, take a cab to the Rio Cuale. There are numerous shops along this beautiful and senic river. After that, walk along the boardwalk to the Cathedral.

Downtown Mazatlan is historical with the Cathedral and the surrounding area.

Cabo is modern compared to PV and Mazatlan, follow the crowd to the shopping area.

[jeremyh]

We went a year ago, 2 families, both with 2 and 5 year old kids.

 

In Puerto Vallarta we walked to the Krystal Vallarta resort. Not a terrible walk but not great either - no real sidewalks and it's kind of dusty. It's maybe a 1/2 mile or so? It's a nice resort with a beautiful pool next to the beach. Bring your own towel (wish someone had told us that). Kids loved swimming in the pools. Cost = $0 outside of food or drink at the resort.

 

In Mazatlan we did the Frank tour. Great tour. Frank's great, highly recommended. Considering there were 8 of us, it was much cheaper than via the ship. Cost.. I think we paid $140 + a tip? I don't remember. He was our guide for the whole day and did the equivalent of two ship tours. (city and golden zone, I think). He also hooked us up with a primo table at a restaurant right on the beach. (food cost isn't included in the tour price)

 

In Cabo we got of the tender and talked to some people and got ourselves a water taxi tour (glass bottom). I think we paid $45 for all of us for a 30-40 minute cruise around the area. The guy didn't really speak english but it didn't bother us. He showed us Los Arcos, lovers beach, seals, etc. The kids loved it. After that we went into town, at lunch at Cabo Wabo, did some shopping, then tendered back.

 

Check the page out I made last year - it was designed for the Pride but all the port information applies to anything.

 

http://www.hansenshideaway.com/cruise/pride.html

[bleuseas]

Did you have to pay a small fee to use the facilities at the Krystal Vallarta or was it a "sneak-in" thing?

Will be sailing there in three weeks and this sounds like a good place to "hang out" with the kids for the day.

Thanks!

[jeremyh]

Did you have to pay a small fee to use the facilities at the Krystal Vallarta or was it a "sneak-in" thing?

Will be sailing there in three weeks and this sounds like a good place to "hang out" with the kids for the day.

Thanks!

 

Neither. If we were supposed to pay, no one told us. We got directions on how to get there from someone at the port, walked south down the dusty cobblestone road(not so good for the strollers) until we came to the cross street, turned left walked over to the gated side entrance, said we were from the Carnival Pride, and they let us walk in. It was a fairly large resort so we asked someone which way to the main pool, but basically just head back towards the beach and you'll find it.

 

In fact, if you browse around some before settling down you'll see there are multiple pools to choose from. The big main pool is actually 2 or three interconnecting ones (including a toddler pool) with a restaurant and bar adjacent as well as a kids playground not too far away (but in the sun it heats up and might not be useable). A little to the north, through a breezeway, is a much quieter pool. There was a small kiosk set up selling jetski, parasailing, pool toys, etc. But they refused to let us even rent a towel. We saw many people with Carnival towels.

 

We also ran into Carnival employees in the pool. My kids recognized them first because they were from the kids club!

 

I suspect you could go down to the beach right there if you wanted, but there were a lot of vendors and the water didn't look too clean so we never bothered.

 

Final bit of advice - you can get an inexpensive massage there, however you must make reservations in advance. Unfortunately, this is what ruined the day for us. We were there with the other couple so we watched their kids while they got their massages, and then when they were done, we went over. Well, appearantly in the time it took for our friends to come over to us and us to walk back over(about 2 minutes due simply to the distance from the pool to the spa), some other couple walked up and asked for a massage and they just ASSUMED it was us without ever asking names or anything. When we get there all we find is a locked building, so we were left standing there banging on the door, trying to figure out what the heck was going on, not getting a response for half an hour. We tried using the resort phone, walked around looking for help, couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, until some lady came by delivering towels, and she helped us get ahold of someone. That person adamantly denied they'd done anything wrong. "Well, they walked up when you were supposed to be walking up so it's not our fault!" This despite our friends telling them we'd be over in 2 minutes, despite having a reservation with our names on it. That's what really ticked us off, the attitude (and it was some strong attitude). They just kept insisting that they'd done nothing wrong and then they said, while rolling eyes and a sigh, they could accomodate us if we came back at 4 PM (it was something like 10:30 AM at that point).

 

Well, we (mostly my wife - she was determined) made enough of a stink that they "fit us in" shortly thereafter, and the massage was very good for the price. We were kind to the people inside and tipped them, because it truly wasn't the massuese's fault. By the time this was all over, we had been at the resort about 2 hours longer than planned, and our kids ended up with sunburns because our friends didn't reapply sunscreen on them during this whole set of shenanigans(their kids are dark skinned, ours fair skinned). When I look back on that day I still see red when it comes to the spa, and can only say proceed with caution if it involves the spa!