what to do in PV

[hlb76]

We are sailing the Riveria in Feb. I think we are planning to do Stone Island in Mazatlan and whale watching in Cabo. I can't find what to do in Puerto. I think we want to try either Dolphins, ATV's or ziplining. We are not book w/ the ship people I like to do private excursions.

 

Please please if you have suggestions let me know!

[Hlitner]

This is not meant as criticism, but have you considered just enjoying PV without doing any excursions. We have lived in PV for the past 4 winters and have yet to go zip lining (we did do this once in Costa Rica), use ATVs, and have no desire to spend time encouraging folks to capture more dolphins (they look fine to us when we see them free in the sea). Downtown PV can be a lot of fun. You can stroll along the Malecon, browse the shops, enjoy the old town area (also called the Romantic Zone or Southside), enjoy a nice lunch at one of the many restaurants that make PV a real eating city, etc. Total cost to get to town from the marina (port) is 6 pesos per person (about 50 cents) if you simply grab any local bus that has "Centro" written on its window. If you get thirsty you can even stop in the Cheeky Monkey where you can get a bottle of beer (Corona or Pacifico) for $1 or a Margarita for the same price. Exploring the city can give you a real feel for Mexico.

 

Hank

[Lvs2Cruise2]

In Puerto Vallarta we did a sea lion swim at Vallarta Adventures. (although we did book it through the ship). It was FANTASTIC! They also have dolphin swim and encounters there. It was very professional, fun and organized. It is by far my favorite excursion I've ever done.

[hlb76]

In Puerto Vallarta we did a sea lion swim at Vallarta Adventures. (although we did book it through the ship). It was FANTASTIC! They also have dolphin swim and encounters there. It was very professional, fun and organized. It is by far my favorite excursion I've ever done.

 

I tried to do this but has to be booked via Carnival. I tried to ask questions and book and they told me no! I guess I could lie and say I am not coming by ship but I dont care to lie. The prices where way lower outside of CCL. I know some people love cruise ship tours but I like to do things away from them if at all possible.

[hlb76]

This is not meant as criticism, but have you considered just enjoying PV without doing any excursions. We have lived in PV for the past 4 winters and have yet to go zip lining (we did do this once in Costa Rica), use ATVs, and have no desire to spend time encouraging folks to capture more dolphins (they look fine to us when we see them free in the sea). Downtown PV can be a lot of fun. You can stroll along the Malecon, browse the shops, enjoy the old town area (also called the Romantic Zone or Southside), enjoy a nice lunch at one of the many restaurants that make PV a real eating city, etc. Total cost to get to town from the marina (port) is 6 pesos per person (about 50 cents) if you simply grab any local bus that has "Centro" written on its window. If you get thirsty you can even stop in the Cheeky Monkey where you can get a bottle of beer (Corona or Pacifico) for $1 or a Margarita for the same price. Exploring the city can give you a real feel for Mexico.

 

Hank

 

I would not mind exploring some I don't think it would be enough to keep my son and DH content. We are there from 9-9 (I think) so I figured that would give us some time to explore as well as do a tour.

[Lvs2Cruise2]

I tried to do this but has to be booked via Carnival. I tried to ask questions and book and they told me no! I guess I could lie and say I am not coming by ship but I dont care to lie. The prices where way lower outside of CCL. I know some people love cruise ship tours but I like to do things away from them if at all possible.

 

 

I wonder if you could just hop in a cab , tell them Vallarta Adventures, then purchase a package there? I don't see why you couldn't?? Not sure though, we booked ours through RCCL . I think it was $89 pp. Included transportation, the swim, and lunch. Pictures were sold seperately.

[silverado44]

I tried to do this but has to be booked via Carnival. I tried to ask questions and book and they told me no! I guess I could lie and say I am not coming by ship but I dont care to lie. The prices where way lower outside of CCL. I know some people love cruise ship tours but I like to do things away from them if at all possible.

 

 

Tell them you are staying at a hotel or resort. No problems

[Ine]

Tell them you are staying at a hotel or resort. No problems

 

 

But on days with cruiseships in port, they are often fully booked.....

[NBlewett]

Tell them you are staying at a hotel or resort. No problems

 

 

OK, this presents a new dimension to my planning issues....

 

 

Do tour operators such a Vallarta Adventures often deny participation to Cruisers?

 

Do I need to have an alibi ready in case they ask? seriously?

[Ine]

OK, this presents a new dimension to my planning issues....

 

 

Do tour operators such a Vallarta Adventures often deny participation to Cruisers?

 

Do I need to have an alibi ready in case they ask? seriously?

 

Yes you might be refused if you are on a cruiseline. They have contracts about this with the cruiselines, which are important parties for them.

When making a reservation hotelinformation will be asked.

Since Vta. Adventures is situated in Nuevo vallarta (a cabride of about 15 20 minutes) better make reservations since they are often booked as mentioned.

You can try however to book through a 3rd party-seller like.

http://www.puertovallartatours.net/

[Springwater21]

someone just posted in this forum today, the sailing for Splendor has been cancelled. Not sure how true that is, but please check it out. I think they said the first Splendor sailing is about Feb20th. Hopefully you will be fine, but check anyway. Dona

[NBlewett]

yes you might be refused if you are on a cruiseline. They have contracts about this with the cruiselines, which are important parties for them.

When making a reservation hotelinformation will be asked.

Since vta. Adventures is situated in nuevo vallarta (a cabride of about 15 20 minutes) better make reservations since they are often booked as mentioned.

You can try however to book through a 3rd party-seller like.

http://www.puertovallartatours.net/

 

 

gaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[seahunters2000]

We are sailing the Riveria in Feb. I think we are planning to do Stone Island in Mazatlan and whale watching in Cabo. I can't find what to do in Puerto. I think we want to try either Dolphins, ATV's or ziplining. We are not book w/ the ship people I like to do private excursions.

 

Please please if you have suggestions let me know!

 

 

My wife & I got a massage at Venus Sunshine Spa at the marina location.We got the couples massage for only $40 each for 75 minutes.My wife has gotten many massages & she said it was the best. It was my first so I can't compare. Check out TripAdvisor under "things to do" in Puerta Vallarta it's #17 on the list. here is the email if you want to get in touch with them.

• venusmassage@yahoo.es
  

[sunquest76]

I wonder if you could just hop in a cab , tell them Vallarta Adventures, then purchase a package there? I don't see why you couldn't?? Not sure though, we booked ours through RCCL . I think it was $89 pp. Included transportation, the swim, and lunch. Pictures were sold seperately.

 

I contacted Vallarta Adventures regarding Yelapa while we are stopped in PV. I was told they only deal with Carnival on days the ship is in port (contracted by Carnival) and they would not book me. Very disappointed :(

[MSN-Travelers]

But on days with cruiseships in port, they are often fully booked.....

 

OK, this presents a new dimension to my planning issues....

 

Do tour operators such a Vallarta Adventures often deny participation to Cruisers?

 

Do I need to have an alibi ready in case they ask? seriously?

 

Yes you might be refused if you are on a cruiseline. They have contracts about this with the cruiselines, which are important parties for them.

When making a reservation hotel information will be asked.

Since Vta. Adventures is situated in Nuevo vallarta (a cabride of about 15 20 minutes) better make reservations since they are often booked as mentioned.

You can try however to book through a 3rd party-seller like.

http://www.puertovallartatours.net/

 

We vacation in Vallarta and generally spend the better part of November there every year. There is a significant tour/excursion industry here. We often book excursions with Vallarta Adventures, even on ship days. While Vallarta Adventures offers outstanding excursions, there is always one or two other companies that offer an equivalent experience.

 

Vallarta Adventures is a major tour provider that contracts with the cruise industry when their ships visit Puerto Vallarta. Under the terms of the contract, Vallarta Adventures is not allowed to sell excursions directly to cruise ship passengers if the ship they arrive on sells that same excursion.

 

The key here is to determine if the specific excursion that you want is also offered by the ship you arrive on.

 

NBlewett - Hotel/Resort visitors compete with cruise ship passengers for slots on all excursions. Many cruisers are too afraid to book excursions independently. Experience has taught us what activities cruisers do most often and plan our days to avoid the crowds. I have been told that some third-party tour brokers, that also sell Vallarta Adventures excursions, honor the agreement that VA has with the cruise industry.

 

Ine is correct about capacity controls. The hot ticket aboard ship right now is anything to do with Dolphins or Sea Lions. Whale watching is popular from mid-December through March. Book these through the ship if they are important to you.

 

The ship's are allowed to put a hold on a block of slots. They often release unsold slots the evening before your ship arrives. You can always attempt to book a Vallarta Adventures excursion upon arrival. Just don't count on it.

 

Vallarta Adventures has two tour offices. One is located in Nuevo Vallarta and the other is on the north end of the Marina (immediately north of the port). Most water based excursions actually leave from the port. Resort/hotel guests staying in Nuevo Vallarta are often transported to the port where they join with cruise ship passengers and hotel/resort guests staying in Vallarta.

 

It is a rare for us to take a Vallarta Adventures excursion and not have cruise ship passengers with us. In the last decade, we have been bumped/rescheduled only once because the cruise ships had booked/sold all the slots for a morning Las Caletas excursion.

[chadsjewel]

Google mazatlan frank. He has a dolphin swim tour combo in PV on his site as well as other PV tours.

[Hlitner]

I contacted Vallarta Adventures regarding Yelapa while we are stopped in PV. I was told they only deal with Carnival on days the ship is in port (contracted by Carnival) and they would not book me. Very disappointed :(

 

There are several ways you can get to Yelapa without taking an excursion. There are several water taxis that make the run from PV to Yalapa. Most of them leave from the Los Muertos pier which is located in the Romantic Zone (South side of town) and its usually possible to just go to the pier and buy tickets from one of the ticket vendors. One issue is that the pier is currently being rebuilt so this might mean you must get your feet wet to get in the boat. These water taxis are fun, and they do generally give you a walking tour once you get to Yalapa. After walking around the village (easy to do on your own) most end up on the beach for a few hours. There is also a water taxi that leaves from the north side of the Malacon (across the street from Diamonds International) but they only have one boat and its probably too late in the morning for cruise ship passengers. We do think that there is at least one water taxi (maybe more) that leaves directly from the Marina (this is your cruise ship port) but do not have the current info. If you are really interested we suggest you go to Tripadvisor.com, find the Puerto Vallarta forum and post a message. The regulars on that board (they live in PV) will give you good advice. There is also another way to get to Yelapa which is to take a local bus to the village of Boca de Tomatlan from where you can get a water taxi for the short ride to Yelapa. You can find more info at http://yelapa.info/ .

 

Hank

[notalandlover]

We did the dolphin swin and Rhythms of the night. Both were great. If I had to choose only one my vote would we for rhythms of the night since you can do dolphin swins in a lot of places.

[singinglizzie]

We are looking at an independent tour group called Uniquetours, which has great ratings on Trip Advisor. They are American owned and seem to be a reliable group. You can book direct with them if you arrive on a cruise ship and they offer all kinds of tours. I recommend you go to Trip Advisor and check out the things to do is Puerto Vallarta where you will find several other recomended tour companies and you can choose from them. Let us know what you decide as it might help others who are looking for similiar things to do. have a great cruise!