Princess Mexico Cruises

[Winesnob]

I am thinking about taking a cruise to Mexico this winter and was wondering if the ports are any fun and what is the nightlife like on the ships. My wife and I are in our earily 30's and have had a great time on two princess caribbean cruises. The two ships we are thinking about is the Sapphire out of LA and the Dawn out of SF.

[cruisinqt]

Cozumel and Cancun are both fun ports with lots of night life. There's Carlos and Charlies which is a real party spot. Or you can go to Senor Frog's which is a pretty happening place too. Both of these ports are known for their night life as well as for the great snorkeling and beaches. You will find some of the best snorkeling in the world in these two ports. Belize has some great cave tubing excursions and Costa Maya has some awesome mayan ruins. Most all of the Mexican ports have some interesting ruins to look at as well as great snorkeling and nice beaches.

[Dreamer333]

My DH and I (along w/ my SIL and her DH) went on the Mexican Riviera cruise.

The ports we stopped at were Mazatlan, Cabo, and Puerto Vallarta.

 

I highly recommend the Tequilla Factory tour in PV. It was great!

 

Cabo is beautiful, but for some reason, the visit to Cabo is very short.

[Winesnob]

Thanks for your help. Does anyone know how the nightlife is on the ships and which one is the best for younger couples in their late 20's and early 30's. We are thinking about the Grand out of Texas, Sapphire out of LA or the Dawn out of SF.

[Once Upon A Time]

Has anyone been "swimming with the dolphins"? I'd really like to hear from someone who's taken the excursion. Also, I noticed that the ship has one price(not surprising) which includes transfers and "vallartaonline tours" has a lower one (not surprising) without transfers, but it does include a complimentary video of your encounter.

[Once Upon A Time]

Has anyone been "swimming with the dolphins"? I'd really like to hear from someone who's taken the excursion. Also, I noticed that the ship has one price(not surprising) which includes transfers and "vallartaonline tours" has a lower one (not surprising) without transfers, but it does include a complimentary video of your encounter.

[socalprincesscruzr]

The night lift is definately going to be better on the Sapphire Princess or the Grand Princess out of Galveston. The Dawn Princess is a great ship, but being as she is a little bit older, there are not as many of the new amenities that the Sapphire Princess and Grand Princess have. I went on the Diamond Princess to Mexico in Nov 2004 and my fiance and I (who are both 23) had a great time. The Skywalkers disco is so much fun and they did this "Princess Idol" (kinda like the tv show American Idol, and it was sooo funny). If you're into tequila, the Tequila factory tour is THE BEST!:D You get a tour of this factory and they give you shot after shot and by the end of the tour, you're all warm and fuzzy on the inside. We had friends who did the dolphin experience and they loved it. It's a little more to do it through Princess, but you're gonna get like a tour on your way to the dolphin tour.

 

FYI: The only thing to remember is if you do your own excursion, if you're late to the ship, they'll leave with out you, but if you're on a Princess excursion, the ship would wait until you get back.

[Irishjayne]

Swim with the Dolphins II is awesome. Well worth the money. An experience of a lifetime. We got to swim with 2 new babies too.

[aclay]

Thanks for your help. Does anyone know how the nightlife is on the ships and which one is the best for younger couples in their late 20's and early 30's. We are thinking about the Grand out of Texas, Sapphire out of LA or the Dawn out of SF.

 

Hi Winesnob

we did the Star 7 day Mexican Riviera out of LA visiting Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabos in March 2003. We are also a couple in our mid-thirties. We made the mistake of not booking any Princess excursions -too expensive - let's book once off the ship as usual we thought. Wrong! the ship was full and by the time we got off the boat all local excursions including dolphin encounters were booked up. All we could do was wander through the endless T-shirt stalls in each port. Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta were not particularly pretty ports either, however Cabo made up for it as it has a lovely bay setting. The nightlife in Skywalkers was great, a real Las Vegas atmosphere as the moving escalator whisks you up there and you overlook the back of the ship. The Sapphire also has a Skywalkers Disco, but positioned slightly further forward from the aft- no personal experience of it (yet) but can't imagine it to be very different to the rest of the Grand class. If there are some rough seas you really feel it up in Skywalkers, but combine it with alcohol and dancing and it's a great laugh... The return from Cabo to LA was the roughest, the Captain seemed to be in a real hurry to get back ;-))

We'd say that the Grand class is better than the Dawn Disco location which is more central to the ship, under the casino (we have been on Ocean and last month Sea Princess which are sister ships). We have particular fond memories of that Mexico cruise because it was our first time on the Grand Class and only our second time on Princess. We have sailed four times since and have another four lined up- all with Princess. Party on.

 

A

[Druke I]

Winesnob

 

Don't know where you are coming from, but I recommend the San Francisco departure.

 

Few thrills beat the thrill of sailing from San Francisco, under the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. Much prettier than anything in Los Angeles.

[gopher's girl]

Only going to talk about the cruise I went on...

Diamond Princess January 2005 - Out of Los Angeles. I'm from Philly so we flew out a day early and stayed at the Hyatt in Huntington Beach which is a fabulous Spa Hotel.

 

Puerto Vallarta - Tequilla, Town, and Country tour - not very expensive, got to see lots of things in and around Vallarta. The shopping was not great but the Tequilla factory was fun. Not even sure it was a real factory - kind of seemed like a tourist trap but I didn't care.

 

Mazatlan - just hopped an open air taxi into the Golden Zone and shopped and had lunch. Would recommend seeing the flyers show because it was supposed to be neat - we did not opt for the tour and could not get in at the door - apparently the show is for prepaid guests only. Lots of shopping in this area, also lots of hotels that let you use their beaches.

 

Cabo - was fabulous!! We took the early morning boat ride around los arcos and then spent the rest of the time walking around town.

[emsapb]

We took the 10 day Mexican Riveria trip on the Sun out of LA a couple of years ago. The nightlife on the ship was great.

I highly recommend ths Swim with the Dolphins tour in Puerto Vallarta offered by Princess. It is awsome. I still smile everytime I think about it, even after 2 years. So does my husband.

[jimbug]

We did the 7-day Mexico on the Diamond from LA last March. (Same itinerary and sister ship to the Sapphire for next year.) We loved it! We were a group of 3 women - 23, 24, and 52 - with a wide variety of interests. I loved sailing out of LA--much warmer than San Francisco in the wintertime. Anyway, if you see the link below in my signature, you will find a very detailed review. I loved the ports and the nightlife was hopping.

[Luvcrusin']

I have done the Mexican itinerary out of LA 3 times and will be doing our 4th trip on the Sapphire for New Years Eve this year! LA is a warmer port to leave and a bit less choppy!

 

Puerta Vallarta has some wonderful things to do. We like to rent a car and drive up into the hill and go to CHi CHi's for lunch.....a fabulous open air restaurant perched on top of a hill with panoramic views of the ocean to die for!! Then you can stroll down a ways and watch the young kids jump off the rocks into the water.....actually my husband joined them!!

 

Another great place to go is into the "jungle" as I like to refer to it, and sit by the water falls at another restaurant which has become famous for a movie that Arnold was in (our governor!!).

 

For snorkeling, Mexico can't compare to the eastern Caribbean!

 

So much to do, so little time!!!

[oskidunker]

Taking the Dawn 10/1 . The earliest Los Arcos tour is 11:30. Do they pick you up at the ship or do you need to take a tender to the port?

[Druke I]

Oski

 

When we did the Los Arcos tour, we did have to tender to port, then joined the tour group there, at the pier.

[LuAnn]

I swam with them using a Princess shore excursion...they took us there and back via bus...it was one of the most awesome experiences of my life! You'll love it!