3/13 Jewel Review--Casinos at Sea Cruise Featuring the UBP

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Cabo San Lucas is a tender port, and when you are dropped at the tender dock, you are right in the midst of the bars and tourist shops. We turned to the right and followed the flow of cruisers onto the boardwalk that wraps around the port. We saw this placard and were reminded that you can buy many drugs in Mexican pharmacies without a prescription.

 

Mr. Macho Cabo

 

After we grew tired of being hustled every 3 seconds by vendors, restaurant owners, and iguana-petting photo opportunites, we turned landward to see what Cabo was really like. "Downtown" Cabo is reminiscent of the sleepy beach town that Cabo was before the tourist hordes (yes, that's us!) descended. It is made up of one and two story buildings, and lacks a colonial center like some of the more interesting Mexican towns. In the center of town we found a hill that had been made into a botanical garden featuring indigenous plants. It is a hot dusty walk through sand, cactus, and other desert plants, but we had a great lookout of the town from the rock outcrop at the top of the park.

 

 

Botanical Garden Cabo San Lucas

 

From the rock lookout we could see the casino. It is located in a huge, nearly empty shopping mall, and there weren't any intriguing games there. We made the long, hot walk back along the waterfront to the ship. From the vantage point of the tender we could see a nice beach that you could get to if you turned left when you got off the tender, rather than right towards town. There were also some nice beaches further out of town in the other direction, but I think you would want to take a cab to these to avoid the long walk through town.

 

We returned to the ship about 3:00 pm, and went up to the Garden cafe for a cocktail. We had a beautiful view of Land's End, which is popular excursion. There is an large arch, but you can't see it from this angle.

 

Land's End Cabo San Lucas

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Mazatlan must be one of the easiest cruise ports there is. You are docked right next to town, and you can walk easily to the beach or the Centro from the Port. Mazatlan is also large enough that when ships are docked, cruisers don't dominate the town.

 

 

The elegant Crowne Princess beat us to Mazatlan the morning that we docked. Where are the people out on their balconies to greet us?

 

 

Crown Princess Docked in Mazatlan

 

As you leave the port area, you'll find a thick blue line painted right on the road. You simply follow this line to reach the Old Town (Centro). Along the way you'll find English-speaking volunteers that will guide you along your way and give you advice on what to see. In the main square is a large wooden sign that helped us decide what our itinerary would be that day.

 

 

We visited the large pink cathedral not far from the main square. On our way to the beach we found the library where we could get free wifi and catch up on some emails. Mazatlan has many brightly painted houses that to me evoke Old Mexico. It was a scenic walk to the beach.

 

 

Streets of Mazatlan

 

When we came to the beach we turned right (N) to see the cliff divers. I thought I had fulfilled one of my life-long dreams to see the cliff divers until I later learned that the famous cliff-diving is actually done in Acapulco. We were still impressed, though, as the divers have to wait for a large wave to come in before they dive. They also will wait until they have an audience so they can ask for tips. Fair enough.

 

 

Mazatlan Cliff Diving Platform

 

Old habits die hard, and I did my motherly role of holding all the "stuff" while A. went bodysurfing for about and hour. I consoled myself by drinking a beer and organizing my photos at a beach-side bar.

 

 

 

We took a short-cut back to the ship, and had our afternoon cocktail up on Deck 12 aft while we enjoyed the view of the Port of Mazatlan.

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Norwegian Jewel Cruise Port of Puerto Vallarta

 

This was definitely our favorite port of the cruise. Puerto Vallarta is still a resort town, but is strung out along the waterfront. It is beautifully situated between the coast and beautiful mountains to the east. The green peaks and canyons beckoned us to visit: perhaps next time: today we'll just see the town. The port is several miles from the center of town. The WalMart and Sam's that are just opposite the port entrance will serve as your landmarks when you are returning to the ship.

 

You can get some pesos at ATMs in the port area, but we had some leftover pesos from the trip B. and I made to the Copper Canyon a few months before. We got on a bus labeled "Centro" at the bus stop just outside the port entrance. The fare is 7.5 pesos, and the driver can make change. We stayed on the bus for about three miles until we realized we had crossed a river. This was the Rio Cuale, and is the sign that you are in Old Town.

 

We walked along the beach for awhile and then returned to the river. We noticed a bunch of people snacking at an impromptu stand set up under the Rio Cuale bridge. They were busy making and serving ceviche. We spent the good part of an hour eating ceviche tacos and enjoying the scenery.

 

Ceviche Shack Under the Rio Cuale Bridge Puerto Vallarta

 

After we had worked our way through about eight tacos, we decided to take a quick dip in the clear-running Cuale River.

 

Swimming in the Rio Cuale Puerto Vallarta

 

In order to see where people actually lived, we wandered uphill away from the water. Many people live on streets like this-- not so much streets as double sidewalks separated by gardens. I wonder how people get furniture into their houses in these totally pedestrian neighborhoods.

 

Hillside Street in Puerto Vallarta

 

We walked back downhill until we came to a busy one-way street heading north. We got on a bus that was marked "WalMart-Sams" and returned to the ship in plenty of time for our cooling afternoon cocktail.

 

Back in the Port of Los Angeles

 

We had plenty of time before our late afternoon flight out of LAX, so we thought we might want to visit the USS Iowa which is permanently docked right next to where we debarked. We asked one of the volunteers if there was a place to store luggage while we visited, and he said yes, and gave us a two-for-one coupon. They have a cruiser discount, so we ended up paying $15 for admission for two. It was an interesting 1 1/2 hour visit.

 

Battleship Iowa Port of Los Angeles

[Texsylvanian]

Wow, did they cut back SEVERELY on the wines available by the glass (there were about 20 reds and 20 whites before; now it's down to 8 of each)! Many of those are pretty crappy, and only the NCL Sauvignon Blanc available! Mostly, I'm a wine drinker, and this is very very very disappointing to see.

 

Loving your review, tho!

Edited April 11, 2016 by Texsylvanian

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My activities in the Jewel casino were restricted to the blackjack tables. I had learned basic strategy using a couple of Iphone apps, and I was eager to try them out in a real casino under the tutelage of my cruising partner A., who is an expert BJ player. I sat next to him and cleared all my moves with him before I did anything. I only played at the $25 table, although A. played at several tables and also played some the other table games.

 

 

There were several low-stake blackjack tables, where all the cards were dealt from a continuous shuffle machine. We stayed away from those. The $6 minimum bet table would have been fine for my practicing, if I hadn't had A. there to guide me. There were only two tables that didn't use the CSMs. The $25 table and the $100 table both dealt out of 8-deck shoes. I spent all my time at the $25, and A. spent most of his time there, but played on the $100 table several times.

 

 

The play at the $25 table was a little fast for me. There are many distractions at the table that I hadn't had to deal with previously while practicing on the computer. Players were making side bets, and I had a hard time keeping up with the chip denominations, especially when blackjack was paid out 3 to 2. (For example, if you're betting $25, and you get blackjack, you'll receive $37.50 in chips.) There were also slight variations in the rules that I had learned; for example, you are not allowed to surrender. I would get flustered when other players deviated from basic strategy. Perhaps those players WERE counting cards!

 

 

The play was fast and furious, and my nerves only allowed for about an hour's play at a time. We enjoyed talking with the dealers, but not so much with the pit bosses, who acted like, well....pit bosses! A. was pleased with the casino, and regretted that he hadn't brought more money. We asked the casino host about using our sea pass cards to get cash advances on our credit cards, but she explained that there would be a 3% fee to do so. Fortunately the cash we had on hand turned out to be sufficient.

 

 

We also had Ultimate Beverage Packages comped, but you can't get specialty coffees, energy drinks, or bottled waters with it. Fortunately we also received a casino drink card where we could order those extra items while in the casino. If we wanted a glass of wine, we showed the sea pass cards with "UBP" written on it. If we wanted a Perrier or a cappuccino, we showed the casino drink card. In the late afternoon or late at night there was a small buffet with cocktail sandwiches and fruit set up at the bar.

We suffered a net loss on our playing, but nothing too serious. A few weeks after we returned, I called Casinos at Sea to see whether or not we qualified for another comped cruise. They looked at our hours of play, and our actual and theoretical losses. They said that I had only played for 2 1/2 hours (I think it was much more!) and that my actual loss was $90, and my theoretical loss was $800. I didn't qualify for a free cruise based on my low hours of play.

 

 

A. was the one who got the comped cruise to begin with, and I was just his guest on this cruise. So I wasn't surprised that I wasn't offered a freebie. A., however, DOES qualify for another comped cruise. I don't want to go into his real and theoretical losses here, but his level of play, and the fact that he played for over 11 hours qualifies him for another free cruise. I appreciated that the Casinos at Sea rep was so forthcoming about the statistics that they held on us, and how they were determining who gets comped and who doesn't. He said that if I had played for a few more hours that I would get comped too.

 

 

If you are interested in how we got the comped cruise, read this post about the Hard Rock Casino offer.

 

 

If you want to know more about how you book the cruise through Casinos at Sea read this post.

[jollytammy]

I am loving your report! It is one of the best, basic, informational reports I've ever seen. You give lots of facts, but in a format that is so easy to read and quick to find information.

 

Again, THANK YOU!

 

Jollytammy

[plane2port]

Thanks for the kind comments, JollyTammy. I'm glad you've enjoyed the review.

[jbr888]

Thank you for all of the port info! Your review is so helpful and enjoyable.

 

 

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[plane2port]

Thank you for all of the port info! Your review is so helpful and enjoyable.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing