Mexican Riviera Photo Review

[FishinChris]

A little late with this review but better late then never.  We took the 10 day Mexican Riviera cruise out of San Francisco December 13 on the Grand Princess.  We have been on the Grand Princess a few times before and have enjoyed each and every time.  My reviews tend to be more of a photographic journey then a written review, please let me know if you enjoy them.

 

We live in a rural farming town a 100 miles out of San Francisco,  we chose to drive and park near the cruise terminal at pier 27.  I was able to break in my new travel pack from Peak Design which has side pockets that conveniently hold 2 bottles of wine.  We arrived a little early and had to wait until 10 am before they let people enter the terminal.  We upgraded to a mini-suite a few weeks before we left.   San Francisco is a beautiful city and sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge never gets old.  

 

First time posting pics directly to the CC site instead of links to Flicker, I hope this works.

[FishinChris]

The whole trip was surprisingly smooth sailing.  I was a little disappointed in this because a really like the slow roll of the traveling cruise ship that gently rocks me to sleep.  I know that's not much to really complain about and its not but that is my only complaint for the whole trip. We did attend the CC meet and greet and met Audrey and Irv from Las Vegas in their Iron Maiden shirts, how awesome is that? 

 

We also enjoyed Alfredo's Pizza and a Martini in Crooners on our first sea day.

 

As the water was getting warmer we were able to spot quite a few flying fish from the promenade.

[mthomp5]

You’re a great photographer!  Loving your pictorial review.  Thanks for sharing. 

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, FishinChris said:

We live in a rural farming town a 100 miles out of San Francisco,

 

Where??? Where do you live? 100 miles NORTH or 100 miles SOUTH of San Francisco? We are north...  Really grea pics of the flying fish. I know they can be hard to photograph. (Of course we never seem to have our cameras or phones when they are doing their thing... D'Oh!)

[Flowergirl56]

Can’t wait to read and see more about your trip.  We head out on 3/17 to the Eastern Caribbean but started talking about where we want to go on our next cruise.  

[mcrcruiser]

Great photos of those flying fish . Will you be posting more photos ?

[FishinChris]

8 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Where??? Where do you live? 100 miles NORTH or 100 miles SOUTH of San Francisco? We are north...  Really grea pics of the flying fish. I know they can be hard to photograph. (Of course we never seem to have our cameras or phones when they are doing their thing... D'Oh!)

 

We’re in Arbuckle, Colusa county. The flying fish are not easy to capture with your camera, similar to skeet shooting but not as fun.

[FishinChris]

We brought a couple of our own bottles of wine on board to enjoy with dinner.  When I say our own I mean I make my own wine.

 

 

[FishinChris]

Our first port was Puerto Vallarta and we booked the Cathedral, Tiles, and Tequila excursion with Princess.  We had a different excursion booked to take us in the mountains to see the petroglyphs and various other things, but it somehow morphed into a salsa or taco making excursion.  Since we were no longer interested in the new excursion we changed it to the always popular Tequila and Tiles.  We made our way to the Malecon and walked to the Cathedral of our Lady of Guadalupe.  We returned to the bus for the short ride to the tile factory, where we picked up a new butter dish.  With that important part of shopping done, we headed for another shopping stop, and then tequila.  We talked about not buying any over priced tequila but that plan went to shambles after our extensive tasting of the golden elixir.  Not any good photos from that stop, they we were all a little blurry if you know what I mean.  I would highly recommend this excursion, we've taken it twice.

[Hazegreyunderway]

Those are great pictures!  We did the cruise just prior to yours, same ports and had a wonderful time. 

 

Just curious, what kind of camera did you use? 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Hazegreyunderway
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[FishinChris]

36 minutes ago, Hazegreyunderway said:

Those are great pictures!  We did the cruise just prior to yours, same ports and had a wonderful time. 

 

Just curious, what kind of camera did you use? 

 

 

I currently use a FujifilmXT2 and A FujifilmX100F.  I switched from Canon over a year ago after lugging all the gear on our British Isle cruise in 2017.  Much happier with the Fujifilm. 

[miss prairie girl]

Loving your photo review! We were in the Malecon area just before Christmas and your pictures just brought the experience back for us! Looking forward to following your travels!

[FishinChris]

The next port of call was Manzanillo where we booked a private scuba diving excursion with Aquatic Sports and Adventures. http://www.aquaticsportsadventures.com/ 

We had a lovely 2 tank dive with another couple on our cruise.   Back on the ship we watched the runners make it back to the ship before the gangway was removed.  Some didn't make it but the people in the photo barely made after a lot of encouragement from the ship's horn. 

 

 

[FishinChris]

Mazatlan, We booked the Stone Island Estuary Cruise through Princess.  This excursion was very enjoyable, it started with a bird watching boat cruise and then a tractor ride through a sesame seed and coconut farm and miles of beach to a resort area.  We were provided a nice shrimp lunch at the resort area and added many of their world famous mango margaritas to our meal.  After our meal and happy song we wandered the beach, some people went for a swim. 

[FishinChris]

Would you like a happy song? 

[Kenosha Cruiser]

Fantastic photo review! We're heading to the Mexican Riviera in October on the Royal Princess (Halloween cruise). Hope you have more pictures to come, we will be following along.

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

[FishinChris]

Cabo San Lucas.   We had originally booked a scuba diving excursion but switched it to a whale watching trip instead.  We saw whales, dolphins, and manta rays.  I didn't take any pictures worth sharing but it was a fun short trip.  Afterwords we had lunch on shore with a few delicious blue margaritas and walked through the merchant areas.

 

[FishinChris]

2 minutes ago, Kenosha Cruiser said:

Fantastic photo review! We're heading to the Mexican Riviera in October on the Royal Princess (Halloween cruise). Hope you have more pictures to come, we will be following along.

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

We were on a Halloween cruise on the Golden a few years ago.  Very fun, don't forget your costume.

[Kenosha Cruiser]

Just now, FishinChris said:

We were on a Halloween cruise on the Golden a few years ago.  Very fun, don't forget your costume.

 

We already decided on the day of the dead make up and costumes. We did a trial run this past Halloween. Here we are below. This will be our third Halloween cruise, so much fun!!!

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

 

[FishinChris]

We were headed back to San Francisco after our last port and spent the rest of our cruise doing absolutely nothing, it was great.  The ship was decorated for Christmas, but I did not have any Santa sightings.  Being an early riser we were up and on deck 17 for cruising under the Golden Gate Bridge at 5:45 am.  The cruise was fantastic and will be doing it again.  I hope you enjoyed my photos.  Please let me know what you think.  Our next vacation is not a cruise but 2 weeks in the Scottish Highlands.  Thanks for reading my review.  Cheers!

[FishinChris]

8 minutes ago, Kenosha Cruiser said:

 

We already decided on the day of the dead make up and costumes. We did a trial run this past Halloween. Here we are below. This will be our third Halloween cruise, so much fun!!!

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

 

Very Nice!  Have a great time.

[EMS8]

Nice review Chris.  You take very good pictures.  Thanks.

[Kenosha Cruiser]

Thanks for sharing your photos on the Grand Princess, well done!

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

 

[FishinChris]

On 2/17/2019 at 11:50 AM, EMS8 said:

Nice review Chris.  You take very good pictures.  Thanks.

 

On 2/17/2019 at 12:53 PM, Kenosha Cruiser said:

Thanks for sharing your photos on the Grand Princess, well done!

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

 

 

Thanks for your kind comments. 

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for sharing I love the photos! One of the masks photos looks just like my uncle Frank. 😳 😁

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony