Acapulco's worst tour guide

[Bubba#1]

:( :( :( Just got back on Mercury's 2/24/06 Rivera 10 day cruise and thought it best to advise all cruisers who not to use as a tour guide in Acapulco.

 

I am sad to say his name is Sebastian. This guide was not my suggestion but a cruise friend who I hope still remains one after this post.

 

First of all he parked his vehicle close to one mile away from the terminal. Either he was late for our 10 AM meet or everyone else who was there didn't like him and wished he was out of the way. We must have been approached by at least 40+ other guides seeking our services until we ran into him and the end of the pier.

 

At first I asked to go to the Princess Palace which he seemed dumbfounded and refused to respond until my louder 3rd request. As the front seat passenger I felt he purposely ignored me because he had his own plans on where to take us.

 

With in a few moments the response I got was ridiculous saying if he took us to the palace which he didn't seem to know existed at first would cause us problems with his tour, which included a tour of the highest church in Acapulco. (I will use AC for Acapulco from here on).

 

Now this church was up on the mountain and had nice views so I can't complain about it except when it was time to depart we had NO AIR CONDITIONING. Finally about 20 minutes later we got it up and running by hitting a bad bump.

 

Now so as not to confuse we traveled the streets slower than a bicycle in some cases as this driver tried so hard to make a day of it. Our next stop was at the cliff divers which we were told started at 12:30 and by 1:00 PM we were still navigating the streets as he let in every car who wished to get ahead of us. Finally I said to the driver in frustration and without Air again if he lets another car in I was going to take his place behind the wheel. So we pressed on to the divers only to find because of his delaying tactics no close views were available for pics. A disappointment to say the least.

 

After the show the driver attempted to take us shopping.(Remembering we crawled along in traffic after leaving the cliff divers show without Air). Of course at his stores, where low and behold the city decided to dig up part of the street in front and the workers decided to take a break. Was he pissed off, when they refused to move their vehicles. He was arguing with them when I asked the other 8 passengers if they wished to shop answering no.So I told the driver to move along. We did proceed to the hotel wher John Wayne and Tarzan owned way back when and had some ice cream for lunch and PJ,s samples.

 

Linda who organized and planned with Sebastian the tour wanted to go to an art gallery to view paintings. So he took us to an art gallery which consisted of a wall with tile on a street were the trash was piled van high. I really felt bad for her and mean her no disrespect and really enjoyed her and PJ and wish to remain friends, but this guy sucked.Finally he took us to and dropped us at the San Diego Fort across the street from the ship. The tour consisted of about 5 hours in a van and 3 hours outside of it. Since we first got shut out by NCL cruiselines who dropped AC from its itinerary, I was really looking forward to seeing AC and the Princess Palace. I remain calm again and plan never to visit AC in the future.

 

Finally may I say that my tour however ruined by this tour guide was sill loads of fun only because of the wonderful people we met through cruisecritic. I hope my post here will help those who are looking for a tour in AC. Please be careful as many of them are scammers.

 

Linda thanks for your hard work and believe me it was appreciated by all.

 

Bubba

[cruise freak]

NCL didn't drop Acapulco from their itinerary as they had problems with engines and couldn't make it there for a few weeks. The NCL Star will be going there again soon.

[montgomeryfamily]

Sorry about your tour experience. May I suggest that you post this in the Mexican Rivera port forum of this board so that others traveling to Acapulco on other cruise lines may be have the benefit of your review.

[DelRio]

What is the "Princess Palace" in Acapulco?

[Deb C.]

Maybe the guide "acted" dumbfounded because there is no Princess Palace in Acapulco??:confused:

 

Maybe the poster was thinking of the hotel that looks like the Aztec temple?

http://www.peaktravel.com/AcapulcoPrincess.html

[DelRio]

You may be on to something Deb C. I just asked the question "What is the Princess Palace" because it has been 2 and a half years since we were last in Acapulco. Things do change and new places are always being built. (or names changed)

 

During the 70's my wife's parents owned a 3 bedroom villa in front of the Acapulco Princess (on the edge of the golf course). When we lived in Mexico we would drive down for the weekend. The villa had a small private pool but we enjoyed walking up to the hotel and using the facilities there. In 1979 the villa was sold and in 1982 my wife and I moved to the U.S. When ever we go back to Acapulco we just naturally stay at the Princess.

 

The OP may indeed have been looking to go to the the Hotel Acapulco Princess. From where the cruise ships dock that would be a fairly long trip.

 

Anyway, if the OP knows of something different please let us know.

 

Del

[cechase]

We are sorry that you had an awful tour. In January of this year, we took the Celebrity City and Cliff Divers excursion and it was wonderful. Carmen our tour guide was absolutely top rate - and at the end of the tour received a large amount of tips including from us.

 

The tour did take us down to the south end of the bay where there are two golf courses and two very elegant hotel and condo complexes, one was the Fairmont Acapolco Princess [or was it the Hyatt] and the other hotel was I believe the Mayan Princess or something like that. We were thinking about booking a corner one bedroom suite at the Acapolco Princess - but were somewhat upset with how long and hard it is to fly there.

 

On our excursion with three tour buses, we had grandstand seats for the cliff divers. This was probably the best Celebrity excursion that we have ever taken, and of course, Carmen made it a wonderful experience.

[Bubba#1]

I told the driver that it was called the Fairmont Princess that had a look of an aztec temple. My err for not being so specific on my main post. So how much clearer can I be than that with the driver. Other than me driving the van to it myself?

[genmasjoy]

I think you meant the Acapulco Princess which has the look of an Aztec Tower. It quite a distance from the downtown area where the cruise ships dock. It is a hotel, I don't think there is anything special there to see if you are not a hotel guest.

[karfest]

http://www.magiccarpetjournals.com/dolores_olmedo.htm

 

The link will show you the "wall with tile". It was done by Diego Rivera, one of Mexico's most loved artists and former husband of Freida Kahlo, who is worshipped in most of Mexico. We found the mural and the home fascinating, it is unfortuante that you didn't know a little history about it.

 

Sometimes it is best to do a little research before going to a foreign country and bad-mouthing them and their customs.