Mercury Travelogue, March 27 Mexican Riviera

[thomasale]

I would be on in a minute

[tangerinebunny]

The purpose of that listing was in response to an earlier poster to show that norovirus outbreaks seldom exceed two cruises in a row.

[hardingk]

Thanks for the update Mercucruiser! I am enjoying your posts!!

[stinsowm]

Mercruiser,

 

Keep up the great job with your travelogue. The ones of us going in the near future are really enjoying reading about your travels.

[teedee]

Grizzair - I'm sorry you had such a horrible cruise. I just don't understand why you keep posting this. You had a lousy cruise, we've got it. I don't doubt it, sounds awful. Though I've got to say there have been posts from people on your sailing who had a good cruise. I'm looking forward to my upcomong cruise on Mercury and I'm sure I'll have a good time. I have no thoughts at all of cancelling the cruise.

 

Mercruiser - I love your travelogues, they are making me even more excited bout my upcoming cruise.

 

Terri

[edieredmann]

Mercruiser- Thanks so much for your posts. I will be on the Mercury 4/17 with my husband for our first cruise, and I have been a little nervous about it, since the Norovirus episodes. I am also saddened by previous cruisers that have had to deal with it. Although I haven't cruised, I have traveled quite a bit, and you always take your chances with illness. As reported before, hotels, airlines, other country resorts, are not obligated to report illness factors, and they don't. Believe me, I have friends that have worked in the hotel and resort industry, and you would be surprised to know what has happened there. Will that stop me from traveling? No way! I'll put up with some inconveiences, and take my chances.

[Buckeye Geo]

Good for you edieredmann, I hope we meet up with you and your wife on the April 17th Cruise.

 

Terri:

I can not figure out is Grizzair was more concerned with the Norovirus and the CDC ordered cleanup or the cost of internet and Bar service. Like you I plan to have a good cruise on Mercury on the 17th.

[teedee]

Good for you edieredmann, I hope we meet up with you and your wife on the April 17th Cruise.

 

Terri:

I can not figure out is Grizzair was more concerned with the Norovirus and the CDC ordered cleanup or the cost of internet and Bar service. Like you I plan to have a good cruise on Mercury on the 17th.

 

Just make sure you leave some martinis for us! If not we also like margaritas. :D

 

Terri

[cgdev1]

Hi Mercruiser - I just wanted to say a big thanks. I am also on the April 7th voyage. Your very detailed posts have been making us all feel a lot better about our upcoming cruise, and we feel like we now have a better idea of what to expect once we are on board. You've answered a lot of questions that I'm sure people had (but hadn't asked yet). If it were not for you, I'm sure I would be a stress case!

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise... I look forward to reading more of your posts. Thanks again for taking the time and going out of your way to write with such detail. :)

 

 

Best regards,

Carol

[Buckeye Geo]

Just make sure you leave some martinis for us! If not we also like margaritas. :D

 

Terri

 

I am strictly a Club Soda with a Twist kind of guy. It seems the the ship rarely runs out of M & M's. We will leave the ship spic and span for you and your fellow April 28th cruisers.

[doglover1966]

Does anyone have an update about Mercury? I sail April 7th. It is really scarey to read all the bad comments.

 

Any input would be appreciated.

[hardingk]

Does anyone have an update about Mercury? I sail April 7th. It is really scarey to read all the bad comments.

 

Any input would be appreciated.

Hi doglover1966!

 

We are sailing with you also! Please join our roll call at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=38525&page=35

 

Mercruiser is sailing on Mercury right now and has been posting almost everyday with postive feedback. Looks like things are getting better!

[edieredmann]

Good for you edieredmann, I hope we meet up with you and your wife on the April 17th Cruise.

 

Terri:

I can not figure out is Grizzair was more concerned with the Norovirus and the CDC ordered cleanup or the cost of internet and Bar service. Like you I plan to have a good cruise on Mercury on the 17th.

 

Hey George, just to let you know, I'm the wife ( Edie ), and my hubby is Pete. Lots of people make that mistake when they see my name, thinking it's Eddie. Can't wait to meet you guys! I haven't signed up for the Roll Call, as my hubby is sometimes a little shy, NOTHING LIKE ME!!!

 

Terri- Can't wait to meet you as well! We are going to have a good time, no matter what!:) :) :) !

[Buckeye Geo]

Edie: Sign up any way. I will be looking for you at sailaway in the Sky Bar. I will add you and Pete to our master list.

[Mercruiser]

Sorry all, to get behind on my travelogue. But, that's a good thing for me. It means I'm too busy having fun to want to spend time on the computer. I used up my "computer time" yesterday writing the "Illness Update" piece. Yesterday was a very fun day at sea between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco. It was hot and humid. The suited me just fine because we will face cold and humid weather when we get back home.

Today, we went on a tour with Rosie in Acapulco. (I'll post contact info later). Rosie is well known on the Acapulco section of the CC forum. We had a great tour. She even took us to her parent's home where she grew up and met her family. She showed us their tropical fruit "garden" - mangos, bananas, sugar cane, etc. I'm typing this from the Internet Kiosk in the Acapulco Cruise Ship Terminal. With the hot and humid weather, the A/C in this building feels real good. Tonight, Mercury is bringing on a local folkloric dance group for two performances. There will be a sail-away part at the pool at 11:00 p.m.

We plan to have dinner on our balcony tonight after dark to enjoy the view of the bay and the city lights.

[doglover1966]

Hi doglover1966!

 

We are sailing with you also! Please join our roll call at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=38525&page=35

 

Mercruiser is sailing on Mercury right now and has been posting almost everyday with postive feedback. Looks like things are getting better!

 

Thank you for the info. Good news for sure!

[BADGERANDBUCKEYE]

Mercruiser, been reading your posts with interest. We'll be taking the same cruise in January 2007 and plan to book a CC cabin soon.

 

Two questions:

 

1. Which is the better side of the ship to book cabin, based on views when docking -- port or starboard?

 

2. My assumption from reading the posts is that the CC cabins on the Sky deck are better than on Penthouse deck. Is this correct?

 

Thanks --

 

Badger

[safari njema]

Merccruiser,

 

I've been considering the May 8th cruise on the Mercury so have been reading your travelogue rather religiously. Your posts have been informative and fun. Most of all, it has done much to assuage my fears of the ongoing norovirus 'epidemic'.

 

You can't get this good up-to-date information anywhere. Well formatted, grammatically correct, he even provided a Q&A session. Something like this should be on an official annoucement posted on the X website. In fact, Celebrity should be paying you for giving them such good PR.

 

Thanks again for taking the time out to provide such great info.

[Mercruiser]

Friday, March 31, - Puerto Vallarta

Morning keeps coming early when they have you set your clock forward one hour. This has been our second “23 hour day” on the cruise. Dru Pavlov, Cruise Director, keeps promising to give these hours back later in the cruise. When we woke up, the ship was docked in Puerto Vallarta. I went out on the balcony to have a look around. My immediate impression was that we are getting into the more tropical climate. The air felt warm and humid. I could hear birds singing from the trees at the cruise ship terminal. I immediately thought I was going to like PV.

The area around the cruise ship terminal is nicely landscaped. This is a sharp contrast to the Mazatlan industrial pier at which we were docked the previous day. We decided to take advantage of the warm weather and our balcony by having breakfast outside. One of my favorite parts of this cruise so far is having breakfast outside almost every day. Our only prior cruising experience was in Alaska where it was too cold to do that.

We went into Puerto Vallarta shortly after breakfast. While getting off the ship, I noticed about 30 or so crewmembers waiting to disembark. I think this may have been their first shore leave in some time. We decided to forego any tours and chose to explore PV on our own. This turned out to be an excellent choice. We took an approved port taxi, $3 USD PP, to downtown PV. The “taxi” was a 14-pax van. They filled it with 10 people before leaving for PV. We were dropped off on the Maleceon (walkway along the shore) near Carlo’s O Brians. We headed south along the waterfront to the Los Arcos amphitheater, stopping several times along the way to take pictures. At this point, it was only about 9:30 in the morning. The stores were still closed and the street vendors were just starting to unpack their wares. This is a great time to arrive in downtown PV. It was still cool and there were no crowds.

We visited the cathedral, walked up the hill towards Gringo Gulch, and then headed south towards Isla Cuale. I absolutely loved Isla Cuale. While there, I found a place to sit under the shade of the trees and wait for my wife to do here shopping. It was a nice place to relax and watch the people go by. On the east (upstream) end of the island is the Cultural Center where the various arts have different sections within the Center. While there, someone was playing Fur Elise on the piano. I sat nearby and listed for a while. This was another one of those priceless moments. After listening to the piano, we walked to the north end of the island. It has a bridge connecting it with the Maleceon. By this time, my wife and I had decided that PV was our favorite port so far. This is a place we would like to visit again.

We wanted some relaxation time on the beach. We hailed a taxi down by the New Pier in downtown PV. Actually, in Mexico, you don’t hail a cab – they hail you. By that I mean, people ask you continuously on the street if you want a taxi. We agreed upon the price of $10 to take us to Mismaloya beach. The drive there was very scenic. When we got there, the driver asked if we wanted to be dropped off at the oversized Hotel Mismaloya or at the beach – we chose the beach. The driver took us down a narrow little street almost down to the water. As soon as we got out, numerous vendors wanting to sell us all kinds of goods and services approached us. You have to develop a “thick skin” for this kind of thing to enjoy Mexico. After exploring our options, we walked across the Mismoloya River on a rustic wooden bridge to Restaurante Los Gaviotas – what is often called a palapa restaurant. Palapas are thatched roof structures, usually on the beach. As soon as we were across the bridge, a waitress approached and asked if we wanted to sit by the beach. She said she could arrange anything we needed, fishing trip, massage, boat tour, etc. We decided their beachfront location looked pretty good. She set us up with two chaise lounge chairs on the beach, a small table in between, and a eating table with umbrella right behind. We could stay as long as we liked. The basic deal is that they expect you to order some drinks and maybe some food - not a bad deal. Sodas were (in pesos) $10, beer $16, margaritas and other iced drinks $55. The setting was rustic and the beach was idyllic.

We ended up staying at this palapa restaurant for most of the afternoon. While we were eating lunch on our beachfront table, a pelican decided to hang out with us. The pelican just sat there behind one of the chaise lounge chairs until some dogs chased it off. After we had lunch there, we had the waitress arrange a boat tour around Los Arcos – a famous group of rock islands that are very popular for snorkeling. Mismaloya is right by Los Arcos. The tour was very enjoyable. We didn’t go snorkeling, but the boat driver stopped and gave us bread pieces to throw out of the boat. A large school of very colorful fish splashed around competing for the free meal. Going on one of the small panga boats (small outboard motorboat) to Los Arcos seems like a good way to go. We went there in the afternoon, probably about 2:00 p.m., after all of the large tour boats had gone. By this time, there were only a few pangas in the area. Once we were done, we walked out on the point to the stairway that goes up to the John Houston café. Mismaloya had been a great stop.

We walked up to the Hotel Mismaloya to get a cab back to the ship. Another couple that was waiting was also from the Mercury. We shared the $20 (USD) cab ride back to the cruise ship terminal. While paying for the cab, the driver tried to pull the “That’s $20 per person” trick on us. We didn’t fall for it.

Once back at the cruise ship terminal, I used the Internet Café to upload some pictures to my photo website – bhughes.smugmug.com. We then spent the remainder of the afternoon on our balcony waiting for sail away. We stayed on our balcony during sail away because the view was so good in that direction. Mercury sailed along the south shore of Banderas bay. While going out of the bay, we were escorted by some dolphins for a ways. Some other PAX spotted a whale. We got the binoculars and saw it too.

Because of the time change, we were not ready to eat dinner at the 6PM early seating. We opted to have room service from the main dining room menu. I had the duck. It was great.

On this trip, the seas have been as smooth as I can imagine them ever being on the open ocean. We are looking forward to our day at sea on the way down (and east) to Acapulco.

[grizzair]

Mercruiser,

Glad to hear you are having so much fun. I enjoy the travelogues and hope things stay virus free for you. I wished we were given the option you were of boarding or not due to the virus outbreak and heavy bleaching onboard. Good luck with the rest of the trip. Will be reading with anticipation. Glad to hear you used an internet cafe and aren't paying for the time it takes to type your logs each day. Good for you. How is Zihuatenejo, it was our favorite stop although we only had four hours on land. Did you port in Ixtapa or Zihuatenejo? Try the omelet station instead of breakfast in the Manhattan Dining Room one day. It is exceptional. The best service person on board, Keon Meyers works the station. He is from Jamaica and is the friendliest person onboard.

Best of luck.

[hardingk]

Thanks for the update Mercruiser!!! I love reading your posts!

[rubrrick]

Mercruiser........thanks for the updates. I also have an associate that is planning on cruising on the 4/7 voyage. I would imagine that the crew would be pretty exhausted. How are they doing? How is their attitude?

There is an old time X cruiser that is onboard (Tuggers) that is highly recommending that people do NOT cruise on the 4/7 sailing, as everything has a coat of bleach, and some meal stations are closed, and the dining room is only open for dinner. Is all of this true?

You have done an outstanding job of giving us "live" updates as you have traveled the Mexican Riviera. Thanks

 

Rick

[gracecarmo]

Well, I do not know Gail (Tuggers) personally, I don't think she would make up the facts as she sees them. This is in answer to Rubbrick's question about conditions on the ship, and if the various dining rooms have been closed etc. Gail has been a long time poster here and a very saavy traveler.

Mercruiser is doing a great job relating HIS voyage, and I enjoy reading all of his wonderful experiences on tours.

[vince4]

I agree that Mercruiser is doing a great job relating HIS voyage. I also agree that Biggers is doing a great job relating HER voyage. I'm looking forward to hearing more from both of them.

 

There were a few posters that had different views on the same voyage (3/17 Mercury). There are many different expectations that we have as individuals when cruising. I'll leave it at that:)

[Buckeye Geo]

Below is a message that was posted on the April 17th Mercury thread. It brings things up to date as far as CDC is reporting.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"I just talked to someone from CDC on the phone, about the current status of Mercury. She told me that the Noro levels have dropped significantly, and are currently below outbreak levels. She told me that the bleaching will continue for the rest of this cruise, and possibly four to five days into the next. If the stats remain the same or lower, the bleaching will be stopped. She told me that the bleaching time is up to Celebrity. I feel terrible for those that have had to suffer this illness, and all the complications on the cruise. I hope it is on the downslide now for all. The phone number to call is: 1-770-488-7138. The young lady I talked to was Lisa, I believe. She was very courteous, and helpful".