Mercury Travelogue, March 27 Mexican Riviera

[Mercruiser]

Saturday, April 1, - At Sea Day Between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco

My sleep was interrupted by the sound of the cabin telephone. Thankfully the telephone is on my wife’s side of the bed so she answered it. It was someone from the spa reminding her of her 8:00 a.m. appointment in 15 minutes for a facial. I looked over at my travel clock. It said 6:45 a.m. My wife called guest services to ask about the time of day. They said it was 7: 45 a.m. Apparently, Mercury decided to switch to Daylight Savings Time a day early. This was the third time we moved our clocks forward. The bad part of it, besides 23 hour days, is that dinner keeps starting earlier and earlier. Maybe we should have gone for late seating. However, 8:30 p.m. seems too late. My ideal would be 7:00 p.m. for dinner.

After my wife got up and went to her spa appointment, I went outside onto the balcony. It was very warm and humid. There was condensation all over the deck chairs. I check my GPS for our present position. We were traveling ESE, at 14 mph, about 15 miles off the coast by San Telmo Light. We were 197 miles out of PV with 258 miles left to go to Acapulco. The mountainous coastline was barely visible through the hazy humid air. According to the Captains noon announcement, the sea temperature was 83 F. During the course of they day, I noticed at least five big merchant ships. This is a busy seaway.

We spent the morning on our balcony enjoying the tropical weather. This was basically a day of relaxation in the sun. Lunch was a Mexican buffet that we ate poolside. We ate light in order to save room for formal dinner. We spent part of the afternoon poolside. It was very hot and enjoyable. I remember almost burning my feet on the pool deck between my chaise lounge and the pool. It was so hot that you wanted to get into the pool to cool off. In stark contrast to the warm air was the coolness of the pool water. My wife warned me that it was cold, but even knowing that did not prepare me for how cold it really was. It took me at least a couple of minutes to get all the way in.

Sometime during the day, I got a phone message from the Captains Club representative on board. Earlier in the cruise, I had left a note with Guest Relations asking if I could get a bridge or “behind-the-scenes” tour. The Guest Relations staff person explained that they didn’t do bridge tours anymore, but would pass my note on. The Captains Club representative called me back to let me know that all of the galley tours were cancelled due to the GI illness. I am at the “Classic Member” level. Normally, the tours are for the higher-level groups. She would have allowed me to go on the tour had they not been cancelled. It never hurts to ask.

This was our second “at sea” day and our second formal night. The menu included one of my all-time favorites – rack of lamb. Our course I had that. It was very good. My wife had the filet mignon with Béarnaise sauce. She let me have a taste. It was very good also.

With all the time changes, sunset was not until 7:57 p.m. When we started in San Diego, sunset was at 6:05 p.m. We decided to watch the sunset from the Palm Springs pool after deck. There were several other couples in formal dress with the same idea. After the sunset, we went to the Rendez-Vous Square to listen to the Celebrity Orchestra until it was time for the main show.

The main show was the Celebrity Singers and Dancers performing “A Touch of Broadway”. This, of course, would be Broadway show tunes review. Basically all of the Celebrity Singers and Dancers performances are musical revues. This one was the best so far. We have never seen “Hairspray”. The songs they played were a lot of fun. We will have to try to go to the play sometime. After the show, we went back to the Rendez-Vous Square for dancing with the Celebrity Orchestra.

All in all we had a really enjoyable sea day. One of the reasons I chose this itinerary was for the four sea days. I always find plenty to do on sea days and I find them more relaxing that port days.

I am reminded of a conversation I had several years ago with my friend, Curt, before going on my first cruise to Alaska. Curt said he could not imagine going on a cruise ship and being “cooped up all day” on a boat. I would love to be “cooped up” like this a lot more often.

Postscript – Monday, April 03, 2006

As I write this, we have recently departed Zihuatanejo. We spent the day at Las Gatos beach. It was a great day. Zihuatanejo will join PV as our two favorite ports of call.

We continue to be enjoying good health. But, I must admit I am growing weary of the continual bleaching of the ship. The amount of bleach they are applying in the elevators and stairwells seems quite excessive. Today, I found bleach stains on a pair of my cargo shorts. Not a big deal, but an annoyance nonetheless. I’ll talk to guest relations about reimbursement tomorrow.

It seems to be bothering asthmatics the most. One family with an asthmatic child said they went down to the infirmary and got the doctor to order the cabin attendants to not use bleach in their cabin. Two of the other people who have mentioned to me that the bleach smell is bothering them are both smokers.

[hardingk]

Thanks for another great update! I can't wait to go!

[MAN86]

I have been religiously reading your posts, very informative. We are booked on the April 17 sailing and anxious about the recent GI illlness news. It seems like things are better, except for the constant bleaching:eek:

 

Question: We are also taking the Las Gatos Beach excursuion. What did you think about the snorkeling - Any advise?

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise:D

[Mercruiser]

Wednesday, April 5, - Update

I’m sorry that I’m getting behind on my travelogue. We have two “At Sea” days on our way back to San Diego. Perhaps I’ll get more caught up. At any rate, I thought I would give you all a couple of updates. This is probably old news by now, but I thought I would pass it on just in case.

Tuesday night our Celebrity Today newsletter was slide under the door along with our daily letter from Captain Salessiotis. The first three paragraphs are the “same old, same old” text about the CDC, the ongoing sanitization process, free visits to the infirmary, etc. The fourth paragraph was completely new. Here is the fourth paragraph in its entirety.

“As a gesture of goodwill, and to thank you for your understanding, Celebrity Cruises will provide each stateroom with a 25 percent refund of the amount paid for this sailing, and a 25 percent credit for a future Celebrity cruise, based on the amount paid for this sailing. The future cruise credit may be used toward any Celebrity cruise that departs on or before May 1, 2007.”

Based on our experience on this cruise, the 25% refund is wonderful. We have had a great time. The bleaching process has been an annoyance to us, but it hasn’t ruined our cruise. I am completely happy with the 25% refund.

I have an appointment in 40 minutes with the on-board cruise planning person to see about this 25% credit on a future sailing. With the 25% refund on this cruise and 25% credit for a future cruise, we are considering taking the kids on the Mercury Alaska 7-day itinerary out of Seattle this summer. We live about a 5-hour drive from Seattle, so that is an especially convenient summer-vacation cruise for us – no airfare expenses.

Confirmed Rumor Update

I have heard a rumor a couple of times that there are going to be “500 kids” on the next cruise. By “kids” I think they mean Spring break college students. I hadn’t repeated this on the board because I only heard if from PAX. Last night, the Maitre d’ told us about it at dinner. I consider him to be a reliable source. Woud I rather be on the “Clorox Cruise” than the “500 kids” cruise? That's a hard question to answer.

[hardingk]

Thanks for the update! There are 500 kids on the next sailing...not spring breakers.....just about everyone on the roll call is bring a kid, with an exception of a few of us! So most of us are aware that there will be a lot of kids onboard.

 

Thanks again for the update and info on the refund. That is great news for you! I am so happy that you have made this a positive experence for yourself and enjoyed the cruise.

[vince4]

It's nice to be receiving your updates Mercruiser. It sounds like you had a good cruise and are coming down the home stretch (with incentives).

There are some other reviews with some gripes about the Mercury and I respect their feedback also.

The ship has about 1900 passengers on board and everyone of them might have a different view on their individual vacation. I enjoy your outlook and know you had no intention of letting the current situation ruin your vacation. Enjoy the rest of your cruise and thanks for giving us an optimistic point of view.

 

We're ready to board on April 17.

[streger]

Mercruiser,

I hope you have enjoyed your anniversary cruise as much as hoped; it is no fun when your expectations are disappointed and you let it ruin the whole event. But it sounds like you "roll with it" pretty well, and hey let's face it - even having a good time on a cruise takes a little work.

 

I have compiled all your posts and will be taking it with us when we follow your disembarkation on Friday. Your notes about the time and port versus starboard views when entering/leaving ports will make it even better.

 

Given the length of the voyage (10 nights), the itinerary doesn't really attract a lot of late-teen spring break students, but it does attract the spring break family crowd. We will have our two DD(8) and DS(5) with us in two adjoining rooms, plus another 7 family members including a 16 yr boy, 13 yr girl, and 10 yr boy from my sister and my parents.

 

We intend to enjoy ourselves and need to buy new clothes upon return (for the waistline, not bleach damage).

 

Again, thank you for the travelogue.

 

FYI - San Diego has been getting a nice spring storm. Thunderstorms last night through mid-day. Should be sunny again by Friday though.

[hommebronze]

Would that associate you mentioned be that delightful, very handsome, youngish looking man who made his fortune in CrestStrips which allows his perennial cruising and who has a equally beautiful companion with divine golden locks and a million dollar smile...I heard he will be on the 4/17 cruise not the 7th cruise and will be putting his hands on the walls to get the penthouse...some religious thing, I guess?

 

PLease confirm you know this wonderful couple!

 

Hommebronze wants to know :>))

 

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

[Mercruiser]

Saturday, April 2 - Acapulco

In reading various Celebrity and Mexican Rivera CC forums, I came to the conclusion that Acapulco was not a good city to just get off the ship and wander around. The people who really disliked Acapulco seemed to be the ones with no particular plans. In the Acapulco threads, a name that came up several times was “Rosie” the tour guide. Everyone who used her for a tour guide seemed to have good things to say. I contacted Rosie by email. After a couple of message exchanges, we agreed to go on her tour for $35 USD per person. There would be some other Mercury PAX on the tour and she would be using a 14-pax van. The agreed upon meeting time was 10:00 a.m. My wife and I headed down to the Acapulco cruise ship terminal building at about 9:40 a.m. The building is air-conditioned (a very good thing in Acapulco). Inside are a variety of stores with decent, but not bargain, prices. Upstairs is an Internet café that I used later in the day.

Once we exited the building, we were greeted by the usual onslaught of vendors – “Taxi”, “Would you like a tour”, “Would like to buy a blanket” (It’s hot and humid – who would want to buy a blanket!). Rosie’s directions said to look for the lady wearing the pink blouse and the white skirt. As it turns out, there were several ladies that matched this description. Fortunately, Rosie had a sign on it with our name. Here is the contact information from Rosie’s business card. Rosie said she would be changing email accounts soon. So if this does not work, search for her name on the Mexican Rivera CC threads.

Rosie Diaz Hernandez, Email: artpros@prodigy.net.mx

Rosie started the tour at Fort San Diego, right across the street from the ship. This fort is identical in design to the one in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Rosie starts the tour here to talk about Mexico and Acapulco history from the Aztecs through the Revolution. Several times throughout the rest of the day, she would refer back to the Fort San Diego tour, “Remember the pirate ships I told you about? Here is the bay where they would hide.”

After Fort San Diego, she took us to Hotel Los Flamingos. This was the Acapulco hangout of John Wayne and Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan). The “Coco Loco” drink was invented here. The view from up here looks west out to the Pacific. Next, we went to the Hotel Casa Blanca and climbed to the observation deck on the top. It has an excellent view of Acapulco Bay including the cruise ship dock. Next was the cliff divers. The tricky part about seeing the cliff divers is finding an observation point where you can see where they enter the water on their dive. Most of the observation locations only allow you to see the top part of their dive.

For lunch, we went to a Sr. Frogs out on the Costera. The Sr. Frogs restaurants and gift shops are all over the port cities we visited. I originally was not too excited to go to such an obvious tourist restaurant. My wife and I ordered the “Mexican Plate”. This was the first time I tried an enchilada en mole. The food was terrific. I was very pleasantly surprised. After lunch, we drove towards Bahia de Puerto Marques, the bay to the east of Acapulco where the pirate ships would hide. We stopped near the top of the mountain pass to take pictures of the bay below. This is a beautiful area.

Our last major stop of the day was my favorite part. Rosie 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. Her dad was one of the most gracious men I’ve met. He shook everyone’s hand as they entered and asked their name in Spanish. If he didn’t recognize the name, he asked Rosie to translate to the Spanish equivalent. By the time my wife and I got to the front of the line to greet him we had figured out the proper introduction. My wife introduced herself as Theresa (Teri) and I as Roberto (Robert). While we were there, Rosie’s nephews and nieces introduced themselves. Rosie gave us mangos to taste that were grown by her parents. They were very sweet.

Rosie’s tour was one of the best I’ve ever been on. She is knowledgeable, courteous, accommodating, and enjoyable person to be with. When she dropped us off at the cruise ship terminal, she even insisted on walking us to the security checkpoint. I highly recommend her.

Acapulco is Mercury’s most southern port of call. It is also the longest. The ship arrived before 7:00 a.m. and departed at 11:00 p.m. One of the things I planned before the cruise was to have dinner on our balcony after dark in Acapulco. While underway, it can be too windy to dine outside. Our long port stay provided an opportunity to dine outside with the view of the harbor and the city lights.

The cabins on the Sky Deck all have huge balconies compared to the rest of the ship. My Concierge Class balcony is 9 feet (2.7m) wide by 15 feet deep (4.5 m). I booked this cabin (1201) for is huge balcony – not for the Concierge Class amenities (But, they are nice!). The furniture on the balcony includes two chaise lounge chairs with a small table, one 30” diameter dining table, two chairs, and a non-reclining lounge chair. Even with all this furniture, there is still plenty of room.

We ordered dinner through room service off the Manhattan restaurant menu. I asked that it be delivered between 8:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. After giving our dinner order to the cabin attendant, we went down to the Celebrity Theater for the 7:00 p.m. Mexican Folklorico Festival. This was a local group that was brought on-board for the Acapulco port call. They left the ship before sail away. The group had probably about 8 or so dancers (I did not count them) and a full Mexican band. They started with an Aztec ceremonial dance and ended with the very well known Mexican Hat Dance. I really enjoyed the show. It was a nice change of pace from the Celebrity Singer’s and Dancers.

After the show, we went back to our room for dinner. Room service delivered it right at 8:15 p.m. With a five-course meal, there sure were a lot of trays, plates, and plate covers. I ordered rack of lamb and my wife had pork tenderloin. Rack of lamb is one of my all time favorites. Mercury’s rack of lamb was really good. (Sorry for my rather lame food descriptions. I would make a terrible restaurant reviewer.)

The day in Acapulco had been very hot, at least for this Northerner. By the time we had dinner, it was dark out and had cooled off some. But, it was still surprisingly hot for after dark. Our balcony faced the bay (away from the cruise ship terminal). We had a picture postcard view of the bay and the city lights – another priceless moment.

We finished the evening with the 10:30 p.m. “Tropical Night Celebration” sail away party by the pool. The activities included juggling by the bartenders, ice-carving demonstration, dancing by the pool, the “Melon Parade” (carved melons paraded around by the dining room staff) and a midnight Fruits and Sherbets buffet in the Palm Springs Café.

The visit to Acapulco was enjoyable. But, I must say that Acapulco will not be my personal favorite. It’s got too much of a big-city feel for this small town boy.

Bleaching Update – Wednesday, April 05, 2006

 

On this cruise, I’ve heard a lot of rumors from the PAX about the GI Illness, bleaching process, etc. My policy for this travelogue has been to only pass on information I have received directly from people with Celebrity name badges. My wife had a nice long conversation with one of the staff about the last couple of cruises. The staff is still working long hours on the bleaching. Management has been very worried that if the ship has another cruise with high levels of GI Illness, they would have to take the ship out of service for quarantine/dry-dock. Once the cleaning has stopped, the maintenance staff will be very busy replacing parts of the ship that have been damaged by the bleach - furniture, railings, etc.

Cruise Update – Wednesday, April 05, 2006, 12:15 p.m.

The weather on the northbound part of this trip is certainly different than the trip south. We are presently located just 7.5 miles west of Cabo San Lucas. We left Manzanillo yesterday afternoon and have two sea days on our way to San Diego. On the trip south, the seas were as calm as I could imagine for the open ocean. The wind and waves that were present were headed in the same direction as the ship. This made for practically no wind up by the pool. In stark contrast, our trip north is very windy. The Captain’s noon weather announcement included the following: Air Temp 70 F, Sea Temp 75F, Wind from the West at 25 knots (28 mph), sea conditions “rough”. It’s almost too windy to be able to enjoy the pool deck. On the way south, the pool deck was a very warm and enjoyable place to be. The Mercury handles these “rough” seas with just a gentle rocking motion. Looking at them, I would hate to be in a sailboat trying to head north to San Diego. It looks like it would be a rather difficult trip.

Q & A

 

Dancing Gal: The names of our wait staff are Bernard Abaya, Phillipines, Waiter; and Quintino (forgot last name), Dominican Republic, Assistant Waiter.

BADGERANDBUCKEYE: 1) I don’t think the side of the ship matters very much. I would pick the side of the ship based on the best cabin location. I made my reservation over a year in advance so I pretty much could pick anything. I picked port (left) with the rationale that I wanted to be able to see land (Baja Peninsula) on the way south. I am writing this on the way north. Now the starboard cabins have the land view and I the sea view. As it turns out, port has been on the harbor side (not the dock side) at most of the stops. 2) The Penthouse deck is under the pool deck overhang. The balconies get no sun unless the sun is at a low angle. All of the balconies, except for the Sky Deck, are only about 3 - 4 feet deep. I measured my Sky Deck balcony at 15 feet deep. The Sky Deck balconies are huge compared to anything else on the ship.

Caraisa: Yes, we are having a great time on this cruise despite the annoyance of the bleaching. I sure hope they are done with that during the next cruise. But, it is certainly better than having a ship full of sick people. The refund they provided (see my earlier post today) has certainly been more than fair compensation. Thanks for your kind words about my travelogue. After the cruise is over, I will be writing a review that will contain some critical comments on a few things. (My biggest gripe is the condition of the mattresses in my cabin. They are way past their useful life.) My wife and I are planning another trip on Mercury this summer. So I guess that fact alone speaks to my affinity for this ship.

Grizzair: As of today, April 5, I still do not have any first hand knowledge of anyone that is sick with the virus. I think things are way better on that issue than for your cruise. I have talked to some people that are bothered by the bleach smell. I certainly hope that Celebrity will be making a refund offer to your cruise that is as good or better than ours. We anchored in Zihuatenejo and took a water taxi over to Las Gatos Beach. It was my favorite day of the cruise. I write more about that in my Ixtapa day report.

Rubrrick: I don’t have any first hand knowledge as to whether the crew is tired or not at this point. I know they were when the cruise first started because a number of them commented as such. I noticed in PV that many of the crew went on shore leave. They were queued up on Deck 3 waiting for the PAX to disembark first. In Acapulco, I noticed that the sanitization people on Deck 12 had Puerto Acapulco name badges. It appears that Celebrity hired local people to help the crew. I can imagine that the service level on board has suffered some due to the crew having other cleaning duties. I haven’t been on a cruise in 5-years so I probably don’t have as good of a critical eye as the more experienced cruisers. The sushi café has been closed for this cruise. I have saved all of the “Celebrity Today” newsletters. Here is a re-cap of the Manhattan Restaurant schedule. In general, the Manhattan restaurant has been open for three meals on sea days. On port days it varies as shown below.

Mon, 3/27 – Dinner (embarkation day)

Tue, 3/28 – BLD (sea day)

Wed, 3/29 –BD (Cabo)

Thur, 3/30 – BD (Mazatlan)

Fri, 3/31 – D (Puerto Vallarta)

Sat, 4/1 – BLD (sea day)

Sun, 4/2 – D (Acapulco)

Mon, 4/3 – D (Zihuatanejo)

Tue, 4/4 – D (Manzanillo)

Wed, 4/5 – BLD (sea day)

When the Manhattan is closed, your choices are the Palm Springs Café and Grill, the La Playa Pool Grill, and room service. We certainly have not had any problem finding something to eat. As for the bleach, it is pretty much the same as I wrote on the “April 1 Illness Update” under the heading “The Bleach Cruise”.

As for recommending someone take or not take the cruise, it all depends on your attitude and personal situation. As for myself, I had to plan way ahead for this cruise. We had to arrange for childcare, arrange time off work, make frequent flier air reservations, etc. If I had cancelled this trip, we would not have been able to arrange this again for another year. On the other hand, if a person has complete time flexibility and would suffer no financial impact from canceling, then maybe that makes the most sense in that case. Celebrity did not give us the option to cancel until the day we showed up at the pier. By that time, we had already flown to San Diego and spent one night there. We decided to go on the trip and make the best of it. I do not regret that decision. The fact that Celebrity has given us a 25% refund on this cruise and a 25% credit towards a future cruise makes me really glad we went.

Gracecarmo and vince4: You are both correct. I am relating my experience and views on this trip. Other people will have a different view. Even on normal cruises, there seem to be a wide variety of opinions.

MAN86: Las Gatos was our favorite beach visit. This is so easy to go to independently. We did not go on an organized excursion. All you have to do is take a water taxi from the cruise tender pier across the bay to Las Gatos. The cost is $3 USD per person round trip. They sell tickets from a booth at the end of the pier. When you get to Las Gatos, walk the length of the beach. All of the palapa owners will come out and try to get you to stop at their restaurant. Ask them about the chair rental (it should be free), snorkeling equipment rental (should be $3.5 USD to $5 USD for all day). Tell the vendors you are going to walk the length of the beach and then make a decision. This will bring out their competitive nature and they will give you good prices. In the end, pick the one you are the most comfortable with. The snorkeling was good and easy to do. Go snorkeling early in the day. The wind picks up in the afternoon. We spent about $40 USD total the whole day at Las Gatos (drinks, food, snorkel rental, chaise lounge with umbrella). I really like spending the day at these rustic palapa restaurants. It seems like a much more authentic experience than the fancy high-rise resorts. The Mexican food at these palapa restaurants is by far the best we have had.

[stinsowm]

Mercruiser,

 

Thank you again for your wonderful detail regarding your trip. Mom and I are sailing on April 28th and we are in CC cabin on sky deck too, so the detail regarding the balcony CC cabin was great to hear. Besides the balcony what has been your favorite part about CC class?

 

Sounds like Rosie's tour was amazing. I have pre booked the tour in Acapulco with the ship and now I am thinking about cancelling that one and booking with Rosie. How long was your tour? We may also steal your idea and have dinner delivered on our balcony while in Acapulco. Sounds like it was a great experience.

 

Good attitude goes a long way. I was talking witih mom and we both would have also gone on this cruise had we been in your shoes. Probably by the time we sail the bleaching will be over. Sorry you all have had to endure that process, but glad the stomach flu is now under control. Look forward to reading your post on Ixtapa tomorrow. Have a safe trip home.

 

Walter

[hardingk]

Thanks for another great update!

[rubrrick]

Would that associate you mentioned be that delightful, very handsome, youngish looking man who made his fortune in CrestStrips which allows his perennial cruising and who has a equally beautiful companion with divine golden locks and a million dollar smile...I heard he will be on the 4/17 cruise not the 7th cruise and will be putting his hands on the walls to get the penthouse...some religious thing, I guess?

 

PLease confirm you know this wonderful couple!

 

Hommebronze wants to know :>))

 

Hommebronze...............is that you trying for the Penthouse with your hands on the wall trick............again????

 

Folks..........Hommebronze made millions in the CrestStrip ads. It's his smile that is worth millions...........she is just a blonde goddess!!

 

Do I know this couple???.............Hmmmm.

[grizzair]

Greetings Mercruiser,

Wondering if you had to provide a receipt for payment of your cruise to Celebrity to be issued the 25% refund/voucher. How did Celebrity come up with the dollar amount to issue you a voucher because I know everyone pays a different amount for the same level of rooms? Were you actually handed a piece of paper or will this come in the mail at a future date? If anyone else has any feedback please respond. Any help will be of great service.

[thomasale]

I have enjoyed this thread and once again agree with all the posters that have stated each person has a different perpective of the same event. They are all telling their truth

[rubrrick]

Greetings Mercruiser,

Wondering if you had to provide a receipt for payment of your cruise to Celebrity to be issued the 25% refund/voucher. How did Celebrity come up with the dollar amount to issue you a voucher because I know everyone pays a different amount for the same level of rooms? Were you actually handed a piece of paper or will this come in the mail at a future date? If anyone else has any feedback please respond. Any help will be of great service.

 

Celebrity knows exactly what each passenger paid for their cabin. What is presently being issued is a blanket statement. About a month from the time they disembark, each confirmation number (that's how you booked, folks) will receive a statement of what will be applied as a discount, and a similar coupon good for another voyage. The caveat may be, that it is only good for travel in the same catagory cabin that had on this cruise.

 

Rick

[NanD]

I found this on cruisejunkies under "events at sea":

 

April 4

Mercury

Celebrity Cruises From a passenger onboard after two cruises with illness outbreaks:

 

We left San Diego on 03/27 - 4/07 cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Embarkation was slightly delayed so the ship could be completely sanitized as 5% of the pax on previous cruise reported symptoms of GI illness. We were told that some sanitizing efforts would be ongoing while the ship cruised. The reality was this: On day three they began spraying every surface with chlorine bleach around the clock. Doors, walls, hand rails, chairs, tables, desks, mirrors, elevators both inside and outside. Literally everything. We left the ship in Acapulco on Sunday (April 2) because the living conditions were unbearable. Walls were running with chlorine, clothes were being ruined, breathing was difficult, eyes and mucus membranes irritated from exposure to the fumes. Many pax were annoyed and angry but I guess my tolerance is far less than theirs. Celebrity agreed to pay for a flight home from Acapulco.

[grizzair]

I tried looking up cruise junkies on the web and couldn't find it. Please tell me what the website is called exactly please. Very interested in looking into this. Thank you.

[NanD]

www cruisejunkie dot com

Nan

[Mercruiser]

Monday, April 3 – Zihuatanejo & Ixtapa

 

Note: Yesterday’s travelogue was incorrectly labeled as Saturday in Acapulco. The correct day was Sunday, April 2 – Acapulco. You know it’s a good vacation when you lose track of the days.

As soon as I awoke, I started out the day with my usual routine. I went out to the balcony to see what our new port of call looked like. A glance at my GPS confirmed that we were anchored in Zihuatanejo bay. The surrounding environs were sandy beached with a smaller hotels and houses along the bay. Zihuatanejo is in a very picturesque setting. Absent were the mega-resorts of Acapulco. My wife and I continued our morning ritual with Strawberry smoothies on the balcony.

Zihuatanejo is always a tender call. When we were ready, we took the elevators down to deck 3 to get on the tenders for the trip to the Zihuatanejo pier. There was no waiting line. We basically just walked onto the tender after placing our SeaPass in the barcode reader. This is done at every time you exit or enter the ship to keep track of who is on board.

Once on the Zihuatanejo pier, I could look back at Mercury anchored in the bay. She was to be the only cruise ship in port that day. Mercury has a profile that I really like. She looked very good anchored in the scenic Zihuatanejo bay.

The town of Zihuatanejo was my favorite town of all the ports of call. It has more of a village feel to it than tourist trap. It also has the fewest street vendors. Those in Zihuatanejo are not very aggressive compared to those in other ports such as Acapulco. One of the highlights of Zihuatanejo is the fleet of small fishing boats that are beached on the waterfront. Behind the sandy beach is a fish market where the fishermen sell the day’s catch. This is a truly authentic experience. There is nothing about this that is contrived for the tourists.

A couple of blocks from the waterfront is the Artisan Tourist Market. They have the best prices here of any other port. The prices are marked on most things. T-shirts are 4 for $10 USD. I liked having reasonable prices posted. The vendors in the market were courteous and not aggressive. I enjoyed this market the best and this is coming from someone who hates to shop.

After we bought some Zihuatanejo T-shirts, we walked down to the tender pier to get a water taxi to Las Gatos beach. I like to avoid talking to “middle men” so I passed all of the people on the Zihuatanejo streets asking if I wanted a taxi or water taxi. We went out onto the dock and asked a young man how to get to Las Gatos. He told us it was $3 USD per person round trip and that we would need tickets. The young boy with him offered to take our $6 and run back to get the tickets. I gave him the $6 and he came back a couple of minutes later with the tickets. The young man turned out to be one of the water taxi drivers. He took us across the bay to Las Gatos. The route across the bay took us right by the stern of the Mercury. As Mercury rose and fell in the light swell, I could see a layer of barnacles on the top of the rudder and on the hull. I wonder how long it’s been since they have had her in dry-dock for a hull cleaning. Further on, our boat went past a rocky reef where there were about 20 people snorkeling as part of an organized tour. The boat driver pointed out the good locations to snorkel.

When we arrived at Las Gatos, we were presented with probably a dozen or more palapa restaurants to choose from. They all had rustic buildings (or shacks), chaise lounges on the waterfront, tables and chairs. This setup was very similar to what we found at Mismaloya but on a larger scale. I decided ahead of time that I wanted to walk the length of the beach and talk to the various palapa restaurant owners before making a decision. As we walked past, each owner saw us coming and walked down to the beach to greet us and try to convince us to stay. The first one we came to wanted $10 USD to rent the two chaise lounge chairs for the day. Snorkeling equipment rented for $5 USD per day. The prices went down a bit as we got farther away from the water taxi dock. We ultimately settled on the Brisas del Mar. Mario at the Brisas did not require any rental for the chaise lounges. The snorkel gear rental was $3.50 USD per day. He pointed out that he had bathrooms and a shower. We picked the Brisas del Mar because their lounge chairs looked very comfortable, we liked Mario’s personality, and basically just had a good feeling about the place. It turned out to be a good decision.

Mario set us up with two chaise lounge chairs right on the waterfront. We ordered some drinks and enjoyed the sun. Las Gatos is located across the bay from Zihuatanejo with the Mercury anchored in between. It was nice to be able to sit on the beach and still see that the Mercury was still there. With all the water taxis coming and going, I had no worries about missing the ship later in the day. After a while, I took a nap on the lounge chair. I could have spent all day relaxing that way. But, I wanted to make time to go snorkeling.

After my nap, I ordered a Pina Colada. The waiter that took my order did not speak mush English and I speak no Spanish. He asked me something about pineapple. I thought he was asking me if I wanted a slice of pineapple in the drink so I agreed. About 15 minutes later, he came out with a whole pineapple that had been decorated as a human face. The eyes were lime slices, the nose – a pineapple core. The ears were pineapple rings. The pineapple leaves were trimmed to look the person’s hair. It was very funny looking. The pineapple had two straws and was filled with a Pina Colada drink. I hadn’t intended to get a pineapple pina coloda, but it was a fun experience. That’s part of the fun of being in a country whose language you don’t speak. When you order food, who knows what you’ll end up with.

By about 1:00 p.m., we started getting hungry so my wife and I ordered the shrimp taco appetizer. This was absolutely delicious. The best meals we have had in the Mexico ports have been at the beachfront palapa (palm-thatched) restaurants. I learned about palapa restaurants by reading Bruce Wipperman’s book Moon Handbooks Pacific Mexico. I would strongly encourage my readers to try these out. They are generally located on undeveloped beach areas. I’m guessing that the next time I visit Las Gatos, all the palapas will be gone and be replaced by mega-resorts. Later in the trip, we visited one of the mega-resorts in Manzanillo. I much preferred the palapa experience.

After lunch, we decided to go snorkeling. To get our equipment, we just asked Mario at the restaurant. He brought the equipment out to us and added the $7 USD to our tab. The water temperature was perfect. Warm, but still refreshing. The snorkeling was enjoyable. It wasn’t spectacular snorkeling like I experienced in Maui. But, it was certainly interesting and worth the time and modest expense. There snorkeling area was only about 300 yards from the palapa restaurant. There were all kinds of colorful fish in the rocky reef.

We hated to call it a day, but we finally decided to head back to Mercury. Our total bill at Las Gatos was about $45 USD including water taxi. The wait for our water taxi was only about 30 seconds. The same driver took us past Mercury again on the way to the Zihuatanejo pier.

We had dinner on Mercury in the Manhattan restaurant. My wife and I both had “Rack of Veal Normandy Style”. “A roasted veal chop deglazed with Apple Brandy and veal jus, complemented with Mushrooms and Apples blended with cream. The veal chop was excellent. For desert, we managed to make room for the Chocolate Truffle Cake.

The evening entertainment in the Celebrity Theater was the Observation Comedy of Don Sherman. He was very funny. He basically parodied the whole cruise ship experience including the small size of the cabins, the large size of the guests, the whole idea of paying thousands of dollars to visit a country which people risk their lives trying to leave. After Don was finished, Dru Pavlov came out for the usual Cruise Director talk. Don kept coming back on-stage and heckling him. The whole thing was planned but well rehearsed and very funny. Don was wearing a white dinner jacket. His parting shot to Dru was saying, “When I got on this ship, my jacket was black”, a thinly veiled reference to the bleaching activities on board. There was about two seconds of silence as the audience thought about it. Then everyone got the joke about the same time and burst into laughter.

 

<SPAN style="COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: Garamond">All in all, Zihuatanejo and our visit to Las Gatos was our favorite day on this trip. Zihuatanejo is a place we would visit again on our own given the chance.

[jjdc]

Mercruiser,

 

I just wanted to thank you for your very informative posts. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading each one. I had never really considered a Mexican Riviera cruise, but after reading your descriptons about what you've done at each port, I'm now thinking about it. I also wanted to tell you that I am impressed with your attitude and ability not to let a far from perfect onboard situation ruin your vacation. I don't know if I would be able to have such a positive attitude.

[Joe Beach]

Actually Mercruiser, the beach is Las Gatas not Las Gatos. Gatos means cats while Gatas is a cat shark :eek: :eek: named after its cat like eyes and whiskers. The good news is (if you can believe them) they have been fished out at the beach area, and more importantly they only feed on small fish, not fingers and toes:)

 

But then hey, you said you didn't speak spanish.

[CRUZBUDS]

Hi Mercruiser,

 

I to would like to thank you for your excellent review - Several groups of upcoming cruisers have gotten a lot of comfort from your positive attitude.

 

We go in three weeks and we hope the April 7th bunch starts to see a lessening of the bleaching.

 

Would you please let us know the approximate water temp in the snorkeling area at Zihuatanejo?

 

Thank you and I hope you have a safe trip home

[hardingk]

Thanks for another great update! We are sitting at the holiday Inn staring at the ship waiting to see when we will be able to board.

 

Thanks for keeping us all updated throughout your sailing on everything. It is greatly appricated!

[CRUZBUDS]

Hi Hardingk,

 

If you get a chance we'd love and update on your trip

 

Bon voyage!

[greeneg]

Personally, I'm curious about Tuggers' final comment. How 'bout it, Gail, where you be??