Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, Manzanillo Beach Review

[RSF Cruiser]

:cool: We just returned from a Carnival Spirit cruise and had a wonderful time at the beach in ACA, Zihua, and Manzanillo - all done on our own. We've been to these ports before, so we didn't do any traditional sightseeing or ship organized outings; just spent three glorious days on the beach.

 

Acapulco: La Roqueta Island

We took a cab ($12 each way) to Playa Caleta where we got the glass bottom boat to La Roqueta. Playa Caleta is a small, noisy, rather crowded beach. There's lots of boat traffic and I wouldn't recommend staying there.

 

There are two kinds of boat trips to La Roqueta: glass bottom boat tour for $5 or direct for $3 (both are round trip prices). We took the tour and wished we had taken the direct. The tour takes you to a shrine on some rocks, one of the tour guides brings fish onto the boat for you to see, and he also snorkeled with fish food under the glass bottom part of the boat so we could see the fish up close. The tour was totally in Spanish with no English. It was kind of interesting, but we just wanted transportation to the island. The tour took over half an hour, and the actual transportation time is only about 5-10 minutes. The last boat leaves the island at 5:00 and does not have any kind of touring. It was no problem getting a cab back to the pier.

 

La Roqueta beach was wonderful. Nice snorkeling, restaurants, lots of beach chairs and umbrellas, and a really pleasant afternoon. ACA has many wonderful beaches - La Roqueta is just one of them.

 

On the cab ride back to the ship we went along the coast and past the cliff divers area - the scenery was beautiful.

 

Zihua: Municipal Beach

We walked to the end of the municipal beach - past the fish restaurants, over the bridge and along the beach with the hotels and restaurants. There's a beautiful walkway that goea all along the beach area. We went almost to the end and stayed at Las Brisas Del Mar for the day. There is an open air bar/restaurant, and for the cost of two sodas, we had a padded chaise lounge, umbrella, and small table. The beach was wonderful, although the waves churned up the sand, so we couldn't snorkel. This was our second time to go to this beach. There are other beaches you can get to by cab or water taxi, but we found it relaxing to just walk to where we wanted to go.

 

Manzanillo: La Audencia

We took a cab ride ($10 each way) and first went to Las Hadas where the charge is $30 per person to get in. You are given tickets worth $30 to spend, but we decided not to stay and went to the adjacent beach: La Audencia where there is a beautiful resort - Tesoro and a public area with restaurants and beach activites like banana boats, jet ski's, beach volley ball and stuff like that. The water was magnificient and the snorkeling over the rocks as good as the Caribbean - a surprise to us. It's a crescent shaped beach with black rocks on each side and the hotel built into the hillside. A beautiful area. When we were ready to leave there weren't any cabs nearby, so we walked up to the cross street and had to flag a cab down - the cabs must go to Las Hadas and Tesoro for passengers.

 

There is a beach near the ship in Manzanillo, but it isn't nearly as nice as La Audencia. As much as we like to walk, it was worth the 15 minute cab ride to go to La Audencia.

 

Hope this review helps you decide on a beach to go to. We've done the Cabo-Puerto Vallarta-Mazatlan cruise three times and the ACA-Zihua-Manzanillo curise twice. Our preference is the latter.

 

We love the Spirit since it's a bit smaller (just over 2000 passengers) and we get the wrap around balcony suite (categorie 11) on the main deck with a spearate sitting room, dressing room, and bedroom. There are only two of these rooms on the ship - main deck aft corners. The other decks have the wrap around balconies, but the suite is one large room and doesn't have the three separate rooms. The category 8 cabins are the same as the other ships.

 

We also enjoy having the four+ days at sea.

 

Hope my review helps you...:)

[JohnQ]

RSF,

What have you done besides the beaches? Any other tours you like or recomm?

[RSF Cruiser]

RSF,

What have you done besides the beaches? Any other tours you like or recomm?

We've not taken any organized tours in these ports. After reading messages on Cruise Critic, we hired a taxi in Acapulco last year and went to some lookout points, Princess Hotel, Chapel of Peace, Fort San Diego, and the Cliff Divers. In Manzanillo we walked from the ship into town, and walked along the beach and shopped in Zihua.

[jimjay001]

The amount of information on this site is amazing! I've combed through about 80% of it and I still have a question regarding the beach excursions. Are any of the resorts in Manzanillo all inclusive? We sailed on Carnival Conquest last September and visited Cozumel. We didn't book an excursion but opted to take a cab to a local resort where the bar was open, there was a lunch buffet and snorkeling equip, chairs, etc were included in one price. Since there don't seem to be many excursions in Manzanillo I'm interested in, I'd like to do something similar to my experience in Cozumel. Anyone have any advice? I've heard that La Audienca was a great place to visit, but I'm not sure of what all is included. Thanks!

[Bucky3]

RSF Cruiser - Thanks so much. Great Information!

[RSF Cruiser]

The amount of information on this site is amazing! I've combed through about 80% of it and I still have a question regarding the beach excursions. Are any of the resorts in Manzanillo all inclusive? We sailed on Carnival Conquest last September and visited Cozumel. We didn't book an excursion but opted to take a cab to a local resort where the bar was open, there was a lunch buffet and snorkeling equip, chairs, etc were included in one price. Since there don't seem to be many excursions in Manzanillo I'm interested in, I'd like to do something similar to my experience in Cozumel. Anyone have any advice? I've heard that La Audienca was a great place to visit, but I'm not sure of what all is included. Thanks!

Las Hadas in Manzanillo is an all inclusive resort (it's the resort where the movie 10 was filmed). See my post above for the details for Las Hadas and La Audencia. La Audencia is the name of the beach which has a public, more or less commersial area, and two hotels: Tesoro and I don't know the name of the other one. Tesoro has a day useage fee, but I don't know what that is. They probably have a web address.

 

Thanks Bucky - I find Cruise Critic to be a wonderful source of information. I have no idea how I learned about our vacation spots before...

[suer182]

Do you recall if jetskis/waveunners are available for rent at Roqueta Island ?

 

thanks

[RSF Cruiser]

Do you recall if jetskis/waveunners are available for rent at Roqueta Island ?

 

thanks

I just looked at my pictures and the beach shop sold floats and boogie boards. I saw a jet ski in the water, so my guess is you can rent it. It's a busy beach, so I'm sure the jet ski vendors are there...

[RSF Cruiser]

Do you recall if jetskis/waveunners are available for rent at Roqueta Island ?

 

thanks

I just looked at my pictures and the beach shop sold floats and boogie boards. I saw a jet ski in the water, so my guess is you can rent it. It's a busy beach, so I'm sure the jet ski vendors are there...

[bbiggar]

How do you get to the ferry that takes you to La Roqueta Island? Sounds like a nice place that we may want to check out. How far is the ferry from the cruise terminal?

[RSF Cruiser]

How do you get to the ferry that takes you to La Roqueta Island? Sounds like a nice place that we may want to check out. How far is the ferry from the cruise terminal?

See my Dec 26 post above - we took a cab from the ship to the beach where the glass bottom boat left for La Roqueta. Getting a cab back was simple - lots of them waiting for the tourists. The cab ride was about 10 minutes.

[bbiggar]

See my Dec 26 post above - we took a cab from the ship to the beach where the glass bottom boat left for La Roqueta. Getting a cab back was simple - lots of them waiting for the tourists. The cab ride was about 10 minutes.

 

 

 

Sorry looks like I missed your first sentence. Thanks for the info of all three ports. :)

[JFontaine]

RSF Cruiser - I am looking for just the information on the other Mexican cruise itinerary that you took a few times - Cabo, PV and Mazatlan. Do you remember what beaches you went to there? Thank you.

[RSF Cruiser]

RSF Cruiser - I am looking for just the information on the other Mexican cruise itinerary that you took a few times - Cabo, PV and Mazatlan. Do you remember what beaches you went to there? Thank you.

In Cabo we took a water taxi to Lover's beach - it was a glorious day. Do a search on Lover's Beach and you'll get tons of info. The most important thing to know is you get off the water taxi in shallow water - depending on your physical condition, it can be a challenge. I'm in my 50s and didn't find it to be a problem - I just might not have looked too graceful! The snorkeling is great and the beach is beautiful, although there are no services - restaurants or bathrooms. But the natural beaty is wonderful - high cliffs, sandy beach. If like you like quiet beaches, go to Lover's Beach first thng in the morning before most of the other cruise passengers get there.

 

In Mazatlon three of us took a banana boat ride over to Deer Island. We walked along the beach in front of the hotels in Mazatlan's gold zone where there were plenty of vendors for transporation to Deer Island. Another in our group rented a kayak and kayaked over - it wasn't very far. Deer Island was a quiet beach with warm water. The snorkeling the day we were there was terrible - the ocean was churning so the water was cloudy.

 

In Puerto Vallarta we went snorkeling at Los Arcos - an underwater park where you can snorkle through the arch/cave. The first time we went to Los Arcos was on a cruise sponsored tour; the second time we took a cab - the cab driver took us to a beach where we then got on a water taxi to the snorkeling place. It's a common spot and the beach has restaurants, beach chairs, and stuff like that. Sorry, but I don't remember the name of the beach.

[JFontaine]

Thanks so much for your reply.

 

I am in my late 40s and I did Lover's Beach once. Jumped out - and then later in - the little boat. Thanks for the warning - it wasn't easy. But it was well worth it.

 

Thanks again.

[mim100]

Manzanillo: La Audencia........

The water was magnificient and the snorkeling over the rocks as good as the Caribbean - a surprise to us. It's a crescent shaped beach with black rocks on each side and the hotel built into the hillside.

 

RSF ...thanks for the great review....and your cabin sounds wonderful !!! if you post any pics of it, I'd love to see what it looked like inside....

 

I have some questions about the water at Manzanillo....other posts I've read have said that Medano is the only swimming beach because of riptides....is that true? is there also safe swimming at La Audencia? also, what's the temperature of the water? thanks for any help you can give us...we want to spend the day at a great beach but also want comfort and good facilities, bars, food, etc etc....the whole thing !!

[mim100]

RSF....oops I think I have my ports messed up...I was asking about Medano Beach and had my notes all over my desk....and it's in Cabo, not Manzanillo, right !!! methinks it's time to quit my research for the night ! :D

[RSF Cruiser]

RSF ...thanks for the great review....and your cabin sounds wonderful !!! if you post any pics of it, I'd love to see what it looked like inside....

 

I have some questions about the water at Manzanillo....other posts I've read have said that Medano is the only swimming beach because of riptides....is that true? is there also safe swimming at La Audencia? also, what's the temperature of the water? thanks for any help you can give us...we want to spend the day at a great beach but also want comfort and good facilities, bars, food, etc etc....the whole thing !!

I have no idea where Medano Beach is, so can't comment...

 

As for La Audencia, I don't know what the actual water temperature was, but it was warm enough to walk in - I don't remember feeling it was cold at all. And the waves lapped onto the beach without knocking us over. We stayed in the water for hours floating on the waves and snorkeling.

 

The facilities are not luxurious - it's a public beach with a restaurant, trinket stands, and pay bathroom, not a resort (unless Tesor, the hotel there, allows day use). Tesoro has a huge pool, water slides, and everything you'd expect from a first class hotel - we walked around the hotel but didn't use anything but the bathroom... We weren't hungry, don't really drink, and wanted the ocean not a pool.

 

The luxury at the beach was the warm water, lapping waves, and great snorkeling. And it was not crowded. In fact, no one was even near where we had our towels. Based on what others on our cruise said about the beaches they went to, I think La Audencia is one of the nicest with the best facilities without goig to an all inclusive resort.

 

Sorry, but I don't have any good pictures of our cabin...

[mim100]

RSF ...thanks for your quick response....see my post above re Medano Beach...I think I was on Information Overload !!

 

La Audencia sounds great...warm water, lapping waves.....I'm assuming you take your own snorkel equipment, towel, etc with you, right? We'll be there in May so I'm thinking the water will be even warmer....

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post your review and answer our questions...I also wonder how the heck we planned our trips before we had computers !

[RSF Cruiser]

RSF ...thanks for your quick response....see my post above re Medano Beach...I think I was on Information Overload !!

 

La Audencia sounds great...warm water, lapping waves.....I'm assuming you take your own snorkel equipment, towel, etc with you, right? We'll be there in May so I'm thinking the water will be even warmer....

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post your review and answer our questions...I also wonder how the heck we planned our trips before we had computers !

I totally agree - I have no idea how I ever got along on vacations before the internet... These boards really help me plan like I've never planned before. I really enjoy the planning part now - and all that I discover along the way.

 

Yes, we took our own snorkle equipment and towel.

 

Hope you enjoy La Audencia - remember to write a review when you get back.

[mim100]

..... remember to write a review when you get back.

 

will do !! :cool:

[NeptunesGoddess]

Loved this review. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it. My hubby and I cruising on the Spirit in October and we really aren't planning on doing any excursions...so it is sure nice to have this info.

 

One note on the cabins, just in case someone else wants to look into these aft wrap arounds. There are more than two that have the broken up separate rooms. There are 8 total on the ship. They are on main deck 4 (as the OP stated) and also on decks 6, 7 and 8. For some reason the corner suites on deck 5 are just one big room. We did the Pride (same class as the Spirit) a few weeks ago and we were in the aft wrap around on deck 8. I have pictures of it in my signature if anyone is interested in seeing what these cabins look like. We have deck 4 (4237) booked on the Spirit in October. The only difference I see in deck 4 vs. deck 8 wrap around is there is more of a overhang on the balcony, the rail doesn't slant as sharp and, of course, you are closer to the water. I love love love these cabins! Much better than a cat. 12, imo! They go quick, so you need to book them asap. I got lucky and one just came open for our Oct. 21 cruise.

[LadyDivot]

I agree - what did we do with Cruise Critic? I know what my DH and I did - we paid ridiculous prices for cruise based excursions.

 

Thanks for the info! This thread has confirmed our plan in ACA.

 

Pam