First time poster, Long time lurker - couple of questions

[Madvibe]

First off, "Hi y'all!" I've been doing a lot of research this weekend on our upcoming cruise on the Carnival Pride for Feb. 3rd, and I've found alot of help on here for previous cruises, but I'm still a little stuck for our Cabo excursion. Let me also add, that for all our other cruises, we've been sheep and stuck strictly to excursions booked through the cruise line (probably because our first cruise & first port, we actually did see people running down the pier as the boat was pulling away). But we're going to try to do a couple on our own this go around. Like in Mazatlan, we're going to go to Stone Island on our own - we're not even going to book through a private company because most of them include 2 or so activities in the rate... well, that would be fine any other time, but I had minor surgery this past Tuesday that won't really interfere with our cruise, but I won't be up to riding horses or ATVs or banana boats or most of the other stuff... we've heard it may be to cold to snorkel, but we will bring our gear anyway, just in case. And, we're not heavy drinkers either, so we just decided to pay the $3US to catch the "ferry" across to Stone Island, walk to a part of the beach where we feel comfortable (probably Victor's, but we'll see) and just hang out with a towel and book, and when we get hungry, we'll go eat... If we feel like staying 2 hours or 6, we're free to do so......

 

But onto my real question for Cabo... we have decided to go whale watching, but we can't decide whether to do the Zodiac or a catamaran... I've read up other folks' posts and know the differences, but on the Carnival website, it lists a 200 lb. weight limit for the Zodiacs, and none of the independent tour companies mention such a restriction. Now, I'm 6'1" and currently weigh 208, having lost 22 lbs. since September, having changed my lifestyle (I'm not calling it a "diet" - that alone seems to ask for failure), and getting more active (I speed-walked a 5k in November in 45 minutes, did pretty well considering it took over 18 minutes to get through the crowds in the first mile), but I don't think I'm going to drop another 8 lbs. in only 3 weeks, especially having been laid up this week from the minor surgery. So the question essentially is how serious or strict the weight limit is - if it even exists. Basically, we're more interested in the Zodiacs - we've got the gear to keep fairly dry, even have an Olympus Stylus 790SW camera that is waterproof to 10 feet - but we don't want to book it (even independantly) only to find out I'm too heavy to go, then having to scramble to get on a catamaran....

 

BTW, we're going to Las Caletas in PV, and I've already found out cruisers have to book that one through the cruise line - it's in the contract with the company that owns the place now....

 

Thanks in advance for any additional info!!

 

Madvibe

[Atomica]

Firstly, welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

You might want to try dropping the tour company an email if at all possible and just ask about possible weight restrictions. Doesn't hurt to double-check. The Zodiac is probably the better of the two, but I have also heard very good things about the Catamaran. If there is a restriction, they might be able to bend the rules a little if the difference is small. Best of luck!

[welldone60]

Don't worry about it, I wiegh well over 208 and they didn't even take a secound look. It's a great trip, you are going at a good time of year and should see whales up close.

 

Enjoy your cruise

[SDPadreFan]

I went with Ocean Riders last year in April (2007). I'm 52 (now), 6'3" tall, 40" waist and weighed 270 at the time of the trip. We booked this trip independently because we were down in Cabo for our annual timeshare week. I had no problems at all going on this trip, with one exception. I could only get the top buckle of a 3 buckle life jacket fastened. I just went with that, and nobody said anything to me. Had a great trip.

 

Planning on doing this exact same trip again in 4 weeks. Part of our timeshare week again.