Review: El Eden, Randi's & Clear Bottom Kayak

[suziehmkr]

Carnival Pride Port Review – Jan 6-13, 2008

 

We are back from the Pride!

 

This will be our port review. This was the third time we have done this itinerary, but the first for our children. We are a fairly active couple (30’s-40’s) – children are almost 14 and almost 19.

 

Puerto Vallarta:

This was our first port and we had plenty of activity. Since DH & I have already done Los Veranos twice (which we loved), and the girls wanted to zipline – we opted to try El Eden Canopy Tour. We booked this thru Puerto Vallarta Tours (http://www.puertovallartatours.net) for the cost of $69.00 each. We simply told them we were arriving on the Pride and they told us to arrive at 10:30am (local time). Booking was easy, All done online and clear instructions followed the next day via email.

 

We actually arrived a few minutes before 10:00 and they put us on an earlier tour. This was great because our group was pretty small. The other groups coming thru were much larger and it would have taken longer, with more waiting. So, if you get off the ship early – you may wish to catch a cab over there and try to get on an earlier tour. The ladies were very nice.

 

The bus ride was pleasant and didn’t take too long. It is a little closer than Los Veranos, but you go up this dirt road for quite a bit. We joked that the 4WD adventure was an added bonus. Once we got there, the driver took over as a bit of a guide and told us what would be happening. He was very nice.

 

The grounds were very nice, and the restaurant area was spacious. We walked down to where they showed us the lockers and fitted us for our harnesses & helmets. The guides are very nice! We enjoyed them as much as the ones at Los Veranos. There were a total of 12 lines, if I remember right and the last ones were EXCELLENT!! I would rate this tour just about as good as Los Veranos. DD13 said it was WAY better than the ones she did in Costa Rica last year. The only thing that could be a problem for some is the amount of walking/climbing. I felt it was considerably more than at Los Veranos. I felt like I was more out of shape than I was. :) But it was good exercise and any healthy person could do it with no problem. One that has knee problems would probably find this a challenge. At one point, they had us cut a corner on the hike (if we wanted) and as we when uphill, my oldest daughter said she felt like she was in one of the Royal Caribbean “Get Out There” commercials. Hee hee

 

The only other drawback was that we weren’t allowed to take cameras on the tour with us – which is why my gallery only has shots of the grounds (which part of the set for the move Predator.) All in all – I would give this tour two thumbs up. If it is your first time zipping, I would recommend that you might try Los Veranos first, purely due to the climbing to the next line and what they have to offer at the restaurant, etc. I think many would have a hard time during the summer with the heat/humidity & the climbing. I know I would. If you have done Los Veranos and want to try something a little different, El Eden is great and I give an A+ to the guides we had… Micky, Jorge and JJ (the extreme camera guy)!!

 

We did not stay for lunch or anything – we caught the very next bus back. You do stop at a little tequila tasting room and they show you how tequila is made. You can taste a few flavors if you wish. Then they take you back to the main office where you started. The main office is right in the Romantic Zone just a short walk from the beach. We then walked the boardwalk over the bridge to the Malecon.

 

Mazatlan:

For our third visit to Mazatlan, we just HAD to ride with our dear friend Randi again for two reasons. The first is that I cannot imagine a day in Mazatlan without spending at least some time on Stone Island with her. The other was that if we didn’t, our daughters would have had our heads!! They both have heard so much about our days with Randi that they would have never forgiven us if we didn’t take them.

 

Once again, this proved to be our favorite day. Between the ride, the beach, the atmosphere & the friends – you can’t have a better day in Mazatlan. Randi & her crew (Tony, Maria & Lulu – as well as Daniel) continue to be some of the most caring people that I have ever met. They truly want to make sure you have a wonderful day. Chris (at Victor’s) is always so attentive. Love him!!

 

We had a nice long ride… down the beach and back up at the edge of the groves. This one was probably the longest rides we had done. Tony can tell when the group is ready to head back. He just knows! And then, of course there are always those that like to go a little slower, like me… and Maria is always there with us. And huge kudo’s to Lucy. She wanted OFF her horse the minute she got on it. But Daniel & Lulu worked with Lucy and she rode much longer than she expected and even got up to a trot! She was so glad that they worked with her and kept her on that horse. She is still talking about it. Yeah Lucy!!!

 

Even more than the ride, we so enjoy our time at Victor’s. The food is wonderful! There is a picture of the menu in my gallery – so now everyone can see what is on the menu. Chris & Victor are wonderful. Visiting with the other riders is fabulous. This time it was a group all from our roll call so we had a great time visiting with each other. And of course our time with Randi is always the best. I am so sad that I won’t see her again for quite some time.

 

This is where I talk about inconsiderate people…. If you book with Randi (or any tour for that matter) and decide not to go – please cancel in advance or have the decency to send someone down to the port and let her know. Not only is Randi & her crew losing money (especially if the tour was full and she could have booked someone else)… but Randi doesn’t want anyone left behind so we wait as long as we can. By not showing up, you are cutting into the experience of others. We have done this tour three times and twice there have been people that haven’t shown up. Please be considerate of Randi & others and either cancel in advance or let her know some other way. OK – enough on my soap box. But I felt the need to say it.

 

Again – our day on Mazatlan was fabulous and I can’t imagine spending my day any other way!

 

 

Cabo San Lucas:

Here we booked the Clear Bottom Kayak & Snorkeling tour thru the ship. We don’t normally book thru the ship, but this one was only available via Carnival and it is new this season. I was REALLY looking forward to this tour. Those on my roll call know that I was anxiously awaiting the bookings to open for this tour. Unfortunately, it was a sad disappointment. :(

 

We booked the 11:30 tour. When I booked this, I KNEW it was January and the water would be chilly. We live in California, so we have no false expectations when it comes to water temperature on the West Coast. When we showed up, the tour was nearly full with 15. The ladies checking us in gave the exact same explanation that Solita had given here on the boards. And since Solita is not on here anymore, I still continue to wonder if one of these ladies was her. All was well. They described what would happen exactly as we expected. We would get into the small zodiac, head over to the cove and be placed in our kayaks. We would then paddle out to the arch, see the sea lions, paddle back & snorkel in a protected area. This area was to be calm, roped off from boat traffic, have a beach and even a sunken boat to create a habitat for the fish to view. She even made a point of pointing out that it is much better than over by Pelican Rock because of the boats, waves & jellies. If we didn’t want to snorkel, they would bring us back and we could be on our way.

 

Unfortunately, this is not what happened. Once we got in the boat, we could tell by the demeanor of the guides that they were not the fun guides that you like to see on these kinds of tours. They took us over to the cove and then started to tell us what THEY had planned for us. We were going to kayak (as described). But since THEY felt the water was too cold they were going to offer to take us whale watching. However, if anyone wanted to snorkel they would snorkel instead of the whale watching. No one seemed to have a problem with the snorkeling idea. I KNEW that we would opt to get off if they chose to go whale watching. My husband gets terribly sick on small craft and that is why I avoid all excursions that have any lengthy boat rides. If nothing else, I research the heck out of our excursions, and I expect to get what I pay for. But since the ladies had told us they would bring us back if we wanted them to, we didn’t see a problem. The protected area is actually accessible by walking. So if they wanted to go whale watching, we would just have them bring us back before they went and we would walk to the beach.

 

So we get into our kayak and start paddling to the arch. At this point, I have realized that the clear bottom is useless. It could just as easily have been a standard kayak and we would have had the same experience. You are having to paddle so much to keep up with the guide and avoid getting tipped in the boat wakes that you don’t have time to look down. And if you did have time, the water was so murky from all of the boat traffic, you wouldn’t see anything anyway. But we didn’t have a problem at this point. It was what it was, a kayaking trip. We are not disappointed or upset, yet.

 

We start paddling back and get near Pelican Rock when the guide stops and says that we will tie up the kayaks and snorkel from the small zodiac at this point. That is when I start to get upset. I had been having a hard time paddling since it was my first time in a kayak and the waters were rough, but at this point we made a beeline over to the guide and I had no trouble paddling over to him because I was getting upset. I explained to him that they told us that we would be in the protected area and that is exactly why I booked this tour. One of our daughters had never snorkeled at all, and the other wasn’t going to be able to do it in the rough waters. There was no way we were going to snorkel there. So I explained what we had been told, etc. He proceeds to tell me that HE runs the excursion and it doesn’t matter WHAT we were told when we booked or at the dock. Then I begin to lose it. So, rather than deal with it, I asked him to take us back and we would just walk to the beach. He said that he would not do that. Either we all snorkel here or all go whale watching. We told him there no way we were doing either as it was not what we paid for.

 

So at this point he tells us that he will take us over to the cove and he would stay with anyone that wants to snorkel while the rest go whale watching with the other guide. Great – sounds fine to everyone. So, we all paddle back to the cove, tie up the kayaks and get ready to snorkel from the boat. As he starts passing out gear, those that are waiting to go whale watching are told that now they all have to stay here & snorkel. Oh brother! So much time was wasted on this excursion dealing with them and their lack of organization. Another couple said the same thing we did …. We paid for snorkeling, we should just snorkel & move on. It is up to us to decide of the water is too cold. We all ended up snorkeling in the cold water, that wasn’t too bad once you got in. The snorkeling was supposed by guided, which it wasn’t – but whatever. We did fine on our own and found plenty to see. Refreshments were never offered, as described in the summary – even to one of my daughters that ended up not snorkeling (her choice) and stayed on the boat with the guides.

 

My view is that if they feel that they can’t offer a kayaking & snorkeling tour in the winter, then they should offer a kayaking & whale watching tour and save the snorkeling for the summer. But to treat people the way they did, was totally uncalled for, especially for the price that we paid. We could have rented kayaks on Medano Beach for much less… or even walked to the little cove on our own with our own gear (which we brought) for free. In the end, we explained our situation to the Shore Excursion Desk on the Pride that evening and the next day they ended up refunding half of our $$. We felt that was fair. More than anything, I wanted Carnival to know what their contracted company was doing, especially since this tour is new & exclusive to them.

 

Later that evening, I realized that out of all of the excursions that we have done while cruising, the ONLY ones that we have ever had problems with are the ones booked thru the ship – and those were all booked on different cruise lines. I think that if you are going to pay more to book thru the ship, you should get excellent service. We have never had problems with ANY of our independently booked tours.

 

So – other than a less than perfect day in Cabo, we enjoyed our time in the ports and hope to visit them all again in the future.

 

Pictures are in my gallery, which is linked below in my signature for the Carnival Pride – 01/2008.

 

Thank you to everyone on these boards that shares their experiences. This helps everyone make educated decisions. Sharing is a wonderful thing!

[MaderaMan]

Thanks for the review. We leave Saturday on the Golden Princess and have reservations with Randi. Whole family is looking forward to it. Your pictures are great.

 

One question. The prices at Victors...are those US dollar prices on the menu? Hard to believe if it is.

[MaderaMan]

Duplicate

[suziehmkr]

One question. The prices at Victors...are those US dollar prices on the menu? Hard to believe if it is.

 

 

No - they are in pesos.... drop a zero and you get your US $ price. Bring plenty of smaller bills, as sometimes they don't have change.

[larie]

Can you tell me about your trip with Randi? Besides stopping for lunch, are you riding all day? (I saw the excrusion was from 8:30 - 2) I would appreciate you telling me a breakdown of what you do. Don't know if I can get my husband to ride the whole time.....is there time to shop etc..when we are done? Ship leaves at 5. Thanks.

[suziehmkr]

Hi Larie -

 

Sorry I didn't cover that in more detail... if you do a search for Randi's, you will see so many great reports.

 

You are not riding all day - maybe an hour. Tony knows when the group has had enough and if you get to the point where you can't go any further, you can either walk with your horse, or one of the crew can take you back early. Once you get picked up at the port, you take an open air taxi to the water taxi. Then you take a panga water taxi over to Stone Island. Then you get in a covered trailer with benches which is pulled by a tractor. We didn't tell the kids about this, because we didn't want to spoil the adventure for them. It is great!

 

Then you get matched up with your horse based on size & riding experience.... and then off you go, down the beach or thru the groves - it is different each time... always get beach time on the horses though. Fabulous views! You end up at Victor's where Randi buys the first beer or soda. You can order lunch and of course, more beer if you wish. Spend your time there as you wish and then you get back to the port with plenty of time. You can shop right at the port. If you prefer to spend some time at the Golden Zone, let Randi know and instead of bringing you back to the port on the last portion, she will put you in a taxi to the Golden Zone - then you are on your own to get back. Does this help?

[larie]

Thanks. Is Victors on the beach or near beach activities? Can we opt to say good bye here and get back on our own, if we want? Are there souveneirs to buy at Stone Island? Thats all I would really want to shop for - maybe save me time in the Golden Zone, or do you think that is worth visiting?

 

I noticed you mentioned zip lining in Costa Rica. We had an amazing zip ride there last summer in the Arenal area. Where did you go that is wasn't that great? Costa Rica was amazing.....we LOVED it.

 

We are interested in snorkling, but will be there end of FEB, when the water isn't that warm. I read that of the 3 stops, PV will be the warmest water. Do you have any pointers on snorkling here? With who or where? We are use to the Caribbean, and wonder if if will be a let down. (we are stopping in Cabo, Maz. and PV)

 

Thanks.

[Family Man]

Great review Tina. Thanks for allowing me to relive my own cruise Thanksgiving week. As you know, we too enjoyed El Eden and thought the experience (including staff) was quite similar to Los Veranos. Where did you go for lunch in PV?

 

Randi truly does an amazing job and her staff is outstanding. Victor puts out great food and Chris is a great server. Did you have shrimp? A nice cold Pacifico on the beach sounds great right now!!! :D

 

We even did a similar excursion in Cabo. I had pre-booked a glass bottom boat tour that took us out around the rocks where the Sea of Cortez and Pacific Ocean meet, Los Arcos, "Scoobie Doo" rock, and the sea lions. Near the rocks, we we able to see a lot of fish through the glass bottom.

 

Maybe on our Mariner cruise, we should try one of the other zip lines in PV together with our families! ;)

[gumballz]

Ahh, we had the pleasure of being on the Pride with Tina and her family last week and we loved it. We went on the horseback riding adventure with Randi as well, and had a great time! The food at Victor's is amazing and so fresh! If you've been wanting to ride horses on the beach, this is the port to do so and Randi is the perfect person to book through.

 

Just a note....if you like cold beer, try Bohemia while in Mexico. Pacifico seemed more like Corona to me (not a big fan) and the Bohemia was smoother, in my opinion.

 

....I wish I was in Mazatlan right now :rolleyes:

[Family Man]

Tina, I just looked at your photos. Nice job! You have a beautifiul family. Can't wait to meet them in October.

 

I see you DID have the shrimp at Victor's. :D

 

Those photos brought back a lot of memories. Now I am "homesick."

[suziehmkr]

Hi Tim!!

 

I thought of you when we were in PV when we drove past the Sheraton BV... I said to Pete - Hey! That is where Tim stays! As if he knew what I was talking about. That it explained his puzzled look. :D And while we were at El Eden - because you were dead on with the description. Thanks for that!!

 

My family cleans up nicely, don't they? Randi emailed and said they sure didn't look like that on the island. hee hee

 

You haven't been over to the other roll call... we aren't going on Mariner after all. :( We have decided to book a Southern Caribbean on the Serenade for December 2009 (5 fabulous ports and only 1 sea day!.) When my husband agrees to fly all the way to San Juan, I MUST take him up on it before he changes his mind. :D We are still on the 10/10 and may squeeze another weekend one on her before then so we can be Platinum for the Serenade and get the balcony discount. If there is a good last minute deal on the Monarch, I will definitely take it.

 

I am glad you decided to book the 10/10 so we can meet!

 

We weren't all that hungry after the ziplines, so we walked down the Malecon and grabbed some drinks and a plate of nachos at the Zoo. We had eaten there on our first trip and wanted to take the girls. 2 for 1 drinks are always a good thing.

 

Some day we want to spend a week in PV - so I will need to pick your brain when we are ready to do that. :)

[Family Man]

Sorry to hear about your Mariner cancellation but am glad we'll still get to meet on the Monarch. ;) We too are planning to do 3 trips on the Monarch this year so we can be Platinum on the Mariner. Plus, we just love the Monarch and are sorry to see her go. We recently lost a huge church group sailing because the Monarch would no longer be available and they refused to sail on the Carnival 3 day. :(

 

When you are ready to go to PV let me know and I will put in my two cents.

 

BTW, the Serenade sounds like a great trip!

[larie]

Suziehmkr,

 

If you get a chance, can you answer any of my question on my second post to your thread - under Larie? You seem very knowledgable on some of the same things we want to do. Thanks.

[suziehmkr]

I am so sorry! I didn't see that post! Please forgive me, I will respond right away. :)

[suziehmkr]

My responses are in PURPLE below:

 

Thanks. Is Victors on the beach or near beach activities?

 

Victor's is right on the beach. If you take a look at my pics, you can see some from Victor's (all three Mexican Riviera cruises) There are activities available, but we have never partaked. I always enjoy just relaxing & chatting with friends. Boogie boards available, banana boat rides, etc.

Can we opt to say good bye here and get back on our own, if we want?

 

I would imagine you could. Randi would be the best person to ask for that. Just shoot her a quick email and she can give you a better answer.

 

Are there souveneirs to buy at Stone Island? Thats all I would really want to shop for - maybe save me time in the Golden Zone, or do you think that is worth visiting?

 

There are vendors that will come by with anything from bread to pareos to jewelry to windchimes. Randi knows which ones are reputable. I usually pick up a few trinkets. My favorite shopping is right at the port. We have never gone to the Golden Zone for shopping, but from the locals that I talk to, the port has better deals. I always find something interesting there.

 

I noticed you mentioned zip lining in Costa Rica. We had an amazing zip ride there last summer in the Arenal area. Where did you go that is wasn't that great? Costa Rica was amazing.....we LOVED it.

 

I have not been there, but my DD13 went last year with a few students for a science trip. My little adventurer passed up 3 weeks in Europe with People to People in favor of Costa Rica and has not regretted it at all. She had a blast! Her main comment was that she didn't like having to brake with her gloved hands in CR... on Los Veranos & El Eden you brake with the pulley. I just checked her itinerary and she was sort of near Arenal (across the lake), in Monteverde when she did her canopy tour.

 

We are interested in snorkling, but will be there end of FEB, when the water isn't that warm. I read that of the 3 stops, PV will be the warmest water. Do you have any pointers on snorkling here? With who or where? We are use to the Caribbean, and wonder if if will be a let down. (we are stopping in Cabo, Maz. and PV)

 

I have to tell you that the water will never be quite as warm as the Caribbean. Even though it is the same ocean as Hawaii - it is like night & day when comparing them. We were chilly in Cabo in the water, but I knew that going in when I booked it. The water may be a little warmer the further south that you go. But my understanding is that the water is clearer up north in Cabo (which is the only place we have snorkeled in these 3 ports.) The water will not be as clear as the Caribbean. But I understand that if you take the excursions that go to Santa Maria Cove & Chileano Bay (Cabo port) that it is much better than by the port. We have not snorkeled in PV... so I haven't really researched it. Instead of comparing it to the Caribbean, you have to understand that they are just different settings. If I were to compare it to Hawaii - I would have been disappointed. But going in, knowing that it is just a different experience will give you a better mind set. Enjoy anything that you do and you won't be disappointed!

 

Thanks.

[larie]

Thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions. This was a big help.