Mexican Riviera ports with kids... suggestions?

[MnAsMom]

What do/did you do in port with your kiddos? Our boys will be 3 and 6.5 at the time of our cruise. I am curious if there are specific beaches or resorts that are worth visiting. I kind of assume there really aren't any great excursions that our 3 year old will be able to do so we'll just spend some family time. I personally wouldn't mind a freshwater pool for a day or two! Our ports are Mazatlan, Puerta Vallarta and Cabo. I went on a Mexican Riviera cruise with my family when I was a child and I (and my mom) can't remember which port we rented a car and drove up into the hills/mtns and went to a restaurant. It was really beautiful... parrots flew up to the tables... it overlooked a dry riverbed with huge rocks below. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

~Tondi

[Kerry's Girls]

Puerto Vallarta is easy. The Krystal Vallarta is an short walk and they have a great playground, plus a toddler pool and expansive pool area, plus the beach. They allow cruise passengers to use the facilities for free (it used to be $20 per person, which was worth it, but it's really great now). We order lunch and bring a bunch of singles or a couple of $5 bills to get set up with lounges in the shade by the pool and on the beach. We bring blow up pool toys, floats and some small sand toys. The vendors are polite and take "no thank you" as a final answer. Some of our best vacation days have been spent there.

 

In Mazatlan we do the Paplantas Flyers + resort visit. This is done using taxis though, so car seats are a consideration.

 

In Cabo, the Lands End boat tour is short, but fun. There's also a pirate boat tour that your boys might like (one of my girls would have been too scared of the pirates).

 

Best,

Mia

[karatemom2]

I can suggest some things that we have done in the past that worked well for our family. In PV we really like to do a beach day at the Krystal. It is a short walk from the cruise ship pier and you can use the beach, pool and facilities as long as you purchase some food and beverages. They have a really nice pool with a shallow area for little ones and the beach there is nice as well. It's an easy, inexpensive and kid friendly day. Adults can also get really great and inexpensive massages at the spa there.

 

In Mazatlan last time we took a taxi to the Aquarium. I think it was about $3 admission per person and it's a very nice aquarium. They have a good variety of interesting displays and a couple of really cute shows, especially the sea lion show. This was also a kid friendly and cost effective excursion. We have heard El Cid has a nice beach and pool that cruise ship passengers can use. That's where we are planning to head on this trip.

 

Cabo is a really fun place. You can take a glass bottom boat ride to the beach, walk around town or take an excursion. We did a tour once that took us to a glass blowing factory, San Jose del Cabo (very cute town about 20 minutes away with great shopping and beautiful church and town sqaure) and also to a cactus farm. It was fun.

 

I think you'll find that there are lots of great activities with kids and you don't have to spend a fortune on ship's excursions.

[Jsipes]

Beaches and beach activities are always a good choice for the kids...

[cruisin'grandparents]

We have just return from Princess cruise with 5 year old grandson. The Pirate ship at Puerto Vallarta was great, the service on board was excellent and they transferred us to a beach where there were boogie boards, banana boats and games and treasure hunts for the kids so your 6 year old would have fun and the younger one could play on the sand.

At Cabo we went out on old sailing boat but we should have taken a water taxi to a beach and grandson would have had more fun. Mazatlan we went to see the flyers which was fun but beach sounds even better that others have mentioned.