Mazatlan - day use resorts?

[Bob7]

Does anyone know which resorts allow day use in Maz? I think I saw posts earlier that the El Cid Castilla Beach Hotel welcomed cruisers. Here's a good map: [url]http://www.mazatlan.com.mx/city/MazatlanGoldenZone.pdf[/url]
Where do the ships dock?
-Bob

[TheBaghwan]

I would suggest the Pueblo Bonito - Mazataln. There is another further out called P.B. Emerald Bay. We did the Mexican Riviera on RCCL's Vision of the Seas last March. My brother has stayed here several times so when we got to Mazatlan we went there. Absolutely beautiful!! We asked if we could just look around and they said of course. We weren't looking to go swimming or anything but you can look them up on the net and ask them. We docked very near the Mexican Navy facility which is in an industrial area. The tram from the ship drops you off by this little building and there really are no signs of where to go but there are all these people there waiting to "help". Those are condo sales people to be avoided like the plague. Go toward the building and you will see a doorway go through there and now you are in a place of little shops keep going to any other door on the other side is a courtyard and there you can p/u taxis or pulmonias (open air golf cart like vehicles, they are a legend in Mazatlan there is even a statue of one along the Malecon) Have fun!

[Just_Cruising]

Yes, my family and I (daughters 7 & 9) went to the El Cid Castilla in early September. They tried to suck us into a time-share presentation but we politely declined and went in and down the stairs to the pool (Apparently there was another pool around to the right with a swim up bar that we never saw). We had a great time. The pool area we were at has a bar/ restaurant just beside it. The pool itself has a water slide and a big (10 foot) waterfall. The kids and I were able to walk to the top of it and jump off. My eldest daughter had a killer time doing front flips off of the waterfall. I gave our waiter $10 and asked for towels and had incredible service thereafter. Walked out to the beach and drank Coronas under a palapa while the kids got their hair beaded. Venders on the beach are pretty aggressive compared to Cabo and PV. Be prepared, be firm, and enjoy!

[fish4ever]

I agree on the El Cid Castilla for one of the better swimming pools with bar, food, etc.

You do not need to pay to go the hotel. Just being a tourist, you are welcome to come to the hotel. They usually just expect that you will buy a drink or food while you are enjoying their pool.

In about 6 years of living in Mazatlan, the above is the only pool I keep going to, and never had any problems with not being allowed to swim there.

Hope this info helps.

Have a really great cruise.

Gray (fish4ever)

[sbnuggie]

Hello,

My wife and I were on the Carnival Pride in 5/2004 and we actually did a time share presentation when we arrived in Mazatlan. We were scheduled to go on Randi's Horses but we weren't able to make the tour do to a medical problem. Anyway, when you get off the ship and take the tram to the entrance of the pier there are about a half a dozen time share places with their entourage of sales people. One hotel, The Inn at Mazatlan looked beautiful, [url]http://www.innatmazatlan.com.mx[/url], and we decided, what the heck, since they offered us a 2 hour city tour, All inclusive use of their facility to include all food, drinks (alcoholic) and use of thier beautiful pool, along with payment of cab fare to and from the Cruise ship which is about $10 each way to the Golden zone.

We had never done a timeshare presentation and had heard of some horror stories but we figured we would give it a try. The sales presentation was about 1hr and 45 min. We told our sales person that we couldn't afford it etc..and that was that, no high pressure sales or anything. We got our free vouchers and ate and drank the rest of the day before taking the city tour and going back to the ship.

I did note that the hotel did have a sign in the lobby offering an All inclusive day use of their facility which included food and drinks for about 450 pesos (roughly $45 american). So I'm sure most hotels in Mazatlan offer something similar. Before you go, email the hotels and ask and then pick which one you want to go to.

Take Care

Sean

****
Carnival Pride 5/16/04

[Bob7]

Hey Sean thx for the info. Yes we sometimes go to the timeshare speeches if the perks are great and we have the time. We keep a Florida timeshare offer with us, $2000, which none of them can ever come close to, so they let us go real fast. But when we're in port for only a day, 2 hours is too much to kiss off for those guys. And we prob'y wouldn't cough up $45 each for the resort, I don't know if I could eat and drink that much (maybe Wendy could :-)) and we've been spoiled by resorts that are free to cruisers, glad to have ppl ordering stuff.

We're going to post the same question for Puerto Vallarta, did you do any resorts there?
-Bob

[sbnuggie]

Hello,

No we didn't do any presentations in PV, we were in PV for a week in 98 and then again for the day on our recent cruise in May. I know that a lot of people in PV talk about walking to the Krystal in PV from the cruise pier and using their facility. There are numerous posts on this board and a very recent one on the Carnival Board. Apparently there is a shortcut to walk there. When we cruised into PV we rented a car and did our own thing. Something you might want to think about.

Take Care,

[marciemi]

Does anyone know if the "El Cid Resort" shown on Bob's map above is the same as El Cid Castillo? I know there are a few of them! Also, if you just take a taxi to the Golden Zone, can you walk between these or should you know exactly where you're going first? And is there shopping in/near the Golden Zone? Thanks!

[Bob7]

Hey Marc, this is the list I have of the 4 El Cids:
1. El Cid Castilla Beach which is brown #9 on the map
2. El Cid Marina Beach Hotel, which the finger at the top of the map appears to point to
3. El Cid Granada Country Club, which appears to be blue #1 on the map
4. El Cid El Moro Beach Hotel, which their web site says is adjacent to the El Cid Castilla, and has upscale suites.

With the variety of pools etc, I'm assuming the one cruisers stay at is the first one. I'm also assuming where we dock is where that finger is pointing at the top of the map, I heard it's at the marina.

Here's a link with a nice shot of the Castilla:
[url]www.si-mexico.com/hotels/mazatlan/castilla_beach/castilla_beach.htm[/url]

You can see the 2 pools in the shot, and C.C. member DPayne1962 was there a month ago, and wrote that the pool on the right is best, closer to the beach with a better view. The Pulmonia taxi was $2 p.p. from the ship. So it's on our short list.

The Inn at Mazatlan is next door, and looks nice too, 4 star Mobile rating and RCI Gold Crown rating. The Riviera and Costa de Oro have nice pools, but the Playa, Los Flores, and Balboa have smaller pools. If we did cannonballs we could dilute some drinks.
-Bob

[marciemi]

Thanks for the help! I've printed out the map, and will probably go to El Cid Castilla if we can. I "KNOW" DH & I went there on our last visit to Mazatlan nearly 15 years ago - looking at the pictures we have and the ones you linked to, it has to be the same place. I think at that time (we were on the Fair Princess) they had a deal with the cruise line directly - it wasn't exactly a shore excursion (like they are now) but more of a "if you're looking for a beach, they'll welcome you at this hotel".

Did you know if there's shopping in the Golden Zone or how big that area is (ie walkable around)? Thanks again for help!

[Just_Cruising]

From that overhead picture, we stayed at the pool on the right. I believe DPayne said the liked that one on the left side of this picture and that it had a swim up bar that the one on right did not. Just a little confusion I think depending on what direction you are coming from (the front of the hotel or the beach side in the picture.

[Bob7]

Hey Just Cruising yer right, we may have to just get out of our loungers and check out both pools ourselves. Wendy is offering to hold my drink while I'm gone, hmmmmm ....

Marc about your shopping question, all I know so far is that the Golden Zone is everything north of Punta Sabalo, where Fiesta Land is, a real party place they say. It's a $10 cab ride from the ship, but I don't know how far from these resorts. Here's a link I had about shopping there:
[url]http://www.mazinfo.com/visitors/shopping1.html[/url]
I gotta say one deal we're going to get again is the pure vanilla, Wendy cooks and the artificial stuff is crappy compared to the real thing, and the vanilla we got in the Caribbean was not as good as the Mexican stuff. A litre was $8 a few years ago. We never thought we'd finish it off but it's all gone now :-((
-Bob

[Bob7]

[quote name='marciemi']Thanks for the help! I've printed out the map, and will probably go to El Cid Castilla if we can.(snip) [QUOTE]

Hey Marciemi, did you end up at the El Cid? ... how did it go, any cost for day use?
-Bob

[marciemi]

Hi Bob - yes we went. Unfortunately it was a cool cloudy windy day so the pool and beach were a bit unappealing! No charge to use anything (not the all inclusive part), but HIGH PRESSURE to take their tour of all their properties, etc. to get the all inclusive wristband, a ride to/from the ship, etc. We weren't impressed with the property (used the pool at the suites one, I think the Moro, next to the actual El Cid Castilla). It looked very run down - probably 20-30 panes of glass broken out looking up at the rooms (tower in El Moro), stuff hanging out, you could see where the building was shifting in some points and the bottom floor wasn't level, roof torn off in various places, etc.

However, you could use everything and buy drinks etc. so it wasn't completely an all-inclusive. If I were going to Mexico just to visit however, we'd definitely stick with Puerto Vallarta or Cabo.

[Bob7]

Hey Marcie, thx for the info. Jeez I hope we get better weather there in March. Do you mean the Moro was run down, not the Castilla? Why did you use the Moro if it wasn't good, why not go next door to the Castilla?
-Bob

[marciemi]

The pool area was nicer at the Moro, which was really all we were using. I'm not sure if it was actually the pool for both, it kind of wrapped around all the resorts. The pool was fine, just as we were lying looking up at the building, we thought it was pretty bad. We also walked through the Castilla and thought the rooms looked very dark and depressing. This was just a first impression - don't take it as gospel. But the hotels we saw in Cabo and Puerto Vallarta (we did have nice weather in both those places, so maybe that mades the difference) seemed much nicer!

[bajalover]

We have a timeshare at El Cid El Morro. Castilla Beach is the hotel part and El Morro is for the timeshares. They usually only let timeshare owners use their pool. The hotel side has the restuarants and bars, incl the swim up bars ( there are two) The beach is just steps away with wave runners, parasailing, and bannana boats right there. We were there last July and unless there was a terrible storm, the hotel and timeshare was in perfect shape. I highly recommend this hotel, especially if you have kids.