Los Veranos or Vallarta Adventures in PV for ziplining?

[MSN-Travelers]

That would be cool if we could make the 9:45am tour. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we could accomplish this? I don't how long it will take to get off the ship or what direction to head to not to mention where would we catch a taxi to get us to the main office asap? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Contact Los Veranos via email. Tell them you know you will make it for a 10:45 excursion but want to know it you can go on the 9:45 excursion if you get there in time.

 

Reference this aerial view of the port - http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=20.6537025&lon=-105.2426076&z=18&l=0&m=b

 

You will exit the dock area at the round building. Federal port taxis are located right there. Yellow city taxis will be found at end of the Blvd by the main road on the right side aerial view.

 

Getting off the ship should be easy if you are up & ready to go as the ship is entering the port.

 

Enjoy!

[dp_cruz]

another recommendation for Los Veranos. Just did this last week and was the highlight of the cruise. Guides were awesome, cab ride to the office was quick easy. the shuttle driver can drop you off in the old town square (near the cathedral) after to explore PV.

 

dont miss the waterslide into the river :D

[Mesmeralda]

another recommendation for Los Veranos. Just did this last week and was the highlight of the cruise. Guides were awesome, cab ride to the office was quick easy. the shuttle driver can drop you off in the old town square (near the cathedral) after to explore PV.

 

dont miss the waterslide into the river :D

 

Did you do the ATV ride combo? We were interested in that and the tour is supposed to be 6.5 hours total so I wanted to make sure we had enough time to go shopping afterwards.

[scoundrellv]

Hi, all times are Vallarta local time. Ship's time should one hour behind Vallarta local time.

 

Splendor is scheduled to be in Vallarta from 9 AM to 9 PM. Los veranos has morning excursions leaving their tour office hourly starting at 8:45 AM. Paticipants that leave from their office should be there 15 minutes early.

 

To better serve hotel/resort customers in the Nuevo Vallarta & marina areas, they run two shuttles that just happen to make stops at Collage Disco. The 9:15 shuttle will have people at the tour office for the 9:45 excursion, the 11:15 shuttle has people to their office for the 11:45 excursion.

 

Personally, I think going directly to their office makes more sense than taking a taxi to pickup point. That free shuttle limits your choice of excursion times and there is the possibility that you might miss the shuttle.

 

For Splendor ... I would book the 10:45 excursion, get off the ship at 10 AM & taxi direct to the office. 10 AM local time will be 9 AM ship's time. For a party of two, the cost for a taxi will be the same for a white port taxi or a yellow city taxi. For a party of 3 or 4, leaving the port property to grab a yellow city taxi is more cost effective.

 

Having said all this, I understand that Los Veranos now offers a couple combo excursions. One is a zipline/ATV excursion and the other is a zipline/city tour excursion. I know nothing about the ATV combo. I have read posts here that indicate the city tour combo includes transportation directly from/to the port. Please contact Los Veranos directly for information about these combo tours. http://www.canopytours-vallarta.com/

 

Enjoy!

I've read in multiple places it costs about $67/adult to do this tour I don't see anywhere currently how it is anything but $79 is there something I need to say/do to get the $67 rate?

Any elp would be greatly appreciated.

[MSN-Travelers]

I've read in multiple places it costs about $67/adult to do this tour I don't see anywhere currently how it is anything but $79 is there something I need to say/do to get the $67 rate?

Any elp would be greatly appreciated.

 

$79 is the "tourist walking in the door" price. Book/pay in advance via their web site and you get a 15% discount ($67 final price).

 

There are a number of third-party tour brokers out there that also offer the excursion at roughly $67 USD.

 

Google Los Veranos Vallarta and you will get a number of vendors.

 

Enjoy!

[Mesmeralda]

How about any deals on the combo ATV/zip-lining? It says $153.00 p.p.

[shawnamarie0509]

Just wanted to put in my two cents, Los Veranos is amazing! Definitely worth it if you can work it out!! Bring your camera too!!

[Mesmeralda]

Just wanted to put in my two cents, Los Veranos is amazing! Definitely worth it if you can work it out!! Bring your camera too!!

 

Did you go on the 10:45 tour or did you make the 9:45? I emailed them to see if it was feasable to make the 9:45 tour if the boat docks at 9am but I haven't got an answer. I was also wodering if we pay for the 9:45 excursion but unable to make it can we be rescheduled for the 10:45 tour?

[Mesmeralda]

another recommendation for Los Veranos. Just did this last week and was the highlight of the cruise. Guides were awesome, cab ride to the office was quick easy. the shuttle driver can drop you off in the old town square (near the cathedral) after to explore PV.

 

dont miss the waterslide into the river :D

 

What time did your ship dock and did you make reservations and make the 9:45 tour? I'm curious to hear about it.

[RenoNanaOz]

Cabo is the tender port, the Vallarta Port Authority schedule shows Splendor at dock #1 for your cruise.

 

Federal port taxis will be found immediately outside the dock area. They charge per person. If there is only two in your party, the cost to downtown or the Los Veranos office on the far south side is the same as the City taxis located just outside the port entrance/exit by the main road.

 

The yellow City taxis, located everywhere except on port/airport property, charge per cab ride with up to four passengers per ride.

 

The Los Veranos office is roughly 15-20 minutes away from the port area (ie: once the cab hits the main road headed south).

 

Please keep in mind that ship's time should be one hour BEHIND Vallarta local time. 9 AM on the ship becomes 10 AM on the land end of the gangway.

 

Enjoy!

I just spoke with Bertha at the Los Veranos office and she said they are two hours ahead of ship time. I keep reading different times that everyone is being told. I guess we will know when we get there.

[RenoNanaOz]

I just spoke with Bertha at the Los Veranos office and she said they are two hours ahead of ship time. I keep reading different times that everyone is being told. I guess we will know when we get there.

Now this is getting very confusing :confused: I just called Carnival and was told that the Ship adapts to local time. She guaranteed me that if it says we arrive at 9:00am that is 9:00am local time. This is crazy!!!!!

[Mesmeralda]

Now this is getting very confusing :confused: I just called Carnival and was told that the Ship adapts to local time. She guaranteed me that if it says we arrive at 9:00am that is 9:00am local time. This is crazy!!!!!

 

I truly believe it's a SCAM to make clients purchase excursions from Carnival..sad...I've called people from PV and they said the cruise ships get there about 11:00 am not 9:00am.

My PVP told me the same thing about being there 9am PV time...

I wonder if we got a name would there be any legal recourse for mis information.

[MSN-Travelers]

Now this is getting very confusing :confused: I just called Carnival and was told that the Ship adapts to local time. She guaranteed me that if it says we arrive at 9:00am that is 9:00am local time. This is crazy!!!!!

 

I truly believe it's a SCAM to make clients purchase excursions from Carnival..sad...I've called people from PV and they said the cruise ships get there about 11:00 am not 9:00am.

My PVP told me the same thing about being there 9am PV time...

I wonder if we got a name would there be any legal recourse for mis information.

 

There are a number of reports that the new non-Mazatlan itinerary for Splendor has ship's time staying the same throughout the entire cruise. (ie: Pacific time)

 

It is reported that ship's time is one hour behind Cabo local time and two hours behind Vallarta local time. RCCL's Mariner of the Seas started this time keeping system last year.

 

Splendor is making this run every week. I find it difficult to believe that nobody that has recently sailed on Splendor has taken the time to report EXACTLY what time, local time, they have arrived at each port.

 

Customer service, for any given cruise line, never really has a clue about the ship's time vs. port local time. Call Carnival again tomorrow and you will get a different answer.

 

If you haven't already done so, start a thread on the Carnival forum that asks specifically about Splendor's arrival times for each port and make sure you tell them you want port local time, not ship's time.

 

Enjoy

[Mesmeralda]

If you haven't already done so, start a thread on the Carnival forum that asks specifically about Splendor's arrival times for each port and make sure you tell them you want port local time, not ship's time.

Enjoy

 

I happened to check their forum and there is no real solid answer. This forum give us more information. I don't understand why Carnival will not address this question with a solid answer. The whole thing sounds like it's a political/financial gain tactic by Carnival. :(

[sbnuggie]

I posted this on another thread, just cut and pasted:

 

Howdy folks,

 

Just got off splendor week and half ago, and I like you was getting so many conflicting answers to the time question but I'm here to report the exact times for the Splendor in its current itinerary. We mostly needed to know the times for PV as we too booked the Los Veranos Canopy Tour (went with 1145am (PV Time) downtown pickup and it worked out perfectly).

 

Also, on our last night of the cruise my wife and I spoke with Felipe at the steakhouse for about 15 minutes as he was making his rounds and we talked about the times set for cruises, there are a lot of variables that I didn't even think about when they determine if they will move clocks forward/back etc.

 

Also the splendor changes its movement of "ship time" depending on the time of year so a lot of the conflicting answers you get are dependant on when someone has actually sailed on the splendor. Also, re-check on the carnival website for your departure time out of PV, initially ours said 10pm (ship time) but was switched to 9pm without any notice sent to us, just popped up on the carnival website and we departed at 9pm (ship time). So here you go:

 

During the period of Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the USA (march - late October) Carnival splendor keeps its clocks set to long beach time or more accurately Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) and does not change its time for the duration of its cruise. This is commonly referred to as "ships time".

 

Cabo San Lucas is set to the Mountain Time Zone and observes Daylight Savings time (MDT), so Cabo time will be one hour ahead of ship time. Arrival times for the cabo days are:

 

Cabo San Lucas, Tuesday:

 

930am - 6pm (Ship Time/Published Itinerary or Pacific Daylight Time)

1030am - 7pm (Local Time or Mountain Daylight Time)

 

 

Cabo San Lucas, Wedensday:

 

700am - 4pm (Ship Time/Published Itinerary or Pacific Daylight Time)

800am - 5pm (Local Time or Mountain Daylight Time)

 

 

PV is set to the Central Time Zone and observes Daylight Savings Time (CDT), so PV time is 2 hours ahead of ship time.

 

Puerto Vallarta, Thursday:

 

900am - 9pm (Ship Time/Published Itinerary or Pacific Daylight Time)

1100am - 11pm (Local Time or Central Daylight Time)

 

 

These times are approximate for arrivals, as others have posted we in fact were in PV at 815am and were cleared to walk off the boat by 840am (ship time) on our particular cruise. I also watched the cruise cam for splendor for a couple of weeks and confirmed the arrival times for each of the ports but PV was the one I was really concerned about.

 

********

Now for the kicker, when Daylight Savings Time ends for Mexico (which is earlier then for the USA by a week or two, October - March) the ship does shift it's onboard time. Per Felipe the cruise director, on Monday Night of a 7 day cruise they shift the ships time AHEAD one hour and then on Friday night on thier way back to Long Beach they shift the time back one hour to match Pacific Standard Time. A bunch of reasons why they do it that I won't detail here.

********

 

On the Fun Times they print in big bold print a warning about the time differences in each port and to remind you that the ship leaves on "ship time" so don't be late. I hope this helps.

[sbnuggie]

Oh and jjust to re-iterate what others have posted, an absolutely fantastic tour, top notch operation, a couple of useful tips though having just done the tour two weeks ago:

 

1). As I posted above, check your times, on the los veranos website the times are all PV times (i.e. CDT or CST dependant on time of year). Remember that Daylight Savings Time shifts back earlier in Mexico so be aware of that come october and march bookings. For the current sailings we used 1145am downtown pickup and it worked out perfectly. We walked off ship, got taxi and was at the office by 1120am (PV Time, 920am Ship Time). All the cab drivers know where the place is. If not just tell them its across from the PEMEX station.

 

2) Regarding taxi's, we were always told to walk out of the port and out to the main street to catch a yellow taxi instead of the white taxi's on the port property. The reason being is the yellow taxi charge per taxi where the white taxi charges per person. We went with yellow taxi and it was fine but I was with 6 people, so two yellow taxi's cost us around $8-10 a piece as the downtown office is just south of the river so the price was slightly higher. Hindsight being 20/20 I would've taken the white van cab. As you walk out of the port the drivers will ask where are you going then give you a price, as you keep walking the price gets lower. One van driver wanted I think $25 for the six of us in his van and I said no. But to pay $5 extra for a new van with A/c for the drive through the tunnel and to keep us all together would have been worth it, a couple of extra bucks per person is all it equaled, much better experience. Don't get me wrong the yellow cabs are safe, but they are not "new", no a/c in the two cars we had and it was a warm morning already why not ride in a little more luxury for a couple of dollars more. Not a real big thing, but if you are going with a group of more then 4 (yellow cab only has 4 seats) seriously consider it.

 

3. Brings Snacks and Water and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. You will be in the jungle climbing up stairs both on the side of the mountain and in some trees. Be sure you drink water so you don't get overheated. There are two places where there is some bottle water for you to get a drink while doing the actual zipline but be prepared to wait for water and you will get hot. The snacks should wait until after the ziplining. The restaurant that is there, while nice is EXPENSIVE. Each plate is about $12 - $20 depending on what you order (chicken tacos - Seafood Plate). We bought lunch there and with tip $81.00 USD, this is what we ordered: 2 bean and cheese burritos, Chicken Taco Plate, 1 Chicken Chimichanga, 1 appetizer plate, 2 orange soda's, 4 Diet Cokes and 1 small bottled water. Thats EXPENSIVE folks, yes I realize you are up in the jungle and they have to truck a lot of stuff there but they are making a killing.

 

4). On the bus ride both to and from Los Veranos, sit as far in front as you can. We sat in the last row going out to Los Veranos and were tossed around like a bean bag going over all of the "topes" (speed bumps) on the highway. To my kids it was fun, but after a while you lose about 1/2" in height due to the compression of your spine hahahahah.

 

5) One little perk they didn't advertise and I didn't see anyone report it so I don't know how consistent this happens but at the end of the tour before we left the facility the same bus driver came to pick us up. He then went around and asked where everyone wanted to be dropped off. He offered to drop everyone off at certain areas. Some people went back to the Downtown Los Veranos Office which is really in the Zona Romantica area south of the river, he dropped some off near the main plaza park in downtown, another small group north of downtown on the main roadway and the rest of us he took back to the Cruise ship terminal. I was expecting to be dropped off at the Los veranos office and then taking a cab back to the ship or downtown etc...saved a cab fare for us but we just threw that money into the tip jar for the driver. Was nice not having to get off the bus and transfer etc...

 

6) The photo's and DVD are expensive, $10 per photo and $40 for DVD, be prepared if you want one. If you are taking your own camera and video player, have the kind of strap where you can put the Video camera and camera around your neck. You use both of your hands while getting ready to zip etc, so to have your camera in your hand while getting ready is pain to fool with and slows the process, if your camera is just dangling around your neck you can setup, start your zip then pickup your camera and start filming instead of trying to get your camera out of your pocket. While up on the hill you wont have your backpack with you, it wll be in a locker locked safely away.

 

This is a well run, clean top notch operation, I highly recomend Los Veranos.

[Mesmeralda]

Excellant review...thank you