We were on the second cruise down the Mexican Riviera......looks like we'll be on the 11 night with you, First Timers!
Anyway.....Puerto Vallarta. Like I said, we went to John Huston's place, and it's located basically at the far end of PV....beautiful ocean views, the flowers and plants there are so pretty. The food was outstanding. If I could live there, I think I would love PV. After we got back from the excursion, we grabbed a cab to go shopping. I liked that the street where the main shops were located was on the ocean. That's basically all we saw of PV, so it's hard to form a good impression from just that.
Mazatlan....we decided to just grab a van and ask the driver to show us around. It was actually a really great tour! He took us to all of the high points, to see the Cliff Divers, to the old and newer sections of the city. We saw some really beautiful homes (one owned by a family from Phoenix) and then into the city to walk around the marketplace and go through the old church. He also took us past the cannery, and down to where the shrimp & fishing boats are, as he used to work down there. They were selling huge buckets of shrimp and lobster right on the street! I'd have to say that we are probably about the only cruisers who got to go into the dockyard....and to us, it was all very interesting. He told us more about Mazatlan, past and present, than we could have learned in a weeks' visit. It's definitely not a pretty place, but we really enjoyed our time there.
Cabo....yes. Beautiful, clean, upscale. I could almost live there. If it weren't still Mexico. We'd hired (on our own) a private yacht to take us snorkeling...and I found that I could live that kind of life.
We went into the city to shop after we returned, and for the most part, it was the same as any of the others. The shops and restaurants were a little more "upscale" and cleaner. But we were still stopped every two steps by people asking for donations "for the children".....but we felt safe, and it was an easy walk to the shops.
I actually think we enjoyed it more than we thought we would. Since we're from Arizona, and see a lot of the Mexican culture right here, we weren't too sure that we cared to see more of it.....but being on the Magic was fantastic, especially after flying only an hour....
Okay...that was long. Did someone ask to hear all that???