6/08/08 Magic to Mexico

[BrettySpaghetti]

Oh, and don't let him walk through Shutters where they display all the photos. Our little one kept trying to grab all of the pictures that were in her reach.

I'm sure Disney offers a special "photo grabbing" package... $250 for six grabs, $500 for 10 grabs, etc.

 

[jlima]

Great report so far!

I'll second the question above about registering for the kids club...do we do that in the terminal only if we didn't fill out the registration online? Or is it for everyone?

Thanks! Can't wait to hear more, especially with the 22 month old...my DS is 22 months old, and would love to hear any tips / advice! (We are leaving Sunday).

Thanks!!

The line in the terminal is for your child to get a wristband and for you to get a pager. Even if you registered your child on-line, you will need to pick up a pager and the wristband for your child. We did this on board in the evening of the first day, as the line in the terminal was massive.

 

[SGcruiser]

Your report is great When you took the water taxi, did you pay up front or after he came back for you? I was wondering how you knew he would come back. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[dizneygirlz3]

Your Cabo pictures are beautiful. Thanks for sharing...

 

[Deb T.]

We sail in a few more weeks! Thanks for posting your very first TR! We are enjoying it immensely

 

[kristasmom]

I was pleasantly surprised to open your trip report and see your cute little one. I sat next to her at 2 of the shows last week. What a sweetheart. My DD had an extra kids menu which she gave to your DD to color on while waiting for the show to start. She was there with your older DD. Enjoying your trip report.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

Around what time did you get into Cabo? I scheduled our Dolphin Swim for between 10:00am -11:00am thru their web site. I will need to send them a e-mail to move our swim time to start between 11:30 - 12:00 so we can make it there on time. I hear it is only about a few minutes walk but I hate being late for events. What time would be safe to set it up in your opinion or anyone else who did the Dolphin swim in Cabo. Thanks, Nora

 

[koalagurl]

Since we were not registering for the kids club I'm not sure if the kids club registration is only if you don't register online or if you still have to do it even if you registered online. Hopefully someone else can answer this.

My biggest advice for traveling with a 22 month old - go with the flow and don't try to pack too much into the day. We had a great time just hanging out and walking around the ship. By the end of the cruise she called the stateroom "home" and knew how to get to the elevators from our room. We didn't get many pictures with the characters because she just doesn't have the patience to stand in line. She liked the musical shows - Golden Mickey's, Twice Charmed, and Disney Dreams. We tried to make sure she got a nap each day because she turns into a little stinker without one. She sleeps very well in her stroller so on a couple of days we would put her in there and walked around until she fell asleep. She was then portable and we could walk around and do other stuff. Oh, and don't let him walk through Shutters where they display all the photos. Our little one kept trying to grab all of the pictures that were in her reach.

Great advice, thanks!

The line in the terminal is for your child to get a wristband and for you to get a pager. Even if you registered your child on-line, you will need to pick up a pager and the wristband for your child. We did this on board in the evening of the first day, as the line in the terminal was massive.

Got it, thanks for clarifying.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Your report is great When you took the water taxi, did you pay up front or after he came back for you? I was wondering how you knew he would come back. Thanks so much for sharing.

We paid upfront. Silly me didn't even think about the fact that he might not come back. I had read on cruisecritic about how you could be dropped off at Lover's Beach and picked up later so I just trusted that he would be there.

I was pleasantly surprised to open your trip report and see your cute little one. I sat next to her at 2 of the shows last week. What a sweetheart. My DD had an extra kids menu which she gave to your DD to color on while waiting for the show to start. She was there with your older DD. Enjoying your trip report.

That's so funny! I know exactly who you are. Sorry for any ruckas we caused. Tell your DD thanks for sharing with Lauren. That did keep her occupied for a few minutes. I think that was the last night and DD1 ended up taking her back to the room because she was just not going to sit through the show. That's the only night we really had a problem with her at dinner or the show.

Around what time did you get into Cabo? I scheduled our Dolphin Swim for between 10:00am -11:00am thru their web site. I will need to send them a e-mail to move our swim time to start between 11:30 - 12:00 so we can make it there on time. I hear it is only about a few minutes walk but I hate being late for events. What time would be safe to set it up in your opinion or anyone else who did the Dolphin swim in Cabo. Thanks, Nora

We arrived the the harbor about 7:30 or 8:00 and tendering started at 8:30. The first tenders are reservered for those doing Disney sponsered excursions. If your not doing an excursion you have to go to the Walt Disney Theater to get a tender ticket and wait your turn. They had said that at peak times it could be a half hour wait but we only waited 10 minutes or so. According to the time stamp on my pictures we were off the tender at the dock by 11:00. You should be able to make it by 10:00 if you get moving faster than us in the morning.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Mazatlan - We also did our own thing in Mazatlan. I did a lot of online research before we went and mapped out a walking tour of old Mazatlan. So we got off the ship and started walking. And walking and walking and walking. Actually the walking wasn't that bad and even though there was the threat of rain, we never got more than a few sprinkles. But we found that Mazatlan is not a great city for walking and sightseeing. If we are even in Mazatlan again we will take some sort of organized tour. We walked over to the beach which I though would be nice but it was rundown and there was a lot of trash. There were several statues along the boardwalk that were interesting.

We went over to where the cliff divers are and there was a guy there getting ready to dive. But after about 10 minutes of him building up the intensity and a guy collecting tips, we decided to move on before he actually went in. Farther down the beach we cut back toward downtown aiming for the cathedral. We went through a part of town where there were no tourists other than us. I felt uncomfortable but I didn't really feel unsafe.

Finally we made it to the marketplace and the cathedral where there were many more people. The cathedral and the plaza across the street were actually very pretty. We took a bunch of pictures and then walked back to the ship.

We stopped at the shopping area right at the cruise ship terminal and picked up a couple of souveniers. I got a hand painted tile that has the Magic on it which I thought was pretty cool. We were back on the ship early enough to have some lunch and then see the 3:00 matinee of Twice Charmed.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

Hi, Well I just got a e-mail from the dolphin swim site that the Disney Cruise had booked the whole Dolphin facility so they could not get me in. Do you think they may have some spots available once we board the ship? I sure hope so. I would hate to tell my son we will not be able to to it.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

This is the painted tile that I got in Mazatlan. There was also a guy at the dock in PV painting and selling similar items.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Hi, Well I just got a e-mail from the dolphin swim site that the Disney Cruise had booked the whole Dolphin facility so they could not get me in. Do you think they may have some spots available once we board the ship? I sure hope so. I would hate to tell my son we will not be able to to it.

What a bummer! Definitely check when you get onboard to see if there are any openings. We booked the dolphin swim on our own in PV but it was a different facility than Disney was using.

 

[vossjemi]

Did you go to Sea Life Park in PV? If so, did you like it? How much was the taxi fare? We plan to go there in Aug and would love some feedback! Thanks!

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Did you go to Sea Life Park in PV? If so, did you like it? How much was the taxi fare? We plan to go there in Aug and would love some feedback! Thanks!

Yes, we went to Sea Life Park and we really enjoyed it. We paid $20 to get there and $25 back to the ship. I will posting more about that tonight.

 

[justmestace]

Sheila, I love your pictures so far! I didn't download mine while we were gone, will have to do it today or tomorrow.
I'm glad you did a report, since you did different things than what we did.

Someone had asked about the water taxi's in Cabo. We were at Lover's Beach also, and even if your taxi didn't come back, there are several of them in and out of the beach area all the time....at least every 5 minutes, and they sit out in the water just a little ways, so you can flag one down any time you need one.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Puerto Vallarta - DH and I got up early on PV day and went up on deck to watch the ship dock. When we first got up on deck it was still dark and there were very few people out and about. After we docked, the Vision of the Seas, which followed the same itinerary all week, pulled in behind us.

I booked dolphin swims and encounters directly with Sea Life Park. I went this route because it was less expensive than DCL plus their minimum age for the encounter is 1 so the baby could participate. Not only could she participate but she was free. So way back in February I booked the swim for DH and the 2 big girls and the encounter for me and the baby. In April DH had surgery on his arm and still cannot put pressure on it so he ended up doing the encounter and I did the swim. The total price we paid was $372. Just a note if you book an encounter for a child under 5 who is free - When I booked I listed the baby but put a note on the reservation that she was under 5 and free just as they said to do on their website. When I received my confirmation email, I replied back asking about the baby being free because they charged me for her. They gave me a credit but did charge me a 10% fee. So we did end up paying $6 for her. I see that they now say on their website to not include any children under 5 on the reservation and if you do you will be charged and will not receive a refund. Instead you should send them an email asking to add the child after the reservation has been made. So in all including transportation we paid $417 for our dolphin programs which would have been $650 through DCL not including the baby.

I wanted to make sure that we got there in time so we left the ship around 9:30. When we were disembarking the ship we ran into another family that was also going to Sea Life Park so we shared a van with them. They quoted us $35 for all of us but I only had a $20 so that's what we paid. The van was comfortable and had seatbelts and the driving was much better than what I have experienced in other ports. PV is built up much more than the other ports. Across the street from the port is a Walmart and Sam's Club and on the way to Sea Life Park we passed Home Depot. On the way back to the ship I saw a Chuck E Cheez.

We arrived at Sea Life Park by 10:00 and checked in. When you check in they give you a wrist band that allows you to use all of the facilities. We still had another hour until our 11am appointment so we looked around and tried out the water slides. There were about 6 or 8 slides that were open and there was a little kids area. Some areas were a little rundown but you could see that they are trying to make improvements as they were painting and making repairs. The only thing that was questionable to me was the water in the kids play area didn't look very clean. There is also some play equipment, Little Tikes type stuff, around the park so this could be a great place for a family with small children to spend the day.

When it was time we went to the meeting place for the dolphins and waited until it was our turn. They took all of us at once (swim and encounter) to an area to get life jackets. They had free lockers in the bathrooms to store your stuff. After everyone had life jackets they tooks us to another area for a short orientation. We then went to the pool where we met our dolphins. The encounter and swim were in the same pool just a short distance from each other. There were also other groups there who I believe were from the Vision of the Seas. For the swim we got to kiss and dance with the dolphins, we were pushed on a boogie board, and we did the "belly ride" where we were pulled by the dolphin while holding the fins. There was only one other family of 4 in our group for the swim. The encounter also did the kisses and the handshake and had plenty of time to pet the dolphins. I was so happy when I looked over and saw the baby smiling when the dolphin was in front of her. It was over all too quickly and we said goodbye to the dolphins and turned in our life jackets. In the gift shop at the front of the park they display your photos and videos for purchase. I ended up buying a photo of each of us and the video for each program. After the dolphin programs we spent a little more time on the water slides and then decided we wanted to go back to the ship to eat.

There were taxis waiting outside the park and they told us it would be $25 to go back to the ship. I felt that was high but didn't want to barter so we went with that. This time we were in a small car and the driver was a little more agressive.

Back on the ship we showered and changed and ate some lunch. After lunch and some ice cream we went back on shore to the small shopping area at the port. It seemed to me that all of the shops had similar stuff and the owners all were outside the small shops approaching us and wanting us to go in. It only took a few minutes of this for me to be done and want to go back to the ship so we purchased a couple of things and left. On the way back to the ship an iguana ran across the path and then posed for a photo or two.

Cabo was my favorite port in 2005 and was again this trip but PV was a close 2nd. There is a lot to do and I would love to take a trip up into the mountains. Maybe some day I'll be brave enough to try the zip lines.

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

There's a note on the website to be aware of the time zone. Is the Sea Life Park on the same time as the ship?? I don't want to be late for our encounter.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

There's a note on the website to be aware of the time zone. Is the Sea Life Park on the same time as the ship?? I don't want to be late for our encounter.

The ship is on the same time zone as PV and Sea Life Park. I was worried about that too and felt better when I saw the time on the big flashing marquee across the street at the port and it was the same time as the ship.

 

[vossjemi]

Great pictures & review of Sea Life Park. Do you think our kids will be disappointed with the Encounter only? You see my son is 6 and my daugher 8. She could do the swim, but frankly she is the more skiddish one who would be afraid to do it. My son would do anything, but thinking both tours would be all in the same pool area, I knew if I had my kids doing different things, it would be "its not fair" thing, so I just booked all 4 of us for the encounter. I read one poster wrote they called and their 6 year old gs was allowed to do the sea lion swim even though he was supposed to be 8, but then they had to argue with the manager when they got there to do that. Since I didn't want that battle, I just signed us all up for the encounter. Will my 6 and 8 year olds be disappointed with that? I hope not. I'm not really sure either of them would do the swim anyway. I just never know what is going to make them nervous, but my son is definitely the more adventurous one.