Mexican Reviera port adventures.

[Super*Mum]

I guess that it must really depend upon how booked the resort is as to what the Pool Resort Get-Away is like because your experience is exactly the opposite of ours!! The place was empty and we had our choice of loungers, were often the only ones in the pools and had the waiters attention so easily - he was there with new drinks anytime we even got close to the end of ours!!

Thank you for the info. We have this one booked in two weeks. Were the pools heated? And did I spot a swim-up-bar in the photos on TripAdvisor? I think my DS would love the idea of swimming up to get a smoothie.

 

[girl_barrie]

Thank you for the info. We have this one booked in two weeks. Were the pools heated? And did I spot a swim-up-bar in the photos on TripAdvisor? I think my DS would love the idea of swimming up to get a smoothie.

Not sure if the pools were ???? heated ???? It was a really hot day. Maybe just the ambient temperature, maybe heated??? Either way they were just the right temperature for us.
YES!! There is a swim up bar - as well as built in loungers and tables IN THE POOL!!!
We liked it so much that we booked it again for our Halloween cruise!

 

[girl_barrie]

Sorry, duplicate post!!

 

[silence]

Thank you for the info. We have this one booked in two weeks. Were the pools heated? And did I spot a swim-up-bar in the photos on TripAdvisor? I think my DS would love the idea of swimming up to get a smoothie.

For us, one pool was MUCH warmer than the other (the one with the waterfall was much cooler). It was a little windy that day, they said that it was the coolest day they had in Cabo that week (president's day week).

 

[silence]

We also LOVED these excursions when we did the MR cruise in Feb. We are booked for another MR cruise in Feb 2012 and we also rebooked the Paradise Beach Get Away in PV. We wished we could have stayed longer at this resort! My kids still talk about this excursion all the time. They can't wait to get back to the pool slide and the ocean. I can't wait either. In fact, I wish we were stopping twice in PV instead of twice in Cabo!

I actually won the "raffle" for the free week stay. Too bad you had to use it within a year and it is non transferrable. My poor certificate will go to waste. It was exciting to hear my name called though!

 

[silence]

I guess that it must really depend upon how booked the resort is as to what the Pool Resort Get-Away is like because your experience is exactly the opposite of ours!! The place was empty and we had our choice of loungers, were often the only ones in the pools and had the waiters attention so easily - he was there with new drinks anytime we even got close to the end of ours!!

Oh that must have been nice! The resort was beautiful. But, like I said, we had a bus full of people and they had less than 10 loungers if I recall for us to use. That just wasn't going to work! I grabbed the only chair/table that was open, hotel guests either occupied or had the other loungers saved. The poor tour guide was so frustrated trying to coordinate with the hotel staff to find some place for everyone to sit. We booked this one at the last minute, because we had so much fun in PV on that excursion. The Beach Resort was sold out early on, and most everyone else decided to opt for this one. They don't have water slides here, when we asked on the boat they weren't sure. Since my kids spent the day on the slides the day before, they were sad this hotel didn't have any. It just felt like the longest day ever. I really wanted to just walk back down the hill or catch a cab!

 

[mom2aidanNpiper]

Here's our review on the excursions we did:

My extensive blog (read all the way down, as it goes backwards, per day- with links to photobucket pics as well at: http://ouradventuresasatrio.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=13

PV: We did the Outdoor Adventure (left the kids on the boat and they were more than happy there We had a blast! It was challenging (not so much physically but getting over my fears for sure). It included a boat ride, uimog ride, mule riding up a mountain, ziplining, watefall rappeling, straight free fall rappeling, and hiking (through water and land). Amazing- and the CD was CHEAP at the end (at least by Disney standards!!- it was $56 for over a hundred pics total of us, and some stock shots).

Cabo Day 1: We went off on our own (via a land taxi, as my kids don't like small boats- it was $8 total each way) to Medano Beach Club. We had read over on the cruise critic Mexico Port boards to go there if you have kids, as its at the end of the beaches and away from the spring break type crowds. It was nice. I think for the whole day we spent about $75 ($16 of that was the total taxi money). We had 3 alcoholic drinks each there, kids had soda and bottled water and we all had lunch. Amazing food and great value. We had a table on the sand with big umbrellas for shade. Great service there as well, and the kids played on the beach. Warning though- the waves are INTENSE. Even ankle deep water almost washed people (adults) out. I would not let me kids get wet at all or even near the shore line by themselves.

Cabo Day 2: We had a Disney Excursion- the San Jose del Cabo shopping/city tour. This was ok. I am glad we got out of Cabo San Lucas and saw a more "real" Cabo. There were 2 stops- one at more of a touristy market (but very quiet), and the second was a longer stop in the heart of the town square (they dropped you off and you had an hour or so to go wander). We walked around, went to the fountain, the church, walked through shops, went to the ice cream shop, etc. We did get some nice glassware on this excursion, as well as typical trinkets. We did like that in the second stop not many of the locals spoke english (so glad my fiance did a foreign exchange in Mexico when he was younger and still speaks fluent Spanish!). My kids liked this excursion but were bored on the bus (the giude was amazing, very informative and funny but the kids weren't paying attention and his accent was really heavy).

For lots more info, and pics click on my blog link above

 

[TiggerAllie]

Jess-- thanks so much for the PV Outdoor Adventure review!

We're doing the 6-day in Jan and definitely want to do one of the zipline adventures:
PV Outdoor Adventure
PV Canopy Adventure
Cabo Canopy Adventure
Anyone else have any experiences with the other two, comparisons, or thoughts on why you picked one over the other?

For the other port day (either PV or Cabo, depending) we are considering either something with horseback riding or a beach day that would substitute for Castaway Cay... horseback options:
PV Sea Safari: Horseback Riding, Snorkeling and Paradise Beaches
PV Tropical Rainforest by Horseback
Cabo Pacific Side Horseback Riding

Beach options... ?

I'm not so good with small boats (sea-sickness/motion-sickness), but I can tolerate it somewhat (though I don't want anything where the boat ride is the major part of the excursion).

Thanks in advance for the input!

 

[amyabella]

Thank you for all the infomation. We are doing our first disney cruise in November.

 

[Super*Mum]

Not sure if the pools were ???? heated ???? It was a really hot day. Maybe just the ambient temperature, maybe heated??? Either way they were just the right temperature for us.
YES!! There is a swim up bar - as well as built in loungers and tables IN THE POOL!!!
We liked it so much that we booked it again for our Halloween cruise!

Now this sounds AMAZING! Laying a pool enjoying a pina colada? Yeah.. best idea ever. Thank you for the info!!!!

For us, one pool was MUCH warmer than the other (the one with the waterfall was much cooler). It was a little windy that day, they said that it was the coolest day they had in Cabo that week (president's day week).

Thank you! I'll pack small hoodies in case we have a cool day.

 

[mom2aidanNpiper]

Jess-- thanks so much for the PV Outdoor Adventure review!

We're doing the 6-day in Jan and definitely want to do one of the zipline adventures:
PV Outdoor Adventure
PV Canopy Adventure
Cabo Canopy Adventure
Anyone else have any experiences with the other two, comparisons, or thoughts on why you picked one over the other?

For the other port day (either PV or Cabo, depending) we are considering either something with horseback riding or a beach day that would substitute for Castaway Cay... horseback options:
PV Sea Safari: Horseback Riding, Snorkeling and Paradise Beaches
PV Tropical Rainforest by Horseback
Cabo Pacific Side Horseback Riding

Beach options... ?

I'm not so good with small boats (sea-sickness/motion-sickness), but I can tolerate it somewhat (though I don't want anything where the boat ride is the major part of the excursion).

Thanks in advance for the input!

Hi! There were a cpl people on outdoor adventure (BTW did you read the long blog entry I did on it? Lots of info- esp about the boat ride part and a link to great pics who had done the canopy tour prior and said at the end the outdoor adventure was SO much better. I dvr'd a Cabo weekend special that Sam Brown did where she ziplined there (with the same company that Disney uses, Vallarta/Cabo Adventures) ad it looked cool but very dif landscaping. Cabo is desert, PV is jungle canopy. Check out their site directly for good descriptions and video as well as course maps, etc. This is the link for PV, the Cabo link is at the very bottom of their site: https://www.vallarta-adventures.com/?gclid=CPTUmJnHk6sCFR5UgwodIEtzuQ

Also- that link is the site for the Las Caletas excursion as well (same company)- for those wanting to look at that site

 

[DesignerDestinations]

Fun place to eat is at The Office in Cabo! Take water taxi from Marina and ask to be dropped off at The Office. Beach Front, fun, happening place. Don't sit near the edge or the vendors can really bother you. Can't imagine going to Cabo and missing that! Also you can hotel hop. The mall at the Marina is more high end, but great place to have drinks and such!

 

[TiggerAllie]

Hi! There were a cpl people on outdoor adventure (BTW did you read the long blog entry I did on it? Lots of info- esp about the boat ride part and a link to great pics who had done the canopy tour prior and said at the end the outdoor adventure was SO much better. I dvr'd a Cabo weekend special that Sam Brown did where she ziplined there (with the same company that Disney uses, Vallarta/Cabo Adventures) ad it looked cool but very dif landscaping. Cabo is desert, PV is jungle canopy. Check out their site directly for good descriptions and video as well as course maps, etc. This is the link for PV, the Cabo link is at the very bottom of their site: https://www.vallarta-adventures.com/?gclid=CPTUmJnHk6sCFR5UgwodIEtzuQ

Also- that link is the site for the Las Caletas excursion as well (same company)- for those wanting to look at that site

Jess- I did read your blog post-- it was great! Were those pictures from you or the ones from the company? I was a little worried about all the cuts and bruises you got... We have done zipline trips before (HI) but they didn't result in injury! Also, how extensive was the boat portion of the adventure?

I'll search for the S Brown Cabo zipline show. Since both the Cabo and PV ziplines were called "canopy" adventure, it made them both sound rainforest-y. Is the link the Outdoor or Canopy adventure site? (Are they the same company?)

Thank you so much for the info! I was thinking we may just have to stay on the boat, but this sounds pretty safe and out of the way of any trouble.

 

[been2marceline]

We're doing the MR in November.

For those of you who have done the Pool Resort, was it either of the Finisterra or the Playa Grande that they took you too? One of the PP photos looks like the Playa while the DCL website is showing the Finisterra.

If it was one of those, was it a bad or good experience you had?

 

[silence]

I honestly can't remember the resort name. Here an old thread with pictures from my original review of this excursion...maybe that will help?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2663197

 

[mom2aidanNpiper]

Jess- I did read your blog post-- it was great! Were those pictures from you or the ones from the company? I was a little worried about all the cuts and bruises you got... We have done zipline trips before (HI) but they didn't result in injury! Also, how extensive was the boat portion of the adventure?

I'll search for the S Brown Cabo zipline show. Since both the Cabo and PV ziplines were called "canopy" adventure, it made them both sound rainforest-y. Is the link the Outdoor or Canopy adventure site? (Are they the same company?)

Thank you so much for the info! I was thinking we may just have to stay on the boat, but this sounds pretty safe and out of the way of any trouble.

All the adventures are run through the same company that I linked earlier- one is the canopy, one is outdoor adventure and then the Cabo one you have to go to their Cabo site (link at the bottom on their home page).

The cuts/bruises I got, well none of them were from the zipline! lol. The bruises on my thighs were from the long mule ride (about a half an hour of rough riding, but we got fiesty mules), I got a couple cuts from my losing my footing on the water fall rappel (then my body slamming into the rocks in front of me), and then cut my ankle really bad when I rappeled into the river and was crawling out of it onto the bank and lost my footing (that one left a scar!). It was defintely intense, but by the next day in Cabo I had forgotten mostly about it

The boat ride was about a half an hour. It was a small boat and really fast which I personally didn't like (the only thing I didn't like about the whole thing), but I kept my head down, eyes closed and held onto my DF for life

The entire excursion ran about 6 1/2 hours

The pictures were all from the company. All personal items, including cameras are left at base camp (you need to bring a change of clothes, shoes, a towel, etc in a backpack- we got drenched up to our ears in water when we landed in the river).

 

[been2marceline]

I honestly can't remember the resort name. Here an old thread with pictures from my original review of this excursion...maybe that will help?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2663197

That's the Playa Grande - Thanks!

Hopefully its the same one for November!

 

[twindaddy]

That's the Playa Grande - Thanks!

Hopefully its the same one for November!

I am looking at the current list of shore excursion for PV, and all I see is Paradise Village...that is different, right? It looks pretty cool!

 

[silence]

I am looking at the current list of shore excursion for PV, and all I see is Paradise Village...that is different, right? It looks pretty cool!

Yes, Paradise Village is in Puerta Vallarta. This was our FAVORITE excursion. SO much to do.

The review and pictures I posted were from Cabo.

 

[girl_barrie]

I am looking at the current list of shore excursion for PV, and all I see is Paradise Village...that is different, right? It looks pretty cool!

The Playa Grande is in Cabo. That may be it.