Hi all! We just returned from a fabulous time aboard the Magic.. and since we definitely benefitted from all the information I had picked up on here before we left, I thought Id leave a few comments/reviews for the next happy travelers. For starters... though the process is apparently totally different here than in Florida, Ive never seen such an easy and quick disembarkation. We were sent to breakfast at assigned times this morning, and given a sticker. While at breakfast, our group was cleared to leave. Within 5 minutes we were through customs, had our luggage and were out the door. I was stunned.
Like a couple other people have said, my husband and I agree we might not get off the boat in Mazatlan were we to do this again. The excursion we took (Hacienda Las Moras Horseback Riding) was very badly run, we waited over an hour to get on the horses because the owners were arguing with our tour guides over how to handle the fact that there were 17 in our group and only 15 horses... but even though they were obviously going to have to send out two groups, they didnt want to send out the first one unless it had exactly 15 people, which would have meant a family would have had to get split up.. a big mess, and none of it spoken in a word of english, so we all just stood around in the heat waiting. Then they brought out horses and pointed (again, no english, no instructions, and no attempt to match horses with riders as advertised)... also, despite the booklet claiming helmets would be provided, there were only 5 helmets to go around ... and with no help from the "guides", I can tell you I didnt want to be without one. The horses didnt seem especially well cared for either. To top it off, the excursion is supposed to include a couple hours to relax at the pool after the ride, but because of the delay, by the time we finished the ride, the big hacienda party tours that just come for the afternoon had shown up, so the pool was too full to even want to bother getting in. Definitely would say you should pass on that one, though we let the Shore Excursions Desk know about the problems and within a day they investigated and were assured that the confusionand delay would not happen next week. I hope theyre right.
By contrast, Cabo San Lucas was **wonderful**, and anyone even remotely interested should book the Chileno Bay Sail & Snorkel. Ive not had that nice a time on an excursion anywhere else Ive been. Plenty to eat and drink, really friendly helpful crew, and water so beautiful you could see the fish quite well from the boat if you didnt ultimately want to get in the somewhat cold water. There were several little kids who didnt want to go in, and the crew gave them bananas to break up and toss overboard, which made the fish come right up to water level... it was great... and its a lovely stroll to town from the pier... that was definitely our best day.
The new show, Twice Charmed, is great... and Palo (as pretty much everyone here knows) is incredible. I wouldnt pass up the Baked Alaska on the final night, either.
Hope this helps someone else... thanks for all the great info Ive gotten from all of you!
Jessica
