Pirate Tour in Puerta Vallarta - children under 3???

[calmom]

Anyone been or is going on the Pirate tour? We booked the tour through Disney, and Disney says that under 5 are not allowed. So we were going to have our 2 year old go in the nursery. But now that I look at the website of the company one thread says Disney uses marigalante*com*mx/default*asp (*=. ) , the company says under 3 is free. So I emailed them, and they said under 3 can go, but they didn't clarify whether or not they are the company Disney is using. Can anyone clarify? If the tour company allows under 3, why would Disney not? We really would like to take our 2 year old. Any past experience greatly appreciated! Thanks, Lisa

 

[LiserAnn]

It's my understanding DCL went and checked out all the excursions they offer, before offering them. When DCL sets the ages, they have their own requirements which can be different than the tour operators and they also have their liability concerns, which moreover probably affects their age decision. Having said that, we have a DS3 and DS7 and our DCL cruise is July 30th. We've book the Pirate Sail, but not through DCL--we booked it through www. vallartaonline. com. We saved about $52 for our family of four. I did a lot of research on cruisecritic.com and "met" people who did this excursion with children younger than three without any problems or issues. Everyone said it's a ton of fun! The one thing I have been told, more than once, is that because it's a smaller boat, it rocks both front and back AND side to side so it's recommended you take bonine or draminine. The people who did the excursion took those precautions beforehand and they weren't sick but for some who didn't, they were sick (I heard something like 20 people on one excursion). Good luck with whatever you decide!

HTH,
Lisa

 

[calmom]

Thanks Lisa,
So the tour you booked - do you think it is the same ship that the Disney one uses? So you will be on board with other people who booked w/Disney? It would be a lot cheaper to book directly (we'd save about $100). Have you looked into transportation to the pirate ship? Thanks for the tip on the rocking - Lisa

 

[LiserAnn]

It's the identical ship...it's called the Marigalante. You don't need transportation to the pirate excursion because the boat is in the same area as the Magic will be. Basically you disembark and head out and you'll see the Captain of the pirate ship waiting at the dock (at least that's how it was explained to me). More than likely there will be other Magic passengers who booked through DCL heading in the same direction. Vallartaonline is completely legit, they're a large company in PV. Hopefully they'll have availability for you. I booked quite a while ago...oh and you do have to pay upfront and there's a cancellation fee if you cancel. That's the down side, if you book through DCL and for some reason they can't dock or dock late, they guarantee the excursions and you won't have to pay anything. If you book on your own, you're out of luck-that's the risk you take. For us it is a worthwhile risk and if we lose our money, oh well! Oh, and they accept pretty much all credit cards.

Lisa

 

[LiserAnn]

Lisa-also, check out this trip report that was on the trip report thread. They gave a review of the pirate sail excursion:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=852287

 

[calmom]

Thanks a lot - I called Disney and they won't confirm with me that it is the same ship. I want to book directly now, but my sister is going w/her kids (and she has booked w/Disney) so I don't want to not be with her. I can't understand why Disney won't let us take the younger ones if the tour company takes liability for it. Thanks again. Lisa

 

[Monstro]

Everyone said it's a ton of fun!

The one thing I have been told, more than once, is that because it's a smaller boat, it rocks both front and back AND side to side so it's recommended you take bonine or draminine.

The people who did the excursion took those precautions beforehand and they weren't sick but for some who didn't, they were sick (I heard something like 20 people on one excursion). Good luck with whatever you decide!

HTH,
Lisa

We went on this excursion and there was about 15 of us who insisted they return us to port in a speed boat. Maybe we are the party you heard about. Fifteen people would not get back on the pirate ship after the beach. I was one of them. I took draminine and it didn't work. My dd who is 12 and my dfl got seasick as well. My daughter was in tears - wanting to jump in the ocean - just to get off the pirate ship.

I guses this excursion could be fun for some people, but make sure you know what your getting into - and that it is what you want to do. You have a 3 and 1/2 hour boat ride for 2 hours of beach time. They overfill the capacity of the pirate ship and you eat in rotation "down below" in the galley. The beach lis nice, but you are only allowed to be on the sourthern half of it. The rest of the beach is private property. The biggest complaint is that htere are no restrooms on the beach. The staff is very accomidating and friendly.

We had 19 in our party on the Disney Cruise - 11 adults and 8 kids. We all went on this excursion - none of the adults (including my 17 year old) would recommend this excursion to anyone. In fact, we all put comments on our survey card how disappointing it was.

I don't want to rain all bad news....I'm sure there are people who have a lot of fun on this excursion. I'd just caution you to make sure this is what you want to do.

Jeff

 

[LiserAnn]

Lisa-yep, Disney won't confirm if it's the same, but it is. Someone else in our group tried calling Disney and they wouldn't confirm because they want you to book it through them. But the Marigalante will confirm it, and the those who went on it through DCL confirmed for me the ship is called the Marigalante, so they're one in the same. In terms of liability, I think if you book through DCL ultimately the liability rests with them, which is why they're so picky about it.

Monstro-I think your excursion was the one I heard about people being so sick. I wonder if there were more rough waters than normal that day? Who knows. I'm sorry to hear it was such a disaster for your group. On another thread someone posted something I agree with--excursions are so individual/personal...one person will say they hated it while another will say they loved it. I've "spoken" to several who felt sick (but didn't actually get sick) yet they'd do it again; I've spoken to several who were very firm on not ever setting foot on the Marigalante again; and moreover, I spoken with those (on cruisecritic.com) who had a great experience and would recommend it. That seems to be the majority. I'm hoping we'll have a great time, but my family and the group we're going with have agreed anything can happen (on any excursion really) and we consider ourselves dually warned...in other words, if we hate it, we have no room to complain because others have been kind enough to share their experience, and if we love it, then we fall into the majority category. Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[calmom]

Wow, thanks for the trip report. That sounds terrible. Maybe I shouldn't be so worried about getting my 2 year old on board after all! I think our boys should do fine - they have never gotten motion sickness before and have taken some rough boat rides in the past. Me, on the other hand - I'm five months pregnant! Luckily, I have some good medicine that "should" keep me in line. Thanks for the heads up, I passed it along to my sister who will be going w/us. Expectations really help, so if we expect it to be really rough maybe we will be pleasantly suprised! Lisa

 

[Monstro]

Calmom,

One thing to remember is that this is not a rough boat ride. It is a slow rocking and swaying boat ride.

I don't want to be negative - Just informative . I agree with LiserAnn - all different kinds of people can have all different kinds of experiences on the same excursion. I'm just sharing my experience for your information.

The staff on the Marigalante was very accomadating and according to some in our group, the food was very good.

I wish you all a magical excursion.
Jeff