West Coast Cruisers - Puerto Vallarta shore excursions?

[jlima]

Just looked at the info for shore excursions and I can't believe the travel times for the excursions!! All of these were copied from DU' s website.


Your unforgettable day starts with a 45 minute ride . . . You'll spend the day at the Paradise Village Beach Resort that is located 20 minutes away . . . You'll take a 20 minute ride to the center of town. . . You'll take a 50 minute ride to where the trail begins. . . You'll start with a 20 minute ride to the quaint village of Mezcales. . . You'll begin with a 5 minute boat ride that's followed by a 50 minute ride to a private reserve . . . Your adventure begins with a 90 minute catamaran ride through Banderas Bay to the Marietas Islands. . . After your 25 minute trip to the park . . . A 30 minute ride takes you to the Vallarta Adventure Dolphin Center . . . You'll take a 25 minute ride to the Nuevo Vallarta Marina. . . Accessible only by boat, this beautiful spot is a 60 minute boat ride away . . . You'll take a 20 minute ride to this tour's location . . . This unforgettable nature walk starts with a 45 minute ride along the coastal highway. . . There's lots of fun in store as you set sail for the two hour voyage to Majahuitas Beach . . .


Two hours to go to a beach? Is there anything to do in Puerto Vallarta without riding a bus or a boat somewhere? Or should we just stay on the ship? Please tell me there's something to do that's less than 20 minutes travel time.

 

[jlima]

Bumping this for an answer . . . there's got to be someone who's been to Puerto Vallarta!!!

 

[Miss Eeyore]

I've been to PV twice cruising. The times are pretty accurate. The ship docks quite a distance from the town itself, and the resorts and adventures are really a ways away. Cabo and Mazatlan are a bit different, but still nothing much right at portside except a rather tired-looking 'market."

The second time we really would not have gotten off the ship, except that some crazy lady had stolen my suitcase off the luggage carosel at LAX, and PV was the first place we landed so I could go buy necessities....

In Mazatlan we took a tour of the colonial towns....very interesting visits to brick adobe makers, silversmiths, furniture makers , tile makers and a bakery. I would have to caution you that the kids on the tour did not have such a great time, but it was fun for adults.

In Cabo, we hired a water taxi to take us out to land's end...ok only. We knew then why so many people view west coast Mexico cruises as booze cruises. The folks who had the most fun were those who took the heavily advertised dock-side excurions off to big fancy hotels, where you use their pools and sometimes their beaches. And the booze crowd enjoyed "swim-up" bars.

I don't know how DCL will do in changing this itinerary......they simply contract with the existing tour vendors. This is the main reason we would not pay a premium to take a west coasdt cruise, even if we are left coasters. By the time we would have paid for a west coast cruise, we could have paid airfare to FL and chosen a higher category, and still come out way ahead.

 

[xangav]

Miss Eeyore,
We are on the first repo cruise and I signed us up on the tour you spoke of in Mazatlan. I thought it would have some educational value for the kids since we are taking them out of school and it states that they get to make a clay momento to take home. When you took the tour about how old were the kids that went. Ours will be 8 and 13. I just want to know if it is so bad that I will have to listen to "When can we go back to the boat?" all day long?

 

[pppiglet]

Krystal Hotel day beach....10min walk from ship..go thru chain link fence flagged (or take taxi)

Found this on the cruise critic board and lots of people recommended it. I also didn't like the long travel times. We are doing the city tour in the morning (20min travel time) and then in the afternoon go to the Krystal Hotel and hang out.