We did excursions each at each port. Enjoyed two of the three, heres the details on what they were:
Las Caletas Hideaway (Puerto Vallarta) - My wife and DS5 did this and we loved it. Your board a boat that docks next to the Magic and take it one hour past central PV to the isolated town of Las Caletas which is reachable only by water. The boat ride was fine, the tour crew put in a show that helped pass the time and a bar was open. Once we arrived there were many activities which you can optionally join from swimming, snorkeling, hiking, and also massage. We just found a shady spot with a hammock and my son played in the water. This was a perfect day for us.
The who area and beach wasn't that crowded and there were no beggars to deal with. The lunch was prepared in a several nice spots. It was excellent. Chicken, fish, beans. Especially the amazing tortilla's that were scratch made on flat iron stoves. Eating this greta food with a dash of the fresh salsa and a cold beer was heaven
. All food and drink were complementary. There were some jelly fish to watch out for during snorkeling but we never had a problem in the swimming area. We highly reccomend this excursion
Stone Island Beach Adventure (Mazatlan) - First you ride a ferry 5 min across to the other side of the harbor to Stone Island were they put you in tractor pulled trailers that take you to the beach. These trailers are crude but serviceable transportation devices which take you ten minutes through town and then a Stone Island beach restaurant. Stone Island looks to be run down beach destination. The island is very poor and you will see some styles of living that stateside folks are probably unaccustomed to. Say hi to the pig in someones yard as you roll by. I found it educational for my son, who later told me how much he appreciated our town.
Don't let the trip through shantytown put you off, once you get to the beach its worth it. The beach was endless with no one was within sight to the south.
The beach restaurant was fine had plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas which we all dragged out onto the beach proper. The restaurant had a sign saying not to do this but everyone ignored it wanting to be close to the shore. However being on the main beach allowed the beggars to descend on us, but they were easily waved away. The water was very warm and outstanding for swimming. The beach had a slow drop off so my DS5 could go out quite far. They had various activities (no parasailing) to choose from which cost extra. Two interesting options were boogie boards ($5) and ATV's
($25). My DS5 got a boogie board as had a blast. The food was cranked up about 1pm and the bar was open. Food was good. All was complementary, but if you wanted Guacamole as we did it was ($3). Food was fine, not as good as in Las Caletas but still just fine. They ended the day with Pinata for kids which was fun. We had a great day and thought this was a fine adventure. Loved it.
Cabo Resort Pool Getaway(Cabo San Lucas) - Here we put on a bus a driven 5 minutes up a hill to the Finestra Resort. Which is a fancy ocean side resort in Cabo. We were escorted through the resort to a pool and party area that while very nice. However this excursion immedialy failed to compare to the previous two. First one can't swim oceanside here as the currents are too strong. We knew this in advance but after such gorgeous warm beach water in MZ and PV we were spolied. Second the pool was not heated. Our day was sunny but very windy so coast side of Cabo was the wrong place to be. It was just too cold. Most people went only in the hot tub, and then headed in for lunch. Lunch turned out to be brunch. Very nicely done but I felt like I was back on the ship at breakfast buffet (fresh fruit and made to order pancakes) and longed for the hand cooked real Mexican food we had previously. Bar was weak as well. Charged us $3 for bottled water and only had mimosa's. We ate quickly and decided our limited time in port was better spent in town. We bailed out (after telling our guides) by going into the lobby of hotel and riding their free shuttle into town.
Later we found out that the beach break would have put us bay side where we could swim or its a short walk to the family beach from the dock.
In any case I dont recommend this excursion.
Glass Bottom Boat <unofficial excursion in Cabo> - The Cabo port is very modern and just gorgeous. You can just walk around the whole port in 10 min via a new walkway and then head through one of the hotels into town for some shopping.
In the harbor we stumbled across a much better adventure for only $10 a person. There are blue glass bottom boats which will take you out of the harbor for a gorgeous spin of the cliffs, rocks, lovers beach
and finnaly the famous arch. It took less than an hour and was just the greatest. We got the best photos of our trip by doing this. They also would drop you off at lovers beach if you wanted and get you later. There are some muchachos there that cary those to the shore who don't want to get wet for $3.
We didn't get off but some people on our boat did.
Three general comments:
- Everyone takes $, actual peso's are optional in most cases.
- You need to have $ before boarding the ship. ATMs were not in the ports or at any of our excursions. Ship has no ATM.
- If you get bit by jellyfish the tour guides have a treatment that involves WD40
