What did you do in Acapulco??????

[sejejoemmiev]

I would like to hear what everyone did on their Acapulco day in port and if you enjoyed it. I would like to hear about any/all DCL excursions and also if you spent the day exploring on your own. Looking for some good suggestions on how to spend my day. I have heard only negative reviews about the DCL Cliff Divers excursion. Did anyone enjoy themselves in port on this day?

 

[ragdoll]

DH and I just wanted to just walk around a bit. The taxi drivers would not leave us alone. The vendors were horrible. We went back to the ship to enjoy the view and the uncrowded pools. IMO the only good thing about Acapulco was the view from the ship. It was very pretty. From all of the horror stories I heard I feel that the vendors did us a favor by scaring us back to the ship. We ended up having a very nice day.

It's a shame that these vendors don't realize that you might actually buy something if they would just leave you alone.

 

[DCL Repeaters]

We enjoyed a lovely, quiet day on the ship. We were on the Aug '05 repo and after a terrible excursion in Acapulco then, we decided that if we ever returned that we'd stay on the ship.

 

[granmaz]

We actually had a good guide on the City Tour and cliff divers trip. I think it was just the length of the whole trip, lack of interesting information on the town, and the delays in the extreme heat at the Cliff Divers hotel. I don't think the cligg diver's problem was the tour company's fault though. Vendors were a pain, though you can't help feeling a bit sorry for them as I guess the town is in decline.

 

[outahere]

DH and I just wanted to just walk around a bit. The taxi drivers would not leave us alone. The vendors were horrible. We went back to the ship to enjoy the view and the uncrowded pools. IMO the only good thing about Acapulco was the view from the ship. It was very pretty. From all of the horror stories I heard I feel that the vendors did us a favor by scaring us back to the ship. We ended up having a very nice day.

It's a shame that these vendors don't realize that you might actually buy something if they would just leave you alone.

We had a very similar experience on the EB repo in 2005. We were constantly hassled as soon as we walked out of the building at the port. I think we were back on the ship within 10 minutes of leaving. Plus..... having a lot of pretty heavily armed police patrolling right by the ship, didn't exactly give us a "warm and fuzzy" feeling. We enjoyed the less crowded ship.

I'm sure some people probably had good excursions, but we didn't hear too many people raving about Acapulco.

 

[linuxwebguy]

We had a very similar experience on the EB repo in 2005. We were constantly hassled as soon as we walked out of the building at the port. I think we were back on the ship within 10 minutes of leaving. Plus..... having a lot of pretty heavily armed police patrolling right by the ship, didn't exactly give us a "warm and fuzzy" feeling. We enjoyed the less crowded ship.

I'm sure some people probably had good excursions, but we didn't hear too many people raving about Acapulco.

Ditto. I did the cliff divers and city tour, and it left a lot to be desired. Street vendors, a crazy tour bus, lots and lots of people, it just wasn't very fun. Acapulco (along with Aruba) was probably my least favorite port, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta put them to shame!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Ditto. I did the cliff divers and city tour, and it left a lot to be desired. Street vendors, a crazy tour bus, lots and lots of people, it just wasn't very fun. Acapulco (along with Aruba) was probably my least favorite port, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta put them to shame!

What did you not like about Aruba? I have never been there.

 

[lillygator]

we rented a taxi to La Perla for the cliff diver show and then we walked all around the flea market and found a spot of lunch.

 

[Skallywag]

How did you find out the time for the diving show - Disney will not tell us and are being very evasive. After reading everything think I am more concerned than ever about this stop.
Bren

 

[Denine]

We were on the EB '05 cruise. We did the cliff divers and it was awful. I got the worst food poisioning from the food at the restaurant. The city tour was bad too. I have no desire to ever go back there.

 

[lauritagoddess]

Did anyone do the Acapulco beach break?

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We were on the 05 EB PC cruise. I was extremely nervous off the ship but I did enjoy grabbing a taxi and going to see the night divers. I know you guys don't have that luxury but I think that you would enjoy the day diving as well. I felt that we wouldn't go back to Acapulco and I didn't want to be sorry that I missed the divers. We DID NOT eat there because of reviews.

 

[linuxwebguy]

What did you not like about Aruba? I have never been there.

I don't want to hijack the thread ...

... but Aruba just wasn't much fun for me. The Jeep/Land Rover excursion was hot, dusty, and pretty boring. I enjoyed seeing the California Lighthouse and the church, but the rest was... boring. Then we had lunch and the afternoon at De Palm Island, which was pretty boring as well. They had a buffet lunch (we got there at 1:30pm), but very little seating. The buffet lunch was... blah (not much compares to the cruise ship dining). I wasn't really all that excited about De Palm Island, they did do snorkling and such, but I would have rather brought my own than used provided ones used by who-knows-who, and supposedly disinfected, but you never know.

We cut out of our excursion early, took a cab back to the ship, walked around the shops, but the shopping was wwwaaayyy overpriced by about 3x. My dad was looking for a camcorder battery, found one for $150 where they're usually around $50. I didn't even bother asking how much a camera lens for my D40x might run.

 

[linuxwebguy]

How did you find out the time for the diving show - Disney will not tell us and are being very evasive. After reading everything think I am more concerned than ever about this stop.
Bren

In my case, it was part of the city tour. They brought us to the cliff divers' hotel place, and we caught the next show. I think the shows ran like every 30-45 minutes, something like that.

If I was on a cruise that stopped at Acapulco, I'd just stay on the ship.

 

[slaclandry]

Hi, we were on the repo in 2005, we had a great time in acapulco. I checked out cruise critic for lots of info. we got a taxi, and had booked a room for the day at The Acapulco Princess Hotel (checked out trip advisor), the pool and ocean were great. We returned to the boat late in the afternoon. We took a taxi to the cliff diving that night. The cliff diving is not to be missed. We were never hassled. HTH.

 

[Niagara2]

We did the August 2005 repo and the Dis team from Ship of Fools did a great job of preplanning the day and evening. We were under the watchful eye of our full of information friend that is with the Port Authority Roberto ::cop: . We met the other Dis'ers at the Shot Over Jet. That was a blast. Then we took a taxi (and there was a demonstartion going on stopping traffic, but we made it.) and saw the cliff divers. We went to the restaurant and got a table side seat, ordered a few margaritas, and had the free chips and salsa which was very good. Watched the show and our driver was waiting to take us back to the ship. We did a bit of the flea market too. That night our good friend from the port authority Roberto met us outside and we prepaid and prearranged with him for a bar hopping bus full of dis'ers!. We had a local with us, in fact two, who watched over us all night. (Plus Roberto who partied with us all!) As we stepped onto the bus, specially arranged fireworks went off. We went to 4-5 places, the first drink was included. We loved the evening. It got to be more than we are use to, and found a cab back to the ship after the 5th stop. It was so much fun and we felt so safe with our two guardians.
Our day was full, we saw and learned much about the island. I think pre plannning and doing things in groups made it wonderful. It was a beautiful island and we personally met many nice people.
With all that being said, we are again on the Repo in August!! We have not yet planned anything but hope to see the cliff divers again and the fort this time. I think the port authority expert and friend Roberto and the ship of fools group made this one of our favorite ports that trip. We are hoping for more of the same this year. Roberto - I still have the shirt you gave me. It is such a great souvenir!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Did anyone do DCL's, Ancient Petroglyphs of Palma Sola Excursion in Acapulco????????? We are interested in doing this but would like some feedback first.