Puerto Vallarta food tour off cruise ship

My friend & I are going on a PC cruise in 3 weeks on the Norwegian Star. One of the ports is Puerto Vallarta. We want to go on a food tour with puertovallartafoodtours, but their tour starts at 11 & our ship arrives in PV at 11. I have written them several emails to see if they make arrangements for cruise passengers, but I haven't gotten a response. Has anyone been on this tour? Similar circumstances? Can we make it work?? Thank you for your help & advice.

Having sent them several e mails and not having received a response would tell me something about the company.

Having sent them several e mails and not having received a response would tell me something about the company.

Call them, toll free, at 888-457-2210.

Also on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/vallartafoodtours Looks like a pretty active page.

The tourist industry in Vallarta is very adaptive to cruise ship schedules and they may delay the start of the tour or offer you the ability to join the tour in progress. One thing to note with independently booked tours is you have to go to them, transportation from the ship to the excursion location is on you. In this case, the tour gathering place is at a location in the central tourist district and is roughly a 15 minute taxi ride away from the port.

Enjoy!

We have booked through PVFood Tours and had no problems, in fact they had no tour scheduled on Tuesday, the only night we would be in PV. I called Paul the owner, via the number provided and he modified his schedule to add a Tuesday tour!

We've taken food tours for years from NYC to Singapore, and have found them to usually be the best part of our trip. There's no hard sales pitch to buy from their friends, and we always get a good perspective on the local history and customs in addition to sampling some great food. We're hoping PV Food Tours is not the exception.

They wrote me back and set up a tour just for the two of us (although if anyone else will be on our ship - they would be more than happy to add more if you call or email them -- I can even give you the link to buy the tix if you want). The tour they set up for us starts at 12 and ends at 3. Plenty of time to get to the tour and plenty of time to still enjoy downtown Puerto Vallarta. I'm SO glad they wrote back. I did put the date we'd be there in the title of the email on my latest email and that's the one I got a very fast reply to.

They wrote me back and set up a tour just for the two of us (although if anyone else will be on our ship - they would be more than happy to add more if you call or email them -- I can even give you the link to buy the tix if you want). The tour they set up for us starts at 12 and ends at 3. Plenty of time to get to the tour and plenty of time to still enjoy downtown Puerto Vallarta. I'm SO glad they wrote back. I did put the date we'd be there in the title of the email on my latest email and that's the one I got a very fast reply to.

I know this thread is 2 years old now, but I'm looking at possibly taking this tour so thought maybe you could post your experience? Or anyone else that has taken this tour recently can jump in with their thoughts.

We are docked from 8 to 5 so my situation is a little different. With it starting at 11, I'm not really sure what we should do. Did you take a taxi and then walk back to the ship? I'm not sure we'd have time, or the energy, to walk that far after, but don't want to wear myself out before the tour either. I don't want to miss the Malecon though, so would probably try to at least do that first.

I guess my only other question, but most important one (lol) is if you were able to get margaritas at some of the stops if you wanted? I know they aren't included in the tour.

Thanks for any info. This looks like a pretty cool tour:). Brenda

Loved this tour! We took a taxi there and taxi back. It isn't a long walking tour but it is a good drive to get there and back. $10 USD each way. He will direct you to where you get a taxi after.

You can probably get drinks during - ask when you email and book. No one on our tour asked for anything different. We had a schedule to get to each place so we didn't take a great long time at each restaurant/stop.

Loved this tour! We took a taxi there and taxi back. It isn't a long walking tour but it is a good drive to get there and back. $10 USD each way. He will direct you to where you get a taxi after.

 

You can probably get drinks during - ask when you email and book. No one on our tour asked for anything different. We had a schedule to get to each place so we didn't take a great long time at each restaurant/stop.

Thanks for your reply. I ended up booking the competition because they had a tour that started at 10am instead. They are very similar though, and both have great reviews.

Loved this tour! We took a taxi there and taxi back. It isn't a long walking tour but it is a good drive to get there and back. $10 USD each way. He will direct you to where you get a taxi after.

 

You can probably get drinks during - ask when you email and book. No one on our tour asked for anything different. We had a schedule to get to each place so we didn't take a great long time at each restaurant/stop.

Do you remember the names or locations of any of the restaurants you went to?

I just booked this tour with Vallarta Food Tours. I emailed the owner, Paul, about the times our ship was in port and he made a custom start time for us. Very quick reply to my initial e-mail. Good reviews and pictures on Trip Advisor.

We will just add, that having lived in PV for the past 10 winters, we truly love the variety and quality of food in our winter community. To be very blunt, the food variety and quality here in PV is simply amazing and rivals anything we have experienced around the world (and we have traveled to about 100 countries). So if it take a "food tour" to get you to sample our wonderful local cuisine, we hope you work it out and get your tour. We say this having just returned from a Sunday Brunch where the Mexican Champagne has us trying to remember how to type this post :).

Hank

I've cut and pasted this from a post I just made, but feel that it is germane to this thread, as well:

The "private" food tour is fun, and we have done it. However, it is with a group, and we were hustled from place to place, and like every "tour" we've ever been on, we stopped at "select" locations with the expectations that we would buy stuff.

I would suggest just grabbing a cab at the cruise docks and have them deliver you to the new dock in old town ($12US for up to four passengers, just a bit more for a van that holds 10.) From there, wander up the Malecon towards the cruise docks. You will find a lot of great restaurants and Cantinas to stop at, and a bunch of places to shop, all right along the beach, and at your leisure, with no rush. If you grow tired on the return, or are running late, just grab a cab back to your ship.

If you walk out to the highway at the cruise docks, you can save (maybe) $2.00US on the cab, but we just grab a cab at the docks.

I've cut and pasted this from a post I just made, but feel that it is germane to this thread, as well:

The "private" food tour is fun, and we have done it. However, it is with a group, and we were hustled from place to place, and like every "tour" we've ever been on, we stopped at "select" locations with the expectations that we would buy stuff.

I would suggest just grabbing a cab at the cruise docks and have them deliver you to the new dock in old town ($12US for up to four passengers, just a bit more for a van that holds 10.) From there, wander up the Malecon towards the cruise docks. You will find a lot of great restaurants and Cantinas to stop at, and a bunch of places to shop, all right along the beach, and at your leisure, with no rush. If you grow tired on the return, or are running late, just grab a cab back to your ship.

If you walk out to the highway at the cruise docks, you can save (maybe) $2.00US on the cab, but we just grab a cab at the docks.

Thanks for your input. I can understand the rushing around, but what exactly are they trying to sell you?