MSN-Travelers

Hank, It's just a casual musing . . . The Mexican Riviera is the market with the least profit from shore excursions, the Caribbean isn't much better. The lost income from docking fees, lost tourist spending within the ports and the lost shoreside excursion income would have a significant impact even if it was for just a few months. Tourist travel to Vallarta, via the airport, is already down 7% this year. I see this as a way for Trump (Americans and Canadians) to pay for upgrade to the Mexican Army if forced to stop migration through Mexico's southern boarder. Individual tourists would have little impact but the cruise industry, as a whole, could bring pressure to bear. Cozumel would dry up and blow away if the cruise ships stopped coming.

No, Vallarta is still my vacation destination. It will be interesting to see what happens if the cruise industry boycotts Mexican ports for a season.

If you enjoy local eating experiences, you might consider a "food tour" through Vallarta Eats or Vallarta Food tours. There are a few, depending on the day, that take place within walking distance of the port. (Centro Pitillal and the Versalles neighborhood are within walking distance of the port) Enjoy! . . .

I have just returned from a stay in Vallarta. I am a walker and did walk from the Marina, past the port and on toward the downtown area. Your limiting factor is the power wheelchair. Your options increase if the person in your party can self-transfer from a standard wheelchair to a taxi. If your only option is a power chair than the immediate port and the Walmart/Sams/mall across the street are likely your only options.

The price difference is driven by seasonal demand. It has been less expensive through the cruise ships over the last few years but, for some reason, is the reverse right now. This is a capacity controlled excursion. And that capacity is shared by all the ships that are in port on the same day as you. Enjoy!

This tour departs from the cruise ship terminal. Vallarta Adventures is a primary excursion provider to the cruise ship industry. Under the terms of their contract with the cruise ships, they are not allowed to sell tours directly to cruise passengers if the ship is selling the excursion too. VA does change the timing of the tour to match cruise ship arrivals/departures so . . . If the ship sells the excursion, they will get to there and back on time. I am a resort vacationer. I assume you are arriving on a cruise ship so you may have to walk a couple hundred feet to get from the ship to the excursion departure point. The Caletas tour, for me, leaves in the morning around nine, I have beach/activity time, then lunch and a short time to do stuff before they takes us back to the port. Late arriving ships have their passengers go for a short pre-lunch period, have lunch and then return after an extended beach/activity period. As a resort guest, I have been bumped from the morning tour to the afternoon tour because the cruise ships have priority over non-cruisers. I tend to book my VA excursions on non-boat days to avoid this problem. I leave for Vallarta this Saturday and will be there most of November. Enjoy!

I have been visiting Caletas since 2002 and the activities offered have expanded considerably over the years. I strongly suggest you visit the tour operators website to see what is offered now. Please be aware that, like most excursions, there are extras activities available for an additive expense. Enjoy! https://www.vallarta-adventures.com/en/tour/las-caletas-beach-hideaway/

The Bay of Banderas has OK snorkeling but is prone to murky waters during the rainy season and immediately after. Your best bet is booking a ship's tour where snorkeling is a part of the overall excursion rather than the sole focus of the excursion. The Las Caletas beach hideaway (Vallarta Adventures) is a great beach day with an organized snorkeling activity.

Snorkeling tours can be problematic for cruise ship passengers. Most small group tours take place on the south end of the bay in the Los Arcos National Marine Park. Getting there and back can be time consuming and travel is along a narrow two-lane road prone to traffic delays. The Bay of Banderas has OK snorkeling but is prone to murky waters during the rainy season and immediately after. Your best bet is booking a ship's tour where snorkeling is a part of the overall excursion rather than the sole focus of the excursion. The Las Caletas beach hideaway (Vallarta Adventures) is a great beach day with an organized snorkeling activity. (I'll be there for most of November and often take guests to Las Caletas.)

The taxis inside the port have a Federal concession. They charge per person, usually in USD's, and only take passengers away from the port. They are the most expensive taxis in town. City taxis (normally yellow) charge per taxi ride (normally up to 4 passengers). They are supposed to be regulated by a zone system. The base price is for a ride within a zone with an up-charge for each zone boundary crossed. Set fees to common destinations are normally posted in the lobby of every hotel. You might run across a driver that will overcharge if he thinks you don't have a clew. These taxis operate everywhere in the city, can bring you back to the port but can't pickup on port (Federal) property. Uber can be booked through the app. They can take you anywhere but can't pickup on port (Federal) property. You can find/meet/board city taxis, Uber and the city bus just outside the port entrance. There is a Shell gas station at the port entrance where city taxis often wait and there is a city bus stop located there too. Enjoy . . .

Vallarta Adventures is the excursion operator. However, they contract with the cruise industry and the cruise ship determines pricing. You can't buy excursions directly through them or through a third-party tour broker if the cruise sells the same excursion. The excursion time listed on the VA website is for the public. The cruise ships often have their own schedule based on port arrival time. I believe the massage, parasailing and scuba diving are provided by independent service providers so pricing may be set the day of. Vallarta Adventures has a tour office/gift shop inside the cruise terminal that serves the general public. You may have time prior to your excursion start to visit the office for current optional price information. The port is configured like an airport. The ships and excursion boats are inside a secure area. The terminal, tour offices and shops are outside the secure area. Please allow time to get through cruise passenger security checkpoint if you visit the public portion of the terminal. Enjoy . . .

Vallarta Adventures is the exclusive operator of the Las Caletas excursion site (and has been since my first visit in 2000). Vallarta Adventures has an exclusive contract with the cruise industry where they tailor the tour "time" to match the ship's port schedule. If you are a cruise passenger, you are not allowed to book the Las Caletas excursion (any VA excursion) if the ship offers the same excursion. You can try to directly book direct with VA or through a third party tour broker but will ultimately be rejected/cancelled. As a Vallarta resort guest, I have been bumped by cruise passengers as they have priority. Enjoy . . .

I don't spend near as much time in Vallarta every year as Hank (Hlitner) does but I can confirm that Vallarta is a foodies paradise. I'm not really thrilled with the ship's excursions they have available for Vallarta. If you are shopping for a port that could become a future land vacation, I would suggest you book a food tour . . . https://vallartafoodtours.com/food-tours/the-original-downtown-tour/ for as soon as possible after the ship arrives. Allow 25-30 minutes to taxi from the port to Lazaro Cardenas Park. I use this company to book their evening "street" taco tour when I have first time guest. They do a great job and you get a mini-city tour. You'll start down in the Romantic Zone and finish in the downtown area (Malecon). This will give you the balance of the afternoon to be a tourist, sip adult beverages on the beach and think about what you want to do for dinner. Make absolutely certain you know if "ship's time" and Vallarta local time are different so you don't miss the ship. Enjoy! . . .

What type of activities do you enjoy? What ship? When you arrive in port and how long you will be there helps us create a list.

One last bit I forgot to mention: Port taxis charge per person while city taxis and Uber charge per taxi ride with a normal limit of four passengers in the taxi. Taxi trivia - there is a zone boundary at the river between el Centro (downtown) and the Romantic Zone (aka Old Town/south side). You can save a buck or two by catching your taxi north of the river. A good source for local maps is https://vallartainfo.com/vallarta-southside-old-town-map/ Enjoy!

80sGal . . . If these are both ship's excursions, you should be able to do both. The devil is in the details determined by what you plan to do between excursions. I haven't been a cruise ship tourist in Vallarta since the "new" terminal was built so I am a little fuzzy on how cruise passengers return from off-property. The cruise terminal is like an airport terminal. The main building has restaurant and shopping opportunities open to the public. The area where the ships and tour excursion boats are found is on the other side of an airport-style security checkpoint. (complete with drug sniffing dogs). I bring this up because I don't know if your first excursion returns you to a point inside or outside the security checkpoint. I don't know if you plan to go back on the ship to freshen up between excursions. (putting you inside the security zone already) Enjoy!

For Vallarta: I will echo Hlitner. I would not go out of your way to obtain pesos before your trip. Just hit an ATM at your first port. Bring a supply of ones and fives to use when running low on pesos. Cash is king, pesos over dollars and anything bought with a credit card will have the vendor fee passed directly on to you. Those of us that are in Vallarta often, and for extended periods, use pesos for everything. Cruise passengers tend to buy what they want and rarely worry about the exchange rate. USD's work just fine. Please note, the "$" symbol is used in Mexico just as it is used in the US. Assume any price you see for goods or services is in pesos unless it specifically has "USD" listed. Always verify pesos or dollars when setting a price. The taxis found inside the port are only authorized to take people away from the property. They charge in dollars per person. Taxis found out in the city (off port property) are not authorized to pickup passenger on the port property but can bring you back to the port or take you to any destination. In theory, city taxis are regulated by zone with set fares within and between zones. Most hotels will have a rate board just inside the lobby listing the set rate (in pesos) to most popular destinations. Know that some drivers will try to get more, especially is you are a cruisers with only dollars. The city bus or just plain walking are always good options too. Enjoy! . . .

The city taxis are supposed to be regulated by zones. From the Los Metros pier, the first zone boundary is the Cuale River. Next boundary going north is at the south end of the sports stadium across from the Sheraton. Nearly every hotel will have a rate chart posted in the lobby listing the "fixed rate" from that hotel to the most common destinations. I am a walker. I have walked from the port to the Sheraton and the Sheraton to all points south in the downtown/Los Muertos areas. It is roughly 4 1/4 miles from the Municipal Pier to the port. (1.5 - 2 hours) It is roughly 3 miles from the north end of the Malecon (McDonalds/Rosita Hotel) to the port. (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours) Enjoy! . . .

Spring Break used to be a defined time period. However, the traditional "Breaker" destination cities have convinced the major college/universities to stager their calendars. The bulk of College kids will be on Break between February 27th through March 27th. https://www.inertiatours.com/when-is-spring-break-2024/. The K-12 grade/high school kids, mid-to-late February seems to be popular. Are you concerned about kids' behavior onboard the ship or the ship and destination ports overrun with college kids? The low cost lines tend to attract the young folks. Enjoy!

We have done the Original Downtown tour ourselves but take our first time guests on The Street, the night time street food/taco stand tour. We are timeshare resort visitors with over two decades of eating experience. The eating habits of the locals are different from up north and most cruisers are back on the ship before dinner service starts for street and restaurant venues. It's hard to get people past food phobias based on preconceived notions. These tours go a long way toward showing that great food is available away from the well known restaurants. Enjoy!

I suggest your check vallartainfo dot com for information. I send you there for the maps. The downtown and Southside maps will help the most. In my opinion, most shopping opportunities for tourist stuff are on the downtown side of the river with better food and better quality stuff on the Southside. City taxis are regulated by zone and are supposed to have set fees within a zone and between common destination. The river between downtown and the Southside is a zone boundary. There is a board in the lobby of hotels/resorts that list what these set taxi fees should be. All pricing is in pesos but they will take dollar at a pretty bad exchange rate. Most restaurants will take plastic but some don't. Confirm before you order. I believe nobody in Mexico accepts Discover. Enjoy!

It has been my experience, and reported by others, that nearly all ship's clocks are one hour BEHIND Vallarta local time. This statement may be way off at this very moment because Mexico has decided they WILL NOT observe daylight saving time anymore. I am in the central time zone (same as Vallarta) and they are one hour behind me as I type this) This is how things typically go: You sail on Pacific time; ships clocks move to Mountain time for Cabo and Mazatlan; ships clocks stay on Mountain time while in Vallarta putting them one hour behind Vallarta local time. It is important that at least one member of your party has a watch set to ship's time. (I have no idea what is going on today but you won't have to deal with DST in January.). I can't offer any advice with a golf course, I don't play. There are a number immediately north of the port in the Marina area. I wouldn't suggest any course north of Paradise Village due to the distances and traffic patterns. There is only one road running north from the airport and an accident can shut it down for hours. Enjoy!

I am generally in Vallarta most Novembers. I tend to take first time visitors on a street food tour immediately after they get off the plane. I have used Vallarta Food Tours (https://vallartafoodtours.com) most often. The day of the week and the time of day your ship is in port may impact what organized tour you and your group can take. Enjoy!

Hola . . . The Hotel Rosita is located on the north end of the Malecon. It is roughly 3 miles (4.8 km) from the port. It is walkable, I've done it but I walk 4-6 miles a day. I would recommend a taxi, uber or, if adventurous, the city bus. A 10-15 thousand Americans and Canadians believe it is safe enough that they live in Vallarta. Many more visit and stay weeks or months every year, myself included. Any advice on things to see or do should be based on what you like to do, the number of people in your group and what hours you will be in port. Enjoy!

It is rare for any rough sea issues going south to Mexico. There is a major ocean current running south from Alaska to a point roughly half way down Baja where it turns west. There have been reports that ships encounter rough "hobby horse" conditions when northbound in the current and the wind is also out of the north. This can occur at any time of the year and seems to be driven by a wind out of the north when in the current. Enjoy!