Thoughts about plans for mexican riviera

[azcater]

Ok.. after doing a ton of reading of posts and trying to figure out the details, here is what I'm thinking we will do.. keeping in mind that we have a 3 yr old that is not quite fully potty trained yet, so no long tours for us.

 

PV- Krystal Resort

 

Mazatlan- can't decide between Stone Island or just going to El Cid... any thoughts? We need access to restrooms and my son really does love to play in the pool also.

 

Cabo- Sub tour and then Finesterra Resort

 

What do you think?? I received info from the mex riviera board that we should do El Cid for the facilities, etc. And that we may not get into the finesterra.. so we should have a backup plan..

 

Where would be go in Cabo for a sure thing day pass ( I really don't want to be going all over creation dragging our toddler around) I heard ME does day passes but it may not be the best for families??

 

Thoughts??

Thanks in advance~

[azcater]

any thoughts?? we leave in a couple days and won't have access to a computer..

[cb at sea]

Run to your library and pick up a guidebook on your ports....the book will tell you about all of the different hotel/beaches and any restrictions.

[azcater]

will the guidebook say which hotels offer day passes??

[Kerry's Girls]

P.V. - Krystal is perfect

 

Mazatlan - if you're bringing a car seat, I've read that the El Cid is nice. If you're not bringing a car seat (or even if you are and don't want to have to worry about lugging it around all day at the resort), you can follow the directions to walk/ferry to Stone Island, which people also rave about for toddlers.

 

Cabo - Personally, after a boat ride and a walk around the dock, we always just go back to the ship and enjoy the facilities while others are ashore. The only way to guarantee a day pass at a resort that I know of is to do a ship excursion. You could call the ME, but, as you say, I have also heard it's not as family friendly as most resorts. The only other suggestion I'd have is to do a search of the Family Boards here under "cabo" in case there are any resorts mentioned here that aren't on the ports of call board.

 

Best,

Mia

[6rugrats]

will the guidebook say which hotels offer day passes??

 

It might.

 

If you know the names of the hotels, you can google them and find their email address and/or phone number and write/call to ask.

 

Have you asked your questions on TripAdvisor? Lots of useful information there.

[ceilidh1]

We just got back with our 2 and a half year old so I can share what we did...

 

In PV we got a shared van ($3 per person) outside the ship and went to the Downtown area. There's a nice beach there but the water is very rough so not good for swimming. We looked at the stores for an hour and then got a cab to the aquaventures water park. We had booked the dolphin encounter (toddlers are free with a paying adult) and it was amazing. Our daughter loved it. The park itslef has lots of water slides, pools, and a play area so makes for a nice day out.

 

In Mazatlan we did a city tour with Mazatlan Frank (excellent tour) and then he took us to the Riu Hotel. This is a new all inclusive resort about 20 minutes outside of the city. It was fantastic. There was a separate kids pool and play area and a great pool with swim up bar, etc. It's alos right on a private beach. We enjoyed this resort so much we are thinking about returning there for a vacation!

 

In Cabo, the weather was brutally hot - too hot even for the beach. We did walk around the stores and actually walked along the seawall to the big mall (air conditioning) to take a look there. We then headed back to the ship and spent the rest of the day in the pool!

 

If you have any questions, I would be happy to try and answer!

[genieinabottle147]

ceilidh1: Which tour did you do with Frank, the all day, or half day tour? Thanks.

 

We're on the Oct 31 trip with our almost 17 month old so this is helpful!

[azcater]

Thanks so much everyone.. The Finesterra says maybe on day passes, it just depends on the day.. which is why I'm hesitant..

 

Ceilidh1- I soooo wanted to do the tour with Mazatlan Frank but he's booked that day.. he said he could arrange it with an associate but we needed more people.. Maybe we'll play Cabo by ear after the sub tour.. could we walk to Medano Beach after nap from the ship?

 

genie.. do you happen to be on the 10/31 star sailing? Because that's the one we are on and we could do the tour to RIU if we had a few more people.

 

Oh and after reading the trip advisor posts for ME in Cabo.. there is no way I'm going there with my child.

 

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it!

[genieinabottle147]

azcater: We are on the Star on the 31st! I just heard about the Frank tour, bummer that he is booked. How many more people do they need? It would be my husband, myself, and our 17 mo old. What is "RUI", is that the Mazatlan tour?

[azcater]

Genie,

 

Yes, that's where he takes you to the RIU hotel in Mazatlan for a day trip. We'd like to do the full day one because I've heard the 3 hrs isn't enough time. It's the beach/hotel day pass thing.

 

So, based on his email if it was just us two families, it would be $205 per family. Although.. he might not charge for your baby. If you decide you definitely want to do it, I'll see what the price would be with your family. We leave Friday afternoon for LA so I'd probably need to get him lined by tomorrow afternoon or at the latest Friday morning.

 

Here's what Mazatlan Frank told me:

 

Hola amigos

I thank you for your enquire. I am sorry to say that I am already booked for a tour on Nov 3. However, I can organize the tour with one of my partners. The problem is that we need 6 adults to do any tour.

Lets do this, try to find another couple on the roll calls of your ship and if we get at least 2 more, you pay 75us per adult and and 55us for the 3 year old.

Your total would be 205us.

If no one else signs up, then pay 250us total (45us more) and the tour is done with you only.

Let me know if this is ok with you. I am trying to be flexible. gracias

[azcater]

Genie, did you know that we have a huge roll call on the roll call board. We're having a big meet and greet and then a luncheon, etc. They're even doing a sail away party in one of the member's grand villa.

 

We'll be in 11670, in case you want to reach us on the ship.

[genieinabottle147]

Azcater: we are interested in the tour! Can you confirm though that there is no charge for our 1.5 yr old? I don't think we'll do it if there is a charge for him since he won't be eating the table foods most likely. On the website looks like kids are 3 and up. I just found this website a couple days ago, so haven't looked at everything. I'll look more into that meet and greet thanks!

[azcater]

Hi Genie,

 

i just sent him an email to get confirmation that he wouldn't charge for the baby and what the final total would be.. I'll let you know when I hear back. I'll be working from home tomorrow (snow day here in Denver). :-)

 

Angela

[ceilidh1]

ceilidh1: Which tour did you do with Frank, the all day, or half day tour? Thanks.

 

We're on the Oct 31 trip with our almost 17 month old so this is helpful!

 

We did the all day tour. He met us at the boat around 8:30am and we drove into the Downtown area and looked at the cathedral and market place. This is the shopping area that the locals go to, not the tourists. We then drove around and saw the cliff divers, views of Mazatlan, beautiful houses, stopped for photo ops. We did a walk through of the area where the art museums and theatres are (can't remember the name of the area, but it was beautiful) and stopped off in an art gallery/store. We then went to the Golden Zone for shopping - we didn't spend long there as we didn't want to shop, just look! After that, we went on to the Riu and got there around 12 - just in time for lunch. Frank picked us back up at 3pm and we stopped at Senor Frogs (our request) store and also the drugstore (our request) before heading back to the ship. We had a great time and highly recommend Frank!

[ceilidh1]

Ceilidh1- I soooo wanted to do the tour with Mazatlan Frank but he's booked that day.. he said he could arrange it with an associate but we needed more people.. Maybe we'll play Cabo by ear after the sub tour.. could we walk to Medano Beach after nap from the ship?

 

We had to take a tender in Cabo - this may take a while to get on, get to land, and get back. We also had a very short time in Cabo - I believe we left around 2pm so not too much time to go back to the ship and nap and then go back on land. There were a ton of vendors as you got off the tender and water taxis seemed readily available!

[genieinabottle147]

ceilidh1: Sounds like fun! We are waiting to hear from Frank so hopefully, azcater and my family will be able to do the long City and RIU tour. We're looking forward to it!

 

I think in Cabo we will just take it easy and go to the beach and Tobasco's? People keep saying it's the quietest area.

 

In PV: thinking about giong to the Downtown are for shopping and sightseeing or maybe we'll go to Krystal.

[azcater]

Well, no reply from Mazatlan Frank.. so I guess we're on our own in Mazatlan. I think we'll end up at Stone Island..

[genieinabottle147]

Well, no reply from Mazatlan Frank.. so I guess we're on our own in Mazatlan. I think we'll end up at Stone Island..

 

Aw that's too bad! Now I'll have to come up with something!