Best way to book a private tour for a LARGE group?

[Broccolilust]

This is going to be a bit lengthy...

So my boyfriend's Stepfather is taking a huge group of us on the HAL 7-day mexican riviera cruise in April, free of charge. Because I'm such a creepy planner, he's made me the shore excursion coordinator for our group. I have been stalking out the port of call boards on here for awhile, and as an avid rider, have already booked with Randi's Happy horses in Mazatlan due to the FAB reviews. Now I'd like some guidance from anyone who can spare it; how do I find the right place to book a private tour for our whole family group?

BF's stepdad is extremely picky, but has deep pockets, and has asked me to look into all of this for either Cabo or Puerto Vallarta.

The dirty facts:

There are going to be 15-20 of us, ranging in ages 2/3yrs to 88 yrs and thus, a wide range of mobility. Stepdad wants it to be pseudo private, meaning he deosn't want to crammed onto a tour bus with 30 more travellers he doesn't know. Now, I talked to him about some of the places/people who do similar (I was looking at mazatlan frank previously) and told him about how you could pretty much hire someone to take you on these tours and personalize it, you tell them where you want to go, and what you want to do. Now he's sent me on a mission to contact a few of these people and find out what they recommend for a group such as ours and what people generally like to do.

My question is: Anyone have experience planning for such a large and diverse group? Can anyone recommend someone who does these kind of tours/excursions?

Thanks in advance for ANY related information or recommendations!

[Loganeski]

I know superiortours Puerto vallarta can help you. They have their own van, but have done larger groups in the past with buses. They hire 1st class buses for that.

We have used them in the past, they use certified guides with good english knowledge.

Contact them through their website. It seems I am not allowed to give it, but google will help. Send them an e-mail with your requests.

[arlodog]

In Cabo I would contact Pez Gato and see if you can charter a catamaran for the group--you may have to pay more to reserve it for just your group, but it would be a blast and something that everyone could enjoy. It will be past whale season, but might be something worth considering.

[karent12]

Hi,

 

We are going also in April, but not on HAL.

We have had experience putting together large groups though. Email for some advice. Email

[Broccolilust]

Hi,

 

We are going also in April, but not on HAL.

We have had experience putting together large groups though. Email for some advice. Email

 

Hi! Thanks for the offer, but your email didnt work :( it said the address didn't exist.

I'll copy the email here:

Hi! Thanks for the offer to help! I haven't been on the boards again till today; busy week and of course, the Holidays! Anyway, I've since been handed over the list of attendees for our group. It's a total of 19 people, all on my boyfriend's step-family's side. I'm to email/call them introduce myself for the first time, and give options for shore excursions (plan your own or choose from a list of ideas I have). I'm of course, terrified- LOL it feels like I'm being trotted out! I'm just trying to figure out what kinds of options to include, what kinds of places would offer something for everyone, etc.

[CruisinKiddo]

Some suggestions are: Mazatlan Frank comes highly recommended on these boards. He can take your group on a 4 hour tour for a good price. I'm coordinating one for my family with him - he suggested either an open air trolley (sounds like fun!!) or 2 vans.

For Cabo, I second Pez Gato. His prices are about 1/2 that of the excursions from the cruise lines and he also is highly recommended.

For Puerto Vallarta, Los Veranos zipline looks like loads of fun!! At the end of the ziplines, you end up at a restaurant that has a river, slides into the river and a small zoo. For the ones who don't want to zipline, they can go on to the restaurant and have some fun while waiting for the rest of the group.

[BC Gal Ann]

We just cruised the Mexican Rivera. On December 10th, our family took a private tour with Azeal of Superior Tours Vallarta. He is co owner of this company, with Astrid.Both are licensed guides by SECTUR, Mexico's Administration for Tourism. It was an incredible tour, where we decided what we wanted to do and see. I know that they can accommodate large groups and are more than happy to do so. They are very professional and knowledgeable. Azeal was very kind and friendly and made us all feel comfortable. His English is amazing - we all felt that we had made a friend in Puerto Vallarta. You could not go wrong hiring this Company. You can find them on Google by typing in Superior Tours Vallarta; it will bring you to their website.

Have a wonderful cruise and tours.

Ann :)