Back from Sapphire 2/13 cruise

[mrsbojamp]

We were 3 couples traveling from NY for the Mexican Riviera cruise. All in all, it was a fabulous week. The weather did not cooperate, but that did not dampen our spirits. We had cloudy/showery weather in Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan, but great weather in Cabo. The ship was nice and, best of all, my husband and I got an unexpected upgrade to a mini-suite!! We were completely surprised. We were supposed to have 3 cabins together on the Lido deck, but upon check-in we were told that our room was on Dolphin deck. We said that it must be a mistake, but the check-in person said we must have been upgraded, but if we didn't want it, we could change it on-board. When we saw the room, we decided to keep it - even though we were separated from our friends. We hosted a party in our room with the extra space to make up for our separation! The ship itself is beautiful and the service was exceptional. Both the room steward and the waitstaff really out-did themselves. There were some disappointments, however. The entertainment was really lacking. I had read some bad reviews on Cruise Critic, but I wanted to decide for myself. I hate to say it, but I really agree with all the posters who gave a thumbs down to the production shows. The comedians were a bit better. One outstanding act was the Baby Dolls, who appeared primarily in Explorers Lounge. I absolutely was very upset with the new casino practice of putting all balances on the cruise card. I much prefer having the print-out ticket to cash out of slot machines. The food was good - but nothing special. We found the breakfast buffet to be the best meal. As far as excursions, they were negatively impacted by the weather in PV and Mazatlan. We went to Las Caletas in PV. The cloudy, windy weather weather made snorkeling conditions poor. The resort itself was very beautiful. We did Cactus Island Kayaking in Mazatlan. It was cloudy, rainy (even some thunder) and very windy. I do not believe the trip should have been permitted to run - but it was, so we went. We certainly aren't the most athletically able, however, we should have been able to do this trip. About mid-way around the island we were overturned by a big wave and that did me in! At least we lived to tell about it!! Cabo, on the other hand, was fantastic. The weather was beautiful - warm and sunny. We did the zodiac whale watching and saw numerous whales close-up. We absolutely loved this excursion!!! it was worth every penny. After the excursion we took a water taxi to Lovers Beach. Getting off and on the water taxi at the beach was quite challenging, but the beauty of the beach and the rocks was well worth the challenge. Our sea day on the way back to LA was again mostly cloudy and quite cool. We spent the day buying some souvenirs at the shops and enjoying each others' company with coffee and drinks. It was a very restful week, and I would still recommend this vacation even if it didn't rate "5 stars" in my book. I'll be happy to try to answer any questions.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[lovevacadays]

Happy to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Sorry to hear about the weather conditions. Unusual this time of year to have so much wind and rain in two ports.