Mexican Riviera Again????

[travelgoddess1]

Bruin Steve, you missed your calling. YOU should be president of RCI. Your concise analysis says it all, much better than I could. Thank you!:)

[Beachin2]

Bruin Steve, you missed your calling. YOU should be president of RCI. Your concise analysis says it all, much better than I could. Thank you!:)

 

Completely agree!

 

Steve - write that up & mail it in. Would LOVE to hear their response (if any). All of your points are 100% right on.

[RCKRZR]

Post it on his blog.

[Piepkorn]

Post it on his blog.

 

I second that :)

[critterchick]

I'm not getting my hopes up. Schedule is done, we just wait for them to post it. East Coasters are too busy gloating about their new ship. I have a letter going out to Richard Fain today on this subject.

 

 

 

The person had a bunch of OBC's, not that they were necessarily being cheap. We had a Carnival cruise where we had more OBC's than the whole cruise cost. At the end of the cruise I had about 50 cents credit in my account. Was able to pay my tips, drink every night, buy things in the shops...etc. Gambling was out of my own pocket. I was not cheap, but not having a big on-board bill really means nothing.

 

I still say to this day that on-board revenue was not the real reason they pulled out - it was the reason that Adam could give without having flags come up. And I am tired of hearing 'violence in Mexico'. Heck, even a busload of people got robbed in St. Kitts last week. The cause of Mazatlan being pulled was because of some Canadian citizen was killed in a non-tourist location at 3am. More people have been killed adjacent to the cruise terminal in San Pedro, yet ships will still sail here.

 

We have to put pressure on the Board if anything is to ever be done.

 

I believe that the Canadian citizen was killed in Puerto Vallarta, after the ships had stopped calling in Mazatlan. All of the lines dropped Mazatlan after shots were fired in the Golden Zone on a busy day in port. I suspect that shore excursion bookings were so low that there wasn't enough profit in in for them. I have no idea whether the incident had any effect or whether it gave the lines a "good" reason to flee.

 

Bruin Steve, you missed your calling. YOU should be president of RCI. Your concise analysis says it all, much better than I could. Thank you!:)

 

What she said.

[Beachin2]

Thought:

 

It's been awhile since RCI ran a FL to SOCAL transit through the canal for their Alaska repo (LOVE those trips, done 2). How about FL to San Diego (I'm biased), two or three weeks of Mexico to guage interest/$ support - then relo the ship to Vancouver for the season.

 

Middle ground way for RCI to retest the waters here on the left coast without making a long-term comittment.

[RCKRZR]

Thought:

 

It's been awhile since RCI ran a FL to SOCAL transit through the canal for their Alaska repo (LOVE those trips, done 2). How about FL to San Diego (I'm biased), two or three weeks of Mexico to guage interest/$ support - then relo the ship to Vancouver for the season.

 

Middle ground way for RCI to retest the waters here on the left coast without making a long-term comittment.

 

Vision did a couple canal transits FLL to SD and back. Legend will do them next year.

[Beachin2]

Vision did a couple canal transits FLL to SD and back. Legend will do them next year.

 

All the more reason to build 2 or 3 weeks into the schedule for trial run MX trips.

 

Or, was there more to the leaving CA story........................

[mommabean]

All the more reason to build 2 or 3 weeks into the schedule for trial run MX trips.

 

Or, was there more to the leaving CA story........................

 

They sure have no problem going to 3 pacific side Mexican ports during canal runs, do they? And one if them hasn't appeared to be the safest place over the years. There was a shooting and murder in the driveway of the place I go when there - between 2 of my visits. The Flamingo in Acapulco - where Tarzan used to go. :) yet they continue to go there.

[Beachin2]

They sure have no problem going to 3 pacific side Mexican ports during canal runs, do they? And one if them hasn't appeared to be the safest place over the years. There was a shooting and murder in the driveway of the place I go when there - between 2 of my visits. The Flamingo in Acapulco - where Tarzan used to go. :) yet they continue to go there.

 

True enough. Made a stop in Guatamala a few years ago - now THAT was a nice port. Ixtapa is one of my favorites on this side though.

[wwcruisers]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1758517

 

Well, when the ships do put Mazatlan back on their itinerary, some folks will no doubt be sad to learn that Randi (of Randi's Happy Horses) passed away at the end of last December. I just found the thread (above) on the Ports of Call boards. After doing more reading on the boards, it looks like Mazatlan Frank might have had to close up business too -- when all of the cruise ships left. Stone Island was a great place to spend the day in Mazatlan -- don't know if anything is left there. Didn't find anything about Victor's -- but it's hard to run a restaurant with no customers. :(

[mommabean]

True enough. Made a stop in Guatamala a few years ago - now THAT was a nice port. Ixtapa is one of my favorites on this side though.

 

We love both of those ports. Fabulous!

[RCKRZR]

Why don't they invest in a private destination on the west coast? I read somewhere Carnival is going to invest 150 million in Mexico on the Caribbean and pacific side. They could do the same or a joint venture is a option also, a Private beach or island would be nice.

[CRUZBUDS]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1758517

 

Well, when the ships do put Mazatlan back on their itinerary, some folks will no doubt be sad to learn that Randi (of Randi's Happy Horses) passed away at the end of last December. I just found the thread (above) on the Ports of Call boards. After doing more reading on the boards, it looks like Mazatlan Frank might have had to close up business too -- when all of the cruise ships left. Stone Island was a great place to spend the day in Mazatlan -- don't know if anything is left there. Didn't find anything about Victor's -- but it's hard to run a restaurant with no customers. :(

 

My boss just got back from Mazatlan -- they stayed at a resort. They did a day trip to Stone Island and had a great time. I don't know what restaurant they went to, but the island still there. We loved to spend the day there. Even when there were a ton of ships, it never did look very prosperous ;)

[Piepkorn]

Why don't they invest in a private destination on the west coast? I read somewhere Carnival is going to invest 150 million in Mexico on the Caribbean and pacific side. They could do the same or a joint venture is a option also, a Private beach or island would be nice.

 

All their development money is tied up on ship construction.

[RCKRZR]

All their development money is tied up on ship construction.

 

They did Falmouth and still continue to add to Labadee.

[mommabean]

My boss just got back from Mazatlan -- they stayed at a resort. They did a day trip to Stone Island and had a great time. I don't know what restaurant they went to, but the island still there. We loved to spend the day there. Even when there were a ton of ships, it never did look very prosperous ;)

 

Stone Island was never marketed to the cruise population as I understand it. It seemed to be a local place for local people. Cruisers went to the Golden Zone to shop.

 

On our last trip we were going to walk up to the top of goat mountain - that tip at the beginning of Stone Island. That was just as Carnival canceled it's stops there so we went to Manzanillo instead. I prefer Mazatlan. :( Maybe one day....

 

We walked down the beach a short ways to Lila's to eat every time we went to Mazatlan. There was a skinny cat there who would eat shrimp skins. I ordered a coconut water and they brought it to me in a glass trying to be nice to me. I wanted it in the coconut like normal people. :D

 

The first time we took the wrong water taxi over. Wow! That was an experience. We took a cab to a water taxi to the right and ended up at a lagoon where we had to climb in the back of a truck and be transported to Stone Island the back way. All the women on the water taxi were laughing at us. Fun!

 

I really want to go back there.

 

Gina

[RCKRZR]

All the more reason to build 2 or 3 weeks into the schedule for trial run MX trips.

 

Or, was there more to the leaving CA story........................

 

They are stopping at PV and Cabo why not throw in 7 day MR from SD to gauge demand?

[mommabean]

They are stopping at PV and Cabo why not throw in 7 day MR from SD to gauge demand?

 

I checked. Holland America is still doing the 7 day cruises from San Diego that go to those 2 places along with Mazatlan of all places.

 

Here is how they describe their suite's amenities - Amenities: Private balcony, floor-to-ceiling windows, large sitting area with sofa bed, two lower beds that convert to a king-size bed, dressing room, private bathroom with whirlpool bath and shower, refrigerator, minibar, and TV with VCR.

 

What makes you laugh? Maybe they are just as good as RCI at keeping up with changes that need to be made at the web site. I hope. ;)

 

I would prefer the 9 or 10 day MR cruises that RCI used to do out of San Diego.

 

Gina

[Piepkorn]

I checked. Holland America is still doing the 7 day cruises from San Diego that go to those 2 places along with Mazatlan of all places.

 

Here is how they describe their suite's amenities - Amenities: Private balcony, floor-to-ceiling windows, large sitting area with sofa bed, two lower beds that convert to a king-size bed, dressing room, private bathroom with whirlpool bath and shower, refrigerator, minibar, and TV with VCR.

 

What makes you laugh? Maybe they are just as good as RCI at keeping up with changes that need to be made at the web site. I hope. ;)

 

I would prefer the 9 or 10 day MR cruises that RCI used to do out of San Diego.

 

I noticed the Mazatlan stop as well. Heard that Holland is changing all their bedding....friends said the old bedding was terrible. The 9 and 10 day itineraries were wonderful....replaced with the repetitious 3 stop itinerary year round.

 

Stone Island was never marketed to the cruise population as I understand it. It seemed to be a local place for local people. Cruisers went to the Golden Zone to shop.

 

On our last trip we were going to walk up to the top of goat mountain - that tip at the beginning of Stone Island. That was just as Carnival canceled it's stops there so we went to Manzanillo instead. I prefer Mazatlan. :( Maybe one day....

 

We walked down the beach a short ways to Lila's to eat every time we went to Mazatlan. There was a skinny cat there who would eat shrimp skins. I ordered a coconut water and they brought it to me in a glass trying to be nice to me. I wanted it in the coconut like normal people. :D

 

We usually like to see how fast we can get past the Golden Zone...we like a place called Playa Bruha (or Bruha Beach)...20 minute cab ride to the west of town. The other spot is La Puntilla - which is hidden in a parking lot immediately south of the cruise dock (this is where the crews goes to).

[critterchick]

We used to pile into a cab and head to the Aroma Spa for 90 minute massages for $45 (might have been $35), followed by lunch on the square. I really miss that stop. But I did enjoy our overnight in PV on HAL, which let us go to Rhythms of the Night at Las Caletas. Now that the ships leave at 5:00 to save fuel on the way back, only the day at the beach is available. And those stray cats arw about the best-fed I've ever seen.

[travelgoddess1]

They sure have no problem going to 3 pacific side Mexican ports during canal runs, do they? And one if them hasn't appeared to be the safest place over the years. There was a shooting and murder in the driveway of the place I go when there - between 2 of my visits. The Flamingo in Acapulco - where Tarzan used to go. :) yet they continue to go there.

 

I don't think Royal goes to Acapulco any longer, at least, not on the Panama Canal cruises. We are just off Vision's canal cruise, with LG upcoming, and Acapulco is not on the schedules.

[rockinron]

princess cruises has a coastal cruise from San Pedro, Ca. It`s 7 days and goes to EnsenadaSan Francisco over night, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Catalina. That might be an option.

[Piepkorn]

princess cruises has a coastal cruise from San Pedro, Ca. It`s 7 days and goes to EnsenadaSan Francisco over night, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Catalina. That might be an option.

 

They also have a 10 night out of San Francisco. The Celebrity Coastals appear to be short lived, as that ship is redeploying to (you guessed it) Asia.

[mommabean]

I don't think Royal goes to Acapulco any longer, at least, not on the Panama Canal cruises. We are just off Vision's canal cruise, with LG upcoming, and Acapulco is not on the schedules.

 

Oh, I thought they still went to Acapulco. I admit I didn't look before posting but the last I checked they were going there - after they dropped the Mexican Riviera. So are they down to just 2 Mexican Pacific side ports?

 

Gina