Booking Excursions Outside of Cruise Line in Cabo and PV??

[Cruisepugs]

My husband and I are going on a Carnival Cruise to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta in March for our anniversary. Last time we were on this cruise was our honeymoon and the excursions through carnival were so expensive. We felt a bit cheated because in port, we saw the same excursions for a lot less money. Some people not on our cruise went with us on one excursion and paid half what we paid. We'd love to be able to afford to go on more excursions. I didn't write any of the companies names down. I was wondering if anyone knew of the companies that will take us to do the same things as Carnival. We'd like to go to the beach and maybe a party boat or catamaran. We'd also like to whale watch in Cabo. Swimming with dolphins would be wonderful! Has anyone used the companies that run these excursions outside of Carnival or another cruise line? :)

[udamom]

I'm on NCL in March also and am also interested in this. 4th cruise and have never booked through the ship- but always in the Caribbean with lots of reviews. Having a hard time finding much info on Mexican riviera ports!

[Ine]

Shipsexcursions in Puerto Vallarta are almost all exclusivly done by Vallarta Adventures. They will not accept any private bookings however if you are on a ship. This might be the case in Cabo.

If you are interested in e.g. zipline, you can use e.g. Los Veranos.

At the dock you will find cabs for going to town, (or take a local bus) but also various guides offering tours with their vans.

[MSN-Travelers]

The cruise industry finally figured out that their passengers were booking ship’s excursions direct with the tour operator or through third-party tour brokers. This cut into their bottom line and they have tweaked the contracts with excursion operators to end that practice.

 

Cabo Adventures and Vallarta Adventures are the tour operators for most of the popular excursions sold aboard the ship. Under the terms of their contracts, the tour operator is not allowed to sell an excursion direct to a cruise passenger if the ship sells the same excursion. This policy also extends to third-party tour brokers.

 

I’m not telling you that professionally run, quality excursions can’t be booked in Cabo & Vallarta. I’m telling you that it has become REAL HARD to back door the cruise line and book an excursion sold by the ship through an independent source.

 

There are a number of third-party tour brokers that service both Cabo & Vallarta. I can’t recommend any one tour broker over another (forum rules). As an example, you might look at Johann & Sandra’s PUERTO VALLARTA TOURS. http://www.puertovallartatours.net/ They are one of the established tour brokers and seem to enjoy a good reputation with cruise passengers. They also have a site for Cabo.

 

If on their site, as an example, the page of dolphin excursions is broken into three sections. The top section has Aquaventuras Park (a combined dolphin center and water park), Nuevo Vallarta Dolphins in the center and Wild Dolphin excursions at the bottom. The center section (Nuevo Vallarta Dolphins) is excursions operated but Vallarta Adventures and must be booked through the ship.

 

We are sailors and tend to gravitate to water based excursions. However, over a decade of vacations to Vallarta has allowed us to experience a wide range of activities. There are also many ways to enjoy Vallarta beaches on your own for very little money.

 

As a final note, independently booked excursions generally make it your responsibility to get to the activity on your own. This can be as simple as leaving the port by one gate and re-entering the port thru a separate excursion gate 150 feet away (small entry fee) or as simple as taking a taxi/city bus to your destination. And . . . if the ship has a specific activity that you REALLY NEED to do, book it!

 

Enjoy!

[pulledporky]

Carnival has recently started a low cost guarantee program. If you find an excursion at a lower cost that will give you the difference plus 10% back as an OBC. I booked Rythem of the Nights in PV thru Carnival, found Vallarta Adventures has a 15% off for online bookings. Sent in proof and got the OBC. Easy as that.

[MSN-Travelers]

Carnival has recently started a low cost guarantee program. If you find an excursion at a lower cost that will give you the difference plus 10% back as an OBC. I booked Rythem of the Nights in PV thru Carnival, found Vallarta Adventures has a 15% off for online bookings. Sent in proof and got the OBC. Easy as that.

 

Maybe they will see more than 35% of MR passengers booking excursions through the ship if they are willing to price match.

[Cruisepugs]

Wow! Lots of great advice. I'm going to look into those options mentioned! Thanks so much!! We really appreciate your help. :):)