Mercury Review - 11/11/2005 Mexican Riviera

[MarcieandTed]

A little about us, we are from San Francisco, in our early 40’s, parents of two young children who didn’t accompany us on this trip. I have been on one cruise before, Rhapsody of the Seas in 2004. This was DH’s first cruise.

 

Ship

 

Mercury is a beautiful ship. It is well-maintained and on our trip they were sanding, stripping and re-varnishing the wood floors in all of the elevators. One elevator was out of service at a time, which didn’t seem to have any impact on the guests. I frequently saw maintenance crew out on the decks cleaning windows and polishing brass.

 

Our cabin (4094) was clean and perfectly comfortable for the two of us. We boarded around 11:30 and immediately requested a mattress pad and feather pillows from our cabin steward (Gregorio), which made all of the difference in comfort. (Thanks for your tips on this!) Without the pad, you could feel every spring and lump, and with it, it was cozy and comfortable. The feather pillows we just what we are used to at home… wonderful! Gregorio was an awesome steward, having that incredible talent of ESP, knowing exactly when we left the cabin to go in and work his wonders. We never saw him cleaning, yet whenever I needed ice and poked my head out of the cabin, he immediately appeared. There was a ton of storage, however it helped that I brought my own wire hangers. There wouldn’t have been enough for all of our clothes. The shower was fantastic, strong and hot. The bathroom had a little hand lotion dispenser which was a nice touch.

 

One of our new suitcases seemed to have been run over before delivery to our stateroom. It had track marks all over the front of it and the corners and frame were smashed. The Guest Relations department took full responsibility for the bag and bought us a new one in Mazatlan. We were very happy with the replacement (same size and manufacturer).

 

We signed up for the Thalassotherapy pool right away as well ($99 for the 10 days). We used it for at least an hour or more every day, and sometimes more than once a day on sea days. It was so relaxing and the jets got right in there to loosen tense muscles. A few days the water was a little too cold, but we just went into the nearby steam room to warm up and then got back into the T-pool.

 

The food was also very good. For the first few days we ate nothing but waffles in the morning, but then I discovered the bagels, lox, cream cheese, tomato, and onions and I switched over to that. DH stuck with the waffles. They were piping hot right off the griddle. We frequently bought latte’s from Cova Café after breakfast, which were yummy. The lunch buffet was pretty disappointing however. The food was typical cafeteria fare and we made it a point to eat off ship when we were in port, or visit the burger or pasta stations. We tried the dining room for lunch once, but it took so long (over an hour) that we never did that again. We had late (8:30) seating and tried to grab some sushi every night around 6:00 first. We LOVE sushi and Mercury’s did not disappoint. The maguro and yellow tail nigiri, the crab salad roll and the salmon/cream cheese rolls were our favorites. It was serve-yourself and we joked that we ate almost the value of our cruise alone in sushi. In the dining room, we had a very friendly and fun waiter named Melvin from India. The dining room meals were very good. We ate the beef almost every night and it was cooked perfectly. The last formal night we had HUGE lobster tails - they were so much bigger than Rhapsody.

 

As for entertainment, we only saw part of the last show, the talent show. We met a fellow cruiser in the steam room that day who told us he was in it so we went to see his act. He played the bagpipes and captivated the crowd. We wished the movies played throughout the day in the cinema. There was one movie we wanted to see and it was only playing at 8:00 and 11:00. If they had at least shown it at 6:00, we could have seen it before dinner. We couldn’t stay up for an 11:00 movie after those huge dinners.

 

The library was well stocked, had convenient hours and I took out several books. The librarian was very friendly. It was a treat to be able to read five books on this trip! There is also a table for paperback exchange, if you want to pick up a book another cruiser has left behind.

 

We didn’t lay out with the masses by the pool, but easily found chairs on either deck 6 (port or starboard) or on deck 9 or 10 (aft) under covering. The pool band Intez was not even close to the quality of the Caribbean band on Rhapsody.

 

Fellow cruisers seems to average around 60-65 years old. Not many children aboard (around 20?). From what I understand, with this being a 10-day cruise during the school year, that is typical. We felt young.

 

Ports

 

Cabo San Lucas: We decided to go sea kayaking on our own. We found the JT Watersports rep right on the pier (I had seen their website before the trip http://www.jtwatersports.com) and rented a two-person kayak for 2 hours for $40 for both of us. Their water taxi transported us from the pier to their beach. I believe the exact same ship-sponsored trip was $48 per person. That group was suiting up with JT Watersports at the same time as the two of us. The only difference is that you have to paddle as a group, and that a water taxi takes your “stuff” with you, you don’t have to strap it on to the back of the kayak. We peacefully paddled around Los Arcos and picked a small cove next to Lover’s Beach (which was too crowded). We hung out there for a while and then tried to re-launch ourselves into the surf. I was sitting on the back while DH pushed me out. The kayak flipped over and my head churned around underwater in the sand. Our whole bag of beach towels and clothes were completely soaked. Thank goodness my camera was in two plastic bags. So when we finally made it back to JT Watersports, we now had a bag of drenched belongings that felt like a bag of cinderblocks. We sludged down the beach, in soaking wet clothes, to The Office restaurant. Despite feeling gross, we had THE BEST octopus and margaritas. However it was pricey, almost $75 for 4 margaritas, two appetizers and two entrees. Elsewhere in Mexico the prices were half that! But this was hands down the best meal we had ashore. We should have walked back to JT Watersports who said they would give us a ride back to the tender pier, but we decided to walk through town to find an internet café. What a mistake. With our unbearably heavy bag, it took forever in the hot sun to walk all the way around.

 

Mazatlan: DH wanted to see some architecture so we took a cab into the old town. There is absolutely nothing to see there. In about 10 minutes we got back in a golf-cart cab to take us to the Stone Island ferry and we ran into Randi of Randi’s Happy Horses and her group leaving for Stone Island. She explained how the tickets for the boat work ($1 round trip buy from the guy sitting in a chair next to the ramp) and we went along in the ferry with them. She also let us hitch a ride on her tractor pull to head out to the beach. Her driver let us off at Victor’s but they didn’t have chairs with umbrellas out front like Lety’s next door. So we opted for Lety’s and had a wonderful day lazing under the umbrella, drinking and eating. We made the mistake of walking back to the ferry boat dock. It was too far in the hot sun. I would definitely recommend getting in one of the transport vehicles (pick up truck, horse carriage, whatever) running along that road. Also, we thought we could walk from the Stone Island ferry back to Mercury and that seemed like at least 2 miles. Do yourself a favor and get a taxi. We almost got heat stroke from that adventure, and we’re pretty fit.

 

Acapulco: We were originally going to go to Pie de la Cuesta via taxi, but since DH was sick, we didn’t leave the ship until after dark, around 6:00 pm. We walked 10 minutes along the beach boardwalk and were disgusted by the heat, smog and crowds. We just went back to the ship and wished we hadn’t spent so much time at this port, when better ports were to come. I would recommend researching and planning your day before you get here to avoid this disappointment. Our dinner table mates walked off the ship and explored the fort, which they enjoyed.

 

Zihuatenejo: Why oh why is the time in this port so limited? This was clearly the highlight of our, and many other fellow passengers’, cruise. The port area is quaint and charming, the people are friendly without being pushy. There are great things to buy, we did most of our shopping here and in Puerto Vallarta. We had a nice meal at a restaurant on the beach and then had to rush back to the tender dock where we baked in the hot sun for 45 minutes waiting for a tender. We will go back here some day, for an extended vacation, we found a goregous hotel down the beach. Get off the ship as quickly as you can to fully enjoy the brief stop here. Oh, and if you need to use a bathroom, I’d recommend bringing one of your soaps from the ship. Not one bathroom had soap.

 

Puerto Vallarta: We had printed out a walking tour from http://www.virtualvallarta.com/vallarta/articles/walking_tour.html and had a taxi take us to the church to start (walked out to the main road from the pier and took a less expensive Yellow Cab). We walked around that cute part of town until we hit the municipal flea market where we got some good deals on trinkets for our girls. Then we walked the length of the Isla Cuale where there are more stalls and vendors along a nicely shaded path until we found the lady under the Ignacio Vallarta bridge who does watercolors of little cats in Mexican scenes. We agonized over which to buy and felt these were the best purchase of our trip! If you like cats, you will love these paintings. Then we continued along the beach in the Romantic Zone and up Basillo Badillo shopping and stopping for some big, icy frappuchinos at a sidewalk cafe on the corner of Olas Altas. Then we worked our way back to the beach and ate lunch at Fidencios Restaurant near the Tropicana, which was simply ok, but cheaper than most others on the beach. PV Pam recommends this place, but I must not have ordered what she likes to get. I’d eat somewhere else the next time. Then we hopped a cab back to the pier and did more shopping at the pier crafts market, which was clearly the biggest one of any port we visited. This was a great port to end on. Then, 2 more days at sea to fully relax and our journey sadly came to an end.

[DocJohnB]

Mercury is a beautiful ship. It is well-maintained and on our trip they were sanding, stripping and re-varnishing the wood floors in all of the elevators. One elevator was out of service at a time, which didn’t seem to have any impact on the guests. I frequently saw maintenance crew out on the decks cleaning windows and polishing brass.

 

Marcie,

 

Great review. I agree with all you wrote. We were on the sailing prior to yours and I for one hated to give up our seats to you. :D

 

I wrote a review of our cruise and mentioned the above. One of the very few places on this beautiful ship that showed aging (some furniture was another). Good to see they were re-finishing the elevators. I am sure when that was accomplished, she looked even more beautiful.

[richsea]

What a great review! Also glad to see that they are refinishing the wood in the elevators! That will be one less thing to hear people complaining about on Mercury!

 

Glad you had a good cruise. I will print this & use it as a reference when we board this Friday!

 

Rich

[scott in maine]

Thanks, Marcie, for a thorough and thougtful review. I always appreciate those who really take the time to carefully write a review of their experiences here on CC.

 

Yours was a balanced, well written review that will be helpful to many. Thanks for taking the time.

[Phyljim]

Thanks Marcie. Printed out your review so my husband can read it. We will be on the Mercury for the same cruise on 23 January. It will be our first time on Mercury, so your comments are most welcome.

[MarcieandTed]

I'm happy to answer any and all questions too....

 

Without CC, I wouldn't have known the first thing about Mercury or the ports we visited. A big THANKS to all of you who helps us have a fantastic vacation!

 

:)

[wwwmarge]

Hi Marcie,

 

Great review. On our March 27 we are planning a pre CC GTG before the boat drill. Can you suggest a place to meet. Marge

 

I'm happy to answer any and all questions too....

 

Without CC, I wouldn't have known the first thing about Mercury or the ports we visited. A big THANKS to all of you who helps us have a fantastic vacation!

 

:)

[excitedofharpenden]

MarcieandTed, glad you had such a good trip. It very much reflects my thoughts too (I was on DocJohnB's cruise just before you). It's also good to read that Guest Relations were so helpful in resolving the luggage issue. There are a lot of accounts on the boards about the lack of Customer Service and it's nice to hear the positives too.

 

Welcome home, if that's the right term. I want to be back!:(

 

Phil

[MarcieandTed]

Phil,

I was so glad to not have to deal with finding a new suitcase myself in one of the ports, or trying to use the damaged one on the way home. I'm glad they replaced it and didn't just give us money. They never tried to deny it was their fault too. They even gave us the option of rejecting the one they bought for us, in case we didn't like it.

 

WWWMarge,

You could meet at Cova Cafe (Midship Level 6) or the aft Palm Springs Bar (by the covered pool). For our 5:00 pm sailing, the lifeboat drill was at 4:15, so keep that in mind in scheduling a time for your meeting. Someone in our CC group set a 4:00 time to meet - I just didn't make it since the drill was at 4:15.

 

I planned to get a drink at sailway, but they were SO pushy with their sailaway cocktails, it really turned me off. Every time you turned around you had to say no to another tray full of drinks in your face. Thank goodness the heavy drink pedalling stopped after that first day. BTW, no problem carrying 3 bottles of wine in the carryon luggage onto the ship.

[cinnamon]

Thanks Marcie and Ted for your review.

 

We are on the 11 night sailing on Mercury on 2nd January. Luckily, we have the whole day in Zihua. I am really looking forward to seeing the place that inspired Andy Dusfrayne in The Shawshank Redemption. Which beach did you go to?

 

We are trying to organise a time for a get together on sailing day but we do not leave San Diego until 8.00pm, so not sure what time our muster will be.

 

Cinnamon