Tacky hotel for lunch in Mazatlan

[laidbackin LA]

On the Oosterdam Mexico cruise, my DH and I took the "Best of Mazatlan" tour. That's the one which shows you all the sights, the folkloric show, and leaves you at a hotel for lunch and swimming/sunbathing.

 

First of all, I was not about to go swimming and sunbathing in a place I had never seen, so I didn't bring any suits. That was a good thing. The Las Flores Hotel, where they take you for the lunch and sunbathing, is a really budget place. I would not have hung out there. Worse, the lunch was worse than one that you would get at the Acapulco restaurant in Monrovia California.

 

If you think that $74 is going to get you into a luxe place with a swank lunch, be warned. This outing is strictly budget, at best.

 

 

PS: I had diarrhea all night after eating there, I kid you not, watch out for the flan, it's what I ate that DH did not.

[Krazy Kruizers]

It has been years since we have booked any all day excursions in Mexico where food and drink was served. Neither of us got sick. It was a Princess tour -- and very good.

 

But we did not drink anything that involved ice cubes or water. And we watched what we ate -- no fresh fruit, etc. that may have been washed in water.

 

Hope you both are doing better now. Sorry to hear that you got sick.

[sail7seas]

Sorry for your disappointment at the hotel. And certainly sorry you had Montazuma's Revenge.

 

How was the ship? Your Cruise? Good time?

 

Hope the rest of your cruise was more to your liking.

 

[laidbackin LA]

Thanks for the feedback. We are really careful eaters - we go to India frequently and apply all the same precautions to Mexico. We did not eat salads and raw things. We did both drink cokes with ice, thinking that the ice would be safe enough on a sanctioned HAL excursion. But he was not ill, only me.

[jhannah]

Sorry you had to suffer during your cruise. But I'm guessing you had a "bug" already. I believe your symptoms were too quick to be caused by what you had at lunch. Check with your doctor (I'm not one) or an online medical site.

[SDHALFAN]

Sorry you had to suffer during your cruise. But I'm guessing you had a "bug" already. I believe your symptoms were too quick to be caused by what you had at lunch. Check with your doctor (I'm not one) or an online medical site.

 

I'm thinking that Jim has to be correct here. Despite having travelled the world many times and for many years the only time I ever got "sick" was in Seattle!. My husband and I ate at one of the restaurants in the underground city, very clean and attractive. We both ate the same thing: he ordered a Pastrami sandwich and I ordered a Roast Beef sandwich. We split the sandwiches, each eating half a Pastrami and half a Roast Beef. When we got back to our hotel I was sick as a dog. The only difference in our lunches was that he had a beer with his sandwich and I had a glass of milk with mine. The milk was cold and tasted fresh so obviously whatever it was that was upsetting me was something I picked up before we got to Seattle.

 

Thanks for the heads up on your tour and the hotel. We are doing a similar tour with Mazatlan Frank but I'm pretty sure that we are going to a different hotel than you did. I certainly hope so because I looooove Flan and probably won't be able to resist it, unless of course we end up at the Las Flores hotel, and I will have been forewarned.

 

Valerie:)

[Boatdrill]

Actually symptoms of food poisoning can begin anywhere from 4 to 12 hours after eating.

 

So chances are it was the flan.....

 

Or would you rather attribute her symptoms to something she ate onboard ?

[Boatdrill]

sorry double posting...where's the delete button ? :)

[dakrewser]

While I sympathize with your illness, I wonder why you booked the all-day tour knowing that half the day was supposedly lying on the beach - something you say you wouldn't do? As I remember there is a half-day tour which does most of that while skipping the beach part.

 

But for others, we found Mazatlan a wonderful city to explore on our own. WE took a taxi to the central square (in front of the cathedral) then walked to Plaza Machado for "people watching." A short walk brought us to the coast and the cement pool area where we found a delightful restaurant for lunch. Another quick taxi ride took us along the Playa to the northern shopping district with excellent sight-seeing along the way both up & back.

 

For about $30 (and some walking) we got a great tour of the city.