Maz; PV; and Cabo ---> Shore Excursions NECESSARY??

[herb]

Since we will be sailing with HAL and many of you know how their shore excursions are I thought I'd ask here as well as on the Mex. Riviera board..

 

We have tentatively chosen a ship sponsored excursion for each of these ports of call, each one being the shortest "bus tour" type excursion. Reason being that my 83 yr. old mother will be joining us on our cruise, and she has limited mobility (walks slowly with a walker, and it takes her some time to get on and off a bus) & constantly "needs" to use the bathroom :eek:

 

Just wondering if it is possible to just get off the boat at each of these ports of call and walk around a bit, or will we just be looking at a pier terminal by doing that?

[fcorey]

Since we will be sailing with HAL and many of you know how their shore excursions are I thought I'd ask here as well as on the Mex. Riviera board..

 

We have tentatively chosen a ship sponsored excursion for each of these ports of call, each one being the shortest "bus tour" type excursion. Reason being that my 83 yr. old mother will be joining us on our cruise, and she has limited mobility (walks slowly with a walker, and it takes her some time to get on and off a bus) & constantly "needs" to use the bathroom :eek:

 

Just wondering if it is possible to just get off the boat at each of these ports of call and walk around a bit, or will we just be looking at a pier terminal by doing that?

 

Herb, firstly, I hope you have a wonderful trip. My wife and I were on the 10/7 Oosterdam Mexican Riviera (trip where the pod failed), we missed PV so I cannot speak for that port, we were just going to walk around there so it didnt affect our plans so much. In Cabo you tender ashore and there are many things within a short walk of the pier. In Mazatlan you dock at a commerical pier, there are small trams that will take you over to a little terminal with people selling souvenirs, and many sales people trying to sell condos. There isnt much outside the pier as its in an area that is at one point industrial, and another residential. There isnt so much to see outside the terminal unless you take soem sort of tour.

I would lean towards taking one of the ship sponsored motorcoaches as they are more likely to have a restroom aboard. We took a tour with Mazatlan Frank. Frank is great, but he uses a smaller van for about 10 passengers, so facilities will require a stop. I am sure you can call guest services at HAL in Seattle and ask them about this also. Good luck

[Atomica]

As said above, Cabo is probably the most accessible. Mazatlan's port is in a very industrial area, and Puerto Vallarta's pier is kind of out of the way as well, though there are many taxi's etc. that will take you farther into town.

[lougee1043]

herb

 

unless things have changed in cabo - it is a bit of a walk in cabo epecially using a walker to the "building" that has all the vendors takbles--right across fromt this building are publlic restrooms

[bankerbabe]

We went on a Mexican Riviera cruise last year. In PV we grabbed one of the taxis that was very close to the pier and went to the very-close (read cheap cab ride) Krystal Vallarta. We paid them a small amount that was applied as a bar credit and were able to use all of their outdoor facilities, including some well-placed restrooms, swimming pools, and beach loungers. The shopping was great right from our loungers, they only came to us if we waived them over and if we told the merchants we weren't interested they had to leave immediately.

[SDHALFAN]

In your situation I would definitely stick with the HAL shore excursions. Both Cabo and PV are tender ports. I never get off the ship in Cabo - been there, done that, didn't find it that interesting, etc. and in both PV and Mazatlan anything worth seeing requires some form of transportation.

 

I would highly recommend Mazatlan Frank (and his associate who runs tours in PV) but in your case I think that your mother would be more comfortable with a HAL sponsored tour.

 

Have a wonderful cruise and enjoy Mexico.

 

Valerie:)