Princess Sport Fishing Shore Excursion - Mazatlan

[RelayerOhio]

Hello everybody,

 

Wasn't able to find much on either the Princess or Mexican Riviera boards on this...so hopefully somebody can help me with a few questions:

 

The ship sponsored sport fishing excusion in Mazatlan....

 

1.) How many people are usually on the boat?

The web site just says a minimum of 4. Based on some of the private charters stating 5-6 people on a 34ft boat, I figured a 43ft would be more like 8 persons. We've called Princess 3 times and gotten 3 very different answers. We've been told only 4 people on the boat, up to 12 people on the boat, and I believe 6 people.

 

2.) How much time is spent getting to/from the fishing grounds vs. actually fishing?

Read something about a Carnival excusion that had slow boats, and it took them 3 hours travel each way, with only 1 hour to fish.

 

I know private charter is a cheaper, and potentially more enjoyable options (since you can control who you are fishing with), but the people I'm travelling with don't want to take the "risk" of a non-ship sponsored excusion.

 

As always, thanks everyone for their help. Always much more enjoyable to use these boards to know what you're in for then get unpleasantly surprised.

[lv2cruise2]

1.) How many people are usually on the boat?

 

My husband went on this last year and there where 4 on the boad. We had 6 whom wanted on the same boat and they all had to split up.

 

2.) How much time is spent getting to/from the fishing grounds vs. actually fishing?

 

If I remember right it was a ways out but they had plenty of time to fish. In fact he caught two Marlin and the boat all together caught 6 Marlin!

 

I know private charter is a cheaper, and potentially more enjoyable options (since you can control who you are fishing with), but the people I'm travelling with don't want to take the "risk" of a non-ship sponsored excusion.

 

If you are traveling with several people and want to be on the same boat I would suggest doing a private charter as we did not know that our group would be so split up! It was a supprise to get to the dock and be told they could not fish together!

[Magoose]

Hi, I'm very new to this community, first cruise and all...but I do know some info about Mazatlan. My roomie on the ship is actually boarding in Mazatlan. She lives there (in the winter), and she has a friend that runs a fishing boat. Go to http://www.sailbula.com and see what info they generally give out. Are you on the Dawn Apr 12 out of SF? if so, I could help set you up (maybe even with a better deal then you can find out!) Please tell your friends not everyone is out to get 'cha! Going private is often smarter, and cheaper! Especially if you have a recommondation from a friend. We know all the beach activity operators, for parasailing, hobie cat sailing, waverunning, fishing. Only in Mazatlan tho. Hope this helps!

Su

[Genessa]

several years ago, we did the Mex Riv and dh & a friend went on a Princess excursion in Mazatlan and chartered a boat in Cabo.

 

The Princess excursion had only 4 people on it and they had a terrific time. There wasn't an extraordinary amount of time spent in travel to the fishing grounds. I forget the name of what they caught - beautiful, "multi-colored", large fish...

 

They ran into the two men they were on the PE with after Cabo and those two had taken another PE in Cabo. Also with 4 people. And they had another terrific time.

 

 

The charter, it was just dh & friend, so actually it ended up being much more money... but they still had a good time.

[FredS]

A couple of Decembers ago I took a Princess sponsored sport fishing trip out of Matzatlan. There were about 8 boats of Princess people, each boat had 4 people except ours which had 3 as we were left overs after breaking into groups of 4. The 3 of us each caught a Marlin. We must have spent about 5 hours fishing. I think it took about 1 1/2 hours to get there and 1 1/2 to get back. We were the only boat that had everyone catch a Marlin. The boat had softdrinks, beer, and water on ice in an ice chest and a lunch for us. These were included in the price. We rotated in fishing. Only one person fished at a time. The captain worked pretty hard to get fish for us. I caught a 90 lbs Marlin. None of us kept the fish but took pictures and threw them back. Weather was calm, sunny and pleasant. I took the ship tour so I would not have to worry about something happening to the boat and my not getting back on time for sailing. We tipped the capt and he split with the one crew member in some way.

[RelayerOhio]

When you say 1 fished at a time...is it 1 person stood at the back of the boat with the 4 lines, and if one hooked something the crew were there to assist them?

 

Sounds like ample time spet fishing, and they kept the number of people on the boat reasonable. We have 4 people in our group, so hopefully we can just get on 1 boat together.

 

Thanks again everyone for their responses!