Buccaneer Queen-Cabo

[tahoe782]

Hi

Anyone taken the Buccaneer Queen snorkel cruise with this pirate ship?

We are looking for any input that you might have

Thanks

Aleeta

Dawn Princess March

[psbtrvlr]

Hi

Anyone taken the Buccaneer Queen snorkel cruise with this pirate ship?

We are looking for any input that you might have

Thanks

Aleeta

Dawn Princess March

 

Hi neighbor! I asked about this one too. You could do a search in this thread and maybe you'll find it. If the search is working...........

We are planning on going on it in September. Went on the one in Puerto Vallarta a couple of years ago and loved it!

 

 

Pam

[gottago2mexico]

Hi guys - we just did this last week. Here's a rundown for you:

 

The ship boards about 11:30 AM at the far ocean-side of the marina, you can see it from your ship and from your tender vessel. It's a spanish galleon like the one in PV (actually it's owned and operated by the same people), and the staff are all dressed like and acting like pirates.

 

 

As you board, they take your photo and sell it to you later - here's what it looks like:

 

 

The boat leaves port with the theme from "Pirates of the Caribbean" blaring from the speakers, making quite a piratey feeling, and the announcements about the open bar and safety are made, while the crew comes around and serves everyone drinks. It first goes to Land's End, where you can take photos of Lovers Beach, the Sea Lion Colony, and El Arco (The Arch). They take your photo in front of the arch to sell to you later, and you can get lots of good photos yourself as well.

 

 

Then the boat heads to Chileno Bay for snorkeling, which is probably the best snorkeling location in Cabo San Lucas. Along the way, we saw two groups of Humpback Whales, but the boat did not stop because it isn't a whale watching tour (they do a whale watching tour in the morning).

 

Unlike in Puerto Vallarta, there was no pirate show on the Buccaneer Queen day trip (there was one on the sunset cruise though). I suppose because it's not that far of a trip to Chileno Bay. Also unlike the one in Puerto Vallarta, this tour does not visit the beach (you see it, but you don't spend time there).

 

Everyone got their snorkeling gear, and followed the snorkeling guide into the water. I measured the water temperature at 72° F - it was similar to swimming in a lake in the summer. Upon entry, the water felt cold, but within a few seconds, as my body got used to it, it was fine. After a couple of minutes I was totally warm, and nobody got out of the water early because they were cold. However, it was a distinct difference from the bathtub warm 82° F I'd measured in November.

 

 

There were quite a few tropical fish to see, and the water was calm and clearer than I'd expected for this time of year, at about 40' of visibility. Depth was between 5 and 15 feet. Diving to the bottom to look inside crevices for fish was easy. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but quite a few large parrotfish, a few brilliantly colored small tropical fish, and lots of the normal array of Sergeant Majors, Angelfish, Puffers, etc.

 

After snorkeling, snacks were served on board - they consisted of Guacamole, Salsa, Tuna Salad Sandwiches, Macaroni Salad, Tortilla Chips, and Pretzels. We were totally full after eating the snacks, so I guess it was more like lunch.

 

 

As everyone enjoyed the snacks and tropical drinks, the MC started a contest where they played the theme song from a movie and each "team" had to guess what it was. The first to ten points wins a free dinner at Mango Deck and a discount (maybe it was free, I can't remember) for the Buccaneer Queen sunset cruise. If you guess and get it wrong, then you "have to" drink Tequila. They played a lot of kids movies so the kids did the best, and won the contest, while the adults got drunk on tequila. Then the winning boy (about 7 or 8 years old) got up on stage and sang the winning song karaoke style.

 

The captain let the customers drive the boat too - up on the upper deck - which was kind of fun, and made for some good photo ops. The trip was only three hours long (the one in PV is about 7-8 hours long), so likewise only costs about half as much. It wasn't a party-style booze cruise, despite the tequila shots at the end, mostly relaxed with nice cruise music.

 

There were only three kids on our boat, and they seemed to enjoy the trip, and especially guessing the songs, but this cruise isn't really geared toward families like the one in PV is. It's a cruise of the Cabo San Lucas coastline, with snorkeling in Chileno Bay, Snacks, Music, Open Bar, and the song-guessing game on the way back.

 

I hope this helps a bit - if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[gottago2mexico]

A few more photos from our trip:

 

Chileno Beach

 

Land's End

 

Lover's Beach

 

Snorkeling at Chileno Bay

 

Snorkeling at Chileno Bay

[psbtrvlr]

Thanks, Johann & Sandra. Enjoyed the pics!

[tclowe]

Thanks so much for posting your experience. I was hoping that someone would have more details about this tour. So were there any passengers who didn't snorkel and just stayed on the ship? Did Chileno Bay have relatively calm waters? Any worries about jellyfish stings?

 

The pictures you posted looked so fun. Thanks for sharing.

[greys brimstone]

Great information.....great pictures

 

One question. Is there going to be a problem doing this excursion from the Carnival Pride? I see the pirate ship goes from 11:30 to about 3. Carnival's web site states we are in port from 7 to 4. Is the time on Carnival's web site ship time, which differes from the local time zone?

[gottago2mexico]

Thanks so much for posting your experience. I was hoping that someone would have more details about this tour. So were there any passengers who didn't snorkel and just stayed on the ship? Did Chileno Bay have relatively calm waters? Any worries about jellyfish stings?

 

The pictures you posted looked so fun. Thanks for sharing.

 

Yes, several passengers didn't snorkel and stayed on the ship. They just hung out, got sun and drank from the bar. Yes, the waters when we were there were like glass - extremely calm. No worries about jellyfish - they made an announcement before we got in that in case there were jellyfish, they had vinegar which makes the sting better, but that they hadn't seen any jellyfish at all for about a month. I saw zero jellyfish.

 

The stings don't even really hurt anyway, they're just annoying and only last a few seconds - no Manowars or anything, just little guys. Granted, if the water is full of them, you wouldn't want to swim, but if that's the case, you can see them before you jump in because they float close to the surface, and the guide always jumps in first.

 

Great information.....great pictures

 

One question. Is there going to be a problem doing this excursion from the Carnival Pride? I see the pirate ship goes from 11:30 to about 3. Carnival's web site states we are in port from 7 to 4. Is the time on Carnival's web site ship time, which differes from the local time zone?

 

Our excursion got back at 2:30 PM - plenty of time to get back on the ship. Before booking, though, talk to your tour broker or travel agent and ask - they won't sell you a ticket if you will miss your ship. They work with the ships every day.

 

Hope this helps, have a great time!

[tclowe]

Thank you so much for replying back to my concerns! I am going to book my family for April right now. I will be sure to report back about our experience for other CC members.