Pride to Mexico- need Excursion/port activity Suggestions

[javafreek]

What is reccommended to do as excursions on the Mexico Riviera cruise with a family w/teens?

[johnaricka]

Just came back off the Pride. We rode STVs in Mazatlan. 35 per person (hubby didnt bargain..) for an hour but totally worth it. You can rent jet skis in cabo and I recommend it. You dont have to book on the ship and I recommend that you dont. We over paid for the Stone Island Tour in Mazatlan and little did I know, we could have taken a water taxi there and did all the same activities for nothing. We wanted to swim with the dolphins in Cabo but ran out of time. When you get off the boat you will see tons of people with signs for excursions.

[mommykim]

I cannot recommend Randi's Happy Horses highly enough. You can find her on the internet and she is a JEWEL!

[LHP]

PV - zip lining with De Los Vernos When making a reservation on line, you do NOT give them a Credit Card number. You simply make your reservation and pay cash when you arrive. $82.00 ( they used to give a $10 discount for the internet price, so that would be $72.00) It will cost you about $3 a person one way for a taxi to the office and another $3 back.

This company is owned by an American and they do an excellent job. You can pay by Credit Card when you get there but there is a 3 - 5% surcharge to do so.

 

Here is a review from another thread:

 

Took some excerpts from some comments you'll find on these boards - they refer to the Los Vernos tour I gave you the link to -

 

> Canopy Tours: 9am / 10am/ 11am / 12am / 1pm / 2pm

> How is our tour different then Vallarta Adventures?

> 1. We have the HIGHEST and LONGEST cables. 2. You cross a beautiful river gorge.

> 3. Your last cable takes you right into our Palapa area there is no walking after your last platform.

> 4. Our tour is designed for everyone. Our oldest customer was an 84 year old woman and our youngest 6 years old. I have done Vallarta Adventures tour prior to working here and I found it to be a little boring because of the short cables. Also, the ride out there was quite long. Vallarta Adventures brochures show trees that do not exist in Mexico. The photos were taken in Costa Rica. Many people arrive at the tour expecting to see super tall trees and are disappointed when they arrive to find them different. Los Veranos is really quite beautiful!! River, jungle and mountains. We have a great riverside restaurant incase you want to get a bite to eat after the tour. You may want to bring a towel to cool off in the river!!

 

I just got back from the Canopy Tours de los Veranos. If you don't mind going off the ship on your own - which is no big deal - this is the tour I'd recommend. There are many reasons in the posts below why this tour is better. I also have 2 more reasons:

 

1) it's NOT a mega tourist company like Vallarta Adventures (who almost monopolizes the touring market in PV)...Canopy Tours de los Veranos is American-own, and extremely well-done. As PV Pam pointed out to me, they are the only touring company who regularly attend her CPR/1st aid classes.

 

2) Last week Diamond Princess canceled their canopy tour because they got into the port late. I would've been devasted if that were my ship and my excursion!

 

Either book on-line (for the discount), or book through PV Pam (pmt@prodigy.net.mx). You cannot just show up - not for any of the popular PV tours.When booking, remember that PV is Central Time (an hour ahead of most ship times), and the cruiselines don't have you adjust your watches...you don't want to be late!

 

The 11am tour was perfect - it allowed us plenty of time to get to the pickup point. We took a bus (to experience it), walked around town a little, and then took a taxi. You can definetely walk from downtown - IF you know where you are going.

 

The ride there is great and scenic. You get to see so much! The turn-off to the cables is directly above Chico's Paradise, and kitty corner to the tequila factory. If you really wanted to, you could get off the truck to see either place, and pickup a later truck (they run every 30 minutes). However, we enjoyed hanging out at Panchos. FYI - the "free" drink is only free if they don't charge you for it - which they try to do. The tour itself is exhilerating. Luckily there are a lot of zip lines because it doesn't take long to fly across them (and then you wait in line for the next one...).

 

If I could do it again, I'd take a video camera. You MUST hold on to the pulley with both hands, but a guy strapped it around his wrist. That would be a great video - esp since the tour zooms by and is hard to take it all in. As a minimum, take a camera, but you can only take pix between zips.

 

If you have someone in your travel party who isn't up for this, they can go and hangout at Panchos. I'd recommend 2-way radios if they want to watch you because it's impossible to know who is who -- you are flying way to high above

 

It took our group one hour and 45 minutes to go through the 13 cables.

The walkie-talkie idea is a good one - and wearing a bright red shirt. My wife didn't ride the cables and was able to see people crossing the river, but she couldn't tell which one was me. A pair of binoculars wouldn't hurt either if you're watching from down below.

It would be possible to ride one-handed and videotape - the video photgrapher did it all the time.

 

Puerto Vallarta - we did the canopy tour thru Canopy de los veranos. This ship gets into port at 8am - but don't forget that the ship time is an hour different from PV time. Knowing this and realizing that my family always runs late on stuff, I booked the tour for 11am. You have to get there 15 minutes early to check in. We actually got there a little after 10. If you really hustle, you could probably make the 10am tour. After checking in, you get on a bus - try to sit on the right hand side of the vehicle (you get a much better view). Once at the place, you receive directions and then start out on 3 'training' zip lines before moving on to the bigger ones. I am afraid of heights but really enjoyed myself. The girls thought it was way better than Disneyland and even my husband enjoyed himself! The guides were very nice and extremely safety conscious. We all felt very secure with them handling things. They also took special care with the kids and made an effort to talk with the kids and see how they were doing. Also, the restaurant at the end (I think it was Pancho's Last Resort or something like that) served excellent food!. After the canopy tour, we walked to the boardwalk. The girls had their hair braided (top of head only only - 2 for $25). I would recommend walking around the downtown area. The old church by the boardwalk (it is a landmark) was very beautiful. The street vendors were a little pushy but were generally okay if you said "Gracias, no". We didn't find out until we went back to the ship, but the kids' friends went to the Diamonds International store, showed their "Sail and Sign" card from Carnival and said "I love diamonds" - they got a free bracelet. We had the kids do this at the Diamonds International Store in downtown Cabo and they got free 'diamond chip' earrings (which they loved).

 

I took the Los Veranos tour on 2/3. We met at 0900 and I was back to the ship at 1400. The difference between the two tours is that Los Veranos is all cable over different types of jungle (river gorges), canyons, jungle. It also has more cable. The other tour is jungle only and includes rope bridges and the final station you repel down. Los Veranos just opened a new restaurant and bar which is very nice. I was on the tour with a number of folks who had a fear of heights. There are a total of 12 stations and by number 7 everyone had their eyes open. A lot of fun and great guides. I paid $60 via their web site. Erik

 

We took the 10:00 am canopy tour and we had lots of time to enjoy Puerto Vallarta. Just in case you don't know, the ship time and PV time are different. In order to make it to your pickup point on time, you need to adjust your time by 1 hour. Have a great time. The canopy tour was the highlight of my cruise last April. I would do it again.

[javafreek]

Thanks- I will check into these. Has anyone done horseriding on the beach? Is it offered and are there recommended companies?

[SDBeachLovers]

My wife and I will also be on the Pride on August 5, WITHOUT THE KIDS :)

This is out first cruise ever and we are really looking forward to it - it will also be our anniversary during the trip (Aug 11, #18). What kind of "special" activities would be wortwhile on board to celebrate? Spa, dinner club ???

The discussions here have been so helpful in planning!

THANKS

[morriscats]

Our favorite tour anywhere is Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan. She will match you to your horse depending on your riding experience. A short ride through and trees and you are on a beautiful beach. After the ride you go to Victor's on the beach - a small restaurant right on the beach with the best food. Not expensive either. Do a search - this tour is very popular.