Pride Excursions: Las Caletas & Sierra Madre...any good?

[macclka]

We are going to the Mexican Riviera in one week (Pride), and booked Las Caletas in PVallarta and Sierra Madre in Mazatlan. Does anyone have any comments on these two excursions? If we choose to cancel, can we get out $ back?

[dommer573]

I went on the Sierra Madre excursion 8 yrs ago. I found it to be too long and very sad. the first stop was to an area where they made bricks by hand. There were 5 or so kids selling little carvings. One of the kids was a young boy with blond hair about ten years old. I heard on a later cruise that I took, in 2003 or so, that he was working in the yard making bricks. So that would have made him about fourteen and working in this dirty brick yard with no schooling and no future. The last part of the tour was to a small town in the mountains. The town was very old, something like 200-300 years or so. It had dirt streets with sewage flowing through the middle of it, this old church that was made from mud bricks, white wash peeling walls, ugly. Our guide took us to the home of one of the towns people, nice old lady with a family. The house had dirt floors, etc. The food in the restaurant was so, so and there "famous coconut cream pie" was just o.k. I myself would not go on this tour, nor would I recommend it. I just felt sad after.:(

[maxamuus]

We did Las Caletas a few weeks ago. Had a good time. Open bar on the boat ride over. We stopped and watched the whales for like 30 mins on the way to Las Caletas. Got to their had lunch. Food was ok. Nice beach area although not very big. Played in the water, laid in a hammock etc.

 

Was a nice time, wasnt sure it was worth almost a hundred a person but otherwise we enjoyed it.

[lv2cruz]

Have done Las Caletas several times. Its a great tour, good food and very relaxing once you get there.

[MSN-Travelers]

We are going to the Mexican Riviera in one week (Pride), and booked Las Caletas in PVallarta and Sierra Madre in Mazatlan. Does anyone have any comments on these two excursions? If we choose to cancel, can we get out $ back?

 

We have done the Las Caletas excursion every year that we have been in Vallarta. Price through the ship is a little steep. If you go, consider booking thru an independent tour broker such as Vallartaonline - http://www.vallartaonline.com/tours/Caletas/ or Puertovallartatours - http://www.puertovallartatours.net/las-caletas-snorkeling.htm (puertovallartatours has a "no port, no pay" policy that is good for cruise ship passengers)

 

Vallarta Adventures operates this tour. http://www.vallarta-adventures.com/las-caletas/index.html They have a primary trip that leaves the port at 9 AM and returns around 4:30 PM. They also operate a second trip to Las Caletas at 11:30 to serve ships that arrive after 9 AM (and overflow from the morning tour for us people that stay in hotels).

 

If you do book thru an independent tour broker, make sure you tell them the ship you will be on, along with the published arrival/departure times, so they can match you to the right tour time. Most ships that stop at Vallarta, including Pride, arrive early enough to get their passengers on the 9 AM (local time) tour. I say published times because these are often local times vs. ship's time.

 

As to your final question about getting your money back ...

 

It depends on what Canival's policy is on excursion cancellations. http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Shore_Excursions_FAQs/shore_ex_faq_CancelOrder.aspx

 

I know that Princess allows to to back out if it is at least 24 hours before the excursion starts. In fact, Princess doesn't apply the charge to your account until you are inside the 24 hour window. I have heard that other cruise line charge you for the excursion as soon as you reserve your spot.

 

Enjoy!