Pirate Ship Marigalante. How to book?

[snooksmum]

HI,

 

I'll be in PV in Dec on the NCL Star and I was thinking of taking the Pirate Ship Marigalante Tour. I'm wondering -- is it best to book this through NCL (for an extra $40), directly with the Marigalante, or through one of the local tour operators. Should I book ahead, or buy tickets on the day?

 

Any thoughts welcome. I also hope it'll be fun for a 4-year-old.

 

Thanks! Any other advice about the Mexican Riviera with a small child is welcome as this is our first cruise together.

[MSN-Travelers]

HI,

 

I'll be in PV in Dec on the NCL Star and I was thinking of taking the Pirate Ship Marigalante Tour. I'm wondering -- is it best to book this through NCL (for an extra $40), directly with the Marigalante, or through one of the local tour operators. Should I book ahead, or buy tickets on the day?

 

Any thoughts welcome. I also hope it'll be fun for a 4-year-old.

 

Thanks! Any other advice about the Mexican Riviera with a small child is welcome as this is our first cruise together.

 

According to the Vallarta Port Authority web site, NCL Star is scheduled to arrive at 8 AM and tender for nearly all of its visits to Vallarta.

 

Marigalante sails from the port between 9 and 9:15 AM. Maybe somebody here, or on the NCL forum, can tell you how NCL handles tender operations in Vallarta. (ie: speed for non-ship excursion people).

 

Since NCL sells the Marigalante excursion, it is unlikely that Marigalante will be allowed to sell direct to you under the terms of their contract with NCL. You can still book this excursion thru a third-party tour broker such as Johann & Sandra's www.puertovallartatours.net or VallartaOnline at www.vallartaonline.com

 

My only concern with booking this tour independently is my lack of knowledge with NCL tendering policies. The first tender arrival for Star should have been October 8th. Can anybody report how that went?

 

Enjoy!

[pkrchkr]

HI,

 

I'll be in PV in Dec on the NCL Star and I was thinking of taking the Pirate Ship Marigalante Tour. I'm wondering -- is it best to book this through NCL (for an extra $40), directly with the Marigalante, or through one of the local tour operators. Should I book ahead, or buy tickets on the day?

 

Any thoughts welcome. I also hope it'll be fun for a 4-year-old.

 

Thanks! Any other advice about the Mexican Riviera with a small child is welcome as this is our first cruise together.

We booked at the 1866# rather then booking it on line. I was a little bit worried about the credit card number so I got a pre-paid one and that went fine.

We are booked on the Pride.But call and book with PV tours they looked after us really well and I'm sure looking forward to the Pirate ship Adventure.You board the ship right at the peir just walk out the security gate and turn right you see when you pull into port.I was told by the company if your ship arrives late and you miss out on the Pirate ship or your cruise ship misses the port all to gether that you will be given your money back in full..No-port no charge policy..I love that part!!!In Maz we booked with Randi's happy horses at randishappyhorses.com.45 pp.

We were able to book our Cabo excursions with PV tours as they are the same company as Cabosails tours without any problems either.

I will write a review when we get back on this board so people who want to know my opinion of the Marigalante can read it for what it is worth..I am hoping it will be fanatastic for eveyone!!!

[SeansMommy]

book directly through them through their web site, last year we went and NCL cruisers were on our ship, plenty of time to get back to ship. a 5 minute walk over to where they dock.

[snooksmum]

Thanks! That's great info. I'll check the tendering arrangements.

[snooksmum]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the tip about the PV port authority. Perhaps some Spanish speakers can help me out here: Does "fond" mean tender? If so, the Star does tender for most of its calls at PV. (NCL assures me they never tender at PV, but I'm more inclined to believe the port authority.)

 

Cheers

[MSN-Travelers]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the tip about the PV port authority. Perhaps some Spanish speakers can help me out here: Does "fond" mean tender? If so, the Star does tender for most of its calls at PV. (NCL assures me they never tender at PV, but I'm more inclined to believe the port authority.)

 

Cheers

 

"FOND" is short for fondeadero masculine noun 1. anchorage

dock in english is sustantivo 1. muelle (m) (for ships)

 

I have quite a few pictures of HAL ships at anchor outside the Vallarta port but I can't say the same for NCL.

 

Enjoy!

[snooksmum]

Thanks! In that case I'll definitely book through the ship so I don't have to scramble for a tender.

 

I love this forum.. great info.

Cheers

[sunshine40]

I was on the NCL Star on Oct. 11th. We did tender into the PV port. I didn't try to go early into port so I can't help with how that went. When we were there two ships docked and one ship used tenders. That week the NCL ship tendered and the HAL and CCL ships were docked.