Pier excursions

[Scorpiorose]

I asked this before but didn't get a response.......Does anyone have a good story to share about using the people at the pier for an excursion? We will be in MZ and PV - we know what we want to do in Cabo......I'd love to wing it but am a bit apprehensive....

[eh2zed]

I asked this before but didn't get a response.......Does anyone have a good story to share about using the people at the pier for an excursion? We will be in MZ and PV - we know what we want to do in Cabo......I'd love to wing it but am a bit apprehensive....

You may get more response on the Mexican Riviera Ports of Call forum

[rochelle_s]

I did the Sea of Cortez cruise in April '08 on the Ryndam. Independent scuba diving trips were booked for each port but because of the time difference (no changing the clocks) in Puerto Vallarta the dive boat was already gone by the time we got off the ship. There were numerous vendors selling trips on the pier both inside the gates as well as outside.

We ended up booking an independent trip on shore. The cost was $50.00 per person. The excursion was on a boat....included breakfast, lunch and all drinks. The morning was a snorkling trip through caves etc. I wasn't impressed with this as there were a few who couldn't even swim..and everyone was required to have a life jacket with them ??? I guess this would be okay if you were new to it or not a strong swimmer. To me this part was just too crowded. But the afternoon was good...you had two options, you could get dropped at a beach with various water activities or you could continue on to another drop off point which had a hike to a waterfall or horseback riding (fee- I think it was about $15.00). We opted for the hike which was nice. The waterfall area was picturesque, there was drink service, swimming, an impromptu rock waterslide and ropes to swing off. There were also some locals who would dive from the top...much like cliff divers but not quite so high. After this it was a leasurely cruise with music, games and of course the open bar for a couple of hours before being dropped back at the pier. Not bad all in all.

 

I would highly recommend checking out the Krystal hotel spa (walking distance). We had a four hand couples massage booked which was done in a tent on the beach.....amazing!! This was a highlight of the trip and I would consider going back to PV just for this..and the price could not be beat.

 

As for Mazatlan, there were plenty of the tour vendors when you got off the little tram that brings you to the port gates. I cannot tell you what they were offering or prices as we had other plans and did not check it out.

We did, though, venture over to Stoney Island on the water taxi ($2.00 each return) in the afternoon and there was plenty you could do there without a tour such as horseback riding, ATV's and of course various water activities. Friends we had met onboard had taken the ships tour here and wished they had done it on their own, especially for what they paid.

 

Personally I am sure you can find something that interests you at reasonable prices right at the pier. The Krystal hotel should be booked in advance though as they are very popular and fill up quickly.

 

Hope this helps....

 

Rochelle

[DAllenTCY]

Many years ago in San Juan, PR I asked the cab driver at the bottom of the gangway for some insight as to what one should see. He suggested a drive to the home of Roberto Clemente, and a trip to El Comandante racetrack. I did both, and I'm so pleased that I did. Not so much for the horse race track, which is beautiful...but for the visit to the small home of a baseball legend.

David

[Scorpiorose]

Great information so far.....anyone else has booking at the pier suggestions? Stories?

[san diego sue]

In Mazatlan we booked with private van when we got off the ship. Cost us $15.00 a person last December for 8 people in van. The operator found the additional people as we were only four. In In Puerta Vallarta did the same thing, they wanted $25.00 each. It was great. The vans can go where the buses can't, on the narrow streets. You can spend as much time as you want in each stop. Tours were half day. In Cabo, we just head for the beach but you can book Whale watching tours right at the dock.You need to walk along the dock for a bit before they start trying to sell you tours.

[mountainmare]

We generally do not do ship tours and often explore on our own (easier in Europe than in the Caribbean).

In Cabo we walked along the dock and was offered our choice of whale watching tours, we could pick a bigger tour boat, a little water taxi type boat or a zodiac. We picked the little boat and it was an wonderful experience. Ziggy (our boat person) would zip around when he saw that a whale was coming up--because it was very early in the season he was as excited as we were--yelling "LOOK LOOK SHE'S COMING!!!"

We shared the boat with another couple from another ship who just wanted to be dropped off at Lovers Beach. After the whales I asked if I could be dropped off because Ziggy was planning to return for them anyway. He agreed and it was a wonderful fabulous day, In Acapolco we took our time getting off the ship--planning on a taxi tour. We were approached by a few and finally settled on Roberto--an older gentleman (and I mean really a gentleman!!) because we liked the fact that he was not aggressive. Again--a wonderful tour--seeing parts of the city that other people would not see with an insider point of view.

 

These were walk off the ship and pick up a tour situations, different from a booked private tour. Do not be afraid to interview several people and go with a person who just feels right. Also go to the ports board and see if anyone has a taxi driver who was excpetional--and ask for him by name, we did this in Barbados--we wanted Tony the Tiger and again a very positive experience.

[OTRlady]

DH is totally blind, so while we often do ship's tours, sometimes we find that they don't meet our needs.

 

The very first time we cruised, we were a group of four--three blind + me. We had booked an island tour for Grand Cayman, but we waited so long to make up our minds about what kind of tour three blind people might enjoy, they were sold out. So we just tendered into the port--mainly because I wanted to see a shop that was supposed to have wonderful black coral art--and on the way back to the pier, a taxi driver saw us and asked us if we'd like to take a tour. It's been 10 years, and I can't remember his name now, but he took us to all the places the ship's tour would have gone, and for less than half the price. Plus, we had a private van, and he let us take as much time as we wanted at each stop, which was good, since the the 10 minutes here and 2 minutes there style of ships' island tours isn't great for those with special needs.

 

A few other times, I haven't been able to find a ship's tour that covered the things I wanted to do on an island. In those cases, we have just walked off the ship, asked for a taxi driver to take us there, and had great luck. In most cases, the driver will either wait for you or return for you at a pre-set time.

 

We did this in Barbados, where we went to a nature preserve and then to a beach. Our driver just came back at the preset time and took us to the next stop. We did the same thing last year in Nassau to see a garden that the ship's tour only spent 15 minutes at; we weren't interested in the other stops on the tour and wanted to spend our whole day at the garden, so we did. In that case, when we were done, we had the officer at the gatehouse call us a taxi to return to the ship.

 

In St. Lucia the first time, we were with another couple who didn't want to spend money on a shore tour, so we walked off the ship in the afternoon, and a taxi driver "sold" us on a short tour, which went to a bunch of interesting places we hadn't even known about. We got great pics, bought some native artwork, and were dropped off at a local market, where we shopped some more before walking back to the ship on our own.

 

On St. Maarten a couple years ago, I was unable to find a shore tour of interest, so we got off the ship and wandered around the port for a while. At the information booth, there was a flyer about a butterfly garden. With assistance from the staff there, we were able to arrange a taxi to take us to see the butterflies. We shared our cab with a father and his young son, and the four of us agreed to pay the driver extra to wait for us. It turned out to be a good thing, since taxis are hard to get to come back out to some of the less popular areas. The only down side was that the young boy was ready to leave in about 10 minutes, and we had gotten separated so that DH and I were on the following tour. That poor child had to wait something over an hour for us to be done.

 

Likewise, our first trip to Aruba, we thought we would just like to go to a beach and snorkel on our own. We asked on the ship and were told that Baby Beach is a good place, especially for beginners like me. When we got outside to look for a taxi, we found one right away, but the driver didn't really want to go all the way to Baby Beach at the far tip of the island. He talked us into another beach that he said would be great and not crowded, plus the rate to go there was cheaper. On the way, we got a city tour and a lot of info about Aruba as a bonus. He showed up to pick us up right on time. He was right. The beach was deserted except for us. The water was great--although a bit boisterous for snorkeling off the beach, or even for swimming if you're not good at it. Turns out we've been back to that beach on ship's tours on three different occasions. Always impressive.

 

We can always find something to do on an island. I think the trick is to know ahead of time what are the main attractions for you, and then you can choose how to best approach getting there.

[iancal]

We usually either do pier excursions of pre booked private excursions. You can find a lot of good ones on the Ports of Call board. Our experience has been very good. Typically we have ended up with first rate tours that are much smaller than the ships tour and often at considerably less money. I would go for it. We always plan a private tour for the morning and schedule to be back at the ship a few hours prior to boarding. This gives us some 'insurance' time. We use the extra time to browse the shops around the port...by this time the crowds in the stores have diminished.