Just Back From Legend of the Seas - Mexican Riviera

We got back last week (1 week ago now) from Legend of the Seas to the Mexican Riviera. It was a great cruise and we had a lot of fun. Great crew especially our dining room servers!! We all (especially our kids) really enjoyed the beaches in port.

I won't give a huge review but just some suggestions for future travelers. If you have any other questions, on any other specific things, let me know.

We flew in the night before and stayed at the Westin. We rented a car but didn't need it since the airport, hotel and cruise ship dock were all so close together. Since we prepaid through Priceline, we decided to go ahead and take the car.

The next morning, I watched the ship come into dock while I was on my run along the water. The ship comes in around 6:30 - 7:00 even though it was later when we returned.

(tip # 1) - Get to the port to disembark early. We got there at about 11:15 and breezed right through all of the paperwork and account set up stuff. We waited in the terminal for about 30 minutes and were on the ship by 12:00. Cabins are available at 1:00 and the maitre 'd is available at 12:30, so we went to the wind jammer buffet for lunch. Dont wait until 1:30 or 2:00 to embark - you may be in a line and you miss out on good ship time! After lunch we went to the dining room to talk to the maitre 'd about our groups tables location/layout, etc. Everything there was perfect so we then went to our cabin to start unpacking.

If you need babysitting, in addition to, or instead of the kids club (adventure ocean), go to the purcer's desk right away and start begging. There were not a lot of baby sitters available on our cruise. We were fortunate to have a baby sitter every night but most other people did not get baby sitters at all. We took the extra time to really be nice to the people at the purcer's desk and I think that helped. We also told her that we could commit every night if she could find a sitter for us every night and we would be willing to pay a little extra (that way the sitter would know us, she would be comfortable with us and our kids and she would know she has a commitment every night).

Sail away was fun as we left San Diego. We were on the deck just above the pool as we pulled back from the dock and made our way throught the San Diego harbor and out to the Pacific.

Dinner thoroughtout was great. The servers were the best part (if you get a chance ask for "Mo" full name = Mohammed and Mona (she was the assistant waiter). He's the Mo that our little girl (she's two years old) called Nemo. Ask for him, and mention Nemo, he'll know what your talking about. There is lobster and shrimp on the second formal night. Typical stuff on the other nights. Escargot was awesome!! (night 2 ?? can't remember).

(Tip #2) Dont hesitate to ask for a second lobster tail (or anything else for that matter) - they are more than happy to bring it for you. Usually we eat on the healthy side, but, for this week, we seemed to pick the items, off the menu, with the highest possible butter and garlic count. I urge you to do the same! It was worth it. Just bring along some extra mouthwash (for garlic) and don't look back.

The wine package was a good deal. I think it was $110 for seven bottles of wine. We bought this on the frst day and we were able to pick one bottle every night at dinner. If your a wine drinker, this will save you some $$$.

Day 2 - At Sea

Nothing big to tell you here. Typical day at sea. Get up, do a run around the deck, have breakfast, wait for clouds to burn off and try to find some seats at pool (everyone saves seats with towels), take nap, go to formal dinner. For formal dress, people did a good job of following RCI guidelines. An equal mix of tuxes, dark suits and other misc. outfits.

I am happy to say, I won in the casino. One thing to remember, if you need extra cash, for days in port, go to casino and charge $$ on to your onboard account. I didn't have to do this, but while I was playing blackjack, I was thinking that getting money from them would be easier and cheaper than an ATM either on the ship or in port.

Day 3 - Cabo San Lucas

This was our favorite port. (Surprising, I know. But due to proximity to excellent beaches and resorts combined with the beautiful setting, this port makes for a great day).

This is the only port where we had to tender in.

Tip #3 - get your tender ticket early (this is what determines the order of when people can board tender to take you from the ship to dock). They start handing out the tender tickets at 9:30. If you get there right around then or a few minutes earlier, you'll be in good shape.

When we got inside the harbor, at the tender dock, there were lots of vendors. We hired a glassbottom boat for $40 (very good price) for five adults and 5 children to give us the typical water tour. We went by Lover's beach, the arch, window to the pacific (very neat natural formation where waves from the Pacific come rushing through a small opening in the rock through to the Sea of Cortez side) and around Land's End to the Pacific side. After the tour, we had the boat drop us off at the beach at Pueblo Bonito Blanco resort, just up from the Office (the Office is a fun beach restaurant/bar). They hotel bar servers on the beach absolutely hooked us up! After telling them we would like to spend some time on their beach and have some drinks and lunch, they rushed to get us a cabana, an extra umbrella and a bunch of lounge chairs. This resort and area of that beach is good because there is a rope where the vendors aren't allowed to pass which gives you more peace without bing harassed by the vendors.

The boat driver came back at the time we agreed to, but since we wanted more time, we gave him his $ (second half of the price for the tour) and he left. When we were ready to go, we grabbed another water taxi and went back to the tender dock. Since we had some time, we went into the downtown area of Cabo, where we walked through some shops. The line for the tender gets long at around 4:00 - nothing you can do about that. After all, what's the rush, your in Mexico!!

Day 4 - Mazatlan

We hired a driver (ended up hiring him for the day $100) to shutlle our group to and from the El Cid resort where we spend the day on the beach with cabanas. If you go to the El Cid, see if Frankie is working the beach area. I think he is employed by the El Cid and he sells activities (parasailing, jet ski, etc.). He was the one that set us up with 3 cabanas, free boogie boards, and gave us a great price ($25 for parasailing). The El Cid is dated and the beach chairs did not recline back (not as comfortable as place in Cabo) but still was a great day. If you can research ahead of time, and find another resort that is nicer, newer, and welcomes cruise ship passengers, let me know for next time (thanks).

Day 5 - Puerto Vallarta

Tip # 4 - When you get to Puerto Vallarta, remember that the ship time does not equal Puerto Vallarta time. Why they do this, I have no idea, but it screwed us up on going on the Pirate Ship Marigalante. Since, we do our own tours and/or book independently, we made a reservation (no payment) online but missed it because of the crazy time issue. If you book through RCI, they probably run everyting on ship time.

Anyway, we still had an awesome day! We hired a taxi driver for the day and he gave us the typical, family with kids, tour. He started off driving us through town and carried on to Mismaloya Cove and "Los Arcos" or "The Arches", where there is good snorkeling. Our driver introduced us to a guy who got us on a 10-12 passend\ger boat that took us out on a private snorkel trip ($30 approx). They boat provided all the equiptment. It was well worth the $$. Next, our driver took us up into the jungle to the area where Arnold Schwartzeneger's movie, "The Predator" was filmed. There was a good restaurant there, on a river, with a great swimming hole with a water slide and a rope to swing into the swimming hole. Additionally, P.V.'s other zip line/canopy tour (this is not the smae one you can book through RCI) is in the same spot. The kids are too young for the canopy tour so we spend a long time swimming, going down the slide, swinging on the rope and having lunch. Clouds started to roll in around 2:00 so we made our way back to town and to the ship for a quick nap. That night, since we were in port until 11:00 PM, some of the adults, in our group, went back to town for dinner and drinks. The rain stopped and it was a beautiful night in P.V. We went to Carlos O'Briens for a casual dinner, great view of the water (dont go here if you want a romantic dinner, this is a loud party bar/restaurant). A little loud - but lots of fun!!

Days 6-7

At sea days. Enjoy the weather on Day 6 because the weather the last day is very windy and colder. They have lots of events by the pool on Day 6 (Friday) so you may want to get out there early.

Disembarkation

Tip 5: White disembarkation tags gets you off early - ask for them if you would rather not wait around on the ship. Or if you have to wait around, since you cant wait in your cabin, go to the That's Entertainment Lounge (there was lots of room) or take your time eating breakfast in the Dining room since it is more comfortable as compared to other areas that are crowded

I hope this review is helpful to people taking Legend of the Seas to the Mexican Riviera. Let me knw if you have any other questions.

Great review!

We're taking the same cruise on 8/15. Did your kids participate in any of the Adventure Ocean activities? Our kids are 8 and 11, and we'd welcome any review of the AO program on this itinerary.

Your port advice is fantastic--we tend to do our own excursions as well, but have not been to any of these 3 ports--appreciate the good ideas!

THANKS

Cortesefam,

The AO (Adventure Ocean) activities were excellent. Most of the kids in our group (ages 6 - 10) loved it and they wanted to be there all day (and night). They had different themes and activities each day. They had activities at night as well so the parents could do their own thing. During our time in port, the kids would sing a lot of the songs and repeat alot of the stuff they did during AO.

Re. the excursions, yes, we are very happy with the way we did it. Not being big fans of a schedule while on vacation, taking your own excursions, allows to stay for as long or as short as we wanted in any one place. The people at the resorts treated us like royalty and the value was outstanding! We had a day on the beach with cabanas, drinks, a bucket of Corona's, lunch, excellent service, boogie boards, and whatever we needed all for $20 - 35 each!!!

By the way, here is a link to the San Diego Harbor web cam. Every Sunday, you can see The Legend of the Seas in port. You can see the passengers embarking and disembarking!

http://live6.truelook.com/face/newface.jsp?func=live&name=/ecodb/1amnorth/camera1&pan=-95.14282&tilt=-10.057173&panfov=7.7360687&tiltfov=6.0298266&overlay=default&skin=default&useapplet=true&time=1086540806240&width=640&height=480&quality=65&catalogname=catalog&imagemap.x=214&imagemap.y=161&imagemap.w=212&imagemap.h=159

Have a great time on your cruise. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Im sorry to have missed seeing you (or recognising). I also thought the trip was a blast. I had some different exsperiences and thought to add my 2 cents.

We flew into SD at 1pm and were on board at 2:10... grabbed luggage and was met by RCCL at door closest to luggage carisels. This was MUCH easyer than we exspected.

Grabbed the sail away pina colada to enjoy on the top front deck. I sure am glad I smuggled my booze because that was a very exspencive drink and week to boot :-(

Sence the day was windy I was cold.

Hint...always have a warm sweater, even mid summer on a cruise to Mex.

I had the hubby go to the bar to gett me a warm coco with snapps and bailies tasted great and warmed me righta up :-) $5 a shot so the bill adds up quick.

Sail away was great and we spent the next several hours tring to inpersinate two lovestruck teens as we giggled and ran ALL over the ship, up and down top to bottom at least five times....

We had second dining and to our delight found that table 27 is a two person table... very romantic. Hira and Irean were our wait staff and I fell in love with both on the very first night. The wine pacage was a great choice for us and we lett Hira choose our wine each night and he never disapointed us.

Cabo; I was not impressed myself. sales venders were pushy and treated several young girls and myself crudely. I do recomend renting a kiyake and enjoying your self for 2-3 hours it was great. We stopped at lovers beach. was cool on one side the pacific crashes violently apone a steep beach and on the other the the sea of cortes is much more gental. Swimming was a blast.

on a disturbing note hubby witnessed a father taking pics of his kid on the pacific beach side and watched the dad tell his kid to back up into the waves up to close to knee depth. I wondered why he would not leave that side but he stayed untill the kid was safely away from the surf. If the child had been rolled there is know way he could have stayed on the beach, even a strong swimmer would have been in danger. I heard af several kids being undersupervised then getting swept out farther than mom or dad exspected

PLEASE ALWAYS RESPECT THE OCEAN it can kill you if you are careless.

MAZ; had a great time with randies happy horses great time very relaxing day

P.V. this could be a review all its own. PV was by far our faverite city. We booked with Los Veranos for the Canopy Zip Lines I cant putt into word how great this was the restrant at the bottom was fun also. as a storm was on its way we headed back to town and spent 5 hours walking acrost and up and down the city, even the rain was great. I had the most AUSOME margarita (apx 3cups of cool limey heaven) and fab food at PiPi's then spent sveral more hours walking and shopping my way back to the ship. I plan on returning to PV next year.

Dinner and desert were always as beatifull as they were tasty and the entertainment was great, seeing the drifters was a trip down memorie lane as my mom taught me to waltz to there smooth sound.

All in all I always had time to have quiet romantic time with the hubby but never got boored while on my own eather. I even got the $50 and 2 $20's and $35 in change from that strange cion drop in the casino that frustrated every one.

I can answer any questions that cruzor dosent have just ask. and get ready to enjoy your vacation

I'm thinking of taking this cruise maybe next year. What was the weather like? Was it extremely hot?

Weather was ok. In port, we spent most of our time on the beach, in the water or under a cabana. Although it was hot (high 90's), I never really noticed the heat.

On the ship, the weather was perfect, for the at sea days, except for the last day, which was very windy.

Alta, the Los Veranos Canopy Zip Lines tour in P.V. sounds fun. I wanted to do that as well but our kids are still too young. I hope to try it next time.

Your Cabo comment re. the high surf reminded me of what we saw when we were on our glass bottom boat tour. We watched another boat driver rescue a child, on the Sea of Cortez side of Lover's Beach, who could not get back to the beach after he got caught in the surf and was being pushed toward the rocks. A large man swam out to rescue him but was unable to get himself and the child back to the beach. The boat operator go over to the two of them and helped get the child up into the boat. Did you see this a well?

How was the mini golf course? Is it still 18 holes or did they make it smaller due to the rock wall?

Was the solarium adults only or is it for all ages?

How were the sizes of the hot tubs? Crowded or plenty of them?

Scott

any language barrier when using/getting a taxi at any of the ports? Also, how was the windjammer?

Majority of the taxi drivers speak English very well. When I was on the Vision last year, one of the comedian mentioned that you have to go to Mexico to find taxi driver who speak English very well, but not in the States.

How was the mini golf course? Is it still 18 holes or did they make it smaller due to the rock wall?

 

Was the solarium adults only or is it for all ages?

 

How were the sizes of the hot tubs? Crowded or plenty of them?

 

Scott

The mini golf course was a disappointment. It was very difficult, especially while the ship was moving....our balls would roll dozens of feet away from the putting area and we would have to chase them down. I seldom saw people on it. They did loose a hole or two for the rock climbing wall.

The Solarium was marked "adult only" There were only 30 children under 18 on our cruise so I couldn't tell you if this was strictly enforced or not. Chair hogging prevention was enforced.

On our cruise the hot tubs were very busy on warm/hot sea days, but there always seemed to be a spot available when needed.

Thanks for all the info. We leave 8/1! :cool:

Thanks for all your info. The trip sounds great. Did either of you hear others report on the Pirate Ship marigalante? We are booked with Randi's horses also. HOw was the entertainment?

Did you happen to hear of anything about the pirate ship in cabo (I think it's called Sunderland). Thanks again for the great review we leave 9/12

Here are some answers to the questions above:

RE: Mini Golf Course:

I never played the mini golf course. I saw it while spending time at the rock wall. It didn't look that great. Great setting though. It's tough to complain, all that much, being on the top deck with that outstanding view!

RE: Solarium - adults only or is it for all ages?

All ages. There were kids in the pool and I didn't see any signs that instructed otherwise. On the last day, which was windy the solarium was pretty crowded.

RE: The sizes of the hot tubs? Crowded or plenty of them?

They were about 1 1/2 times the size of a typical hot tub. There were two of them on either side of the pool. They were pretty crowded on at sea days. I have to admit, my 5 year old love the hot tubs. He was hanging out like he owned it, talking to everyone and having a grand ol' time!! All he needed was a drink and he'd be all set.

RE: Any language barrier w/ taxi drivers.

No. They spoke pretty good english. I am fortunate that my wife speaks very good spanish, for a gringo, and that got us by. The driver that we had all day in P,V, was very good!!! When you arrive in port you can talk to a few of them while you are negotiating your price and try to decide who will be best (I dont think it will be an issue for you).

RE: Windjammer

Windjammer was not all that great. I wish I could say it was better. We aren't picky at all but it was just kind of plain, boring and bland. Dining room was great. Good selection and excellent service. The solarium has hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, etc. We loved that for a quick junk food fix!

RE: Marigalante Pirate Ship (in P.V.)

Did you see my post above? This is a sore topic in my household! Don't bring it up. We were planning on going on this. My 5 year old was completely reved up about the whole pirate thing. But, due to the difference in "ship time" and "P.V. time", we missed the boat! I didn't hear anyone else talk about it. It looked like a pretty good excursion (only if you dont want to do canopy/zip line tour which got rave reviews) I have to tell you, the pirate ship did look pretty neat (very big and exciting) from my view, (behind it as it was sailing out of the harbor).

RE: pirate Ship in Cabo.

We didn't hear anything about any of the Cabo pirate ships. Our group went on a glass bottom boat tour, which was excellent and then had him drop us off at a beach resort. I did hear that you have to pick the pirate ship that actually sails vs. only motor (check the ports of call message board - I think they have good stuff on this).

:p Hi Ed! Welcome back and thanks for the review.

How do you get those white tags for early disembarkment? Do fussy kids meet the requirement?

Thanks!

In Puerto Vallerta, does anyone which know which tour is best for the swim with dolphins. One has them in a pool, and one has them in the ocean. Thanks!

harrishouse,

the white tags are for passengers who have early flights. in our case, only one of the families in our group had an early flight but one of the crew members (they were outstanding) gave us all the white tags. It's really not a big deal but it is nice to be able to disembark the ship when you want. The people in our group who had later flights got off the ship early and toured the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier, which as of this year, is docked in San Diego and is a museum. The Midway is just down from where the Legend docks (two-three minutes walk).

Harrishouse,

Did the Swim with the Dolphins excusion on the 6/20 sailing. We chose the $146.00 per person one.............it was fabulous!!!!!! You're in a 15' deep pool with life vests on................8 people per 2 dolphins. They swim all around you; get to touch and interact. Picture taken (for purchase of course!) with them kissing you. Last thing you get to do is ride them. It will be something DH and I will never forget!!!!!!!!! Well worth the $$$$.

Darcy

We miss you on our roll call thread. :D

Darcy, was the dolphin encounter in Puerto Vallarta? I am booked to do this and I am very excited...I've wanted to do this for many, many years. :D

Desertbelle,

Dolphin Encounter and Swim with the dophins are both in Puerto Vallarta; They are two different deals but both at the same place........our friends did encounter at the same time we did swim.......there's was 15 minutes in a waist deep pool.......ours was 1/2 hour ........we couldn't get into the am encounter; did the 1:15. FYI.............no water cameras in pool area do to an incident they'd had with dolphin eating a camera piece..........they use a digital per each group..........flash your photos up on tv screen in waiting area with jpg #'s; forms at desk to write down you order (10.00@-print while you wait). Also do a video for purchase on either VHS ($35.00??) or DVD ($42.00). Think they mail those.........but not sure. Also snacks, drinks and gift store with t-shirts, wind chimes, frames, etc. About a 1/2 hour bus ride (supposed to be ac'd but it wasn't working well!!) from pier. We were back to Legend by 4:45, just in time to change for our pm excursion.

Thanks Darcy, I checked my paperwork and I have the Swim with Dolphins. So now you have me very very excited!! :D

Thanks for the information!

I'm not sure if we should do the 15 minute swim or the more costly l/2 hour.

One concern is my 6 l/2 year old...he might do better with the shorter one since he's the same size as the dolphins...but I'd hate to split the family of 4 up. Is that extra 15 minutes really worth it? Thanks!

Harrishouse

You all have me excited about my Legend's cruise at the end of August! It will be my first Mexican Riveria Cruise so I was excited already, but now you have me wishing away the days! Happy Cruising eveyone!

Great review!

 

We're taking the same cruise on 8/15. Did your kids participate in any of the Adventure Ocean activities? Our kids are 8 and 11, and we'd welcome any review of the AO program on this itinerary.

 

Your port advice is fantastic--we tend to do our own excursions as well, but have not been to any of these 3 ports--appreciate the good ideas!

 

THANKS

 

Hi, we're on the the 8/15 cruise too! Just my husband and I for our 37 wedding anniversary. Have you found others on our cruise?

Kathy