Manzanillo-Ixtapa-Acapulco

Does anybody know why they're not doing they won't be doing this cruise any more?

 

I don't know much about Manzanillo, but I'd love to go to Ixtapa and Acapulco. It seems like I may be too late to book this route unless going on a Panama Canal cruise. I know Princess has an "Ultimate" Mexican Riviera cruise.

 

Does anybody wish there were more cruises out of the LA/SD that go to Central America without respositioning?

Acapulco has become too dangerous and is pretty much devoid of American tourists however there is a cruise to these destinations in November. Out of San Diego.

Acapulco has become too dangerous and is pretty much devoid of American tourists however there is a cruise to these destinations in November. Out of San Diego.

 

I'm aware of the cruise in November, but I was hoping for something NEXT November.

 

Is Acapulco really that dangerous?

I've taken that cruise before and loved it but Acapulco was my least favorite port of all it was just dirty/ people there seems to be a little more aggressive about sales and couldn't take no for an answer and they tried to rip you off with prices.., and the beaches were very dirty and and the water was just icky..- It is just a different type of people there they are a little more rough and jagged it's so weird because it's not a border town but it has that feel to it.. every other place in mexico gets 2 thumbs up for me!

 

and I LOVE mexico I love every place I've ever visited in Mexico but I did not like Acapulco at all- trust me your not missing much. Zijauntenjo is BEAUTIFUL though I love that place! and when we went to manzanillo we took a tour into Colima (a different state in Mexico about an hour away) and that place is amazing! I would live there! so quiet and peaceful!

I echo the previous post. LOVE Zihua; Acapulco not so much. I'm hoping to take the new 9-day cruise out of LA on the Spirit next year. I just wish they'd go to Zihua/Ixtapa instead of Mazatan. I also love the four sea days on the Acapulco itinerary but understand the changes. Just glad the Spirit is headed to LA. I love that ship!

I loved the spirit ! she is a great ship!

I echo the previous post. LOVE Zihua; Acapulco not so much. I'm hoping to take the new 9-day cruise out of LA on the Spirit next year. I just wish they'd go to Zihua/Ixtapa instead of Mazatan. I also love the four sea days on the Acapulco itinerary but understand the changes. Just glad the Spirit is headed to LA. I love that ship!

 

What changes? Because Acapulco is dangerous?

any place can be dangerous if your in the wrong area at the wrong time.. acapulco did have a shooting in a club a few months back I think- And I believe some tourists were in the cross fire. however.. the part of town it took place in was not a "true tourist area" it was a club locales hung out at and I believe they said you could get lap dances there -aka a real trashy place- Now dont' quote me on all of this but I have relatives that live right in Acapulco and this was what they said.. they are getting to the point where they want to move out though.. it's not what it once was.. the people are very different there. and like I said the town is really dirty.. and the people are more aggressive. not all of them.. like I said I have relatives there but a lot of the vendors and such are just pushy.

 

But I think if carnival thought it was extremely unsafe or dangerous they would not allow even one more sailing to there. they wouldn't put you i n harms way purposely. So that being said perhaps they want to move out before it gets too bad because it is definitely going down hill and not what it once was

We did this iten in 2008, Acapulco was a cess pool and I always said I would do the same cruise, but stay on board while in Aca. The other ports were great.

We did those ports last November on the Spirit. We did a private tour in Manzanillo and Acapulco. Of the three Acapulco was the least favorite just because it was a large and very busy city. The other two were nice and I'd go back to them on a cruise. I didn't love any of them enough that I felt I'd come back for a land vacation but another cruise would be ok.

 

It would seem there just wasn't the demand to go to these ports so the itinerary was changed.

Maybe in part to the price of oil.

Not enough demand.......probably partly due to the violence in Acapulco...

There has been more demand for shorter cruises to Cabo that is why they changed Spirits itinerary.......

I echo the previous post. LOVE Zihua; Acapulco not so much. I'm hoping to take the new 9-day cruise out of LA on the Spirit next year. I just wish they'd go to Zihua/Ixtapa instead of Mazatan. I also love the four sea days on the Acapulco itinerary but understand the changes. Just glad the Spirit is headed to LA. I love that ship!

 

Yes, the southern MR is a treat, but agree wholeheartedly, Acapulco is a total pit. I won't even bother getting off there anymore. The Acapulco Charlies is ok but how far is that...not at all.

Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo and Manzanillo are great!! I am also not fond of Mazatlan but had a pretty good time over at Stone Island last time we were there. I see she is now headed to the northern portion of the MR and also includes La Paz...ah, beautiful La Paz!! Also, love PV but Cabo is tired...no charm anymore.

Now, for the real question, are you sure the Spirit is headed to LA? We are booked on her for the Spring and it is out of San Diego, which is why we booked her again...definitely one of my favorite ports of embarkation. The LA thing is just so much harder for us.

Anyhow, love the Spirit, but hate Acapulco and strongly dislike Mazatlan....but glad we still have choices to the MR. I need my cruise fix and don't want to fly across the country all the time. Many of the other lines are pulling out of Mexico so glad to see there are still a couple of choices, even if it means not getting off the ship.

We are booked on Spirit out of San Diego on 2/3/12.

 

Did this recently get changed? :confused:

Kev

We did a land vacation to Acapulco about 3 1/2 years ago. I wanted to see the cliff divers (from watching too many Elvis movies) and that was the highlight of our trip. It was downhill from there. Not a place I would ever go back to. IMO no one is missing anything (execpt the divers) by Carnival not going to Acapulco.

 

I won 12540 pesos=approx $1250 at the Mexican version bingo/casino. It was a real trip when I had to go to the bank next day and convert them into $$$. They disappeared with my passport for about 15 minutes. Altogether it took about 30 minutes for the transaction and I was beginning to think the Mexican police and/or the bads guys would burst into the bank and kidnap me over $1250.00. Think I'll stick with Coz, Cancun and the casino on the ship.

I was originally booked on that itinerary for this December but was cancelled due to the new itinerary.

 

My PVP said it cancelled because of the Elation leaving San Diego.

 

I was first bummed about the changes because I have never been to those ports but now im anxiously waiting the first new 9 day itinerary :)

Yes, the southern MR is a treat, but agree wholeheartedly, Acapulco is a total pit. I won't even bother getting off there anymore. The Acapulco Charlies is ok but how far is that...not at all.

Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo and Manzanillo are great!! I am also not fond of Mazatlan but had a pretty good time over at Stone Island last time we were there. I see she is now headed to the northern portion of the MR and also includes La Paz...ah, beautiful La Paz!! Also, love PV but Cabo is tired...no charm anymore.

Now, for the real question, are you sure the Spirit is headed to LA? We are booked on her for the Spring and it is out of San Diego, which is why we booked her again...definitely one of my favorite ports of embarkation. The LA thing is just so much harder for us.

Anyhow, love the Spirit, but hate Acapulco and strongly dislike Mazatlan....but glad we still have choices to the MR. I need my cruise fix and don't want to fly across the country all the time. Many of the other lines are pulling out of Mexico so glad to see there are still a couple of choices, even if it means not getting off the ship.

 

The Spirit will be going back and forth (San Diego and Los Angeles/San Pedro) for Mexican riviera cruises. This has been out for a while.

We are going on this cruise in 19 days. We are a bit concerned with Acapulco, also. Our plans were to take the horseback at sunset/champagne tour offered by Carnival, but were not able to get any reviews from previous cruisers. We had made several posts on the boards. My thought is...if it was not a good tour, why would Carnival have it on their list of tours??? We haven't booked it yet, and will see what the tour desk has to say about it before we decide. If not, we will stay on the ship. I have an uneasy feeling about going out on our own in Acapulco.

Does anybody know why they're not doing they won't be doing this cruise any more?

 

Yes, but are they the same as the people speculating in this thread? ;) IIRC, there was something "official" (JH's blog?) about Spirit taking over Elation's popular Cabo-heavy itinerary. So, it may not be that the old itinerary was unpopular, but double-Cabo seems to be very popular and, as someone already pointed out, more fuel-efficient.

 

I don't know much about Manzanillo, but I'd love to go to Ixtapa and Acapulco.

I have to echo everyone else here about Acapulco. Just typing the word makes me want to wash my hands. We did an excursion (the baby sea turtle release) that got us away from the dirty port, but at best I can only say how now and again I'd get a glimpse of why it used to be so popular... but only a glimpse.

 

Zihuatanejo is incredibly charming and lovely. (So charming that we never made it to Ixtapa.) I hope a Carnival ship finds its way back there soon.

 

Manzanillo gets a bad rap because there isn't much (anything?) to do around the port, but even though it's an industrial port, it's very clean and nice. We also did the Colima tour with a stop at the pyramids and had great fun, with pleasant scenery around us for the whole trip. I'd happily return to Manzanillo, too.

 

Does anybody wish there were more cruises out of the LA/SD that go to Central America without respositioning?

Yes, but I want Canada and Alaska cruises out of SoCal even more. :)

The Spirit to the Exotic Mexican Riviera was our favorite cruise to date. I agree with the other posters that Acapulco was our least favorite (although we really enjoyed seeing the cliff divers & the scenery there is gorgeous) but we liked Zihuatanejo & LOVED Manzanillo.

I don't know that I would choose a cruise that goes back to these ports again but am so happy we got to see them once. We love Carnival & we love to go to Cozumel but sometimes it is nice to go somewhere different.

If you go to Manzanillo be sure & get away from the port area. We ABSOLUTELY loved our ATV tour there!

 

View of Manzanillo from our balcony

 

 

 

The views on our ATV tour were beautiful!

 

We are going on this cruise in 19 days.

 

We're going on this trip too!! What other excursions are you looking at? I'm thinking snorkeling in Manzanillo and Island getaway in Ixtapa.

 

I've been eyeing this excursion in Acapulo...Birds, Turtles & City Overview - Description: This ecological adventure is a unique opportunity to explore a nature preserve and witness the release of baby turtles into the sea. It takes you 1½-hour ways away to Tres Palos Lagoon. Anyone ever been??

 

I like to try something in every port and I just love to snorkel.

 

Can't wait for the 12th to get here!! It's our honeymoon trip!!! :D

We really enjoyed Acapulco. We had a very full and busy day. We hired a private guide who took us to several of the usual spots in the city and then out of town for a boat tour through the mangroves. It was a great day. I did not find the people any more pushy than other tourist spots in Mexico.

 

As for the violence, I think that people really over react. Many cruises leave out of LA, there are many murders, violence, crime, gangs, etc. in LA. Should the cruise ships not start and end here? Are they putting their guests in harms way?

 

Jen in SoCal

 

Does anybody know why they're not doing they won't be doing this cruise any more?

 

I don't know much about Manzanillo, but I'd love to go to Ixtapa and Acapulco. It seems like I may be too late to book this route unless going on a Panama Canal cruise. I know Princess has an "Ultimate" Mexican Riviera cruise.

 

Does anybody wish there were more cruises out of the LA/SD that go to Central America without respositioning?

We booked a tour guide and did go to Tres Palos Lagoon as part of what we did in Acapulco. It was a great. We stopped by where they do the turtles on the way back to Acapulco. We could have done the turtle release for a nominal fee but opted not to.

 

We saw the cliff divers, some of the famous sites and stopped for some great views and then headed to Tres Palos.

 

Jen in SoCal

 

 

We're going on this trip too!! What other excursions are you looking at? I'm thinking snorkeling in Manzanillo and Island getaway in Ixtapa.

 

I've been eyeing this excursion in Acapulo...Birds, Turtles & City Overview - Description: This ecological adventure is a unique opportunity to explore a nature preserve and witness the release of baby turtles into the sea. It takes you 1½-hour ways away to Tres Palos Lagoon. Anyone ever been??

 

I like to try something in every port and I just love to snorkel.

 

Can't wait for the 12th to get here!! It's our honeymoon trip!!! :D

Does anybody know why they're not doing they won't be doing this cruise any more?

 

I don't know much about Manzanillo, but I'd love to go to Ixtapa and Acapulco. It seems like I may be too late to book this route unless going on a Panama Canal cruise. I know Princess has an "Ultimate" Mexican Riviera cruise.

 

Does anybody wish there were more cruises out of the LA/SD that go to Central America without respositioning?

 

I wouldn't go ANYWHERE in Mexico right now. :eek: Read the newspaper! I read this morning that 'Authorities' had discovered 20 bodies of tourists in a mass grave. Drug Wars? :rolleyes:

Luv's Crusin'

Does anybody know why they're not doing they won't be doing this cruise any more?

 

I don't know much about Manzanillo, but I'd love to go to Ixtapa and Acapulco. It seems like I may be too late to book this route unless going on a Panama Canal cruise. I know Princess has an "Ultimate" Mexican Riviera cruise.

 

Does anybody wish there were more cruises out of the LA/SD that go to Central America without respositioning?

 

Here is an article that was on AP this AM. :eek:

 

ACAPULCO, Mexico — In another grisly turn in Mexico's drug war, police have recovered 18 bodies from a mass grave announced in a YouTube posting _ a video saying the victims were from a tourist group kidnapped in Acapulco a month ago.

Authorities said they would resume their search Thursday for more remains at the burial site in Tres Palos, a town just south of the Pacific resort city.

Police did not yet know if the bodies found were from the 20 men abducted at gunpoint Sept. 30 while visiting Acapulco from neighboring Michoacan state, Fernando Monreal, investigative police chief for Guerrero state, said Wednesday night.

Officers began digging at the site early Wednesday after receiving an anonymous phone call alerting them to two bodies dumped on an empty lot.

Hours earlier, a video appeared on Youtube in which two men _ their hands apparently tied behind their backs and answering questions from an unseen interrogator _ say they killed "the Michoacanos" and buried them in the area.

The two bodies reported in the tip were found wearing the same clothes as the pair seen in the video and were lying on top of the mass the grave.

A sign left between the two men read: "The people they killed are buried here." It was signed by Acapulco's Independent Cartel, or CIDA _ a little known drug gang that has been claiming responsibility for killings in the area over the last two months.

Monreal said authorities had not confirmed the identities of the bodies dumped on top of the grave.