4/7 Mercury Mexican Riviera Cruise Review

We just retuned from a great 10 night cruise on the Mercury to the Mexican Riviera. This was my 15th cruise, 5th on Celebrity. We chose this cruise for the ports, as Celebrity is the only line that visits all the ports on the Mexican Riviera! I am 29 and DH just turned 31 prior to the cruise. We sailed with my brother and two of our friends that we met on our Hawaii cruise!

Pre-Cruise

We used miles to fly from JFK to San Diego. The flight was painless and we even arrived 15 minutes early. We spent one night pre-cruise at the Holiday Inn - On the Bay in San Diego. The hotel is located literally right across the street from the pier and you can walk across the street to the pier to check in for your cruise! The hotel also offers a free shuttle to and from the airport. We had a room in the south tower that provided great views of the bay and the pier; however, the rooms were a little out of date and could use some new carpeting and bedding. We did eat lunch in the Elephant and Castle restaurant, which had a great menu with good food and affordable prices. We spent the evening visiting my sister who lives an hour north of San Diego.

Embarkation Day

We ordered room service for breakfast and hung out in the room for the morning. Boarding was being delayed until 2PM because they were cleaning and sanitizing the ship. We checked out of the hotel around 1:45 and walked across the street to the pier. We checked in with our xpress pass and got our sea pass cards. We then got on line to board, went through the security check point. At the top of the gangway we were greeted by staff that made sure everyone cleaned their hands with sanitizer. We were then greeted with a glass of champagne and took our sea pass photo. In all, it look less then an hour from the time we left our hotel room till we were on the ship! They announced that our cabins weren’t going to be ready until 4pm, so we just walked around the ship for a few minutes and then went to check out where we would be spending the next 10 nights. Shortly after was the muster drill and then we were soon sailing away towards Mexico!

The Ports

Cabo San Lucas

We booked the Los Arcos sights tour through the ship. We boarded the tender from the ship over to the pier and then were guided onto a large yacht. There were several other groups on the tour with us. The tour took us past Lovers Beach, around the Los arcos rock formations, and up the coastline of all the beaches. The tour was only an hour long and after being dropped off at the pier we walked along the pier past all the shops and restaurants.

The weather was great, around 95 but it wasn’t humid at all. There was a lot of water activities that you could do if you wanted like rent a jet ski, go out on a banana boat ride, or parasailing! After walking around the pier, we headed back to the ship for lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing.

Mazatlan

We booked the Colonial Villages and Papantla Flyers tour through the ships excursions. Where the ship docks in Mazatlan is an industrial pier. There are a lot of factories along the main road and it is about a 10 minute ride to the “Golden Zone” where all the shopping and beaches are.

We met our tour bus on the pier right next to the ship. It was about a 20 minute ride from the pier to our first stop, the brick makers. Along the road there were several sights where families were making brick. Our tour guide explained to us how the bricks are made and we took a few pictures of the men working. Next stop on our tour was the small town of Malpica. We saw how concrete tiles were made by a local tile maker and then we visited a small bakery and saw how they bake in a special oven. We reboarded the bus for our next stop at a local furniture & ceramic factory where we saw how furniture is made. We then traveled to the town of Concordia where we visited a church and walked around the town square.

It was about an hour ride back to Mazatlan to see the Papantla Flyers show. There were 2 acts to the show. One was a dance and the second was where 5 men climbed to the top of the pole and swung down together symbolizing the earth’s rotation around the sun. From there we had the option of boarding the bus back to the pier or staying in town for shopping. We stayed in town and walked around, but there weren’t that many stores there compared to Caribbean islands. We took a few pictures of the beach and then headed back to the ship. It was a $10 taxi ride back to the pier.

Acapulco

This was the least favorite of all of the ports we visited. We again booked another excursion through the ship, Cliff Divers & City Sights tour. Celebrity’s Infinity was visiting Acapulco the same day and as a result, all of the excursions were shared. There had to have been over 500 people in line for the cliff diver’s tour. They just kept breaking us into groups of 45 to board the buses.

We boarded our bus and we went straight to the Mirador Hotel to see the cliff divers. It was a private show for just the Celebrity Cruise guests; however, there had to have been over 500 people there all trying to get a seat. The Cliff Divers did their diving act and then there was a Mexican Folkloric Dance. We then reboarded the bus for a tour of the city, which is best summed up by sitting on the bus in a major traffic jam! The tour took us around the bay and over to the Acapulco Princess hotel, to turn around and go back into town. They made a stop at small store that was supposed to be for shopping, but they 95% of all they sold was silver jewelry. We then reboarded the bus to go back to the pier. The tour was over an hour & ½ longer then it was supposed to be and we had another tour booked for late afternoon and only had 40 minutes to go back to our cabin get our stuff , grab lunch and head back down to the pier.

The next tour we booked was the Sea Turtle Release Program – A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY. To sum it up best, we boarded a bus for an hour & ½ bus ride back through all the traffic of where we just came from to end up at a small hut on the beach. Our tour guide hardly spoke English and just sat us down and passed around jars that had turtle eggs and baby turtles at different stages in them. He then passed around a plastic container with all the baby turtles in them. We then walked over to the beach and lined up to be handed a turtle. After a few pictures we put the turtles on the sand and watched them walk into the ocean. We then reboarded the bus and received a snack….a large cardboard box that contained an apple, bottle of water and a burnt, inedible cookie. Since the excursion was supposed to be promoting a safe environment, I don’t see how handing everyone a large cardboard box that could have fit 10 snacks into, was helping the environment. We took the same long bus ride back to the pier, through all the traffic. The ship did have a nice sail away party as we left Acapulco, and it was great watching the Infinity pull out ahead of us!

Zihuatanejo / Ixtapa

We had nothing planned for the day. We took a tax from the tender pier into Ixtapa. The ride was $10 per car each way. The driver dropped us off at Carlos N’ Charlie’s; however, it didn’t open till 2PM (the time Mercury left Zihuatanejo!) We walked down the main street and looked at the stores and the hotels, but it was very hotel & humid so after about an hour, we took a taxi back to Zihuatanejo to take the tender back to the ship. Ixtapa was very clean and I would consider going back to one of the resorts on a land vacation. One other note – where the tender line was, is also where the ferries leave to go over to the beach. There were 2 check points for sea pass cards and while we were waiting on line for the tender, the ships security actually closed a gate separating us from everyone waiting for the tender. I felt like we were in a cage!

Puerto Vallarta

We had nothing planned for the day and so we took a taxi into Malceon for some shopping. The ride was $3 per person, each way. We walked along the main street by the water stopping at the stores and picked up a few knickknacks and ended up at the lady of Guadeloupe Cathedral. We couldn’t go inside because it was Good Friday and you were not permitted into the Cathedral with shorts or bare shoulders. So we took a few pictures and then crossed the street and took a few more pictures of the archway. We were able to see Mercury off in the distance! We then took a taxi back down by the ship to Wal-Mart. They had a large souvenir section and we walked around looking at everything. I picked up a few cans of Tortilla Soup!! And then we headed back to the ship. Wal-Mart was so close that you could walk across the street, but those soup cans were heavy!

After a quick lunch, we headed back out to the little shops at the pier. I found more bargains there then anywhere! Tons of t-shirts, sunglasses, pottery, everything you could think of! And it was easy to bargain with the vendors.

Our Cabin

We booked ConciergeClass Cabin 1071 on the Penthouse deck. It was a great location as we only had to walk up 1 deck to get to the pools & the buffet, or down 3 decks to the stores, casino, and theater. The balcony was nice, and we used it a lot. We had breakfast out there, sat out there and read while at sea, saw whales and dolphins while at sea multiple times! The amenities were good such as the feather bed, the nice towels and bathmat, the robes, flowers and the hour’derves every afternoon. We also really enjoyed the special ConciergeClass Room Service Breakfast menu! The French toast fingers were awesome as well as the smoothies!! We did miss not having a sliding glass door to the balcony because the door didn’t stay open unless you held it and it slammed shut when you closed it. The couch needed to be replaced; it had stains on it and was not comfortable to sit on. The room also lacked storage as compared to the newer ships.

The Food & Service

The food overall was great as well as the service. Our stateroom attendant Jonathan was good as well as his assistant (who I think did most of the work.) Our room was always cleaned and we got anything we asked for! The food in buffet was very good and there were a lot of options. The pasta & pizza bar were great, as well as the sandwich bar. The sushi bar was ok, but they offered the same thing everyday and to me it was the same quality as what you would get from grocery store…..nothing compares to Nobu!

The highlight of our trip was the dining room service. Our waitress, yes, that’s right waitress was Andrea Grilecova from the Czech Republic. She is outstanding. We got everything we asked for and stuff we didn’t! Multiple entrees, deserts, anything we wanted. She was so friendly and personably, and yet a true professional. Celebrity if you read this, she is a real asset to the Celebrity Team!

The Ship

The ship was in great shape! After sailing on the Century twice, I prefer the layout of Mercury over Century. I feel the Mercury is laid out much better and I loved the indoor pool with the sliding cover. The only area that I saw that needed some work was the pool area outside. The flooring had marks from the chairs and everything looked dull compared to the larger ships we have been on. The spa and gym area looked great, and we really liked the Navigators Lounge. The dining room was very elegant and we enjoyed our table on deck 5 next to the captains table!

The Entertainment / Activities

This is one area I felt the cruise lacked in. We had late seating dinner and just about every night there was nothing to do after dinner except for dancing in the Navigator’s Lounge. All the activities offered onboard were mainly just trivia during the day. We missed some of the things that the larger ships offer.

There was a great mix of people on board from infants to 85+ year olds! Because it was a spring break sailing over the Easter holiday there was 430 kids onboard. Everyone was well behaved and you never would have known there were that many kids onboard unless someone told you. They only got a little out of hand on the last night….I guess they didn’t want to go home.

Disembarkation

We had an early flight home and were one of the first groups called to get off the ship. Our color wasn’t called until 8:45 but we just walked right off the ship, found our luggage right away and handed in our customs form. Walked outside and got a taxi to the airport and by 9:15 we were checked in waiting at the gate for our flight!

Overall, we had a great cruise and really enjoyed sailing on Celebrity again. The food & service were magnificent! It was also nice to go to ports that we had never been to before! We will definitely sail on Celebrity again and are looking forward to their new ships!

I really enjoyed reading your review. Mom and I are on the next sailing and also have a CC class cabin booked. I am exicted to try those smoothies for breakfast. I had Andrea on the Horizon and really am going to see if I can request her on this trip. Hopefully it will not be a problem once we board for me to request her. Thanks again for your very good review.

Walter

Hardingk

Great Review

We are booked 11 Night January 29th,2007 Cant wait

Stur Dayton,Ohio