Mexican Riviera on Mercury

[Glen&Kathy]

Kathy and I just completed our first cruise w/Celebrity on 1/22 on the Constellation and had an absolutely wonderful experience. We are considering cruising on the Mercury in 01/2006 to the Mexican Riviera and we are wondering if anyone can give us any info on the ship and the cruise itself. The Mercury is older and smaller than the Constellation but that's about all we know.

 

Thanks.

 

Glen&Kathy

[Host Anne]

Glen and Kathy ~ we are booked on the Feb. 6, 2006 Mercury cruise to Mexico. We have sailed her before (about four years ago) and have been on Summit and Millennium as well. We like all the ships. But we actually prefer the slightly smaller size of Mercury over the M-class ships. It's just a personal preference. I'd recommend checking out the recent reviews on Mercury. Click on REVIEWS on the bar at the very top of the board.

 

We've never done the Mex Riviera before so this was a consideration in booking this cruise although we have been to several of these ports of call previously. It can be cooler on this itinerary in Jan/Feb than the Caribbean but that's OK.

 

If you decide Mercury....consider joining us! :)

[JNLROSE]

Anne is right! This can be a GREAT cruise, but the weather can be bothersome. We just did it at Thanksgiving & we froze coming into & going out of San Diego. We, on the other hand, prefer the larger ships. Mercury was great--the crew was the BEST we have EVER sailed with, but we didn't really love the ship. Not enough to do & the entertainment was VERY poor. We would not sail Mercury again. We plan to stick to the M class ships. One thing is the SS's on deck 12 are FABULOUS! :D

[ajpack]

We're also considering this cruise, but I don't see any departures for Feb, 6, 2006. There is one for Feb. 13th and one for Mar. 6th. Am I looking at the right cruise? It's an 11 nighter.

 

Anne

[Host Anne]

Anne ~ I may have a typo in the date...let me check and I'll re-post.

[Host Anne]

Anne ~ we're on the Feb. 3, 10-night sailing. I keep getting this year's cruise and next year's confused. Sorry!

 

For us, Mercury has plenty of things to offer. We're pretty easy-going and are happy on any ship. We like the M-class ships alot too and wouldn't hesitate to sail them again. Mercury just happens to be doing an itinerary we wanted to try. Rosie ~ I remember a few years ago sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale where we all had coats on and coffee drinks for sailaway instead of the typical froo-froo drinks. It was one of our most memorable cruises yet! :) We laughed the entire cruise!

 

Have a great Wednesday everyone.

[JNLROSE]

Hi Anne!

 

I agree, the itinerary was the reason we sailed Mercury too, we really enjoyed that itin. I just wish she sailed from Cabo & back! We decided we would spend a week on land in any of those ports, we REALLY enjoyed Mexico on the Pacific side.

[ajpack]

Anne...thanks for checking the dates. I was looking at the 11 night cruise--I'll check out this one.

 

Anne

[cruisinmamma]

I did this cruise Jan 2004. My only complaint was that the weather was a little cooler than carribean. Needed long sleeves a few days out on the deck.

[Glen&Kathy]

Thanks everyone for the info! We are a little concerned about the weather too. Maybe we'll have to try and go in October.

[L11]

We went on this itinerary last January and, as it happened, it was surprisingly warm except for the first day and last day when we were close to San Diego. It was in the 90s in Acapulco and the 80s for most of the rest of the trip. I think it is pretty much luck of the draw. No matter what, though, i think you will enjoy it. The main thing we missed on Mercury was the specialty restaurant. I prefer the M class also, but would sail mercury again in a heartbeat.

 

Linda

[doree]

Just off Mercury for 2nd time last wk and did the Mx Riv cruise 10 nt. It was a "cooler" cruise, esp the last 2 days back to San Diego - as well as heading to Cabo. Surely not like being in the Caribb in January -- didnt get my usual dark tan, but we had a great time. The entertainment was good, we had seen some of the shows b/f on other Celeb ships. The pool band were not that GREAT, IMHO. We have sailed M and C class and we LOVE the C class ships and we love SKY deck, deck 12.....our very fav on the C class ships...NOT on M class ships as we had a bad experience on Mille on Sky deck as it is right UNDER the buffet restaurant. We loved whale watching in Cabo, loved Ixtapa and also really liked Puerto Vallarta.

[lilysmom]

I'm excited to see that someone else has booked the same cruise as us! We just booked Sky Suite 1226 for the Feb 3-13, 2006 cruise. It will be our first time on Celebrity and in a suite. We did a Southern Caribbean with RCI last year and are doing a Western Caribbean on RCI next week.

 

Does anyone have pictures of a Sky Suite that they'd like to share? We are so excited already. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for warm weather!

[dmk]

You will find all these ports as hot as the Carribean in Feb., March with rarely any rain. We have cruised these ports, during these months 3 times and have spent many holidays in Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco.

[Host Anne]

Lilysmom ~ I'm on my way to the Sun Princess as we speak. As soon as we get back, we'll start a roll call for the Feb. 3 Mercury cruise. We have several others who are already booked as well. It will be great to look forward to next year with you! :)

 

I have some photos of our sky suite on Century ... not sure how similar they are to those on Mercury. I'll dig them out when I return as well. You'll love it!

 

I'll be back in touch in 11 days!

[Lyn2005]

We are looking forward to our Mexican Riviera cruise in little over a week. In your experiences, is there any of the ports that we can plan on just walking off the ship and strolling around a bit. If there isn't a lot to see on a tour, we'd be quite happy in having a quiet day to spend around the pool reading.

 

Thanks:)

[JNLROSE]

Lilysmom, I have pix of SS 1215 from our cruise in Nov/Dec. Email me if you'd like me to send them to you.

 

Lyn2005, You tender in Cabo & Ixtapa, but in the rest of the ports, you can just get off the ship. There are plenty of cabs available in each port if you want to take a little ride. Acapulco & Mazatlan have some little shops in the terminal area that you can "cruise" through. In Maz, however, you have to take a little bus shuttle to the terminal building--you cannot walk.

Let me know if I can answer any more questions!

[Lyn2005]

Thanks Rosie for your info. We want to take excursions in Acapulco, Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. We've heard there is not a lot at Ixtapa/Zihua and Manzanillo to see or do so we are thinking we won't go far those days unless someone knows of some great sites. Or, like you said, we can just play it by ear and grab a cab at the last minute if we want to do a short trip. We have also heard that there is good shopping at the pier at Mazatlan that that the drinks are pretty good there as well.

[JNLROSE]

Hi Lyn,

 

Ziah. is a cute little fishing village, definitely worth going & wandering around in the shops. Ixtapa, about a 10 min. cab ride, really has no shopping, just huge resorts & beaches, we were sorry we drove over there as we weren't looking for a beach.

Maz. DOES have some cute little shops around the terminal, they have a really fun bar with loud music & dancing outside & yes the drinks are REALLY good! ;)

Acapulco is definitely one of our fave ports--we loved it. Their new terminal has several shops & a GREAT bar too--margarita's are wonderful!! :p

We did the Tequila factory, historic sites tour in PV, wouldn't recommend it. We hired a priv. van & driver in Acap. & LOVED it--highly recommend that. In MAZ, we hired one of the cute little topless cabs they have there for several hours for a nice tour of the whole area--highly recommend this too. In Cabo, we just wandered all over on our own.

Hope this helps you!

[LovetheSea]

Be careful with those cute little cabs in Mazatlan. We have taken them a few times. I don't like that they have no seatbelts in the cabs for the passengers. The last time our driver was driving like a maniac. I was sure we were going to go flying out of it. It is very low on the sides. Then the cab driver suddenly pulled over. He got out and shut my door! He didn't shut it tight the first time. I could have been killed :( We will be back next month. This time I am taking a regular closed cab.

Tip. Always set your price with the cab before you get in. There will be several lined up at the pier. They all had different prices to go to the Golden Zone.

[L11]

Manzanillo has wonderful beaches, but not close to the terminal. We went to the Las Hadas resort in a cab (about $10). The resort charges $25 pp for access to the beach, but they give you coupons worth the same amount that you can use to buy drinks, food or whatever. The beach is beautiful and not crowded. You can order drinks on the beach as well (they bring them right to you but are not pushy at all). There are very comfortable lounge chairs and mats for you to use. Some snorkeling as well. There is a small restaurant with awesome fish tacos. One of our favorite days. Gorgeous setting.

 

Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo is also a good beach stop. Very fresh fish in the restuarants right on the beach, purchased from the nearby fishmarket when you order it. YUM. Also, a block off the beach, there are some shops with beautiful handicrafts. We bought some Oaxacan folk art carvings that were absolutely wonderful!

 

Linda

[Lyn2005]

All very helpful information. Reminds me of our trip to Jamaica. We went on a tour from the resort we were staying at and I would recommend that no one ever take it again! It was some kind of magical lake/waters. It was at night, we were taken to a pier in the pitch dark and were herded to these wooden boats. They then took us out on this lake and we were supposed to see the water shimmer. Well, we did a bit but I was worried the boat was going to sink! I wish I could remember the name of the place to be able to tell people to stay away from it. You don't realize the danger sometimes you put yourself in at some of these locations. The locals are used to it but those of us in North America are used to more security, I guess.

[Johanne&Réjean]

We're booked on the December 2, 2005, 10 night cruise. Anybody know what the weather is like at that time.

[doree]

Johann and Rejean...

 

My guess is that it will be cool till you get down past Cabo...then it will be nice and warm till you head for home..both last 2 sea days were cool, but you also have the wind while you are sailing which makes it feel alot cooler..but NO ONE was out on deck the last sea day heading home. Sun was out, but it was cold. X also changed our itinery order b/c there were too many ships in Aca when we were to be there, so we went there after Cabo and Mazatlan, then on to Ixtapa/Zhie and PV was our last stop b/f heading back.

 

We took the Cabo whale watching excursion and it was GREAT - $64 thru the ship!!! Just got taxi's for about $45 for 4 of us in all the other ports and got GREAT tours, tequilla and Corona's - FUNNY!!!!! We had wonderful taxi drivers and we, of course, tipped them well. We had been to PV and Aca before.......LOVED ZHI/Ixtapa, and PV was VERY NICE as compared to 20 yrs ago.

[jukeboxy]

Ok, book the cruise on the Mercury it is the best. Our first cruise every was on this ship and we were hooked into cruising. We then went to Alaska on the same ship and are going back to Mexico in November on Mercury.

I think if I had to chose one thing that sold me on Mercury it was the crew. To a person (PC word) they were friendly and fun.

If you would like to see lots of pictures go to the site listed below and find hundreds.