Best excursions for kids in Mex Riv

[VeggieCruzer]

We'll be taking our kids, ages 14,11,10 and 4 to the Mex Riv this summer, what are some good excursions for a family with kids of this age?

 

TIA

[CRUISING71]

We'll be taking our kids, ages 14,11,10 and 4 to the Mex Riv this summer, what are some good excursions for a family with kids of this age?

 

TIA

 

For Cabos- We took the water taxi to Lover Beach for a few hours, then they pick us up and we went to Medano Beach to hang for a few hours, then back to port.

We did this twice...this time we booked swim with dolphin then after the tour, we are heading to lover beach again.

 

Maz- we book a day tour with El Cid. $ 33 for adults and $ 23 for kids, all inclusive.

 

PV- This will be our first time there, so we might do zip line or that Las Casilta (spelling?).

[San Diego Mike]

Just got back today from a fabulous 10 day Holland America Cruise to the M.R. on the Oosterdam. Our favorite shore excurision was in Mazatlan. On our ship it was called the Estuary & Mangrove Swamp Tour, but all the signs we saw called it the Mazatlan Jungle Tour. It was a blast, and I think your kids would love it. Hopefully if you do this 6 hour tour, you will get Captain Polo. He was hilarious and very knowledgeable about the local birds and wild life. Just a short drive from the ship, you board a big flat bottom boat that holds about 30 people. You cruise into the harbor past your ship and over to the tuna cannary, where we pull up and the workers on the dock hold up some of the tuna they just caught for us to take photos. The captain throws sodas up to them as a thank-you, then we head up into the estuary to look at birds. Did I mention Capt. Polo has a big ice chest full of cold beer, water and sodas for the passengers? After 10 or 15 minutes we leave the estuary and head into the Mangrove swamp. It reminded us of the jungle cruise at Disneyland. Any minute we expected to see an elephant spraying water at us. A couple of pelicans wait every day for Capt. Polo to arrive in the swamp and fly down to be hand fed by him. One stays on the roof and sticks his beak down to grab the fish, the other sits right up front on the bow and takes his fish in front of everyone. Great picture opportunity. We then docked on what is the east side of Stone Island. This was great because my wife and I had wanted to go to Stone Island, but took this tour instead and we got to do both. We get off the boat and boarded what Capt. Polo calls a Mexican Limosine. It is a big wagon that everyone sits in and is pulled by a tractor. We head across Stone Island through coconut trees until we get to the beach. Then it is down onto the beach where the tractor driver opens it up and we go flying up the wet sand for our included lunch stop. Lunch was at the Molokoy. One of the 3 restaurants we heard were the best on Stone Island. The included lunch was chicken, fish or quesadillas, or a combination of the 3. We opted for the shrimp and paid $7 extra, but this was worth it! Mazatlan we were told is the shrimp capitol of the world. We got the garlic shrimp and it included 7 jumbo shrimp and we each got one shrimp that was the size of a small lobster tail you might get back in the states. Remember the ice chest full of beer and sodas? It's help youself. After lunch you have an hour or so free time, and they have ATV and horse rentals there, boat rides on an inflateable raft or you can lay in the sun or walk the beach. There are several vendors trying to sell you souvenirs, but it is not overwhelming like other places. After the lunch stop it is back on the wagon, through town, back to the boat. Back on the boat, all of a sudden a mass of Pelicans and Frigate Birds descend on the boat. It seems the captain feeds these guys daily and he tosses the fish in the air and they swoop down to grab it in flight and then he places fish on top of his head and lets the big birds fly down and take it. We saw 37 different types of birds and had a blast. The cost for adults was $79 and kids $39 or close to it. We will diffently take this tour again!

[CRUISING71]

Mike,

 

sound exciting..thank you for review.

[San Diego Mike]

Thanks. It was a fun cruise.....:)

[Meig]

Just got back today from a fabulous 10 day Holland America Cruise to the M.R. on the Oosterdam. Our favorite shore excurision was in Mazatlan. On our ship it was called the Estuary & Mangrove Swamp Tour, but all the signs we saw called it the Mazatlan Jungle Tour.

 

How long did this last? I found a tour called the "King David Mazatlan Jungle Tour" and I am wondering if it is the same thing.

[San Diego Mike]

Yes, it was a King David tour. It lasted 6 hours. :)

[VeggieCruzer]

that sounds great. thanks for the detailed review.

[timus]

Just returned on a cruise on the Mariner of the Seas. We had 10 kids (ages 5 to 17) in our group.

 

Mazatlan - Took a van from the pier. There are lots of them, so just ask around and negotiate. Negotiated with the driver for just $10 per person for a city tour (saw cliff divers, old Mazatlan and a lookout for fantastic view of Mazatlan and the ship). Driver offered us Stone Island for an additional $26 (which include a catamaran to Stone Island, tractor trailer to beach restaurant, lunch and 2 activities). We refused and then he offered the transportation portion for just an additional $6. We did not have to worry about being able to get back to the ship on time. Kids had a fabulous time on Stone Island. When we were ready to leave, the tractor trailer was there to bring us back to the pier and the catamaran was waiting for us.

 

Cabo - Took a boat tour to Lands End. Lovers Beach is a very beautiful beach.

 

Puerto Vallarta - The kids' favorite. We did not make advanced reservation for a zipline tour. We just walked off the ship and there were lots of vans. I was planning on getting to the Los Veranos' office and just signing up for the zipline tour at the office. Luckily we did not lock ourselves into a reservation for ziplining. We had a van driver, Fabricio Perez. He offered to take us for just $10 per person for the entire day around PV and also bring us to El Eden (where they filmed The Predator) in Mismaloya. The zipline was great (12 lines and the tallest was over 300 feet). My nephew is only 5 years old and he also did the zipline. Fabricio had an arrangement with El Eden and the price for each person was just $50 (much lower than the regular price if we had booked online). After doing the zipline, the kids spent some time swimming in the natural pool with waterfall and tarzan rope. It has a natural rock waterslide. We bought the DVD and CD for photos for the zipline and did not have to wait for it at El Eden. They delivered the DVD & CD directly to the ship. I am sure if you cannot find Fabricio, you can ask around and negotiate with the other van drivers. It was great to have a private van. The cost posted on the pier is $25 per person and the cost posted on the ship's excursion brochure is $240 for 4 hours. I highly recommend ziplining at El Eden. Fabricio said that Los Veranos is much farther (over 1 hour) while it only takes about 40 minutes to get to El Eden in Mismaloya. Since our time on shore is limited, it is best not to waste too much time driving around. After ziplining at El Eden, we could have chosen to go to Mismaloya Beach or Los Muertos Beach, or walk along the Malecon. We just chose to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant. If you plan to do ziplining, remember to bring an extra t-shirt as your t-shirt will be splattered with grease from the cable. Bring along some Oxiclean to soak and get rid of the grease in the cabin washbasin.

 

I am sure your kids will love the zipline and swim in the waterfall pool. Of all 3 ports, this is the unanimous favorite.

[valpogal]

We'll be taking our kids, ages 14,11,10 and 4 to the Mex Riv this summer, what are some good excursions for a family with kids of this age?

 

TIA

 

We just got back from a week on Mariner. The best excursion was the Sea Lion encounter in Puerto Vallarta. We spent way more time with the sea lions than the folks did with the dolphins and there were only about 8 of us in the water. The trainers were great and it wasn't a far ride to the facility.

 

We also enjoyed the Chileno (I think that's what it was called) Bay Catamaran Snorkeling excursion - but the great part was the catamaran ride. The snorkeling was just so-so.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Ilovemangoes]

We just got back from a week on Mariner. The best excursion was the Sea Lion encounter in Puerto Vallarta. We spent way more time with the sea lions than the folks did with the dolphins and there were only about 8 of us in the water. The trainers were great and it wasn't a far ride to the facility.

 

We also enjoyed the Chileno (I think that's what it was called) Bay Catamaran Snorkeling excursion - but the great part was the catamaran ride. The snorkeling was just so-so.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Finally someone who hass done this!! I would love to book this for our family but was concerned about how long the boat ride is. How long was it? Was it a big boat and did it have a washroom on board?

 

Also, the website says that this tour is 7.5 hours start to finish, is that right? that's an awful long time...

 

Thanks

[tamsocal]

For Cabos- We took the water taxi to Lover Beach for a few hours, then they pick us up and we went to Medano Beach to hang for a few hours, then back to port.

We did this twice...this time we booked swim with dolphin then after the tour, we are heading to lover beach again.

 

Maz- we book a day tour with El Cid. $ 33 for adults and $ 23 for kids, all inclusive.

 

PV- This will be our first time there, so we might do zip line or that Las Casilta (spelling?).

 

which el cid resort?-- looks like there are a few of them-- trying to find one with a kid friendly pool for twin 3yo & 7yr

[valpogal]

Finally someone who hass done this!! I would love to book this for our family but was concerned about how long the boat ride is. How long was it? Was it a big boat and did it have a washroom on board?

 

Also, the website says that this tour is 7.5 hours start to finish, is that right? that's an awful long time...

 

Thanks

 

It did have a bathroom - tho' not luxurious. There was plenty of room for everyone to sit, but all the kids sat up front. The tour didn't take that long. We sailed for about an hour, an hour and a half, seeing the sites and going out to the snorkeling site. Then we got geared up and had one hour for snorkeling, then we had an hours sail back where we had snacks and drinks. Our tour was through RC and it was listed as 3.5 hours. It was just over that. We really enjoyed it tho'