Going on a Mexican Riviera Cruise
 

There will be a group of us going on a cruise in July out of Las Angelos. We will be going to the following ports:
Cabo San Lucas
Puerto Vallarta
Mazatlan
I would like to know if anyone has done any excursions at these places and have any recommendations for tour guides/and locations to visit. Two of us love to take pictures, so scenery is important as well as local areas for a since of culture and landmarks are important. Most of all just enjoy our stay at each port.

Hello txlady, you will no doubt get more suggestions if you repost this on the Mexico Forum and perhaps on the Cruises Forum. When you do so you might want to mention how many hours you will have in each port also. Enjoy your cruise!

Are you willing to plan your own day? Or does it have to be with a tour guide? If you're OK going on your own, I can help you with a plan for both Cabo and PV. How long do you have in port (when will you be off the ship & when do you need to be back on).

I agree with a report over on the Mexico forum as well (not too many people read "Travel Tips" branch).

thank you for the suggestion of changing forums!
Here is our itinerary:
13-Jul Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 9:30 AM 6:00 PM Tendered

14-Jul Mazatlan, Mexico 8:00 AM 5:30 PM Docked

15-Jul Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 8:00 AM 7:00 PM Docked

we have done both, on our own and with tour guides. Any suggestions would be welcome.

I was going to reply but seems you are no longer registered here on Fodor's?

Something happened last night where I was removed. Im back!
Please give us some suggetions!

I have done excursions from the cruise ship......

In Cabo, a trip to Lover's Beach or snorkeling at Santa Maria Bay are good options. I have a timeshare there, so when we stopped there on our cruise, excursions didn't interest us. We had lunch at a favorite restaurant and sat at a favorite beach bar for cocktails until it was time to return to the ship.

In PV, the excursions we did were ziplining and a snorkeling trip to Las Mariettas (?) island. While we were there in December, my parents and sister did the pirate ship Maria Gallante and enjoyed it. Suze has been there more often than I have and can probably give you more options.

In Mazatlan, none of the excursions really appealed to us, so we decided to wing it. At the port, we hired a driver (there were 8 of us) for an agreed upon $80 USD; he drove us around the city giving us a history of it, took us to a place to shop and have lunch, as was more than willing to stop for us to take photos. We tipped him well.......

Hi, welcome back :-)

PUERTO VALLARTA

I've spent a lot of time in Puerto Vallarta but I have never taken any tours of done organized activities. It's easy to show yourself around. Just catch a taxi (if you walk away from where the cruiseship docks you can catch a yellow town cab, instead of the more expensive white Federal ones that service the port). Ask to get dropped at the Malecon (seawall promonade downtown). You can download great maps at www.vallarta-info.com. Also www.allvallarta.com is another good one for ideas. With a street map it's easy to explore downtown. They head across the river (Rio Cuale) to the "south side" also called Zona Romantica, B. Badillo & Olas Altas are 2 streets with wonderful restaurants and shopping. Playa Los Muertos is the main public beach nearby lined with fun beach bars where you could spend the afternoon.
Cafe Roma, The River Cafe, Joe Jack's Fish Shack, Mariscos Polo, Cafe de Olla, La Piazzetta are some resturants I enjoy.

CABO SAN LUCAS

My idea for Cabo would also be a self-guided day. But if you want tours look at www.cabosanlucastours.net for ideas and booking. There is a very active Cabo forum at www.tripadvisor.com (in the destination forum not the reviews section).

Again you'd need to pick up a street map of downtown for my plan... L. Cardenas is the main boulevard thru the downtown area. On the inland side if the Mexican part of town with local shops and restaurants, on the water side is the Marina and more touristy area. There's a very small town museum, Catholic church, town square. The Marina is full of the tourist restaurants and overflowing with amazing-sized yachts. Nearby Paraiso Mall is a VERY nice mall if you are interested in high-end shopping. Medano Beach is where you want to go for the line of beach bars & restaurants (similar to Los Muertos in PV) and would be a nice place to have lunch right on the sand, great view out to the famous rocky point. There are water taxis, land taxis (usually large vans), and pedicabs to get around. Gordo Lele's taco shop on Matamoros near the Mar de Cortez hotel is a unique and cheap spot for lunch. Mama's Royal Cafe good for breakfast/lunch.

thank you all for your help! We always love doing things on our own, but if there is a chance to see something really interesting or local, that we have no idea on how to get to, we do the tours.

My husband and I just returned from the Mexican Riviera cruise last weekend. In Cabo San Lucas, we just walked through the town - we enjoyed looking at the beautiful yachts at the Marina and all the pelicans sleeping on the boats. You will be taken to the port by tender - smaller boats that carry about 50 people at a time from the ship to the shore.

We went to the Cabo Wabo Cantina for some tequila and a light lunch, then went to the Paraiso Mall that Suze talked about - we bought some souvenir Harley-Davidson shirts and I got to practice my very beginner Spanish (I can speak French fairly well, so Spanish isn't that difficult).

In Mazatlan, we took a cruise excursion by bus to the Sierra Madre and the colonial towns of Concordia and Copola, which included lunch. It had a few stops for shopping and lasted about 5 hours.

In Puerto Vallarta, we and another couple that we met on the ship took a taxi to the Malecon area and walked along the seawall promenade by the beach. We went into some of the shops, tasted some of the local tequila and bought a couple of bottles. We visited the Our Lady of Guadalupe church with its amazing exterior, then ate at a small cafe beside the river. We visited the outdoor crafts market where we bargained for some souvenirs.

Enjoy - I would definitely return to spend more time in CSL and PV, Mazatlan was a very busy city, would probably visit the outlying area next time.