My husband and friends decided to do the ATV excursion in Puerta Vallarta. We cruised on The Pride from April 14-21. Let me say this: we are still disturbed by what we saw. The same company that offers the ATV excursion also offers the horseback riding excursion. The horses had NO water, NO food and NO hay! There were dead animals (we counted five) still in with the living animals. There were weak animals that couldn't get up off the ground. My friend has a ranch in Montana with 30 horses and said they are keeping those horses weak so that they don't buck off the novice riders. The area the guides took us through was dirty! There was trash everywhere....we were extremely disturbed by the way the horses and cattle were treated. Their bones were sticking out. They used a horse that had a HUGE bone spur for people to sit on him in the water. UGH! We all left this info on our comment card and have not heard from Carnival. I'm STILL waiting to hear from somone. We find it odd that Carnival will align itself with a company that doesn't abide by the ASPCA rules and guidelines for the proper treatment of animals. I understand we were in Mexico. But for God's sake, so some research and find a company that can take proper care of their animals. It is heart breaking! We also found that where the ship ports, it is VERY dirty in Puerta Vallarta. We did a second excursion later on in the day that was absolutely amazing: Rhythm of the night. DO THIS EXCURSION. It is the most amazing experience ever. We LOVED it. I don't know, is there anyone else out there who feels horrible for these horses in these third world countries that aren't cared for properly? Yet, tourists sign up to so the horseback rides and it is just so sad.

That's a disheartening story. I've been riding horses since before I could walk and even after 22+ years, I still love saddling up and spending an afternoon riding out in the country. Unfortunately, not everyone shares the same love, appreciation and respect for these animals that you and I do. As for Carnival, they have nothing to do with how the companies that run the shore excursions carry out their business. These companies are strictly independent third party groups hired by Carnival. I see your point though about Carnival doing some research and trying to only affiliate itself with proper businesses, but unfortunately it's much easier and much more cost effective to hire the lowest bidder and not ask too many questions. The whole situation stinks, but there probably is not a lot that can be done.

OH NO! my family just signed up for that same excursion.... i am very dissapointed to hear about those horses. I hope carnival will take action and do something about it. Once you started the ATV riding, was the rest of the excurstion ok? 

I hate to hear stories like that, But dont let that turn you off from PV, The two excurisions wife and I did in PV where both great. The signture dolphin swim was fantastic( and the dolphin where well taken care of)and we did the old towns and tequila factories tour, It was also great( and you get to drink all the tequila you can at the Santos factory)Wife and I got back to the ship VERY HAPPY LOL. Hope you all have a great cruise.

                                                      HAPPY CRUISING