Lois

 Yeah I noticed the name calling.  A lot of rude people on here.  But then again the anonymity tends to make people braver.   Myself included, I guess.

Hey Newbie,

If you were asking questions about the Mexican Riviera i would not be able to answer you because i have never cruised there yet. Sorry i could not help you then.

 Yeah he's actually my youngest daughter's puppy.  He's 33" at the shoulders.  When he stands on his hind legs he's around 6 ft.  Fairly good size puppy.  I'll be half way to work and remember that I forgot to lock the front door.  I don't bother going back. He's very protective of our property.  I just call my wife and tell her to look for blood when she gets home.  No blood.  No intruder. LOL.

Sorry Newbie, I didn't see your posts, otherwise if I could have I would've loved to have offered up some answers.  I posted once in the Mazatlan folder and noticed it was really quiet, so I moved my question over to first time cruiser, even though I wasn't and got tons of help.

Even though i don't have a lot of posts, i usually only read the areas that are for my specific cruise. there isn't many posts on the mexican ports I will be sailing to so I generally stick to the first time cruisers and will check san diego port, my destinations and today, since it is cold and my laptop is warm on my lap so i am searching more.

newbie:

Do you people deliberately ignore someone that doesn't have hundreds of posts?  If this is the way you folks treat newcomers I wonder why anyone bothers.

The board is populated by a bunch of regular folk who besides having an interest in cruising on Carnival also have a life outside the board - well some of them anyway . Though you may wish it would happen, you shouldn't expect an immediate answer to your questions - there are many reasons. Maybe nobody knows the answer. Maybe nobody that knows the answer has visited recently. Maybe your post was to a more obscure corner of the board that not everyone frequents, and your post has not yet been seen. It doesn't matter if your post count is 5 or 5,000, the reasons can be the same.

~ MattInSoCal 

Hey Newbie!

Hopefully you now feel a litlle more nice and cozy with us monkeys and posters. So to help you out are you going on a 7 or 8 day Mexican Riviera Cruise? Either way I've done both many times and will answer what ever you want help with.

First off. Don't pay up front through Carnival for the excursions. Let me save you about 70%. 2'nd: Be ready to barter or risk spending 300% over value (IE: A bracelet thats offered at $30, offer $10 & meet at $15). 3'rd: KNOW THE EXCHANGE RATE! (last week it was 13 pesos to the $.

EXCURSION IDEAS:

Cabo San Lucas: Exit the ship pass the first 1000 people trying to sell you on their goods. When you make your first right off the pier you'll find a H20 taxi driver that will take you on a tour, for you and spouse, to Playa de Amore for  $20. Its beautiful! After that theres a swim with dolphins location 1/2 block away from where the ship docks. Then go to Cabo Wabo, Sammy Haggar's place. Great fun, great food, bottle of tequilla for cheap.

Puerto Vallerta: Exit the ship. Find a taxi. Theres two AWSOME things to do in PUERTO: 1) Paradise Resort, taxi drive is 20 minutes away. It is gorgeous! They have water slides, beautiful pools, zoo, great grass hut cantinas  on the beach with the best coco locos or hollowed out pineapple drinks! I go here every time i'm in Puerto! You can't miss it! 2) Zip lining through "Island Tours". This is going through the rain forest Canopy for 300 ft at different intervals. My wife and I never had more fun out of the bed!

Mazatlan: Been there six times and the best I've found is taking a long walk on the beach followed by a lot of partying at Senior Frogs beach side! The silver there is the best in Mexico.

If your taking the 8 day to Acapulco let me know we just got back!

Welcome to the club! Your going to love Mexico and Cruising! 

newbie:

Do you people deliberately ignore someone that doesn't have hundreds of posts?  If this is the way you folks treat newcomers I wonder why anyone bothers.

Hi Newbie,

If you do your post on the Carnival Addicts, Monkeyheads, or New Cruisers boards, you'll get an answer to your questions. As VA_Cruiser stated, most of us oldtimers don't look much at the other boards. We love meeting up with newbies and sharing our experiences with them. Have a great cruise!

MattInSoCal:

newbie:

Do you people deliberately ignore someone that doesn't have hundreds of posts?  If this is the way you folks treat newcomers I wonder why anyone bothers.

 

The board is populated by a bunch of regular folk who besides having an interest in cruising on Carnival also have a life outside the board - well some of them anyway . Though you may wish it would happen, you shouldn't expect an immediate answer to your questions - there are many reasons. Maybe nobody knows the answer. Maybe nobody that knows the answer has visited recently. Maybe your post was to a more obscure corner of the board that not everyone frequents, and your post has not yet been seen. It doesn't matter if your post count is 5 or 5,000, the reasons can be the same.

~ MattInSoCal 

Matt,

You mean I should have something more going on in life than sub-teaching to pay for cruising, actually cruising, looking at cruise videos, cruise photos, and virtual tours with my grandsons, rearranging my Ships on a Stick collection, searching Carnival.com for our next cruise, and visiting this site? That's what my wife keeps telling me. Maybe she's right after all? Nah!!!!

cruiser4life,

Looks like you have some great suggestions....maybe you or others can help us out too!

We have plans for PV to do the extreme canopy, but are trying to figure out how to get the most out of our stay there...12 hours is nice an long, but not sure what else to do...??? We are both slightly paranoid of the ship sailing without us, so other than Mazatlan, we want to do Carnival tours...just to be as stress free as possible. got any suggestions?

We are doing an independant horse back riding tour in Mazatlan as suggested by another cc writer...snorkel and catamaran in Cabo...trying to fill our day in PV.

Do you know how far the hard rock is from the ship and can you walk to it?

We are already going to take someones advice about the divers..

Where to go w/o worries on manzanillo?

I like the atmosphere of PV and just like to walk and interact with people. I recommend Los Arbolitas, a great restaurant on the river, for margaritas as big as your head. For some low-key entertainment, visit the historical museum and walk over the swing bridge where there's an open air market in stalls surrounded by huge banyans and near the statue of John Huston, who is revered locally for the industry and tourism he brought to the area. I liked the "flea market" a few blocks behind the Malecon from where the high-priced galleries are. There is a "factory outlet" store there from the family-owned business that sells hand made tiles. Each time I visit I buy a few and will soon have enough to decorate our kiva fireplace. Off the Malecon are small, single-artist galleries of Huichol artists that do wonderful work for about 1/2 of the high-priced works on the Malecon and you can meet the artist who benefits from the sale. At night, the Malecon area really starts to boogie with lots of live music and freestyle dancing. During the day, the Paplanta flyers work their magical pole dance, lowering themselves slowly from a lofty perch while tied at the ankle and playing flutes and yes, the music is audible. Great area for relaxing and seeing the sights after your zipline.

So is everything within walking distance of the ship/port? When we are dropped back after the ziplining can we just walk around?

 No, not within walking distance to the Malecon but it's not far - a cheap cab ride from the port. Not sure where the zipline lets you off but the driver will know approximately how  much the fare is to the ship.  PV is not a large city so it's fairly easy to do the entire Malecon area in a few hours, just hitting the highlights, walking around and seeing all the public art (the Mexican Riviera is known for it). Lots of open air bars - be careful when ordering a drink at these establishments not to get a garnish. Many of the open bars will have liquor and individually bottled mixers. Beer is good when you use a paper or plastic cup - I know, I know but it's better than drinking from a glass with someone's lipstick on it (Uugh!).Oh, and don't order the oysters on the half shell served at the outdoor bars.Hope you have a great time.

Suzie :

 No, not within walking distance to the Malecon but it's not far - a cheap cab ride from the port. Not sure where the zipline lets you off but the driver will know approximately how  much the fare is to the ship.  PV is not a large city so it's fairly easy to do the entire Malecon area in a few hours, just hitting the highlights, walking around and seeing all the public art (the Mexican Riviera is known for it). Lots of open air bars - be careful when ordering a drink at these establishments not to get a garnish. Many of the open bars will have liquor and individually bottled mixers. Beer is good when you use a paper or plastic cup - I know, I know but it's better than drinking from a glass with someone's lipstick on it (Uugh!).Oh, and don't order the oysters on the half shell served at the outdoor bars.Hope you have a great time.

Haven't you ever heard of drinking beer straight out of the bottle? A Pacifico fits just perfectly in one's hand.