Cruise Ship: Carnival Pride
Cruise Destination: Mexican Riviera
Cruise Dates: March 13 - March 20, 2005
Guest Contributor: Dave Ellett and family
My wife, myself and my 16 year old son just finished a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Carnival Pride 13-20 Mar 05. We were in cabin 1170, bottom middle which is Nirvana for motion sicko's like myself. It definitely makes a difference.
I tried the watch "ReliefBand" and it was generally working, but I had to keep my hand a certain way or it wouldn't work properly on me. Other friends we talked to said it worked great for them. I got it for $84 on-line with extra batteries and gel which is a must.
However, I ended up using the patch, and though I definitely experienced at least half of the common some side effects, it was well worth it.
Overall, we enjoyed the cruise very much. Entertainment was very good. Our dinner waiters Romar and Camillo (at table 157) were absolutely outstanding and dare I say perfect. Funny, entertaining, loveable, gracious, and ever helpful. I cannot find a single fault (and I'm known for being critical).
I only had $10 each to tip them at the time of our last meeting and I very much regret not tipping them more (in addition to what they add to your bill). They earned it.
We always do our annual vacation during spring break and our 16 year old, last of 3 children at home, picked cruising. We picked the Mexican Riviera.
Four years ago, we took a 5 day cruise to Ensenada Mexico on the Carnival Ecstasy with our 3 children then 16, 15 and 13 and we all loved it. Cruising is an excellent family vacation for children of school age and older. The children have time away from the parents (and vice-versa) in a very controlled, but fun atmosphere, and yet we still get to spend quite a bit of time together as well.
We sailed from Long Beach CA on Sunday and very much enjoyed our relaxing time at sea. Easy workouts at the gym, walks on deck, volleyball, Jacuzzi, dancing at night, Las Vegas style shows, comedians, sundry activities, but mostly relaxing.
We don't drink or gamble so can't give ya the scoop on that stuff.
On Wed morn we debarked at Puerto Vallarta.
They advise you to book tours only through the ship, and not to do activities such as parasailing, quad'ing etc because there are no safeguards or they are dangerous. It's not entirely self-serving, but we took the advice of my coworker and booked our own tours at port. They were significantly cheaper.
It's probably safer booking through the ship, since I'm sure there are safeguards that you would not have otherwise, but with some reasonable caution and common sense it's OK to book at port. The dune buggy trip at Puerto Vallarta was pretty fun (they also have quads on the same trip). The dune buggy bottom floor is mesh and is not solid. So when you cross creeks you get soaked if you punch through them like I did. The first one we crossed I punched it full throttle. The water came up with such force that it would have ripped my shades off my face had it not plastered them into my eye sockets. I couldn't see and almost hit a wall of rock across on the other side. My wife was not happy. I thought it was excellent! The folks who were riding quads didn't get wet at all since they have wide fenders and solid undercarriage. There's a place at the half way point where they serve drinks and you can jump off a rock into a deep part of the creek.
Then on the way back you stop at a cool backwoods restaurant which serves some good food. My buggy was hard to shift right and I've been driving sticks all my life. After returning, we shopped some and then got back on ship.
On Thu, we debarked at Mazatlan at 9am and had to be back by 6pm. We actually got off at about 10:30am, but didn't have anything planned. We quickly tired of shopping because regardless of what city you're in, most of the stuff is the same. Shopping on these trips is way overrated and quickly becomes boring. We ate lunch at Sr Frog's and we ended back on ship early since we didn't plan anything ahead. Interestingly some, and I say some, of the stuff right off the boats is actually cheaper then the shops farther out
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