Best shore excursions for Cabo, Puerto Vallarta & Mazatlán cruise!

[TroyDuncan]

Hey guys! Mine and my wife’s first cruise will be in January it’ll be for our honeymoon, we get married in November, we just want to know what’s the best, most affordable Shore excursions there are for Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlán. 

[DDaley]

In Cabo there are tons of snorkeling excursions that shouldn’t be too expensive but that port is also easy to navigate on your own. The tender will drop you off in the south west corner of the marina and from there you can walk about 20 minutes to a nice beach (Playa El Farito). There are tons of kitschy bars, restaurants and shops in this area surrounding the marina like Señor Frogs, El Squid Roe, Cabo Wabo, etc. Another cheap option would be to water taxi to Lover’s Beach under the cool rock formations you see in Cabo pics. 

In Puerto Vallarta you can also easily get yourselves to the beach by way of taxi or Uber. We called an Uber right outside the port area and took it to Playa de Los Muertos in the Zona Romantica area of town. I just really like this area (Panchos Takos are the best tacos I’ve ever had in my life) and the Malecon/beach here so we went that far (about a 20 min drive). There are plenty of closer beaches! As for excursions, I have been on a sunset catamaran booze cruise that was fun (~$70pp) and also an ATV adventure that goes up into the mountains (~$100pp). 

In Mazatlan the area the ship docks is a major shipping port and has a small, sectioned off area for bars and shops; anything else requires a taxi to get farther afield. There are the cliff jumpers a short drive away and a bunch of resorts that offer day use passes. When we were there we took a ship-sponsored excursion to a lagoon to ride/drive mini speed boats followed by included lunch and afternoon use of the El Cid resort. This was somewhat expensive but was super fun! The resort had a beach and nice pool area with covered grotto and water slides. 

Congrats on your engagement! My husband and I also took a cruise while on our honeymoon last summer. 

[Va4fam]

In Mazatlan, try the Plumeria golf carts for a tour.   We hire a driver right outside the port.  He took us to the lighthouse (we climbed to the top) and to downtown and boardwalk, and go to a quiet (non-touristy) Mexican place that our driver knew well.   The captain of Navigator used the same driver/golf cart taxi that we did that day.....the driver basically shuttled between us that afternoon. 

We also did the kayak tour in the morning.........it was.........okay.

 

For Cabo and PV, we did beach days on our own.  Los Muertos Beach is fantastic in PV.   Check the water taxi times in Cabo, they all went home before dark and we had to walk back to the port.

[Luly]

You’ll be there during whale season, I think you should definitely do a whale watching tour in puerto Vallarta and/or Cabo. We’ve done one in both places. Saw whales in both, but in PV we were lucky enough to see the female flapping her fin to call the males to her and a couple of males showing off their breaching capabilities. One of the most incredible experiences in my life. We just sat and watched for an hour or so while being served snacks and lunch. I believe that was through Vallarta tours and there were only 12-14 of us on the boat. In Cabo we used pez gato. Pez gato was great, also food and drinks, but it was a much bigger boat with a ton of people, as in a hundred or so. We fell in love with PV and flew back 6 months later where we used jets private boat tours for a bioluminescence tour. I assume they also do whale watching and their boats had a smaller capacity of 8-10 people as well. 

[HeWhoWaits]

If your departure from Puerto Vallarta is late, I recommend Rhythms of the Night Folklore at Las Caletas.

We did this in April on a trip on another line and it is excellent. Involves a cruise across the bay, dinner, and a great show.

[deButler]

On 7/31/2023 at 6:41 PM, TroyDuncan said:

Hey guys! Mine and my wife’s first cruise will be in January it’ll be for our honeymoon, we get married in November, we just want to know what’s the best, most affordable Shore excursions there are for Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlán. 

@TroyDuncan  Which sailing are you on? My wife and I are doing the Jan 19 for our first trip over to Cabo, PV, & Maz. Looking forward to this one. 
 

@DDaley @Luly @Va4fam @HeWhoWaits Thanks for the Info on the opportunities at these ports. Some very cool details.
 

Have to wonder if we could actually see the SAME whale(s) on Quantum in a few weeks in AK and then on Navigator in Jan in PV??  Might have to go check them out down South in the Pacific.