For a Pacific Mexico cruise, which port stops would be ideal to just stay on the ship?

Question

It's a 7-day Carnival Mexico cruise with the following stops:

• Los Angeles (Long Beach), Ca Docked Depart 4:00 PM

• At Sea

• At Sea

• Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Docked Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 10:00 PM

• Mazatlan, Mexico Docked Arrive 9:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM

• Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Tender Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 4:00 PM

• At Sea

• Los Angeles (Long Beach), Ca Docked Arrive 9:00 AM

We are thinking it might be nice to spend a day on the ship without so many people around.

Answer 1

Mazatlan has a great place called Stone Island - cool beaches, good cheap food and cervezas.  IMHO Cabo is just another over priced American tourist trap.  Sure, you can walk around and look at the souvenirs, or go into town and hang at the local bars.  I usually take a water taxi across to Medano Beach and hang there, but last time I went, I didn't get off in Cabo.

Answer 2

IMHO, Mazatlan is the place to chill on the ship, but I guess it depends on what you like. We're into either really active excursions or really lazy wandering off the ship directly into town (no dealing with taxis).

PV had the cliff divers and a really fun biking excursion.

Cabo had an awesome mini-jeep excursion, and the town was also fairly interesting.  Not so much for the tourist shops, but for the really beautiful geology around the shore, and lots of sail boats.  (We love to sail.)

Mazatlan you're basically at an industrial pier.  There isn't even shopping nearby. Oh, I think we did see a Wal-Mart just beyond the shipping containers.  So you have to book an excursion or take a cab to get away from the industrial bits.

You can check out a Cruise Journal about Carnival Pride in Mexico here:

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/node/1141

Answer 3

Depending on your interests, Mazatlan or Cabo would be the best ports to stay on the ship.

If you like water sports, stay on the ship in Mazatlan.  In most of Mexico the street vendors are nice.  In Mazatlan they are aggressive.  

However, Cabo is a tender port, which means the ship docks in the bay and you take a tender (a smaller boat, sometimes one of the lifeboats) to the shore.  This process takes about one half hour round trip and thus cuts down on your port time.  If you don't care for the extra hassle of tendering, then stay on the ship in Cabo.  You will dock in both Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan.  

If you like a good view, stay on the ship in Cabo.  The dock in Mazatlan is an industrial port.  You end up taking a shuttle from the dock to the cruise terminal.  In Cabo you are not docked, so you get a great view from either side of the ship.

Answer 4

Well I actually like Mazatlan because it wasn't as touristy. Puerta Vallarta is really nice too. I actually got off and took the boat to shore in Cabo but I was only there like an hour. Everything was really expensive... They tried to charge me $2.00 for a bag of Doritos... We ended up going back to the ship and had a much better time.

Answer 5

You can find very specific info about this at CruiseCritic.com.  Click on "Boards", then "Ports of Call", then your ports.

Have a great cruise!