 Today we're back with part two of our cruise on the Carnival Splendor to the Mexican Riviera. For this update we're going to concentrate mostly on our days in Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan. We'll talk a bit about what we did on shore and some things we noticed that may help future vacationers. Enjoy!! Written by Gregg Condon Pictures by Gregg and Kristi Condon We'll start off this update with a video we did of the ship. It's definitely not the most comprehensive tour of this ship we've seen (that one is linked in the video) but we wanted to show off some of what we enjoyed on the ship as first timers. In addition, I tried a few times to get a sunrise or sunset time-lapse on the GoPro but it never quite worked out. The last morning I was finally up early enough, but of course hadn't charged the GoPro. So this video isn't exactly what we wanted, but I will admit, I liked the set-up I came up with for mounting it. I thought it worked great. If it wasn't for the technical issues on my end. If you're celebrating something make sure the cruise knows, I got a nice little gift card for the spa and for pictures for my birthday. I didn't use the spa one (not really my thing and never really found the time) but we did use the picture one.  A little pre-Cabo fuel. =)  After being at sea for over 36 hours it was actually kind of nice to see land   Hola Mexico  The famous arch  As you can see, we were quite happy on our vacation. =)  No I'm not ignoring my wife, I'm trying to not get too much sun. Trust me, you'll only sunburn your head once. =)  Cabo was a Tender port (no, not Tinder) so we had to take a boat to shore.  Hi Splendor!! The ship is an older one, but she's got a lot of personality. Will be interesting to see what she looks like after her upcoming refurb.  We did not eat here, but we of course had to get a pic.  No matter what your political affiliation is, this is funny. I forgot to pick it up on the way back to the ship.  Cabo was definitely the most "touristy" of our three ports.   I love little things like this that are kind of out of the way.    Just on the other side of the harbor area are more classic restaurants and the diamond store. =)  Cabo Wabo  Policia Not once, in any of our three ports, did we ever feel unsafe or unwelcome. The people of Mexico are amazing.  #Cabo  We actually took a couple of really nice pics. I'm proud of us. =)   After walking what seemed like 10 miles (it was about 2k) we arrived to the restaurant a friend recommended. Aaaand it was closed. But right next door was a beach club, and as you'll see below, we weren't suffering at all.  We each had 4 tacos, chips and guacamole and 4 beers (each). Grand total with tip $40. I'm sure we could have found cheaper but we didn't care. It was amazing, the service was great and this would have cost us at least double that at home. We were very happy.   After all that there was no way we were walking back (there's really not an easy path from the Cruise terminal to Medano Beach where we ate) so we took a water taxi back.  It was $5 each. Again, we probably could have negotiated more than we did, but we were happy to support the economy. Of course, once we were on our driver asked if we wanted to see the arch. For another $20. We politely declined.
After doing a bit of shopping it was back on the ship!!  We were actually back on the ship about 3 hours before disembark, and it was so nice and quiet. We sat by the pool and relaxed a bit. And took a nap.  We don't drink a lot of soda, but can't say no to Mexican Coke.  It was 80's night that night, the show was amazing!! We had brought 80's stuff to wear for the glow party, but it wasn't until 11:15pm. And we were tired. Next time!! The next morning after a trip across the Gulf of California, we arrived in Mazatlan. It was absolutely gorgeous.  We had booked an excursion this day, to an all-day resort with a pool and beach.  Apparently Mazatlan is a newer cruise stop, this is your view at the shore. It gets better than this though. =)  On the way to our resort we got to see some of the city.  People waiting to pay their water bill. For real.  As seen from the bus window  After about a 30 minute drive we arrived at our resort, the El Cid Marina. This resort actually had two options. An "all inclusive" option which included a buffet or an "open bar" option. We went with the open bar and got food on our own. This ended up working great for us as the buffet was on the beach side, and we stayed on the pool side all day. You'll see why.  Lots of Iguana's wandering around. Be careful, they like chips.
We drank a lot of cerveza and ordered some nachos and quesadilla from the menu. Total, $20. We also gave our server a nice tip as we drank free beer for 4+ hours.  2 seconds after this shot was taken I was asked to not jump by the hotels staff. Ooops.  The pool was amazing. It had underwater caves, waterfalls and we could even sit on the edge of the pool and enjoy our drinks. And a bonus, the bathrooms were not only immaculately clean, there was also AC in them. Definitely recommend this excursion if you're looking for a nice day to relax in Mazatlan. We've even talked about just coming down to stay at this resort for a week sometime.
After a full day in the sun it was back on the bus and back to the ship. There is a nice little flea market outside the cruise terminal so we were able to do some more shopping. We got a 33oz bottle of Pure Vanilla Extract for $12. Don't even want to know how much that would cost here.  Back on the ship we took a nap (again) and enjoyed another amazing dinner. We were back to bed a bit early as the next day we had another shore excursion in Puerto Vallarta. In hindsight I think we would have preferred to not have back-to-back excursions but it's hard to argue with the two that we did. As Puerto Vallarta was our favorite as you'll see in our next update!! Until next time ... Related Videos:
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