Why choose a cruise versus an all inclusive resort for your next vacation?
In labor weekend, I manifested on my plan to take a trip to Mexico to luxuriate and bask in the beautiful sunshine, beaches and the Mexican food. Mexico is prominent for its beaches and some of the cities have been listed as Travelers paradise and rank in the must visit charts. Few of those names are Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan. All of these destinations are on the west coast of Mexico and they offer luxurious all-inclusive resorts. Tourists usually like to stay for 3-5 days for a rejuvenating resort experience. These resorts can cost you anywhere around $800 to $1200 for 3 nights in an off season.
To make the trip more economical and pleasurable, I locked down on the idea to take a Carnival-Miracle cruise from Los Angeles to Mexico. The overall Cruise stay for 4 nights and 5 days only costs $600 per person including food(excluding drinks) and the cruise anchors at Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabos San Lucas. Tourists get good quality time from morning to evening to spend on these ports until cruise ship departs.
In general, I always choose the cruise experience versus the all-inclusive resorts simply because you have the flexibility to visit various ports in one trip with ample time to cover the best places to visit in that destination. This was my 7th cruise trip but first one in carnival line. I have taken cruises to Singapore, Malaysia in Star cruises which are considered as pioneers in the cruise liners. One of the biggest advantages of a cruise vacation is that you avoid driving yourself to different places that you would want to visit by renting a car. Driving on vacation can be stressful if the destination is unknown and for sure takes away the relaxation part from your holiday. Hence cruising is a great relaxation tool. You get a good break from driving as well as you get an amazing selection of cuisines which are available for you 24×7. At anytime, if you feel hungry and bored of sitting in the hot tub, then you can go grab your favorite food from a 24×7 buffet.
Carnival-Miracle cruise is designed beautifully and has 2 large swimming pools surrounded by hot-tubs and there are constant deck parties, so guests are entertained throughout. Their late night comedy show is one of the best I have seen so far in any cruise. Overall, I would rate this 4 night cruise to Mexico a must do trip. Cruise shopping is duty free, so for the ladies out there-“You would enjoy shopping those luxury bags and shoes a 50% less cost. “
Day 1
All guests were ushered in and greeted by offering welcome drinks and a free photo session. The day 1 is always allotted for guests to enjoy the cruise and its activities. They make a lot of effort to mingle guests by announcing games that needs team work and compiling an all day plan which is filled with fun and excitement. By day 2, you start recognizing most of the guests and you may end up Facebooking and exchanging numbers with a lot of folks.
Day 2
Now moving forward with my visit to the first destination on day 2 which was Puerto Vallarta. The cruise anchors in the morning for guests to embark and enjoy the day at the island. Puerto Vallarta has some influence from Myknos, Greece. Hence you will see a lot of houses/resorts around the beach in white and blue color. This is a very pretty town with very distinguishing architecture between its divisions-Old Vallarta and New Vallarta. I visited one of their best beaches which is Playa Garza Blanca. The most unique experience on this beach apart from the beach being silky blue was that one of the river is very close to the beach and it merges with it creating a very unique experience for visitors. The shacks on the beach seem like floating in that merging river and ocean water view.
Visitors have to walk till the shacks being half submerged in water. The food at these shacks is delicious and costs just $4 for a taco or burrito. Their tequila shot is so smooth that you may be taken aback on why your esophagus lining and throat did not burn this time. Here in USA, we are worn to drinking strong and burning tequila that we would totally appreciate the smooth shot offered in Mexico. Infect the locals indicate that Tequilas that burn are not the real ones and as per them a good way to run quality check of a good Tequila shot is to check if it burns .
A good lesson to learn while you are on the trip. Wine connoisseurs may want to divert some attention on tequila in Mexico After a well spent evening at the beach, we returned to the cruise in the evening. I resumed with my evening cruise activities such as attending late night shows etc. the best part of being a cruise guest is that you can get drunk and all you need to do is find your room. You do not need a designated driver.
Day3
The morning begins with yoga session for the guests. I then spent good amount of time swimming and hot tubbing post breakfast. By noon, the guests could view the beautiful Cabo arches getting closer to us as the ship sails towards the coastline. These arches are very unique and they look like small hills in between ocean water. The beach is crystal clear and before docking the captain of the ship announces that we should checkout the lovers beach and the divorce beach. The reason one of the beach is called Divorce beach is because there is a mini beach in between two arches and on both sides there are splashing waves which makes it look like an isolated island in nowhere. The love beach has vast areas filled up with sea sand depicting love has no boundaries. They have boat rides with glass top to see the fishes and go around the arches. It is the most exhilarating experience and one must do the boat ride. The water gets very choppy around the arches and your boat ride is no less than an adventurous ride then. It gives you a 4D effect as if the water level is so risen that it may drown you and the boat but your boat just manages to sail smoothly in the flow. There are points between the arches where you will see mini waterfalls and waves gushing out from the gaps.
From the glass top, you will see the amazing species. You may see fishes from your naked eye when you look in the water since a lot of people snorkel around the arches and Mexico allows guests to throw food for fishes in water. The boat rides can cost you anywhere between $10 to $30 per person since there is bargaining possible in Mexico. Guests have the option of trying variety of Mexican restaurants on the beach. I did not see anyone getting down on divorce beach since it looks risky as there is water on both sides and the waves could get crazier. Hence please do not try any stunts on the divorce beach. The safest beach to swim in is Medano beach which is 15 minutes by taxi from lovers beach. Hence once you have spent time on lovers beach, you can proceed to Medano beach.
By evening guests return to the cruise and enjoy the best sunset view with Arches in background from the deck. You will see a lot of couples imitating the titanic pose on most evenings watching sunset. The ambience is very romantic in cruise and cruise is indeed the best way to spend more time with each other since everyone is stuck in water and have nowhere to go.
Day 4
– Cruise stops at Mazatlan but I decided to enjoy my day at cruise and chose not to get down on the port. That is the flexibility I like about cruises is that you can get to choose what you want to see. I have heard Mazatlan is very historic and everyone who likes architecture should definitely visit.
I would recommend a 3 night stay if anyone wants to experience all inclusive resorts but not more than 3 nights for Cabo or Puerto Vallarta since there is not much to do apart from beaches. Cruise to Mexico is a cost effective way to enjoy Mexico as well get the all inclusive experience that one gets in resorts at a much lesser price.
