After a good amount of research, we decided on spending the day at the Dreams- Puerto Vallarta. Once off the ship, we walked to the taxi lot. We took a 15 passenger taxi ride for $75. We found out later we should have only paid $60. The taxi driver was well worth the $15 extra dollars. He took us on a mini tour of Puerto Vallarta on the way to the Dreams resort. Once there, we were met Gregory Robles, the concierge who I had exchanged e-mails with earlier. He had us for day passes. It was $52 per adult and $26 per child under 18. We had the run of the resort until 6 pm local time. We enjoyed swimming in the pools, unlimited drinks, volleyball, games for the kids, and a quiet day at the beach. There were only 2 vendors on the beach and they left you alone, which is different from the normal beach. The kids had a blast in the ocean with the boogie boards from the resort. We were able to eat at the resort restaurant as well as part of the price. All in all, it was the best day out of the three that we had. We took a $60 taxi ride back and were dropped off at the Wal-Mart. We got a number of souvenirs. We took all of our findings back to the ship, which was a VERY easy 2 minute walk across the street. 


Puerto Vallarta

We decided to not use Carnival and head to Stone Island on our own. This was easy and fun. We left the ship, took the trolley to the edge of the port, weaved our way through the gauntlet of vendors out to the street. We took a left and walked a little way down the street to a dusty road with a big sign "WATER TAXI TO STONE'S ISLAND". When you get to the end, you pay $2 per person for the round trip and walk down to a pier and get onto the panga, or covered boat. You go for a 3-4 minute ride across the channel and he drops you off on Stone Island. After a small walk over a rocky hill, you are there. The rustic island has a number of restaurants and more importantly a TON of vendors selling all their wears. When they see you, they don't stop. If you don't want anything, don't make eye contact and especially don't buy anything. I saw a number of reviews on Victor's being the place to go, but we decided on Molokay which also had a number of good reviews. We were met by Luis who was very good to us the whole time we were there. He got us 8 lounge chairs and umbrella and served us right on the beach. We had buckets of Pacifico beer on the beach and the ladies had "non-alcholic Margaritas" as the girls called them, which were lemonade and mineral water. They loved them. I will tell you that Molokay has THE best chips/pico de gallo/guacamole I have ever had at a restaurant. We had many plates of them. I salivate just writing about them right now. After a number of hours on the beach, we then headed up into the restuarant and ordered lunch. This is where most amazing food #2 ever was ordered. I asked Luis to recommend something, and he recommended the Shrimp wrapped with cheese and bacon. I went with it. I can easily tell you that these were THE best shrimp I have ever tasted. Now, maybe that was the buckets of Pacifico talking, but it was incredible. For the entire day, 24 Pacifico, roughly 10 of the NA margaritas, 4 plates of guacamole/pico/chips, my shrimp dish, 10 orders of quesadillas, and other various things were ordered and with a healthy tip to Luis, we fed the whole group of 15 for $140. I would highly recommend Molokay and make sure to ask for Luis. He even included a free Molokay mug. After dealing on some of the wears from the beach vendors, we headed back across on the panga. We did some shopping at the Mercado inside of the port which had some great wears and then we headed back to the ship. 


Mazatlan

In Cabo, our group split up. After taking the tender boat to port, my brother and his family used Pez Gato to get a glass bottom boat out to snorkel and then a short tour of Land's End and then return. I think he paid $30ish per person. He said they were awesome and were there promptly when he asked them to be. He was very happy with them. They complained the water was cold, but overall had an awesome experience. We left my DD with grandma and grandpa on the boat (which stunk because they clean the pools on the Splendor in Cabo). We went shopping. Armed with a map of the city, we went walking. The boat gets in early so many of the shops are not open immediately. We took that time just to walk and get a lay of the land. I was also looking for Gordo Lele's which came highly recommended on Cruise Critic boards. We found it, and returned later. We found a number of items shopping and took various pictures around the city. We then made our way back to Gordo Lele's. If you think you have had tacos before, then you haven't been to Gordo Lele's. As you step into this tiny restaurant with 10 seat in the front room and Beatles paraphenalia all over, you get an authentic look at Mexico. The owner steps out from his kitchen and takes your order. I ordered 2 (which ended up being 4) tacos, 2 chicken and 2 shrimp. These were the best homemade tacos I have ever had. He had a "to-die-for" sauce to put over it as well. You eat off of plastic covered plates and have beer in styrofoam cups. This place is one you need to visit for an amazing, yet simple meal. We finished up and walked back to the pier. I was in the mood for some guacamole and beer, so we stumbled onto ECOCAT and their 6 beers and guacamole and chips for like $8. We thought that it sounded good and it was on the pier so it should be decent. 2 words describe the service...REALLY CRAPPY. This was the first time in my life I have ever seen waiters getting in verbal battles with each other and a "so-called" manager come up and apologize but not take care of the problem. So here is what happened. We walked in and the bar tender got us a bucket of beers and 2 margaritas (because it was buy 1, get 1 happy hour). We thought that was great. Then, for the next hour, we saw people come in and leave because they were not served, servers getting in verbal fights, and no chips and guacamole. When we asked our "server" at 30 minutes, he said they would be right there. At 45 minutes, we asked another server, nothing. Then, the so called manager came over and he apologized for our bad service and offered free drinks and we just asked for the chips and guac. At 55 minutes, the 2nd server we asked brought us a cup of guacamole with no chips. Finally, after they verbally fought again, we recieved the chips. We ate quickly, asked for the check twice, then walked up to the guy at the register and asked our bill. We paid him with no tip because of the service and left. I would not recommend this restaurant at all. It was bad. We made it back to the tender boat and got back on the ship. 


Cabo San Lucas

Teh room was great.  Perfect placement on Deck 8, near enough to elevators, but far enough that we could not hear them.  The balcony was great.  You can see in the bridge from the room.  Service was excellent.

The dome was simply us walking through, getting the first of many Carnival pictures, going up an escalator, getting your Sail and Sign image taken, then boarding the ship.The bus was very nice, but we just missed the 8:30 bus which forced us to wait nearly 45 minutes with a cranky 2 year old on an island in the middle of busy LAX traffic.

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