Mexican Riviera Cruise on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas
submitted by Gretchen Winters Sales and Marketing Manager Bursch Travel
We sailed out of San Diego on March 5 for a 7 night cruise down the Pacific coast of Mexico. The first 2 days were at sea and the weather was cloudy and chilly the first day. But no worries because the Radiance of the Seas (and her sister ships) all have then most amazing solarium with a retractable roof when the weather is nice. But when it is chilly it is the perfect place to be. There is a nice pool with two Jacuzzis, lots of very comfortable lounge chairs, a bar and best of all it is enclosed when the weather is not so nice. The next day was sunny and we spent that day at sea hanging out on the pool deck listening to the great music and relaxing. One of the other things I love about Royal Caribbean and the Radiance class ships are their two specialty restaurants...."Chops Steakhouse" and "Portofinos Restaurant" amazing food and service and all for a minimum service charge...well worth it. Another fun place to eat when you just want some good old American food is the "Seaview Cafe" they have a fantastic Rueban sandwich and a great tuna melt not to mention cooked to order burgers.....and no additonal charge for this plus it is open late in to the night for those late night cravings. The entertaiment was also very good...some spectacular shows each night along with great music throughout the ship.
Our ports of call were fun too. First stop was Puerto Vallarta. Downtown is very charming and the Malacon (seaside walk) is beautiful. A great place to sit and watch the sun set is the "Cheeky Monkey" where they have 2 for 1 margaritas. Second stop was Mazatlan where we headed right over to Stone Island. We walked a couple of blocks from the ship to a dock where you could catch a small boat for $1.50 over to the island. We spent the day there hanging out at Victors Beach restaurant enjoying all kinds of different shrimp dishes and beer. The beach is beautiful and very wide. Several people rented ATV's and rode down the beach for miles. The last port was Cabo and a must there is to hire one of the motorboats located at the marina and have them take you out to Los Arcos and Lovers Beach....amazing and we saw lots of sealions. Then true to form we spent the rest of the day on Medano beach eating shrimp cerviche and enjoying the sun. We did some shopping here at some of the open air markets. Then it was back on the ship for one last day at sea where we sat in on a talk the captain did....he shared lots of very interesting info. I would recommend doing that on any cruise you take with Royal Caribbean.