[ Cruise Reviews ]  [ Port Reviews ] [ Cruise Chat ]  [ Cruise Links ]  [ News ]

Bob & Wendy

The ship anchors in the bay right off Medano beach where the resorts are, and the view is beautiful with the rocks of the Arch on the left, the harbor boats in the middle, and the beach and resorts on the right. It reminded us of the pretty hillside towns in southern Italy. It was lovely to be on deck watching the ship come into the bay and anchor.

Cabo is the only tendered port, and cruisers are allowed on tenders in order of their tender ticket number. People without early numbers didn’t get ashore until lunch. Tickets are handed out at 9:30 by the piano in the Centrum on deck 4. If you want an early number you should line up at 9:00, which we did with about 100 other ppl. Perhaps the crew took pity on our long line and started handing out tickets at 9:15. We got a number 1, and the first numbers were called at 10:00, #’s 1-3 all together. To avoid being in a huge lineup down the stairs to the loading area, be at the loading area at 9:40 or earlier, deck 2, main elevator foyer stairs.

We wanted to get off early to be able to shop and see the town in the morning, and then have lunch and drinks at a resort and hang at their pool/beach for a few hours in the afternoon. We got in the tender line rather late at 10 because we were admiring the gorgeous view on deck, and were in the middle of the mob, but got on a boat by 10:20, (I’d estimate they each hold about 100 ppl) and ashore by 10:40.

When you get off the tender you can take a lovely walk along the boardwalk into town, or get a cab to the left behind the flee market. Here’s the link to a pretty good map of Cabo: www.loscabosguide.com/maps/pics/cabo-san-lucas-map-04.jpg , the ship anchors right were the word “Bahia” in printed over the bay. And the ship tours desk hands out a good map too, in the green shopping guide, easier to read and the boardwalk is better marked. To take the boardwalk stay to the right as you leave the tender dock, and there will be marina boats on your right and pretty shops, cafes, and apts on your left. You can walk all the way to the upscale Puerto Paraiso Mall, perhaps 15-20 minutes, or you can turn left at several places, marked on the ship map, and get over to Marina Blvd, lots more shops there. A good place to turn left is at the large lighthouse, walk up the cobblestone aqueduct about 30 yards to the Blvd. We did this area in the morning.

For the afternoon we wanted to have lunch and drinks and maybe a swim at one of the resorts, catch some rays at the pool/beach, and several large resorts in Cabo welcome cruisers as free day guests. The beaches are public, and if you prefer you can throw a towel down on the sand anywhere. Several large Cabo resorts offer cruisers free day use, the Finnisterra near the tender dock, and around the harbor on Medano Beach, the Hacienda, Melia, and Pueblo Bonita. We chose the Melia San Lucas. This area is a $6 cab ride from downtown, or a 6 peso (60 cent) bus. We took the bus because we got talking to vacationers staying in Cabo who were going that way and suggested we come along, and we wanted to get some local flavor anyway. So we got on with them and used up some of our loose pesos, and had a little “bus route” tour through Cabo.

The Melia was lovely, they have a web site if you Google Sol Melia Hotels, beautiful grounds, a series of pools, and loungers at the pools and beach. They also have large rubberized mattresses on platforms with outdoor pillows that 6-8 people can lay on, both at the pools and the beach, but we preferred loungers (although Wendy said the mattresses would be great for tanning on your tummy, more comfy).

When we entered we went to the girl at the pool kiosk, identified ourselves as day use cruisers, tipped her $5 and requested towels and loungers. She quickly scooted off and came back with 2 big resort towels and offered us either of the only 2 mattress cabanas left. We said if we couldn’t fine loungers at the beach we’d come back for one, but we found 2 under an umbrella, and ordered drinks and a nacho platter from the waiter for $14. It had lots of great cheese and spicy tomato/pepper on the side for scooping. Beautiful view, ship right in front of us, rocks of the Arch to the right. A rope keeps vendors out of the immediate area, but they patrol up and down. We did see one ceramic thing we wanted, and got if for half of the asking price, which is normal.

At the end of the afternoon we decided to walk back to the tender for some exercise, along the beach and then around the harbor to the boardwalk, and along it to the tender dock, which took about 25 minutes. More street vendors, all selling the same things. A lovely full day.