San Diego/Silversea Shadow/Acapulco

San Diego/Silversea Shadow to Acapulco via the Mexican Riviera

On January 10, 2005, Dennis and I flew to San Diego two days before boarding the Silversea Shadow for a Platinum Travel Agent voyage with 350 other passengers. We flew to San Diego, got our Hertz Rental Car with the gps we have come to love and drove to Paradise Point Resort right by Seaworld.


We arrived about 7 pm and it was cold and rainy from the unusual rain and cold California was experiencing. We checked in and were told we could follow a golfcart bellboy to our room. We thought we could find it on our own, but we couldn’t and had to return to pick up the bellboy to accompany us.

Our room was just so so, rain coming in the sliding glass doors facing the lagoon. They had upgraded us to a suite, but the room was old and tired. Just to sleep we said especially because it was way too cold to enjoy the surrounding resort amenities. So, early Tuesday morning we headed up to Laguna Hills to see our kids, Dee, Suzann and Kelsey and Kevin and meet Buddy, their 8 month old white laborador, a beauty, and sweet with the family.

Our GPS took us directly to their door. And, we were greeting by everyone….So we spent the day with Suzann and Dee for lunch at Nordstroms, then got the kids, played New York City Monopoly that Grandad had bought for them at Christmas in NYC. What negotiating for family rights to property….It was fun. We ordered pizza in for dinner, then left for the drive (l hour) back to San Diego and our Paradise Point Resort.

We got up on Wednesday morning, dressed and packed for our ship, went to Old Town for home-made tortillas, then to the Seaport Shopping area to see that area, then to Hertz to turn in our car. They provided a “transport” to the ship at no charge for us, so we arrived about an hour prior to specified boarding at 3 pm. There was a tent for the wait, but it was cold. We met a few new people waiting to board the ship.

Check in was simple, through the lounge, then to a wait staff to accompany us to our room 508, a balcony suite nicely furnished and much larger than the crystal staterooms.

The ship is art deco interior, rather odd colors and combinations of surfaces, but only 3 years old and in nice condition. We went to tea at 4 PM and a Platinum reception at 6:30 and met agents and spouses and our training director hired by Platinum to conduct our 9 to 12 session on the next sea day. Then dinner at 7:30 in Champaigne, the specialty dining room for which reservations are required. Nice, but we weren’t very hungry and the food was a little like Fairmont properties, well presented, but a little over the top (7 very, very tiny rather weird courses)…

Sammi McCormack, Director of Training 14smc76@cts.com
Tobi Person, her companion

Those there with Platinum were:

Ramona Hubble travelmagic@usa.com
Marilyn McAlexander
Travel Magic USA
13912 NW 23rd St.
Vancouver, WA 98685

Vicky Crane vcrane@cox.net
Norman Crane
Cruise Holidays of Scottsdale
6969 E. Shea #101
Scottsdale, AZ 85254

Linda Mick Linda@atickettoride.com
Barbara England
A Ticket to Ride Travel Agency
4400 Bayou Blvd. #81B
Pensacola, FL 32503 atkt2ride@atickettoride.com

Bobbi Carlson bcarlson@prestigecruises.com
Rex Carlson
Prestige Travel/Am EX
2654 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway
Henderson, NV 89052

Patricia Mercer trish@sunspreevacations.com
Raymond Mercer
Sunspree Vacations, Inc.
18 Deerfield Road
Wayne, NJ 07470

Dennis and Patty Calvert pattyc3224@aol.com
3323 Windermere Lane
Memphis, TN 38125
901 748 2966

Rose Greene eleganttvl@comcast.net
Frank Greene
Elegant Travel and Cruise
3300 Westchester Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304

David Perlmutter ihtravels@aol.com
Barbara Nassau Perimutter
In House Travel Solutions, Inc.
363 East 76th Street Ste.l4F
NY, NY 10021

Judith Bongiorno judybongi@earthlink.net
John Bongiorno
Bon Voyage Travel
1323 Glenmore Court
Barrington, IL 60010

Tobi Person tobiperson@yahoo.com

Linda Bundscho
John Bundscho
SATA Travel
Bldg 1000 RM 114
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529

Platinum Luxury Seminars
William W. Brown, President and CEO
294 Hascall Road NW
Atlanta, GA 30309
404 874 5890 Fax: 404 872 2710
www.platinumseminars.com

It was great fun to have agents tell their stories and to have a power point presentation by Sammie. We all agreed to meet again the third night of the cruise to tell “what works” and what hasn’t….Lots of good tips.



While in our seminar the second day of the cruise, we sailed past Guadalupe Island which is 35 KM long and 5 to 10 KM wide. The island looks like protruding boulders and is a spot where killer whales swarm. There are goats, sea elephants and seals on the island and some island natives. 20 tons of water must be carried to the island each month. There is a cypress forest there, but it has to be fenced off to protect the natural spring so the goats won’t eat the forest.


Tips:

Port Promotions.com is always less than cruise ship and they use good providers. Contact Steve

For personalized photo albums to give clients contact www.maritimegraphics.com

Shoretrips.com
Your website can link to them, if you want to sell shore trips separately (only for agents).

Limo Exchange is better and less expensive than Book-a-Limo and they use small local operators with good cars. www.limoexchange.com

A Group for YOU in the yellow pages and in local newspaper ads has been very successful for an agent in our group who does lots of groups because of her contacts.

Note: 27 million people plan to cruise in the next 3 years.

The Itinerary for our Cruise

Jan 12 San Diego
12-14 At Sea
l5 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 8 to 1 pm
l6 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 8 to 7 pm
l7 Manzanillo, Mexico 8 to 6 pm
l8 Zihuatanejo, Mexico 8 to 6 pm
l9th Acapulco, Mexico Disembark

l9th and 20th Las Brisas
l9th Dinner/Show at Miramar to see the Famous Cliff Divers
20th Deep Sea Fishing
21st Fly to Memphis via Mexico City

CABO SAN LUCAS

Cabo is experiencing lots of tourism and building. We took a 3 hour luxury motorcoach tour of the island to see the desert terrain, rugged coastline and beautiful seascapes. We visited the Cacti Mundo (Cactus World), a botanical garden with over 120 varieties of cactus nicely landscaped. We visited a small town of San Jose Del Cabo to see a glassblowing factory and visit small stores and a Mission Church in San Jose. Frankly, the $124 for this tour was over-priced, but it was effortless, for sure. The glass factory was the pits, prices high, merchandise shabby and not at all appealing. Little Indian beaded purses made by the Indians were $11 and we saw them everywhere for $2 to $5.00. I brought a few home for gifts. We were able to view El Arco, the famous rock arch for a photo opportunity.


PUERTO VALLARTA

We decided not to buy a tour from the ship and to walk the streets near the port. It was a nicely developed area and nice shops just to the left of the pier. We walked to WalMart for Dennis to look at the fishing gear which might be unique to that area…then walking back, near the pier, we met Felipe, a guide to spoke very nice English, was well dressed with a beautiful white van who asked if we would like to take a VIP tour with him around the island for 3 or 4 hours for $60 per couple. He had two couples. We said yes, and had a wonderful tour with Felipe. Calle PTO Escondido # 145 Colonia Ramblases Pto Vallarta, Jalisco CP 48324 Mexico

He took us to the North side just close to the pier where there is lots of development of Hi Rises and condominiums. There are beautiful new developments in Marina Vallarto. The Royal Pacific Yacht Club is there for golf. We toured the Quita Real, an authentic Colonial Mexican Resort much different from the Marriott and Westin properties being built in Puerto Vallarta. The Hotel has hand-carved frescos and furniture made by the Tanascos Indians. The large foyer chandelier is made of paper mache.

Our guide told us there are silver and opal mines right over the mountains about 3 l/2 hours away. The African Tulip Trees were blooming with large fuchia blooms. We toured the old town where the Rosita Hotel built in l948 stands. Mexicans who vacation here stay in this Mexican section. We saw a nice view of the bay from the El Set Restaurant balcony/terrace and Bomberas Bay to see the Arches. We stopped at a flea market and our guide gets a cut of the purchases we made there. Night of the Iguana was filmed here with Richard Burton and Ava Gardner. Then we went into the entrance of the forest to visit Nogalita jungle restaurant and had a taco and diet coke and watched the wild birds. It was a very nice day with this guide.


MANZANILLA

This typical Mexican small town was under repair. The boardwalk was nice, and we book a picture of the sailfish in the square, but there was little else. Fishing boats which were not in good repair were leaving the dock with a few customers. A large Navy gunboat was docked in the port.

We walked down several streets and the shops were very busy with dollar store type items and lots of Mexicans shopping on Monday.
We were glad to get back on our ship for a Mexican buffet lunch with delicious quacamole/tomato salsa…

We napped, watched a movie and got some sun and I worked on this blog for my blogsite. Tonight we have a reception and then dinner in the special dining venue, “A night in France.”

Zihuatenejo and Ixtapa

Zihuatenejo was a pretty port, but little there besides the nicely kept market in town. We did hire a taxi driver to take us to Ixtape where “the best shopping was”, but he took us to the poorer Mexican shops where his brother gives him a commission and his wife sells t-shirts. We did visit the nice resort there, the Barcelo Beach Resort and it was lovely. We asked him for the tour of the Barcelo and then back to Zihuatenejo and back to our ship after walking the market.



Acapulco/Las Brisas/ Swordfish Catch

Las Brisas is a Mexican resort on the hillside of the entire Acapulco Bay and we were in Suite 430 right on the front of the mountain. The lights flickering from the hillside at night were unbelievable. And, each room has a private pool with nice lawn furniture, an umbrella table and flowers floating in the pool. It is cleaned daily by the service personnel and the maid service was excellent. We had a magic box where coffee, fruit and sweet rolls were placed about 7 am each morning. We were in Acapulco 30 years ago and couldn’t afford to stay at Las Brisas, so this was a return visit for us to experience what we dreamed about as a younger couple. The pink jeeps run all over the property taking guests to lunch, to the reception and to the shops or business center. They are always Johnny-on-the-spot when we called. Cats that roam the property seemed harmless.


We met a nice couple, Jeff and Nancy Reskin from Scottsdale, AZ and had dinner and the dive show with them. They own 3 Tomatoes and A Motzarella and are franchising their restaurants. 480 563 3030. Her e-mail address is 3tomatoes@cox.net They wanted information about Africa, so I will send them an A&K postcard! The Diving Show at the Miramar was a typical Mexican experience. Ok driver and van to a very nice dinner at 7:30 until 9:30, then a pick up to be taken to Miramar to see the show. But, before you enter the Miramar, the driver, of course, takes you to a Silver Shop to wait and young Mexicans are pushing merchandise in your face to buy. And, NCL unloaded about 250 passengers at Miramar about the time we arrived and they were pushing to get into the shop to get “FREE” Margaritas. Not very pleasant, not good merchandise, not a good crowd. Oh, well, as we found ourselves saying time and again, “Esta es Mexico.” What else can you expect.

We booked a tour through Expedia in order to see how clients who book with this agency experience the tours they offer. We booked a deep-sea fishing tour for l/2 day. Well, it wasn’t a good experience at all. We were picked up in a bucket of bolts (a very small pick-up truck with smaller cab than I’ve ever seen, filthy windshields) and driven crazily for about 30 minutes to the waterfront where our boat (the worst I have ever seen) awaited us with non-English speaking captain and helper. We were told to bring drinks and food on board and that our “driver” would stop to get us something. That didn’t happen. Luckily, we had brought water bottles with us from Las Brisas and some fruit and sweetrolls which had been put in our “magic box” for breakfast at Las Brisas.

We were on the boat which had two raw wires which were periodically stuck together and twisted so the bilge pump would work, then untwisted to turn it off. I guess a switch was too expensive. There is so much graft in Mexico. We learned that the boat would have charged directly $180 for l/2 day. We were charged $535, and the fishermen probably never got much of that! There is a Travelocity agent in Acapulco whom we spoke to many times in order to complain.

We called Expedia in the USA to complain and were refunded by Expedia the $600 after we described our experience. We actually took pictures of the hole in the wall head, the light bulb in the cabin hanging by a wire and all the ugly parts of the boat. We learned there is a Virtuoso On-Site at Las Brisas who was very helpful to us in sorting out our misfortune. Expedia put us on hold for customer service for about 30 minutes, then were accommodating to give us a refund.

We were incensed that they would provide us with such a horrible boat. The captain and young boy (who asked us for water as there was none on the boat) were nice enough and hard working, but that boat should never have been booked for us. Good news was that we caught 3 sword fish and took pictures of our catch, but we were grateful that one of them got away right at the boat after a 20 minute fight to bring him in, so he avoided being clubbed and eaten. The fishermen sell the fish they catch so it is important that they catch them for themselves.

Flight home was uneventful. Aero Mexico was a nice plane and friendly flight attendants. We flew from Acapulco to Mex City, then to Atlanta and then to Memphis. So, we were ready to be home again in our fluffy bed. We are home now for a while and I’m grateful. We have been to so many wonderful places and experienced wonderful places, but Mexico, unfortunately, isn’t our favorite.

I did get to send e-mails and received lots of messages from friends at home and worked on my journal/blog for my blog site. And, I completed the test for the Cruise Manual for CLIA and faxed it in today when I returned. My best for smooth seas. Patty