We're back from our NCL cruise and had a very nice time! We sailed out of Long Beach, and along with 3 enjoyable sea days, we visited Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta!
Cabo San Lucas is a great town with fun shopping and excursions. We actually swam with the dolphins at their new "Dolphin Center" located right next to the marina where the ship's tender brings you to port. We had a BLAST and would recommend the dolphin swim to anyone. If you haven't done it before... put it on your list! Amazing experience!
Next was the port of Mazatlan where we docked along the pier. My advise would be to definitely sign up for an excursion. You can take a taxi into the downtown area where they have an open-air market and butcher, and that is an experience... but after talking to other cruisers onboard that took an excursion... they had a much better time! We chose to walk around the town and really didn't get to see the beauty the Mazatlan has to offer. Still fun to see!
Puerto Vallarta was our last port on the cruise and such a great place! We jumped on the local bus for $1.00 (for both of us) and rode into downtown. The shopping and great, and the boardwalk along the beach is gorgeous! We also went into Old Town which is a definite must when visiting Puerto Vallarta! It is very charming indeed! We ended up finding the perfect ocean view table in an open air restaurant called "The Cheeky Monkey". Sat and enjoyed the ocean views while having some great Mexican dollar beers. Ahhhh... 'tis the life!
The Norwegian Star was a nice ship, one of their oldest BUT still only built in 2001. NCL definitely has the youngest fleet on the planet. It was interesting experiencing the "Freestyle Dining" option that they have onboard... and while it was enjoyable to not have to be at dinner at any particular time... I have to say that we still prefer traditional dining. There is really something to getting to know your waiters onboard and having them get to know you. It does make the dining experience more fun, personal and special!
We had a nice balcony stateroom. It wasn't the biggest and didn't seem to have as much storage as some of the other ship's we've sailed on but it was nice all the same... and of course Mark and I have a blast no matter what!!!
The nightlife on the Star was fun, and the entertainment was pretty fantastic! Some of the show they had were outstanding!
We probably don't need to cruise on NCL again in the near future, as we do prefer a little more elegance to our cruises... but all in all we really did have a fun time!
It was beautiful and 80 degrees in Mexico... and we came home to snow! What happened?? I'll get the pictures we took uploaded and on the blog soon!
Happy Cruising!
1 comment:
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