Cruise Tour Part 1: Our Puerto Vallarta Adventure
Hey, friends! We are back from our cruise adventure. My family of 6 visited Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas, on the Carnival Panorama ship from Long Beach, California. Take notes as I share our port experiences and how you can can have a great, stressfree vacation with your family! We like doing our own things so we chose to ditch the expensive ship excursions and enjoyed the freedom to have our own adventure.
This post is all about Puerto Vallarta!
We disembarked the ship to see tons of eager excursion sellers. The first wanted $400 to drive us for the day. Amidst the hustle and bustle, we found our hero of the day, Juan. He offered us a steal at $275. His price and personality instantly won us over, and he became our trusted guide. We started with authentic street tacos!
The tortillas were hand made while we waited. They were delish, my whole family of 6 and Juan ate for $25 after tip! We then stopped for agua fresca before heading to a tequila tasting. I’m not a tequila lover, but the liqueurs were so good! My oldest, Jeremy, couldn’t resist getting some to bring home!
Next up was our zip-lining adventure! The ship’s zip-line excursion was over $100 per person. Juan brought us to one that was more wallet-friendly at $80 per person. The atmosphere was fun, complete with smoothies, a bar, and even some colorful parrots to entertain us while we waited our turn.
It was Graceon’s first time ziplining, nerves initially crept in, but he conquered his fears and loved the adventure. It was so fun to watch him! I had a few concerns because of my recent back surgeries, but I was fine! At the end the guides, Javier & Brian, suggested a tip of ten bucks per person, which we gladly gave as a token of our gratitude.
When we were done zip-lining everyone was hungry again. We ate lunch overlooking the ocean. The view was beautiful, but we didn’t love the food, it’s hard to compete with those home made street tacos.
f you want to skip zip-lining and have a beautiful, delicious, fancy lunch I highly recommend Le Kliff. JT and I ate there on our honeymoon 20+ years ago and we still talk about it. Their IG looks like nothing has changed!
We headed back toward the ship when we remembered I had offered crew members to grab something at port. One requested chicharrones. We went to three places before Juan found them. Lucky for Jackson, across the street was someone making elote, Jackson LOVES elote so Juan hopped out and got him the works!
It was time to part ways with Juan. The older three boys headed back to the ship while JT, Graceson and I went to the beach. Graceson and I had a blast riding the waves while JT chilled on the sand. The ocean was more gentle and warmer than here in California so Graceson got to be more adventurous. It was a great day!
Side note: I chatted a lot with Juan. Times are tough. He works 2-3 days a week. Ships only come in once a week. He only keeps about 25% of the fee. He has to pay for the van, and other things. He had a great heart, I even saw him give money to a homeless man who was trying to clean the already clean van. I felt comfortable and safe with him. I left my things in his van with no worries while we made stops. I would highly recommend using him if you visit PV. He is full of information and a very positive person, easy to spend the day with. You can find him on IG HERE or text 322-10-76428. Please remember to tip whichever driver you go with.
I loved going with him instead of a tour with the cruise line because it was tailored to our wants and needs. Juan told us all about Puerto Vallarta as we drove around. We talked about people buying places to make vacation rental homes and driving up prices, but how he appreciated it because it brings money into the area. He talked about how he fished and people of the town had to barter and take care of the sick or elderly when the world shut down. He also took us to places locals go instead of all the super touristy spots. It was a great day.
For daily deals, we have an all-women Facebook Group! It’s an awesome community with ladies sharing their latest finds and experiences! We would love more positive women like you in it! Invite your girl friends to our community 
We also have a public Facebook deals group where anyone can join to shop some good deals!
