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Our last stop on this cruise brings us to Puerto Vallarta.
Interestingly, we’ve changed the time zone again and are basically in central time, although we’re still on the west coast of Mexico.
Navigator docked just on time at 8 a.m. Our tour didn’t start until 11am so we let the kids get some sleep before getting everyone ready to go.
I had arranged a tour as part of Royal Caribbean’s Private Journeys program for today which meant we booked a private shore excursion through the cruise line. The plan was to visit Sabal Playa, a resort town on the north side of Puerto Vallarta.
I went through Private Journeys because at the time, I didn’t know if my children would be vaccinated or not. Royal Caribbean does not allow unvaccinated people to make their own tours, so by booking a tour through Royal Caribbean I was able to get around that.
We walked to the Royal Theater, like any shore excursion, and they took us right from the ship to meet our guide in the port area.
The tour included a driver for the day who spoke fluent English, an air-conditioned van, and admission to Sabal Playa. The tour did not include any food or drinks.
Sabal Playa only opened at 11:30 am, so our guide took us on a drive around Puerto Vallarta to hang out.
Along the way, we stopped at a Mexican mall and offered the kids ice cream while I had coffee.
Back on the road, we head to Sabal Playa.
Sabal is a pool and resort combination, similar in configuration to Paradise Beach in Cozumel: pay an entrance fee and access the facilities. Food and drinks are a la carte.
The grounds were lovely and their infinity pool was very large and heated.
The staff set us up on the beach, which is a short walk from the pool on the “lower” level. They gave us chairs and umbrellas to use.
It was an opportunity for us to go swimming in the Pacific Ocean, and the sea water was a bit cool, but you get used to it pretty quickly.
The surrounding views were breathtaking with mountains surrounding much of the area.
There is a good assortment of food and drink, with mostly Mexican food to choose from. While we were there we had a few beers, kids drinks, guacamole, two orders of tacos and quesadillas and spent $ 50 for it all.
The food was pretty good too and freshly made.
Overall I really enjoyed our visit and the kids wanted to stay longer when we told them it was time to go.
At the agreed time, our driver brought us back to the ship.
The Puerto Vallarta port area is close to the Costa Maya because it is the longest and most boring route to take you through as many shops as possible.
Back on Navigator of the Seas, we took a shower and changed for dinner.
For dinner, we returned to the main dining room. They had my favorite variety of Indian curry tonight, aloo gobi.
We dropped the kids off at Adventure Ocean and then found that, as the ship left Puerto Vallarta around 6 a.m., the casino didn’t reopen until 8:15 a.m.
We spent some time at the Schooner Bar to wait for the casino to exit. Eventually it reopened and my money and I were quickly separated.
We ended our evening at the pub.
Tomorrow is a day at sea.
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