Mexico by Sea, One Taste at a Time

Meet the People Who Feed the Coast

On a Princess cruise, you can follow Mexico’s Pacific coast through the people who feed it. A winemaker in Todos Santos. A chef’s ceviche in Mazatlán. A family’s cacao operation in the countryside outside Puerto Vallarta.

A seven-day Mexican Riviera sailing connects Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán, and Puerto Vallarta. Choose a longer itinerary calling at La Paz, and you can join a fishing family for a morning on the water before sitting down to ceviche at El Mogote.

Which encounter do you want to make time for?

Cabo, With a Vineyard Appointment

Your Cabo day takes a turn toward Todos Santos, where Princess’s Todos Santos Wine Experience brings you to Viñedo Las Tinajas. You walk through the vineyard and production areas before tasting white, rosé, and red wines. As you move between the glasses, the winemaker helps you connect the flavors with what you have just seen.

The five-hour excursion also includes a walk through downtown Todos Santos, passing the Mission of Our Lady of Pilar and Hotel California. You exchange the tasting table for the streets of the town around it.

Your day begins offshore, where a tender carries you from the ship into Cabo’s marina. That crossing deserves a place in your plans, particularly if you hope to add a restaurant reservation. Your advisor can check the tour and tender timing against the ship’s departure before you commit to a table.

An Afternoon Around Ceviche

In Mazatlán, you give ceviche your full attention, from the preparation to the first bite. Princess’s Local Connections ceviche experience introduces you to the culinary world of Diego Becerra, with the afternoon unfolding at his seafood bar, Compañía Minera, over ceviche, local craft beer, and cocktails.

Citrus sharpens one mouthful. In the next, you notice the seafood’s texture. You ask about an ingredient and your lunch companion pauses to listen. As the answer unfolds, you take another bite, looking for the flavor you can now put a name to.

At 2.5 hours, the experience leaves more of Mazatlán open to you. Depending on your ship’s departure, lunch might give way to an afternoon walk through the city rather than a return straight to the pier.

Following the Cacao

In Pitillal, you begin around the neighborhood plaza, passing street vendors and the Church of San Miguel Arcángel before leaving the streets of town for the countryside. Princess’s Real Mexico & Chocolate Experience brings you to a family-run cacao and coffee operation, where you follow the process that turns cacao into chocolate.

You let a taste melt slowly as you consider the steps that bring cacao to this point. Coffee and tequila follow, moving the afternoon between three ingredients with deep roots in Mexico. Afterward, there is time to browse crafts or explore the ranch.

Allow five hours for the whole outing, with the drive and village visit woven around the cacao experience. The pleasure is in moving between the plaza, countryside, and tasting table. If you want your own turn at making chocolate, ask your advisor about a hands-on workshop.

A Reason to Continue to La Paz

At La Paz, you head out onto the bay with a local fishing family, watching the shoreline recede. Princess’s Baja Ocean Wonders & Scalloping Experience introduces you to the harvesting of callo de hacha, a shellfish associated with the Sea of Cortez.

You can slip on a mask and snorkel alongside guides during the harvest, or simply enjoy time in the bay. Later at El Mogote, you settle into the shade for ceviche with the water still in view. The morning gives your lunch conversation a starting point: the harvest you watched and the questions you have for the family who knows it. The listed excursion lasts five hours, including a brief look at La Paz on the return.

Before You Reach the Bay

If this is the morning you can already picture, let it guide your choice of cruise. The familiar Cabo–Mazatlán–Puerto Vallarta circuit does not include La Paz. Look for a Baja Peninsula and Sea of Cortez sailing that names it among the ports, then check whether this excursion is offered on your departure.

You arrive at Pichilingue, approximately 10–15 miles from downtown La Paz, so a waterfront table in town is a drive away. For the fishing outing, transfers and hours on the bay shape the morning. If you reach for a snorkel mask while your partner prefers to stay dry, the arrangements need to give you both a way to enjoy it.

The Route Behind the Reservations

For the three-port Riviera route, Discovery Princess’s seven-day sailings from Los Angeles give you a starting point. The October 2026–April 2027 season connects Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán, and Puerto Vallarta, with a separate day for each port.

When comparing a longer itinerary, look at where those extra nights take you. More ports, longer calls, and additional sea days each change the pace differently. The total number of nights tells only part of the story.

The outings described here are optional excursions, offered at an additional cost and subject to availability. That makes it worth considering your room and your time ashore together. The difference between two cabin categories might instead go toward the vineyard in Todos Santos and a morning at El Mogote. Or you may decide the larger room is exactly where you want to spend it.

Your advisor can price those choices side by side before anything is reserved.

A Table Worth Traveling For

You can picture the rosé now, but also the person pouring it.

That is what stays with you. The ceviche comes with a chef whose questions you could ask. Lunch at El Mogote follows a morning spent seeing where it began. Chocolate leads you out of Puerto Vallarta and into the countryside with the family making it.

The flavor gets you there. The people give you a reason to remember where you tasted it.

Reach out to your travel advisor with the taste of Mexico you keep imagining. Together, you can choose the Princess departure and reserve the experience that gives that appetite somewhere to go.