A Ferry Story - La Paz - Mazatlan

About the Mazatlan Star. She is 29 years old and was built in Marseille, France. She is about 230 meters long. Kind of a strange layout, but she is really a truck and semi hauler.

Cost: 1078 Pesos per person each way. This includes dinner from 5 to 7pm and breakfast from 8 to 9am. 

Meals included - Not gourment, but not un-edibile, either.

Dinner: meat, fish or chicken. With rice, beans and tortillas.

Breakfast: eggs with salchichas or machaca. With chilaquiles, beans and tortillas.

They sell fruit plates, juice, pop, beer, muffins and rolls, fruit, sabritas, etc.

Take your ticket with you to the meals to be scanned.

Cabins with windows and bathrooms: 770 Pesos The cabins are on the 6th deck and most look out onto life boats or air vents. Don't count on a view. The sheets are clean, there are reading lights, lots of hot water in the shower, shampoo and soap with towels provided. Don't plan on charging your cell phone, kindle, computer or camera while on the ferry. No plug ins. The carpet might not have been vacuumed recently, but better than I expected - cleanliness wise.

To take the truck: 2303 Pesos each way. Note: if you have a kayak rack or any type of rack on your truck, that is classified as a cargo carrier and has a different cost.

Depart LaPaz 5pm and arrive in Mazatlan about 10:30am.

Depart Mazatlan 4pm and arrive in LaPaz about 9 or so am.

Took us 3 hours to get through the Military Inspection XRay point!

Also the LaPaz ferry dock has some sort of longshoremen's union or something called API and they get you for 150 Pesos going and returning for using their facilities.

Also after the military inspection on the return to LaPaz, there is a 30 Pesos Agricultural spray - like the one in Guerrero Negro.

Mazatlan is easy to depart the ship and to board the ship and no extra costs. LaPaz is a nightmare.

Also, if for some reason you need to change your reservations, they will do that, but it is 180 Pesos per ticket. We had 3 tickets: Passenger, Auto and Operator and Cabin. So to change the reservations was 540 Pesos.

Also, cabins sell out fast. The non windowed cabins also have no bathrooms and have bunk beds.

There are big TV's in the salon and cafeteria going all the time. Beethoven, Toy Story - a big variety of viewing pleasure. Reception also rents DVD's.

Pets: the first pet is free. The second costs 105 Pesos each way. They do have a pet area now. You take your pet from the car and car deck, or if a walk on passenger - take to the reception area on the 5th deck. There is an elevator from the 3rd floor car deck (where walk on passengers arrive) to the 5th deck reception. From reception someone will guide you down the hall, through the salon and out on to the back deck. You go through a locked gate, down a flight and 1/2 of steep stairs, hang a short left. You are now back down on the 4th deck. There is a big open door, with 4 huge plastic installed, permanent crates with stainless steel bar doors. You can leave water with the pet in the crate, but no food. The door is left open all the time, so there is fresh air. At the end of the trip, do the same in reverse.

Also if you buy you ticket the day before you can get your auto permit the day before.

From the BajaNomad forums

Recent Baja Ferry experience with a Pet

Posted by tahoenow on the Woodalls RVing in Mexico and South America message board

So as Paul Harvey would say, "here's the rest of the story". We need to divide our impressions into two categories. One from the point of view of those without dogs and one from those with. Without a dog, the Baja Ferry experience would have been excellent. The boat is enormous enough to be impervious to sea conditions (although a storm would test that) and it is a very new boat (2003) so the amenities and comforts are top notch. Driving the motorhome onto this ferry along with over one hundred eighteen wheelers, two Harleys and a bunch of cars was exhilarating. For an extra $47 you can have a very nice cabin that has a full bath and will sleep four. The restaurant and two bars are very nice. The staff is highly professional and they are everywhere.

With a dog, things change. You run smack into a major cultural difference between our two countries. First of all, we did our homework. We checked in advance to make sure the boat would accept dogs. We were told the dog would need to be in a kennel crate which they would provide. We reserved a cabin so that we could all be together. Sounds good so far, doesn't it? Well, the crates they had on hand were for underfed chihuahuas. Hugo could not and would not fit. We told them that we would not need their canary cage as we would have Hugo with us in the cabin. They said, "we can't allow that". I asked why. They answered, "it's the rule". I asked why that was the rule. Now here is where our cultures really breach. We norte americanos need to know why a rule exists. Mexicans do not. It is enough for them that "that is the rule". Mexicans do not confront a superior with the question "why is this a rule?".

You can see where this is going. We are without a solution at this point and I have told them that we will not leave our dog chained to a railing in a kennel area. Did I mention that we would not be allowed to stay with him in the kennel area? So a superior is beckoned and after warm greetings are dispensed with, the superior has a solution. We can stay with Hugo in a stairwell area adjacent to the hospitality desk where we can sit on chairs next to him for the duration of the trip. I ask why we can't all be in the cabin we paid for, and of course, the answer is "it's the rule". Our evening consisted of sleeping in the cabin in shifts and lying on the floor under the stairs with Hugo.

There is the possibility of change coming out of this experience. First of all, we taped the whole mess and that made everyone very nervous. The superior confided to me that this is not the first time foreigners have brought their pets on board with an unsatisfactory outcome and the ships "rule makers" are currently discussing solutions. I suggested that it would be easy to set aside two or three cabins out of the hundred they have as "pet friendly" with tile floors instead of carpet just in case. They seemed to respond to that.

Before any of you try to take your pets on a Baja Ferry, check with them to see what the current policy is. We survived and would go through the whole mess again to be sitting here in wonderful La Paz this evening, but the process needs to be improved and let's hope that it is.