Western Caribbean or Mexican Riviera - April 2011?

Hi Everyone:

I am planning our first cruise for April 2011. Based on the dates, I need to choose between the 7 night Western Caribbean or the 7 night Mexican Riviera. I did find an old thread discussing making the choice between the 2 cruises (Caribbean vs. Mexican Riviera) but I wanted to see if there are any new viewpoints that can help me make my decision. We are a family of 4 (2 kids who will be 8 and 4).

Pros for Western Caribbean:

-I really want to see Castaway Cay.

-I am not very interested in the ports on the Mexican Riviera. We've been to Cabo twice on other vacations and I hear Cabo is the best port on the Mexican Riviera route.

-I think the weather will be better on this cruise? (Not sure)

Pros for Mexican Riviera:

- We live in Los Angeles so this cruise would by much much easier logistically and much cheaper than flying to Florida. This is a biggie - the Mexican Riviera cruise will probably cost about half what it will cost for all of us to go to Florida.

-The week we need to go does not sail to the Eastern Caribbean which I was more interested in.

Is the boat the main draw so that the ports do not matter as much? Are the seas rougher out of LA than out of Fla.? My hubby tends to get seasick so this could be important.

Thoughts? Thanks!

-Debbie

I have done the Mexican Rivera serveral times. The waters have been calm going south as we are going with the current, however the last day at see it is a litte rougher as we are going against the current. This as never ruined the cruise for me as I use a 1/4 of a patch behind each ear. Works great. These ships are not like riding on a ferry they have stablizer and most of the time you don't even realize you are on a moving boat.

The big draw for you will be the fact that you will not have too buy 4 plane tickets. The water on the east coast is beautiful and turquoise, but a caribbean cruise can be very busy too with all the ports and not of enough at sea days. The Mexican Rivera allows you to have two full days at sea to totally relax and enjoy before reaching your first port and one and half days of sea to relax some more before returning home.

What ever you do decide you will have a great time.

Don't know how helpful I can be but here goes:

I realize that I'm in the minority, but I'm of the belief that Castaway Cay is way, way, way overrated. I'm truly stumped as to why people love it so much. We did the 7 nt. Western last October on the Magic and honestly, CC was my least favorite port. Our beach days spent in both Grand Cayman and Cozumel where far more enjoyable. For one thing, the family beach was entirely too crowded. You couldn't even get to the water because so many people parked their beach chairs side to side in a line at the shoreline. Ew. And the water? It was all oily/slick from the gabs of sunscreen. It was just not pleasant. The tropical drinks there were also a disappointment: watered down and syrupy. For us, CC just wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

I cannot speak to the Mexican cruise ports because we've never done that.

For me, though, I can definitely relate on the desire to save the airfare and go out of LA instead of FL. That would be a HUGE incentive for me.

The time on the ship really is a big draw. My children would tell you that the ports do not matter at all - they had that great of a time on board. If it were me, I'd probably opt for the Mexican Riviera this go-round and save the Eastern for a future cruise when it works out better for your family.

Thank you Carol and ucancallmetink! - you've been very helpful with your thoughts. I am leaning to the Mexican Riviera at this point but would still love to hear any other views. :o

-Debbie

Any time as I have done this cruise several times on different ships. On the Mexican Riveria we have gone in the winter months and the weather is fantastic. Even first day at sea as been poolside weather when reaching PV it is nice and warm.