West Coast cruise.

[gus30]

I have been on the magic twice (western Caribbean) and did the 3 night bahamas on the wonder. I was interested in the Mexican riveria cruise. I'm from the East Coast though, Does it make sense? I mean is it worth the trip? Thanks ( Plus if we did it in june or july I wouldn't have to worry about taking the kids out of school.)

[jhannah]

Only you can answer whether or not it's worth it. You have a cross-country trip to make ... twice. The Mexican Riviera ports are interesting, but they're beach oriented much like the Caribbean ports of call are. If you've been to the east coast of Mexico, what you'll find in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta won't be that much different. The performers and crafts are pretty much the same. But if you have a hankering to visit those places, then doing it on a ship is the best way to go, IMO.

[poohs4me]

Just some background - We have done DCL's 4 night to the Bahamas, 7 night western caribbean and the 7 night West Coast cruise in 2005. We are from Arizona, so the West Coast Cruise is signficantly closer - no airline tickets for us, just a long drive.

 

DD and I are HUGE DCL fans and both of us agree we will not do the West Coast cruise again. DBf is not a huge DCL or cruise fan, but he also agrees that we do not want to do the West Coast cruise again. We had planned on taking a 7 night cruise in 2008, but have changed our minds. We were all very disappointed when DCL announced the summer 2008 7 night itinerary.

 

We went in early June, the weather was very chilly the first two days, not what we wanted. (Now remember we are from Arizona and by early June we have often hit 100 degrees). We ended up buying sweatshirts the first day on the cruise ship and from the looks of it we were not the only cold ones. They were very low on sweatshirts and activities on deck were moved inside. Additionally, the options for interesting things to do in ports were for older kids, ours was not at the time, so we ended up just wandering Cabo and never got off the boat in Mazatlan. We did do the dolphin swim in Puerto Vallarta. Finally, we missed Castaway Cay.

 

So in our opinion: Not worth the additional cost to do the West Coast cruise.

[sdgully]

We just got back from our first 4-night Caribbean cruise...and loved it.

 

I understand what you are saying but the fact that the weather was cool was highly unusual. I live in San Diego and that time of the year, especially in Mexico, is very, very warm.

 

I wouldn't tell someone else not to do the cruise because you had bad luck with weather. Our cruise last week had awful weather...and was not ideal. We had 45 MPH winds across the deck...but I'd go back in a second.

 

I guess if you're dead set on something, you'll be disappointed. If you roll with it and enjoy the entire experience, the west coast cruise will be a blast for you.

[California Mrs]

I have been on the magic twice (western Caribbean) and did the 3 night bahamas on the wonder. I was interested in the Mexican riveria cruise. I'm from the East Coast though, Does it make sense? I mean is it worth the trip? Thanks ( Plus if we did it in june or july I wouldn't have to worry about taking the kids out of school.)

 

Despite what you may hear from other posters, the EB repo cruise is SOLD OUT and the WB repo is very near SOLD OUT. I can agree that the first day and night is a bit chilly but there is so much else to do on the ship that we were too busy to worry about it.

 

I did the Mexican Riveria with my 10 year old GD on June 11, 2005 and am doing the WB repo in May 2008 with DH. All seven of us, including DD and family are doing the 12/29/07 NYE cruise in the Walt.

 

DCL is a great line with plenty to offer both adults and kids. You just have to be willing to pay the price.

 

Just m thoughts.....

[poohs4me]

Yes, the weather was cold and I understand this is typical for early June cruises, but as I mentioned we did not base our decision to avoid the west coast cruise strictly on the weather, we also missed castaway cay and found the port activities limited for young children.