Baja/Mexican Riviera vs Castaway

[fyasko]

Planning a Disney Cruise- We live in San Diego but my mom is joining us from the East Coast. Is flying to Florida to take a cruise that goes to Castaway worth it? Or should we just cruise to Baja or Mexican Riveria? We will be cruising w/ a 4,6 & 8 year old for 5-7 nights.

 

[jdb in AZ]

With that many young kids I would stay on the west coast to avoid the long flights. With all the beaches in California, flying clear to Florida for another day at the beach wouldn't be a priority. Yes, Castaway Cay is lovely, but in choosing a cruise I'd be more interested in the other ports of call. Check out the shore excursions for the cruises you're considering -- that might help you decide.

Just as a heads up, don't expect the ports in the Caribbean or Mexico to be as upscale as San Diego. There's a lot of poverty.

 

[ajo]

We've cruised both the Bahamas/Caribbean and Mexico and found that the Mexican cruise was one of our favorites. I second the PP and recommend staying close to home and enjoying the Wonder out of San Diego. We did an all-inclusive beach/resort excursion in Mazatlan and had a great time.

Besides, you can just take your next cruise to Castaway Cay!

 

[jetskigrl]

Is this your first Disney Cruise? You could book the Baja/Mexican Riviera one first to try it out. I love having the Wonder so close here and have done various versions of that cruise (7-night, 5-night, etc) already with two more booked. Then when you are on board, book a placeholder so you can get 10% off the price of a Caribbean/Bahamas cruise in the future (to help offset some of the costs of having to fly to the East Coast). I have been to Castaway Cay three times now and we did enjoy it for the food offerings, had a cabana one time, great snorking, etc. Because we live so close to the beach already, that port stop just isn't a must do for us.

 

[cadien]

Having done both, I prefer Castaway Cay but not enough to add on airfare.

 

[lcaserta]

We live on the west coast as well, and have cruised Mexico/Baja in many varieties (3 day, 5 day and 7 day), and we have done Castaway Cay. We LOVE and prefer CC. The second time we did CC, we didn't want to spend the money to fly to Florida, so we went out of Galveston. That may be another option for you. Flying to Galveston was half the price of flying to Florida when we went.

 

[ludari]

I too live on the west coast and have sailed five times on the Wonder on various Mexican Rivera and Pacific Cruises. I have also done numerous cruises out of Port Canaveral as well and although I do prefer the Caribbean cruises, CC and the ports more than the Mexican Rivera I'm too am not sure it would be worth flying your family to the east coast just for CC. With the age of your children the ports are really not that important and it's more about the ship. Good luck with your decision.