Carribbean Cruise or Mexico all inclusive. WWYD

[sunlover13]

That all-inclusive sounds like a stellar deal. I went on the Hard Rock's website, and the best I could do with 2 adults and our two kids (ages 8 and 10 at the time of travel) was $3,700 for the last week in August, and the best I could do at Moon Palace was $2850. They both did include the resort credit you were talking about, and the kids *seemed* to be free. Are you sure the deal you priced out is still available?

As far as the cruise is concerned, you are right to add about $1000 for gratuities, ship charges and excursions. We just got off a 7 day cruise, and that's about what our family of four spent (and we do not drink much at all, nor do we buy a ton of souvenirs-- over $300 was on gratuities alone, and we spent about $500 on excursions-- we swam with the stingrays in Grand Cayman, went to an AI in Jamaica for the day, and just went to the beach in Cozumel.)

So, if you can still get the prices you found at the AI's, I would do one of those, as that's an AWESOME deal. If the prices are no longer available, and they are now what I priced out, the Moon Palace and the cruise will be priced about the same, so that's a harder decision.

We love cruising, but we've never done an AI (DH and I will be going to our first at the end of this month!). Good luck with your decision!

FYI, I'm looking into Moon Palace myself and learned you get the best price and perks by booking through a Palace member. Search the trip advisor forum to learn more about booking through a member.

 

[rigs32]

Everyone has their own take on things, but I got bored the two times I went to AIs and it was for 4 and 5 days. I can only drink, eat, and lie in the sun so much. I do enjoy cruising as there is more to do, IMO. I like the balance of relaxing sea days with busy port days and the variety of stops.

You could cruise for much cheaper - the getaway is one of the newest, and therefore most expensive ships out there.

 

[jmmess]

We love both cruising and Maxico. If I had to choose, I'd go back to Mexico in a heartbeat. Part of it is that I'm not a fan of Norwegian, but I also think Mexico is more manageable with kids than a cruise ship. We haven't stayed at either resort and tend to go south of Cancun to the riviera maya. Beaches are fantastic down that way and are closer to a lot of the excursions. I'm sure whichever you choose you will have a great time!

 

[thehogsters]

Not even close. Go to Moon Palace! The new renovations have added a huge arcade with pool tables, arcade games, xbox, foose ball, ice cream and other snaks for the tweens and teens. The flow rider is great for all ages. A huge new kids club for the younger kids. A nice water slide was just added at the Nizuc side.
Lets not forget free premium booze. DW and I spent over $600 on booze alone on the cruise. The pools are absolutely huge with swim up bars. Dont forget on a cruise you will be in a 150sf room vrs 500 to 700 sf at Moon Palace. On down side to Moon is the beach sucks but they have a free shuttle twice a day to Beach Palace wich has a perfect beach. You also get $300 credits at the spa wich is incredible. If you book through a member you get two free back messages with mani pedi. I dont play golf but have heard the 3, 9 hole corses are great.

The only way we would ever cruise again would have to save us a good amouny of money vrs Moon Palace.

 

[katie111]

We've been on 3 cruises (2 before kids & one Disney cruise). We are heading to Mexico for our 5th trip this April with our 3 kids (11, 10, & 6). We always go to the Mexican Riviera in Mexico (just south of Cancun). There are so many great excursions you can do there and we've heard that it's just much more relaxing than Cancun. I loved our cruises but my DH hates crowds and he felt like we were always in line for something on the cruises. Alcohol and excursions can really add up on a cruise as well. Our kids absolutely love Mexico and always ask to return there when we are talking about vacation destinations. They actually prefer Mexico to Disney. For excursions in Mexico, we've done the ruins, Xel-Ha, Xcaret, cenotes, and ziplining. All were fantastic. I do think the kids clubs on cruises are larger and have more activities. However, my kids actually much prefer the smaller atmosphere of the AI kids clubs. My second child was 4 when we went on the Disney cruise and the kids club was so large & busy that he was completely overwhelmed by it. He cried on the 2 days we left him there. At the AI's it's usually always the same girls working in the clubs and there never seems to be more than 10-12 kids in there at a time. The activities are very low key but my kids always seem to love them and actually beg to go to the kids club.

If the price was right, I think I would definitely take another cruise, but I'm not sure if my DH would.

 

[nunzia]

They can both be fun depending on what you like to do. If you like free alcohol and beaches all day for a week then AI is good. I've gone to AIs in Mexico twice..both Iberostar which is a fine brand, OK food, lovely grounds, great beach. Both by Playa Del Carmen so a bit away from Cancun. (which is fine, because I find the cities in Mexico pretty icky..sorry.) I do not like going into Playa del Carmen either. I don't like the style of the shops hawking their wares in Mexico (I live by Juarez and need none of that). There are some nice excursions in nice buses to places like Tulum and XelHa. You can do some snorkeling on the beach, and there are excusrions for that also. All of these are not cheap. If you stay at the resort, there can be quite a bit to do or not, depending on the resort. The nightly entertainment is kind of cheesy IMO. I got bored after about day 3 in a 7 day trip. I cam only do the beach so long and drink so much. So, it's fine, but overall I prefer a cruise.

 

[jrw118]

Thank you all very much for the replies. We are going to go with the AI in Mexico.
I am booking through a member so the price is what I stated. Thanks again

 

[daileyad]

Who did you book Moon Palace through? That seems like a really good deal!

 

[mommyto3girls]

Both would be fun. We haven't taken our kids to AI, but husband and I have been. We have done 3 cruises with our girls and they loved them. The oldest especially would pick a cruise over any other vacation-even Disney. She really liked the kids club and made new friends. We have found that cruises are cheaper for us, unless you are a big drinker. Cost of excursions vary greatly. Last cruise was Bahamas. One day was a private island-cost $0. Beach and food were free. Only cost was drinks-soda or alcoholic. Tea and lemonade free. Souveners were extra of course. Nassau-we chose to just walk to the beach so that was also free. Freeport we really didn't do anything. We had priced snorkeling which would have been about $200 for our family but we decided not to do this since we had spent a few nights in Orlando pre cruise and went to Legoland. You could certainly pick a port to do an excursion and then just explore another port on foot or a cheap bus excursion. We vacation often so I don't feel the need to go all out the whole time. We have done ocean view and interior rooms, we have not spent the extra on suites. So they have been very affordable. We have a big family so it is a little cramped in the room, but not unmanagable. Biggest drawback to cruises for us is the pools are just not big enough so we don't let the kids swim very often but they loved them anyway. We also saved money on not needing to buy passports for the cruise and we would have had that expense for an AI.
Whatever you chose, have fun!

 

[wiigirl]

Excursions vary. Just a day at the beach can be a cheap taxi ride. Tulum mayan ruins is about $100/pp. Swimming with dolphins at least $100/pp. Snorkeling is in the 30-60 range. We almost always book independent shore excursions unless it's something like Tulum where the boat excursion makes more sense. We have 4 people in our family so times it by 4 and some of the excursions can really add up. Some places have beaches you can walk to though and those are cheaper excursion days if you just want to chill on the beach.

My favorite cruise we've done is Southern out of San Juan and will definitely be our next cruise most likely also.

 

[thehogsters]

Who did you book Moon Palace through? That seems like a really good deal!

Send me a pm and I will let you know. No I'm not a member but wish I were.