DCL Mexican Riviera

[dvcbrad]

We have been considering the Mexican Riviera cruise for '08, but have seen some posts on the DCL forums that have us concerned ... chilly weather, unappealing ports, etc.

We are interested in getting any insight from DVC-ers who may have gone in '05. Did you go? Was it a good experience? Would you go again? How did it compare to DVC's Caribbean cruises, putting aside Castaway Cay for the moment?

Thanks to anyone who has any thoughts for us!

 

["Got Disney"]

I can tell you that the reason they are coming back here is not because of the Repo cruise but because there was such a huge demand for them to repeat the Mexican Riviera cruise.

I have done the Mexican Riviera on other cruise lines and enjoyed it and my family and I just love Mexican food. WE have even flown there and stayed there because we liked it so much...we are doing a back to back from July 20-Aug 3 this time on DCL...My Dh favorite port out of all 16 cruises that we have been on....6 have been DCL...he absolutly loves Cabo...we have flown there and Mazatlan...

Some people did not like it due to the cold ...but everyone that I have spoke with loved it and once in Mexico is warmed up. But for the first few days it will be cold in you cruise in May and June....

It is not the caribbian but do you realy want to do that all the time or experiance other places...Mexico has alot of history. Some people also did not like that there was poverty when they got off the ship..well in all the ports in the CArribian that I have been in there has been plenty of poverty...geesh we have plenty of the in out own country...

If you do decide to gotry not to cruise in May or beginning of June cause it will be what we call May gray and June gloom...Middle of July or Aug is great if you want the warmer weather....it is still a little cold in May and June.

WE had done the Repo cruise in 2005 and it was great...but could not do it this time. There are some great MR cruise reports.

There are some threads already started for the cruises so if you cruise when I'm cruising come on over and join us....

and remember if all else fails...you are still on the DCL and that in it self is worth the trip...

 

[cruiseletters]

We cruised with DCL in June of 2005. Loved the weather, loved the ports. I would pack a sweater for the evenings after you leave the Port of Los Angeles. The pacific ocean is not as warm as the carribean so when you leave land behind and are surrounded by the pacific it can get a little chilly when the sun goes down. I wouldn't let that discourage you from cruising on the west coast. We found the mexican ports to be so much fun and far more to see than in the carribean.

 

[Anal Annie]

We did the '05 Western cruise during the week of July 4 - and although we LOVED the cruise and can't wait to go again, we were extremely disappointed in our weather. We spent 3 n. at Disneyland pre-cruise & it was very cool (low 50's at nite & mid-upper 70's during the day) (unusually cool everyone kept telling us). The first morning after we left the port it was very cloudy & windy but it improved by the afternoon enough to go to the pool. But we were shocked that first morning. I think the itinerary was a little different on that year. Our first port was P.V. Miserable weather there. VERY muggy but drizzly & overcast the whole day. We'd planned the Sierra Madre excursion & yes, it's full of the real life poverty that people live in but we were just glad we hadn't planned for a beach day! Our 2nd port was Mazatlan - we did the Stone Island excursion & enjoyed that a lot. The weather & water were perfect except that by noon hundreds of man of war jellyfish washed in & pretty much made it stupid to stay in the water. But we enjoyed the day. Our last port was Cabo San Lucas and we'd planned a snorkeling excursion to Chileno Bay. THAT was a joke. The weather that day was beautiful & we'd always heard what great snorkeling was in Cabo but the water was ICE cold. We're from Maryland & are used to chilly Ocean City water - this was like O.C. in April - no kidding it was freezing! We hopped in the water & climbed right back onto the boat! There were also millions of these flea things in the water & people were having allergic reactions to them & were screaming in pain. Then we couldn't find our son - turns out he'd jumped in & swam straight for the shore!! So my husband had to go back in after him to bring him back! I stayed on the boat. No way I was getting back into that water. It was so cold it took my breath - I felt like I'd fallen off the Titanic in the north Atlantic!

Everywhere we went they kept making excuses - it's rainy season or whatever. Well, that didn't make up for it being a disappointment. We'd really like to go back to Cabo - but will not plan it over the summer when we go!

Our last day back was a "day at sea" & when we woke up it was foggy & misty & COLD again the entire day. The crew kept saying that all of the trips had been like that since they'd started them in May. Everybody went to the ships stores & bought up all of the sweatshirts & sweaters! I don't know if the weather was a fluke or not, but we wouldn't do that same trip again during the summer, but maybe would try it on another cruiseline in the spring or something. Just not in the summer.

Don't mis-interpret this post - we really, really enjoyed our trip - the cruise itself was fantastic (it was our first) & we are definitely planning to do another DCL cruise - probably in the summer of '08 in the Caribbean.

 

[disnefile]

We had terrible weather. Could not go in the pool 2 days. Had to stay in one of the days. We would never ever go on that cruise in the summer again. It rained 3 days. It was in the 50's on the last two days at sea. WE went July 9th. This is off season in Mexico. It rained in two of the three ports.

Pete

 

[AnnaS]

We had terrible weather. Could not go in the pool 2 days. Had to stay in one of the days. We would never ever go on that cruise in the summer again. It rained 3 days. It was in the 50's on the last two days at sea. WE went July 9th. This is off season in Mexico. It rained in two of the three ports.

Pete

I am with Pete. We were on the July 2nd cruise. We did not use the pool once or go swimming in any of the Mexican Ports. Water too cold in ports, jelly fish also. Could barely sit out on the lounge chairs on the ship - way too windy, cool and overcast. We had to purchase additional sweatshirts. We did enjoy the cooler weather in DL . Kids were inside running all over the place (since it was too cold outside). Glad we did it, no regrets, had fun regardless but would definitely not do it again. If this is your one chance of trying DCL or not sure when you might cruise again - I would think about doing the Caribbean or trying out the 4 Night Wonder. Please, this is just my opinion (and the other 13 people I travelled with). Since you own DVC, I am sure it won't be your last so I would say go for it - just be aware of the weather conditions/possibilities (I honestly did not think it would be so cool/cold in July).