first time cruisers - Baja or Mexican Riviera?

[northshoremama]

first time cruisers....myself, DH, DD10, DD8 and DD4...
wanting to leave from San Diego. there is a 4 night baja cruise or a 7 night mexican riviera cruise. thinking since it's our first time, maybe we should do a shorter cruise (but the ports look better on the 7night cruise).

thoughts? input? how's ensenada on the 4 night cruise?

BTW, my girls haven't cruised before, BUT DH and I did a repositioning cruise years ago and i got a bit sea sick. i'm hoping to be better prepared this time.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

first time cruisers....myself, DH, DD10, DD8 and DD4...
wanting to leave from San Diego. there is a 4 night baja cruise or a 7 night mexican riviera cruise. thinking since it's our first time, maybe we should do a shorter cruise (but the ports look better on the 7night cruise).

thoughts? input? how's ensenada on the 4 night cruise?

BTW, my girls haven't cruised before, BUT DH and I did a repositioning cruise years ago and i got a bit sea sick. i'm hoping to be better prepared this time.

Personally, I'm firmly in the "longer is better" camp. So I'd opt for the 7 night cruise.

Ensenada - a great place to say onboard and enjoy the ship. We've done 5 cruises that had to make that Ensenada call, and only been ashore twice - once to walk around about 4/5 blocks away from the ship, and once to check out the new terminal (so only in the port).

When undecided between several options we always pick the one that has the itinerary that interests us most.

 

[DLgal]

The 7 day. Ensenada is a poop hole. Don't get off there.

I would actually recommend against ANY cruise to Mexico as a first cruise. I know a few people who did that and they refuse to go on any more cruises. Mexican Riviera cruises are like the red headed stepchild of the cruise world.

Can you do one of the pacific coastal cruises or Alaska instead?

 

[skylynx]

Different strokes. Been on 20+ cruises and our 2011 DCL Mexican Riviera cruise was one of our top two favorites. At that time, it left out of Los Angeles, but we've also been on last October's 5 night Baja out of San Diego and are booked on the same cruise for October 2017. We saw more sea creatures (whales, dolphins, marlin, sea lions) on those two cruises than in all our Caribbean/Bahamian/Alaskan cruises combined. We love Cabo and would visit it over Jamaica and a couple other Caribbean ports any day. Just depends on what you like to do and see. I'd keep an open mind.

 

[jetskigrl]

Totally disagree about the Mexico cruises being that bad. We have done both the 7-night MR and the 5-night Baja and loved them both. We didn't get to spend much time in town in PV (excursion picked up right by the pier) but have loved every visit to Cabo (3 in total - so beautiful there). I'm trying to find a way to do another one of those cruises in October 2017 (but I already have August 2017 booked, LOL).

Of those two options, I would definitely pick the 7-night MR if you can swing it. More time on the ship, more ports, etc. And I agree, keep a close eye out for wildlife on those ones too. We saw so many different animals on that one. I especially loved the whale and sea turtles when leaving Cabo

 

[DnA2010]

for sure the 7 day- we found even that too short!

 

[northshoremama]

for sure the 7 day- we found even that too short!

even for someone who has been seasick? i'd love to do the 7day MR cruise, but afraid that i might spend half of it in bed feeling horrible....

and for someone like me....is a mid-deck, mid-ship stateroom really critical??

 

[skylynx]

even for someone who has been seasick? i'd love to do the 7day MR cruise, but afraid that i might spend half of it in bed feeling horrible....

and for someone like me....is a mid-deck, mid-ship stateroom really critical??

Have you tried the preventative Dramamine/Bonine option (make sure you take it BEFORE you start feeling icky)? We've had staterooms over the stabilizer "wings" and found them to have the least motion. All those things just reduce the risk. We always pop a couple Dramamine on the first night of a cruise just to be sure the motion doesn't get to us.

 

[DLgal]

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html

Worth reading if you plan to go on a Mexican cruise...

 

[kiapepito]

The 7 day. Ensenada is a poop hole. Don't get off there.

I would actually recommend against ANY cruise to Mexico as a first cruise. I know a few people who did that and they refuse to go on any more cruises. Mexican Riviera cruises are like the red headed stepchild of the cruise world.

Can you do one of the pacific coastal cruises or Alaska instead?

Redheads are amazing! I have two of them!

 

[ImDMous]

We've done a pacific coast cruise that stopped in Ensenada and the Panama Canal cruise that stopped in Cabo and Puerta Vallarta. We had a great time in all of them. In Ensenada we did a wine-tasting excursion that went out into the Guadalupe Valley to several wineries. In Cabo we did a fabulous catamaran tour with snorkeling and in Puerta Vallarta we did a Pirate Ship day with snorkeling and beach time. All of them were great. We did get some time in Vallarta to shop in the port area and some time in Cabo to wander the port area for shopping and restaurants. I never felt unsafe.

 

[longboard55]

It really does not warm up until about a couple 100 miles from Cabo. We did a 7 day princess and the sunsets were just amazing. Maybe its just me but everytime we go to the carribbean we get hazy skys. Puerta Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas are good stops, not crazy about Mazatlan. Ensenada is good for one hour shopping