Best ship for Mexican Riviera - in your opinion

[maggieq]

Looking to do something different next year. I like the rccl line of voyager ships....i know they don't have one out there.

 

Looking at the Princess line.....did the golden and thought it was ok. Not so good reviews on the Diamond though.

 

Rccl has the vision of the seas

 

HA has the Oosterdam?

 

Any particular age group on any of the above?

 

Carnival?

 

Anything you can tell me about your experience and what ship you were on, would be great. Thanks.

[cynbar]

We were on the Diamond Princess this past January, and overall we had a great time. The ship is beautiful, with some nice improvements from the Grand and the Golden, and we loved the ports ( we are from the east coast and this was our first time on the Mexican Riviera.) Our issues were with the service in the DRs -- we had anytime dining, and thought for a number of reasons that it wasn't as good as what we had on our Grand Princess cruise. My recommendation would be to try for traditional dining, if possible. The food and entertainment were just fine, and staff in all other areas were pleasant and accomodating. Here's a link to our pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/cynbar101. We also did the country tour with Frank in Mazatlan which you'll read a lot about on these boards --- wonderful, well worth the time and money spent, whatever ship you decide on. Good luck.

[Sillyjilly]

We were on the Diamond in Jan. and loved it! It beat NCL hands down!! We also loved the anytime dining. Food and service were excellent. If you like to lay by the pools, you will really like this ship. With 5 pools, there is always some place to sit. We are going again in April and we can't wait!!!!

[Bucky3]

We're going on Oosterdam end of March and will write about our trip. We've been there on Carnival Spirit, Sun Princess, and Elation. We love every cruise but are now becoming very fond of the newer ships out there.

[Ine]

To confuse you more.... we were on Mercury - Celebrity Lines -last october and we loved it. Very nice ship, lots of space.

 

 

A few years ago we were on Statendam - HAL - which was a very nice cruise too. However I think if I had to choose between those ships I would prefer Mercury.

Difficult to explain why, but overall Mercury was just a little better in some things.

[watersprite]

we did Rhapsody of the seas at Christmas time, really beautiful ship, best artwork in stair wells, I walked up and down many times just to view. Best decorations all over ship--we did Navigator this year and it was pretty but did not compare to Rhapsody. navigator artwork great in stairwells but weird in hallways near cabins.

 

If you speak Spanish, we recommend the sea world at Mazatlan. My adult daughter went, the ticket takers were surprised to see Americans but welcoming. they had so much fun.

 

FYI, the food was pleasant and the value was great.

 

Navigator was just too too big, we boarded in Miami and were startled at how loud, pushy and noisy the adults were. Missed the spa cuisine on Celebrity and the whole spa experience and the wonderful computer services. On Constellation, you could upload your photos, edit, file, load to CD for only the cost of the CD. No minute to minute charges

 

We are back on Celebrity but no kids, RCL is much better for kids, I think.

[hommebronze]

enjoyed your pics...even copied some...

 

we were on the diamond the week before...here are our pics...

http://community.webshots.com/album/263200454qNwFoh

[cynbar]

Great pictures!! Wish we were on the Diamond now, we've had a terrible winter here in the Northeast. I hope Scruffy is hard at work, planning out his next vacation-----

[morriscats]

We have been 3 times and Mercury wins our vote, although Carnival Pride was very nice too. Mercury is more suited to our "stage" in life and the service onboard is suburb. Any cruise is a good cruise though.

[Cruisin Rick]

Just curious Hommebronze.... that picture of the showgirl with the piano key / feathery shawl and candle holder on her head, standing on the staircase.... what is going on there?

[Wennfred]

Carnival Spirit, 2 times on this ship, Once out of Miami and now San Diego, Great beautiful ship with great ports of call, Fantastic Cruise Director and Crew. check it out.

 

 

Wennfred San Diego Ca.:)

[cschultz]

I just got back from the cruise on the Diamond Princess. We were on the trip with all the medical emergencies. We have been on the Carnival Triumph and Victory, both in February, to the Carribean, prior to this cruise. There were positives and negatives, comparing this ship to the Carnival ships. The princess is beautifully decorated, the ship is new, the pools are wonderful, 5 in all I believe, some over 7 feet deep. The gym is small compared to the carnival boats. The food not quite as good. (Breakfast was the most disappointing to me, as the buffet food did not seem to be very hot) Dinner was fine. We had the personnal choice plan. I like a routine, and would have preferred the traditional seating. As long as you make your reservations in advance, you don't have a problem with the personal choice plan. The evening shows on the ship were OK, not the extravagant productions like they had on the Carnival Ships. They had lots of things going on all of the time. My kids, 16 and 17, had a great time on the ship. They had LOTS of things for the teenagers to do. My kids disliked the kids program on the Carnival ships. Consider the weather carefully when choosing this cruise. When leaving from the Miami ports, the weather is fine in late February. It was very cool this time of year in LA. Too cool for me to lay out on the deck for probably 3 days of the cruise. The weather in the Mexican riviera was great though. They have a nice casino on the ship. (they should install some sunlamps so I could show off my casino tan) The cabins were roomier than on the Carnival ship, and we had a window where we had an inner cabin before. I liked having some light in our room. The room stewards were great. They knew my name when I passed them in the hall. If you have any other specific questions about the ship, I would be happy to try to answer them for you.

[realproperty]

Everyone loves their cruise but for different reasons. How can we give you advice if you don't tell us what you are all about. Are you youngish, older, active, sedentary, love your food or eat to live, like active excursions or a bus tour type, like to meet people or would rather be with your significant other, consider dining with strangers fun or a drag, go to art auctions and think they are great or ignore them and think them a joke, are upscale and fancy or middle America, comfortable in formal or would rather not. We were on Diamond and found it big, entertainment was middle of the road, cruise director a bore, food just fine. But we had a good holiday because we did very active excursions, they have a great golf instructor, the pool was not crowded, no one was jogging the promenade deck, we ate at 8 pm in anytime dining and had no hassles with reservations, service was good, the comedians were good entertainment and we wearing shorts in January. Anytime, I am wearing shorts in January and the food is pretty good and I am not at work is a good holiday. So what are you looking for in a cruise and maybe some of the respondents can be more helpful for you.

[hommebronze]

the girl distracts one from eating....didn't work for long!!!

[smkerry]

I have saild the Mexican Riviera several times. It all depends on what you're looking for.

 

In 2003, we sailed from San Francisco on the Celebrity Mercury. The Mercury is a nice ship, however not flashy or loaded with amenities. One disadvantage of leaving from San Francisco is the cold, choppy seas. The distance also limits the number of ports you can visit.

 

We did the Sun Princess from LA. I prefer Princess' smaller ships like the Sun & Dawn over Grand Class ships, but have not been on Diamond or Sapphire (yet). In my opinion, Princess has Alaska nailed but doesn't quite have it together on their Mexican Riviera cruises. It's purely subjective, but of the times I've been on Princess, the food, service and visceral appeal of the ship didn't seem as good. Maybe the Diamond Princess is better.

 

We've sailed on Carnival many times from the Tropicale to Elation to Carnival Pride. We were on the Carnival Pride in October 2004 with an extended balcony cabin. We enjoyed every aspect of the cruise. It was probably the best Carnival experience we've had. We enjoyed it so much that I just booked us on it again 4/17/05.

 

The Carnival Pride is easy to navigate for its size, has many dining options and alot of activities including the best karaoke bar I've seen on a ship. It's always standing room only. The cabins are nicely sized, too.

 

Carnival also sails on a seasonal 8-day itinerary from San Diego. It goes to Alcapulco, Ixtapa and Manzanillo. The speed of the Spirit class ships allows them to do in 8 days what other ships do in 10 days.

 

If you're interested in going from May-September, Carnival and RCCL are the only players. Everyone else re-positions their ships for the summer in Alaska.

 

Disney is experimenting this summer on the Mexican Riviera with the Disney Magic. Price it and you'll have a heart attack.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

[savandbarb]

We did the visions to Alaska in 2001. Loved it!!!!Went to Carnival in 2002 and had to get discounts to keep us coming back.We really don't like Carnival.The Spirit is a nice ship and the service this time was really good but still it is a step down from RCCI.The ports of call maybe something that you might want to take into consideration too when deciding what to do.We loved Acapulco and would recommend it to anyone,but Ixtapa and Manzinillo are still developing and are hard pressed for money.Mexico is a beautiful country to visit,good luck with you choice.:)

[Belle]

Went on the ..

Elation twice..

Vision of the Seas once..

Pride once...

 

Loved them ALL!

[lstrong]

We've done several Mexican cruises. Our preference would be:

 

1. Celebrity Mercury

2. Carnival Spirit

3. Royal Vision of Seas

 

We are in our 50's, love to be outside, party, etc. Our main objection to the Vision was there was no outside area to sit and watch the ocean/wake without being surrounded by glass walls. I enjoyed sitting out on the aft seating areas of Mercury and Spirit, reading, eating, having cocktails, etc. and enjoying the sea. BUT, any cruise is fabulous!

[bleuseas]

We were on the Diamond last week and loved it.

 

Anyway, you may want to pull out your brochures and pay attention to the times the ships are in each port as we did not have as much time in Cabo as we would have liked (Diamond was out of there by 2pm).

 

Just another factor to use in your comparisons....;)

[famofcruisers]

We just came off of the March 9-17 Carnival Spirit and based on our experience I have to suggest it be avoided. We had fun based on our group size (12 pax's) however this ship is sorely lacking in many areas.

 

From what I consider worst to best:

1. The childrens program is awful. My kids (9-11) wouldn't even go after the second day. It's nothing like RCCL (we've cruised them 3 times). The staff acts like being around kids is a disease and the activities are boring! Had we not had friends on board we would have been miserable.

 

2. The slide never did work and no effort was even made to fix it. :mad:

 

3. The dining room food is awful. I can't believe they don't even attempt to dress up the plates with parsley. Everything looked dull and tasted bland.

However, the food in the Supper Club is excellent. I would recommend eating here instead, but for $25 dollars per person it can be cost prohibitive.

 

3. The ship doesn't have enough activity to support 4 sea days....Way to much "bingo and stupid games".

 

On the flip side we found the staff to be cordial. There were a few exceptions, but you have that everywhere. I did find the amenities the ship did have to be nice. Loved the gym, loved the spa...(Try the Frangi Pani (?) it was heaven!)

 

I'll have a more detailed review later, just wanted to answer this post with some recent experiences.

[DNCButler]

For us we chose HAL's Oosterdam for the end of March because it had the longest time in port for Cabo and for the date which happened to be Easter break for all the kids in our group.