Mexican Riveria Cruise or other ideas?

[vesw01]

This would be our first time cruising with Princess (we are also considering Royal Carib). We have 5 kids, 14, 13, 5, 4, and 3. We would be cruising with my parents, my sister and her DH and my brother and his GF.

 

Does anyone have any ideas? We would like to go either Thanksgiving week or mid-Nov depending on if my mother could get time off from teaching. Any idea what price I should consider "good" for both time frames. Ideally I would love a balcony and then an inside for the kids. We have only cruised Carnival before so I really have nothing to base price on.

 

We would be open to a Western Carib too

 

Thank you!

Victoria

[spongerob]

Thanksgiving is going to be higher-priced than the weeks either before or after. One thing about Princess is that it's going to be really difficult for you to find cabins for your brood. Other than the expensive Family Suite, you won't find a cabin that allows both parents plus all three younger children to stay together unless you make some kind of special arrangement. Princess doesn't have any cabins that sleep five, or if they do they are extremely rare.

 

Something else to consider is that for a holiday cruise like Thanksgiving, the triples and quads will likely book quickly, so if you don't plan well in advance you might find yourself unable to secure cabins. Also, make sure that when you book, you mark your booking "no upgrades" and do not make Guarantee bookings if you want to be close to your children. I think only the Sapphire and Diamond have interconnecting cabins.

 

Hope I didn't scare you off!

[vesw01]

Not scared at all! Interconnecting would be nice, but across the hall is fine too - out older ones can sleep in there.

 

I don't have clue where to begin planning

[calikak]

This sounds like a job for a good travel agent, one that specializes in cruising. Unfortunately we can't recommend travel agents on these boards (it's against the rules, so the boards don't turn into just a place for people to advertise) but I'd ask around to friends who have booked cruises to see if they have a travel agent they like. A good travel agent will be able to talk to you about all the options in terms of pricing, cabin types, ship atmosphere, differences between the cruise lines, itineraries, etc. so you can figure out what will be the best fit for your family.

 

If you do decide to go on Thanksgiving, you'll want to book ASAP because those sailings fill up very very early, especially the cabins that sleep more than 2.

[Family Man]

DW and I sailed the Sapphire Princess to the Mexican Riviera in November 2005. We had an amazing time on a gorgeous ship with a wonderful crew, who provided excellent service. We also enjoyed our balcony! This cruise is now the base line for which we will compare all future cruises! While we did not have our DDs with us on that cruise, we toured the youth facilities and were quite impressed with the facilities and the staff counselors we encountered.

 

Last month, we took our DDs on the Carnival Spirit and thanks to Hurricane Sergio, repeated the same itinerary plus Ensenada. IMHO, this cruise experience was not as enjoyable as the one on Princess. Next year, we are booked to sail the same itinerary on the RCI Vision of the Seas for Thanksgiving week.

 

I suggest you give Princess a try. If you go Thanksgiving week, there are going to be a lot of kids on board regardless of which line you sail, including even HAL.