January cruise...would the Mexican Rivera be good? or too cold?

[blga]

My family, who has cruise 3 to 4 times together, are planning on doing another family cruise the first part of January 08. We have 5-6 18-20 year olds, several middle adults & a couple seniors. We have done Western, Eastern, but never done the Mexican Rivera. One of the ships, the pride is an option. But we are concerned that leaving in January it might be cold for a day or two until you get south...does anyone have experience with that? And if anyone can give us some comparison to carribean cruise vs Mexican Rivera. Thanks.

[blga]

Hello. Thinking about a cruise on the Pride, what is the best floor, best room - we will be getting a balcony, but we all know there are good rooms (away from elevator shafts & not below discos etc.0 any recommendations??

[Molly BPOE]

I would do the Spirit sailing, the ports of call are all further south and the average temp is 86 degrees in Jan ( or so I have read) We will be taking our first Mex Riv on Jan. 09, 2008, but I have done extensive research. Hope this helps and have fun regardless of where you go!

[gumballz]

I say go for the Pride on the January 6, 2008 sailing. There's a roll call started and one of the people posting, cupcake, sailed on the Pride in January of this year. She can answer all your questions, I'm sure.

 

Here's a link to the roll call, just so you can check it out. :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=546410

 

Molly.....I think YOU and your family should join us on the Pride as well! lol

 

blga, have you cruised on Carnival before?

[bnsheegirl]

We did the Mexican Riviera this past January on the Spirit. The weather was great, in fact it was down right hot in all three of the ports. The first day out from San Diego was not hot, but it wasn't cold either and we were up on deck enjoying the sun and the pool. The two days back were a different story, but that was because it was snowing just about every where in the country at that point, but it was still enjoyable on deck, I just wore a sweater. We had enough sun from port days anyway!

 

I highly recommend this sailing, we had a wonderful time.

[markandstacie00]

In Jan. you might hit cold on either coast departure, though California will certainly be cool no matter what. My opinion is that for the day or two leaving and returning to LA or SD, it will be cool. The beach temp in Cabo and the more northern cities will be freezing! I absolutely love Cabo, but the water is quite cold there even in May.

[lhall85917]

We did a Mexican Riviera on Princess this past March leaving from LA. It was quite chilly the first day and a half at sea, warm while we were in Mexico and cool again on the return.

[honeydog714]

My travel agent sends us port destination guides for every cruise we are considering, it is a huge help, has the weather, things to do etc, definately makes it easy to compare when you have the facts in front of you side by side!

[Molly BPOE]

I say go for the Pride on the January 6, 2008 sailing.

 

Molly.....I think YOU and your family should join us on the Pride as well! lol

Felicia,

Quit trying to steal potential Spirit cruisers!:p I looked up the cost of the 1/6/08 Pride and I am getting the 8 day Spirit for only $10.00 per person more:D . Let me know by e-mail if there is a past guest special on your sailing and what it is. I am sorry I don't get to sail with you and Bri in Jan. as I was really looking forward to it.:(

[cantw82cruise]

blga,I think you will be fine, weather is always hit and miss anyway. We were on the Pride in December and the weather was good. We also did the Spirit and liked the ports of the Pride a lot better. Make sure you do the whale watching in PV. I think the main difference we saw between the pacific and the Caribbean is the water is rougher on the pacific. Coming back on both cruises was pretty rough and windy. I think for us the biggest down side was the time change and dealing with that. We had a little trouble staying up as late as we normally like to. Over all it was a nice change from the Caribbean though.

 

Have a great time.

[Luckysll]

If you've sailed Carnival before, the January 25/08 Spirit sailing out of San Diego is a past guest reunion cruise and has some great pricing available. Plus there are gifts you receive (tote bags, etc.) You might want to check it out.

[mjmiller]

We have only done the Mexican Riviera once, and I don't think I'll be able to convince dh to do it again.

 

The first and last days were way too cold to be out sunning, which is what we enjoy doing during sea days. Even the other sea day was chilly - we're from WI, so we were out in swimsuits, but not many other people were, and we got a lot of odd looks!

 

Our days in PV and Mazatlan were nice, beautiful temps, sunny. Our day in Cabo was rainy and somewhat cold.

 

If the weather worries you - imho - stick to the Carib. We are.

[Kurbanfan]

It will be cold and windy the first sea days out and back. I have done this cruise in , Dec, August, April, and May. It was all the same. Now in port it will be a different story. It will be warmer. But not as warm as the summer months and the water will cold....

[gumballz]

Felicia,

Quit trying to steal potential Spirit cruisers!:p I looked up the cost of the 1/6/08 Pride and I am getting the 8 day Spirit for only $10.00 per person more:D . Let me know by e-mail if there is a past guest special on your sailing and what it is. I am sorry I don't get to sail with you and Bri in Jan. as I was really looking forward to it.:(

 

lol, sorry.....I can't help it. We had a group of 16 more join us this morning though. It's going to be fun..... ;) I'll email you.

[shonandsuzie]

We did the Mexican Riviera in January this year. It was pretty cold the first day and the last 2 days. The water temperature was chilly, too. We enjoyed the trip but honestly we missed the warm waters of the caribbean trips we've taken. I would love to go back in the warmer months so we can enjoy all of the days.

[Cruisin2Sun]

So then, when would you say is the best time to do a Mex. Riviera cruise weather-wise...so it's not too chilly? And do they have the same timeframe for hurricanes (June-Nov?) TIA!!

[blga]

We have done Carnival twice, once on the Triumph & once the Elation, both a bit older ships. We love the fun of Carnival (dancing waiters at dinner, a bit crazier pool games etc.) but some of our group prefers Princess, so we are kind of looking at both. We have done three Carribean cruises, two western & one eastern, just had heard so much about cabo. Our group not much for shopping, we like fun places (and drinks) at places like Senor Frogs, and we like snorkeling or scuba, we like clean spots that we don't have to worry, (we didn't much like Jamaica) but we did like Margaritaville!!! We don't like it super hot, but we have a bunch of 18, 19 & 20 year olds that all want sun & warmth so they are concerned about losing a day on the way down & back with cooler weather. It is a super tough decision. We would like to try Mexican riviera, but we do have concerns about the cold. We are from Minnesota and we get cool all the time, when we cruise we like it warm!!

 

Thanks for all your help. I really just want to choose one & book it. The teens love to connect with others before the cruise through the boards, but until I book, that is hard to do. Whatever cruise, we will be leaving on the 5th or 6th. Most of our young people are in in first & second year of college have limited time available to cruise!!

[shonandsuzie]

We talked to the crew and other passengers when we were on ours in January. Most people said that it gets much better after March (as far as water temperatures). From what you described, Acapulco would be great, though. It was Very hot and there were lots of places to go for drinks etc. With that said, that was really our only hot day. It was the furthest south of our stops. When we were in Cabo we had to wear light jackets for part of the day. We did a beach excursion in Puerto Valarta and the temp and water temp was like our Michigan beaches in the spring. If your group enjoys alot of sun, I really would go back to the Carribean and then do Mexican Riviera later. I know everyone has a different opinion but I wish I had known that it was going to be that cool before I booked.

[SandyToes1978]

We did the Pride cruise this past January and it was the same time the whole country was in a huge freeze, even Long Beach and Malibu had snow, remember? Well, it followed us down there, it was freezing the first 2 sea days, PV was fairly warm, Maz was somewhat warm but very windy and Cabo was down right cold and rainy. I loved the cruise, but hated the weather! We will not be going in January again... Just my two cents...:rolleyes: