Mexico 7-day cruise- NCL or Royal Carribbean?

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Unity

Royal Caribbean is a better company with better crew and service.

TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

We cruised to Mexico on the NCL Star a few years ago. It was a nice cruise and the ship was OK. BUT, we have also cruised on the Royal Caribbean's Mariner and I can tell you for sure that it is a much better ship. The Star is an older ship but the Mariner is only about 7 or 8 years old. The Star has on its pool deck a pool and a couple of water slides and the Norwegian ships have programs for teens. But the Mariner has a basketball court, a 9 hole mini-golf course, an in-line roller skating track (rollerblading), an ice skating rink, and the rock climbing wall. All of these are free. Plus the Mariner also has the programs for teens in a special area of the ship called Adventure Ocean and it has a teen disco called Fuel where you can hang out until 2:00 Am if you want to, and meet and be with other teens. In addition to the regular shows every night in the ship's main show room, the Mariner also has a free Ice Capades type show performed primarily by former Olympic skaters.

The food on both ships is good. NCL has their freestyle cruising that allows you to go to dinner any time after 6:00 PM; no table and waiter assignment. Both ships have a buffet that you can go to any time for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. The Mariner has a predominate mall down its center that's both stunning and neat. You can hang out there also and it has free food too (the hot pizza is available 24/7 and its great).

If I were taking you on a cruise I would take you on the Mariner (rather than the Star) and I know you would enjoy all of the activities on it. Take a look at its features: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do;jsessionid=0000qsJSq9nWYmhVfQn2lAbszNY:12hbioan0?br=R&shipClassCode=VY&shipCode=MA

Our cruise went to Cabo and Puerta Vallarta but then Acapulco rather than Mazatlan. I don't know what tours are offered that you may be interested in but you can look right now online at the tours on RC: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/shoreExcursions/types.do;jsessionid=0000qsJSq9nWYmhVfQn2lAbszNY:12hbioan0?cS=NAVBAR

They have some exciting tours like the Helmet dive, snorkeling, parasailing: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/destinations/shoreExcursions/subGateWayByTypeAndDest/search.do;jsessionid=0000qsJSq9nWYmhVfQn2lAbszNY:12hbioan0?ActivityTypeId=6&DestinationCode=MEXCO&CurrencyCode=USD&LocationCode=SJD

Mookie

I agree with tinkertoy: take the royal Caribbean. I went last year at the begging of March. Puerto Vallarta has some great snorkeling, also when we went we took the whale and dolphin excursion, we saw the mother whales teaching the babies to dive and surface, then on the way to the snorkeling location we saw a pod of at least a hundred dolphins, they swam along side the boat while we were doing 20 knots they jumped out of the water it was worth every dollar I spent just for that experience!! Depending on when your spring break is you will see the whale migrating north to Alaska. Mazatlan is ok they are trying to build their tourism industry, it is worth going a taking a peek. Cabo is just a fun town, good shopping and eating and very pretty views. Have fun!

harajuku lover

over summer my mom and i cruised on the vision of the seas for royal carribean. it had the same ports as the ones you are considering. we only did an excursion in puerto vallarta because they are a bit expensive. in cabo we went to the office, a really fun restaurant and visited a really nice resort called the finnisterra which we got to swim at. in mazatlan we did the same thing and hung out at a resort. in puerto vallarta we went horseback ridinig but it wasn't the way the pamphlet described it. it was a pretty nice ship and i am 14 and the teen club was really fun and they had a lot of activities. the food was also really good and they had fun games in the lounges. i have heard ncl is nice too.

Sara

I have not done the Mexican Riviera itinerary, but I did sail on Mariner of the Seas this past July when it was still in the Caribbean. The boat has lots of activities for people. There is even a teen club on board. The staff is wonderful and the food is pretty good. Captain Johnny is great! You can't go wrong with this ship.

As far as excursions in port. Don't plan too much. See what's available the day before you get to the port and see what you might be in the mood for. You may just want to explore on your own.

I haven't been on an NCL cruise, so I'm sorry that I can't give you a comparison...ship to ship.

Laura is TTC#1

I've been on the Mariner twice. Go with RC!

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