Disney Magic Back in LA 2008

[Alex]

I really enjoyed the cruise we did but I'm just not impressed with the itineraries. Neither for the West Coast cruises nor the repos.

Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta? Blech. Might as well just spend three days in San Diego for all the foreignness you'll experience. (I know the Caribbean isn't much better but at least it is multiple countries and our cruise was lucky in that normal stops were hurricane damaged at the time so we hit a couple unusual ports instead.)

A 15 day cruise isn't bad but a 15-day cruise where 8 of the days are at sea is, in my opinion. I'm not a "sit by the pool" type person so it doesn't take long to experience all the wonders of on-board life (good company goes a long way to help with that but 8 days it a lot of time to fill.

Going west replaces one of the at sea days with Cartagena so it is slightly better.

I guess the west coast of Mexico just doesn't interest me much. I wish they'd repo to Seattle, Victoria, or Vancouver and do a two week Alaska cruise. I'd be all over that.

[Stan4dSteph]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta? Blech. Might as well just spend three days in San Diego for all the foreignness you'll experience. (I know the Caribbean isn't much better but at least it is multiple countries and our cruise was lucky in that normal stops were hurricane damaged at the time so we hit a couple unusual ports instead.)

Right. Are there no ports for places like Panama or Costa Rica? Belize?

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Stan4dSteph

Right. Are there no ports for places like Panama or Costa Rica? Belize?

I think that's my major problem with the cruise. If I don't like the cruise experience (I've never really been too interested in cruising) then the port experiences had better be exciting. But, the line up just isn't thrilling for me.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta? Blech. Might as well just spend three days in San Diego for all the foreignness you'll experience.

It all depends on what you do with it. The people on our cruise that went into town or took the shopping tour came back to the ship very disappointed and bored. Whereas we found some fantastic things to do.

In Puerto we took a tequila factory tour that took us through the absolutely gorgeous jungles, visiting some dude's farm house where he also happened to distill tequila (best tequila we tasted that day as a matter of fact).

In Mazatlan we spent an afternoon kayaking on the ocean and picnicking on an island beach.

And in Cabo, we eschewed the overpriced snorkeling trips sold on-board, opting instead to get up early and head to the docks to fend for ourselves resulting in having an entire isolated beach to ourselves for an hour (along with the great story of the one-armed, non-English speaking guy who abandoned us there).

The couples that we shared our dinner table with were jealous of us after every port.

I will agree with you on one count: good company is important. If you're lucky, like we were, the folks you sit with for every meal can make for great people to hang out with. Otherwise, if you aren't traveling with people you know, it's important to make an effort early in the cruise to somehow meet people you wouldn't mind hanging out with for hours on end. We loved every minute we were at sea, relaxing, drinking, and having a blast with the people we'd just met (and, of course, retreating to our cabin like good honeymooners).