Carnival Miracle vs. HAL Westerdam -- Mexican Riviera

[forevercruising1]

Hello!

 

I am hoping those of you who have sailed both the Miracle and the Westerdam can offer some perspective regarding which we should choose for our December, 2016 Mexican Rivera cruise. We currently have both booked.

 

Relevant Information:

 

1. Prices are identical, but we get $200 OBC on HAL.

 

2. Cabins are mostly identical (8M Aft Extended Balcony on Miracle - side VB Balcony on Westerdam)

 

3. We have sailed both before, but it has been 10 years since sailing HAL and 20 since sailing Carnival.

 

4. We will have a 12 year old with us.

 

5. When we sailed HAL, we were the youngest on board (w/a 2 year old), but we loved every minute of it, so the age ranges do not bother us.

 

6. We are concerned that Carnival has too much of a party atmosphere now, which does not interest us.

 

7. Carnival offers a more appealing itinerary, with one night docked at Cabo, and one day at Puerto Vallarta as the only two ports. HAL offers one day in the regular trio of ports, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan. We are not too interested in the ports, but definitely would not even debark to visit Mazatlan.

 

8. We know nothing about the kids' programs for a 12 year old, on either ship.

 

9. From past experiences, we enjoyed HAL food quality more than Carnival food quality, but, again, that was long, long ago.

 

I hope that is enough information for some of you to offer some perspective! If any of you have sailed both of these ships, I would very much appreciate your insight!

 

Thank you! :-)

[Crew News]

I don't have the HAL kids activities for Mexico but here are the activities for the Caribbean which should be typical:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/here/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/HAL-Kids-8-12-Caribbean-2015-2016.pdf

 

Here are links to the menus that I scanned Nov 2015:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/

 

Hope this helps at least for the Ms Westerdam side.

[forevercruising1]

I don't have the HAL kids activities for Mexico but here are the activities for the Caribbean which should be typical:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/here/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/HAL-Kids-8-12-Caribbean-2015-2016.pdf

 

Here are links to the menus that I scanned Nov 2015:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/

 

Hope this helps at least for the Ms Westerdam side.

 

These are wonderful resources!! Thank you, very much!! :-)

[Essiesmom]

Just a couple of comments: If you haven't sailed Carnival in 20 years, you would see a lot of changes in the ships. Only 7 of the 25 ships of Carnival existed 20 years ago. A 7 day Mexico cruise will not be as party hardy as a shorter cruise, especially 3 & 4 day cruises.

The ship does not dock overnight in Cabo. In fact,, it does not dock at all in Cabo. Cabo is a tender port. The ship anchors during the day, then sails out offshore for the night, then returns to dock again for the second day. EM

[forevercruising1]

The ship does not dock overnight in Cabo. In fact,, it does not dock at all in Cabo. Cabo is a tender port. The ship anchors during the day, then sails out offshore for the night, then returns to dock again for the second day. EM

 

Ahhh! Thank you for the clarification, Essiesmom! I was wondering how that would work!

[Mary Ellen]

We recently had a cruise that overnighted in Cabo. The only dock was for the tenders. We didn't sail offshore at night, but stayed in Cabo. Tenders didn't run all night. IIRC the last one back to the ship at night was 11 p.m. And the first one the next morning was at 7 a.m. We also didn't "anchor". Modern cruise ships sometimes use thrusters and gps to stay in place. This is easier for tendering as the ship isn't moving in the current. One Captain told us he greatly prefers this method to anchoring. This worked well for us as our aft balcony stayed facing the iconic rocks of Cabo.