which is better?

[fredandterry]

We are planning a cruise this fall (Oct or Nov) and was wondering if anyone out there could tell us which is better the Hawaii or the Mexican Rivera cruises?

[Karen Knowlton]

That's a very open question, as it all depends on your interests and personal preferences, which of course we don't know. Cruises that stay in Hawaii (as opposed to sailing there from the west coast) are on NCL's U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed ships, and will have some activities that focus on Hawaiian culture, etc. Mexican cruises are on foreign-flagged, foreign-crewed ships, and don't necessarily have any onboard activities that focus on Mexico.

[fredandterry]

Well we have been to both Mexico and Hawaii ( land travels ) but it seems the itinerary for Hawaii is jam packed with ports and Mexico is filled with a mix of ports and days at sea.
Has anyone traveled on either and have thoughts to share?

[CALICRUISER]

we have been to mexico and hawaii. Hawaii is by far more beautiful than Mexico. FREDANDTERRY is right, hawaii is jam packed with port excursions everyday. However it is up to you wheather to go on the ship's excursions or just rent a car and do it yourself. then on days when the ship is docked overnight, then you can decide to make one of the days your R & R day. we rented a car and toured the islands ourselves. we had a great time when we went to Mexico, we saw Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo. we had 3 days at sea, a much needed time for R & R NOW HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART...... only NCL AMERICA (pride of aloha, america, hawaii)cruises the hawaiian islands (unless you go on the ship that leaves the west coast to hawaii which is a 10 to 14 days cruise)and our cruise with pride of america was dissappointing. the service was fair (not excellent so do not go on the trip expecting excellent service from the staff. it will get worst once all 3 ships are sailing because the crew will be divided into the 3 ships, at this time ALOHA is dry dock in SF and HAWAII is not there yet so most of the crew are currently assigned to AMERICA. if you have the time, i highly recommend going with the PRINCESS CRUISE LINE, leaving from the west coast. good luck and have fun