Mexico Cruise Guide: Riviera, Baja and Caribbean Coast

Overview

Mexico appears on cruise itineraries in three completely different ways, and conflating them causes most of the confusion people have when planning. A Mexican Riviera cruise is a seven-night Pacific sailing from California. A Baja cruise is a three or four-night hop to Ensenada. A Cozumel call is a Caribbean itinerary from Florida or Texas that happens to visit Mexico.

The Pacific side offers the more interesting itinerary, with Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta each worth a full day. The Caribbean side offers better diving at Cozumel and the Mayan sites reachable from Costa Maya and Progreso.

Weather is the other point of confusion. The Pacific hurricane season runs May to November and peaks in September, roughly a month earlier than the Atlantic, and it affects the Riviera far more than it affects Cozumel.

Mexican Riviera itineraries sail from Los Angeles, Long Beach or San Diego on seven-night loops, typically calling at Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta with three sea days. Princess, Carnival, Norwegian and Holland America all deploy here in winter.

Baja sailings are the West Coast equivalent of a Bahamas weekend: three or four nights to Ensenada and sometimes Catalina Island, on older ships, at very low fares. Ensenada is a modest port but the price point makes it the cheapest cruising available in North America.

The Caribbean coast, particularly Cozumel, is not really a Mexico cruise at all; it is a Western Caribbean itinerary. Cozumel handles more cruise passengers than any other Mexican port and offers the best reef diving in the country.

• Mexican Riviera: seven nights from California, three ports, three sea days.
• Baja: three to four nights to Ensenada, the cheapest cruises in North America.
• Caribbean coast: Cozumel, Costa Maya and Progreso on Western Caribbean routes.
• Pacific hurricane season peaks in September, a month earlier than the Atlantic.

The best time to go

For the Mexican Riviera, November through April is the reliable window: warm, dry and outside the Pacific storm season. December and January can be cool in Cabo, with evening temperatures dropping to the low sixties.

For Cozumel, the calculus follows the Caribbean: December through April is best, with September carrying the highest disruption risk.

The ports, honestly assessed

Mexican ports are mostly worth getting off for, which is not true everywhere in the Caribbean. Below is what each actually offers.

• Cabo San LucasMexico

  A tender port. The Arch and Lover's Beach are the draw; a water taxi costs about $15 return and beats the ship excursion.

• Puerto VallartaMexico

  The best Pacific port. The Malecon boardwalk and Zona Romantica are walkable from a $12 taxi, and the old town is genuinely charming.

• MazatlanMexico

  An industrial port with a good historic centre 20 minutes away. The Golden Zone beaches are the alternative.

• EnsenadaMexico

  Modest but improving. La Bufadora blowhole is the standard excursion; the Valle de Guadalupe wine region is the better one.

• CozumelMexico

  The best diving in Mexico. Palancar and Columbia reefs justify a boat trip; the shore snorkel by the pier does not.

• Costa MayaMexico

  A purpose-built cruise port. Chacchoben ruins are 45 minutes inland and worth the excursion; the port village itself is not.

• ProgresoMexico

  A four-mile pier serving Merida and Chichen Itza. The ruins are a two-hour transfer each way; only book if that matters to you.

• Catalina IslandUnited States

  Often paired with Baja sailings. Avalon is walkable and the glass-bottom boat is genuinely good.

Weather, month by month

The numbers below are for the Mexican Riviera, which is the region most people mean when they say a Mexico cruise. Cozumel follows Caribbean patterns and runs warmer and more humid year round.

What it actually costs

Mexican Riviera cruises are cheaper than comparable Caribbean sailings because the West Coast market is smaller and less competitive on the demand side, and because the ships deployed there tend to be older.

Baja sailings are the cheapest cruises in North America, with three-night interior fares starting near $195 per person.

Popular itineraries

Mexico itineraries fall into four recognisable shapes across the two coasts.

• Mexican Riviera, seven nights

  from $560 per person

  7 nights from Los Angeles or Long Beach

  Calls: Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Three sea days

  Best for: The classic Pacific Mexico itinerary

• Baja short break, three to four nights

  from $195 per person

  4 nights from Los Angeles or San Diego

  Calls: Ensenada, Catalina Island

  Best for: The cheapest cruise available in North America

• Western Caribbean with Cozumel, seven nights

  from $595 per person

  7 nights from Galveston, New Orleans or Miami

  Calls: Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatan, Two sea days

  Best for: Diving and Mayan ruins

• Yucatan and Cozumel, five nights

  from $385 per person

  5 nights from Galveston or Tampa

  Calls: Cozumel, Progreso, Two sea days

  Best for: Chichen Itza and Merida without a long cruise

• Panama Canal partial with Mexico

  from $1,180 per person

  11 nights from Los Angeles

  Calls: Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco, Panama Canal

  Best for: Combining the Riviera with a canal transit

Travel tips from our sailings

• 1

  Cabo San Lucas is a tender port and tendering is regularly cancelled in Pacific swell. Do not build the trip around a single Cabo excursion.

• 2

  In Puerto Vallarta, take a $12 taxi to the Zona Romantica rather than a ship tour. It is the most walkable port in Mexico.

• 3

  In Cozumel, book a boat-based reef trip. The shore snorkelling near the piers is poor and the good reef is a twenty-minute boat ride south.

• 4

  Progreso to Chichen Itza is a two-hour transfer each way. Only commit if the ruins are genuinely the point of your trip.

• 5

  Mexican Riviera evenings in December and January are cool. Pack a jacket even though the days are warm.

• 6

  Carry pesos or small dollar bills. Card acceptance in port markets is inconsistent and exchange rates at the pier are poor.

• 7

  Whale watching in Cabo and Banderas Bay peaks in February; book an independent panga trip rather than a ship excursion.

Mexico packing essentials

• A light jacket for Riviera evenings between November and February.
• Reef-safe sunscreen, which Mexico enforces at protected reef sites in Cozumel.
• Sturdy shoes for the Mayan sites, where the ground is uneven and often wet.
• A hat with a chin strap; Pacific ports are windy on tender rides.
• Small denomination pesos for market purchases and taxis.
• A dry bag for the Cabo water taxi to Lover's Beach, which gets you wet.

The full list, including the banned-items rules, is in our cruise packing guide.