Southern and Eastern Caribbean cruises- ship, port, and itinerary questions???

[Magoody]

Thank you in advance for anyone taking the time to help answer some of my questions. 

We are newbies to cruising and have done two Western Caribbean cruises so far with a group of friends and family with age ranges from 5-70 on the Wonder of the Seas, which visited the following ports:

Nassau, CocoCay, Falmouth, Labadee, Cozumel, Roatan, and Costa Maya.

Questions:

1.) Are there any other ports worth visiting on a Western cruise that we have missed and might need to consider? We were considering taking a break and now doing a Southern or Eastern Caribbean cruise for our next booking, which leads me to my next set of questions...

2.) We have been cruising out of Orlando because it was the closest port that had the ship we wanted at the time (9.5 hour drive).  Should we also consider Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, or Miami? Disadvantages/Advantages/pros/cons with leaving from any of these ports?

3.) Some ships that are sailing with southern/eastern itineraries right now that we have not been on are: Oasis, Freedom, Adventure, Serenade, and Enchantment. Disadvantages/Advantages/pros/cons with any of these ships?

4.) Last question...Are there any ports on the Southern/Eastern Caribbean cruises that are absolute must get off the ship to see or absolutely not worth going to? Any suggestions/critiques welcomed as we begin to plan for our next cruise. 

 

 

[OCSC Mike]

26 minutes ago, Magoody said:

2.) We have been cruising out of Orlando because it was the closest port that had the ship we wanted at the time (9.5 hour drive).  Should we also consider Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, or Miami? Disadvantages/Advantages/pros/cons with leaving from any of these ports?

Common sense advantages are more to choose from in terms of ships, itineraries, dates, prices, etc.

Common sense disadvantages would mostly involve the longer drive and any associated costs and time.

I pretty much only sail from PC b/c I can drive there in an hour. I have no desire to drive to South Florida and Tampa only has smaller, older ships which I don't care for. That's all personal preference though.

26 minutes ago, Magoody said:

3.) Some ships that are sailing with southern/eastern itineraries right now that we have not been on are: Oasis, Freedom, Adventure, Serenade, and Enchantment. Disadvantages/Advantages/pros/cons with any of these ships?

I suggest researching each ship via YouTube, the RC website, this website, etc. Only you can determine what differences will matter to you. Other than Oasis, none will be similar to Wonder and Enchantment is so old and small that it might feel like a rusty lifeboat if you've only been on Wonder, lol. Pros and cons again depend on personal preference. I prefer Oasis class to any other by quite a bit but I would happily sail Freedom and could tolerate Adventure. I really don't care for anything smaller. Plenty of people enjoy smaller ships though.

Hope that helps get you started as far as the home ports and ships go. I'll let others chime in with destination port opinions (but, once again, there will be personal preference involved). I could tell you we love XYZ b/c it has great snorkeling but if you don't enjoy snorkeling that wouldn't make it a must-visit for you.

 

[Magoody]

25 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Common sense advantages are more to choose from in terms of ships, itineraries, dates, prices, etc.

Common sense disadvantages would mostly involve the longer drive and any associated costs and time.

I pretty much only sail from PC b/c I can drive there in an hour. I have no desire to drive to South Florida and Tampa only has smaller, older ships which I don't care for. That's all personal preference though.

I suggest researching each ship via YouTube, the RC website, this website, etc. Only you can determine what differences will matter to you. Other than Oasis, none will be similar to Wonder and Enchantment is so old and small that it might feel like a rusty lifeboat if you've only been on Wonder, lol. Pros and cons again depend on personal preference. I prefer Oasis class to any other by quite a bit but I would happily sail Freedom and could tolerate Adventure. I really don't care for anything smaller. Plenty of people enjoy smaller ships though.

Hope that helps get you started as far as the home ports and ships go. I'll let others chime in with destination port opinions (but, once again, there will be personal preference involved). I could tell you we love XYZ b/c it has great snorkeling but if you don't enjoy snorkeling that wouldn't make it a must-visit for you.

 

All great points to consider! We often "wonder" if we ruined ourselves by going on the largest cruise ship at the time for our first few cruises. My husband and I think we would appreciate a smaller ship at sometime in the future, but the teens/young adults in our group like the amenities the larger ship had to offer. 

As far as visiting ports go, for example, we visited Nassau on our first cruise and did not care for how crowded and run down the place was, not to mention all the pushy vendors we had to try to push our way through. I was wondering if there were places like that we need to avoid in the Southern/Eastern itineraries as well. Since we are new to cruising we try to do at least one excursion for each cruise. We went to the waterpark at CocoCay, did a bike cart ride in Jamaica (which made me a little uneasy as our group had to split up to do it), and on our most recent cruise we visited some Mayan ruins, which we all enjoyed. We do get off the ship at the other ports just to see what it is like and visit the local places right near the port and then get right back on the ship.  

[OCSC Mike]

9 minutes ago, Magoody said:

Nassau

Nassau is almost definitely the least-liked port there is and MANY seasoned cruisers just stay on the ship there (although I've heard they've improved the port area).

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other port that receives such a predominantly negative opinion.

[Rfk]

If we ever sea-stumble our way back to Nassau, we won’t get off the ship. 

[Reigert2008]

34 minutes ago, Magoody said:

All great points to consider! We often "wonder" if we ruined ourselves by going on the largest cruise ship at the time for our first few cruises. My husband and I think we would appreciate a smaller ship at sometime in the future, but the teens/young adults in our group like the amenities the larger ship had to offer. 

What amenities do you think they would miss and do they really use them?  Most ships have a Flowrider, Rock climbing wall, sports court, clubs, etc.  And the food is "nearly the same" you may need have to find it in a different spot (i.e no central park, so no Park Cafe)

 

That's the argument we used with the in-laws.  They kept wanting to do Oasis class ships, but we then "tricked" them in to a Voyager class ship and now they agree that they enjoyed the entertainment options better and all the activities they do were still there.  I'm not saying you drop down to a Vision class, but for us we enjoy the Freedom/Voyager class for the options we need and the price point.  

[Magoody]

10 minutes ago, Reigert2008 said:

What amenities do you think they would miss and do they really use them?  Most ships have a Flowrider, Rock climbing wall, sports court, clubs, etc.  And the food is "nearly the same" you may need have to find it in a different spot (i.e no central park, so no Park Cafe)

 

That's the argument we used with the in-laws.  They kept wanting to do Oasis class ships, but we then "tricked" them in to a Voyager class ship and now they agree that they enjoyed the entertainment options better and all the activities they do were still there.  I'm not saying you drop down to a Vision class, but for us we enjoy the Freedom/Voyager class for the options we need and the price point.  

Good question! Some in my group loved the Music Hall, water slides, sports court, miniature golf and rock climbing on Wonder. My husband and I loved the Solarium, fitness center, and the walking track on deck 5 of Wonder. A lot of the adults in our group also liked the ambiance of Central Park, especially in the evening and the optional specialty dining venues. As long as there is free pizza and soft serve on every cruise most of my teens will survive, no matter what the ship has to offer.  I have been looking at the voyager class ship, Adventure which is offered for some of our itineraries we are interested in, along with Freedom of the seas. Also looked at Oasis which is pricey like Wonder, but people also complain about the solarium on it not being enclosed and not been able to enjoy in bad weather, if I remember correctly.  

[OCSC Mike]

15 minutes ago, Magoody said:

people also complain about the solarium on it not being enclosed and not been able to enjoy in bad weather, if I remember correctly.  

Some people also complain about the enclosed solarium on Wonder being too hot in the Caribbean (even though it's climate controlled). FWIW, we've sailed every Oasis class ship except Symphony as well as Freedom and Indy and we always hang out in the solarium, never the pool deck... I'm personally fine with all of them (although I'm partial to the topiary gorilla on Wonder).

[Austin]

A lot of my favorite eastern and southern ports are only reachable on non oasis sized ships. I like to try a Variety of ships and itineraries though. Sometimes it’s fun to be on a smaller ship where the waiters know you, but the big ships are also awesome. Just depends on what you are looking for out of the vacation.

[TessFromFlorida]

4 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Enchantment is so old and small that it might feel like a rusty lifeboat if you've only been on Wonder,

[ChessE4]

For ports you didn't mention Belize. We enjoyed the ABCs when we sailed on Mariner from PC. For us the itinerary is more important than the ship. Our son enjoyed Adventure Ocean/youth groups regardless of ship. In the end the family needs to consider what the trip goals are and then reach consensus balancing all factors.

[Va4fam]

We have had similar discussions about the repetitive ports.  Really want to try Utopia but not a fan of short Bahamas only options   Do you have more than a week?   Some of the southern/eastern trips tend to be 8-12 days with some built in seas days.   Really enjoy a sea day to start and end our trips now, very relaxing. 

We enjoyed the A and C islands (didn't stop in Bonnaire) on Odyssey of the Seas.   

Really enjoyed Odyssey, very modern--great ship, and Aruba is spectacular.

 

St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, and San Juan are a great itinerary if you can get it.   Baltimore and Bayonne offer those during winter months.  

 

[Mark_A]

Southern Caribbean on Odyssey from FLL.   It is 8 days and normally goes to Aruba and Curacao.  I have to fly wherever I cruise from, as I live in Colorado.  Although I Did drive to Galveston once.  Once...       Odyssey is one of my favorites.  love the playmakers and the sportsplex.  

[Ditchdoc]

Southern is my favorite. St Lucia, Aruba, Curcaco are all beautiful.

[Villageidiot]

On 3/8/2024 at 11:16 PM, Mark_A said:

Southern Caribbean on Odyssey from FLL.   It is 8 days and normally goes to Aruba and Curacao.  I have to fly wherever I cruise from, as I live in Colorado.  Although I Did drive to Galveston once.  Once...       Odyssey is one of my favorites.  love the playmakers and the sportsplex.  

Just did this cruise and I loved the ship and the ports. Only change I would make is to avoid a school holiday week.

[Geezer Of The Seas]

Our most enjoyable cruise itinerary thus far, was 8 days Southern Caribbean  to the ABC Islands on Jewel from Port Canaveral ; but Jewel is no longer homeported in Port Canaveral. 

Jewel doesn't have the WOW! factor of Wonder, but nonetheless was an enjoyable cruise. We're not beach nuts so why do we go? To boldly go where Mr/Mrs Geezer have never gone before. I was especially fascinated with Bonaire, which is probably less 'touristy' (except for scuba diving) than Curacao & Aruba.

And as close as I'll likely ever be to South America & the Equator.

[loki007]

Southern Aruba and Curacao are great ports. Curacao is our favortite. Bonaire is a nice ship day unless you really like snorkeling, the island doesn't offer much more.  

[Peter D]

On 3/8/2024 at 2:56 PM, Magoody said:

Questions:

1.) Are there any other ports worth visiting on a Western cruise that we have missed and might need to consider? We were considering taking a break and now doing a Southern or Eastern Caribbean cruise for our next booking, which leads me to my next set of questions...

2.) We have been cruising out of Orlando because it was the closest port that had the ship we wanted at the time (9.5 hour drive).  Should we also consider Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, or Miami? Disadvantages/Advantages/pros/cons with leaving from any of these ports?

3.) Some ships that are sailing with southern/eastern itineraries right now that we have not been on are: Oasis, Freedom, Adventure, Serenade, and Enchantment. Disadvantages/Advantages/pros/cons with any of these ships?

4.) Last question...Are there any ports on the Southern/Eastern Caribbean cruises that are absolute must get off the ship to see or absolutely not worth going to? Any suggestions/critiques welcomed as we begin to plan for our next cruise. 

 

 

1.) Grand Cayman is a worthwhile port to visit at least once if you ever revisit doing Western itineraries.

2.) Even if driving is a requirement, I'd still consider FLL and MIA.  That gives you so many options of ships/itineraries.  If you are already willing to drive 9.5 hours, the additional 3 hours seems a no brainer to me.  Of course, at those driving times, I'd personally opt to fly.  Also, you didn't mention your departure location, but maybe Bayonne is within your 9.5-12 hours drive. Bayonne offers even more ships and itinerary options.   

3.) When I book cruises, I try to pick either a new itinerary and/or a new ship.  While you didn't mention that you did or did not cruise on a Quantum Class ship, I would not rule them out if an itinerary suits.  Odyssey of the Seas is a great ship that does many of the itineraries.  I think Icon is also a ship I'd try to consider if possible.

4.) For Southern itineraries, I would echo the ABC islands.  I have only been to them one time, but I would definitely go back.  Aruba and Curacao are frequently highlighted as best, but when we did Bonaire, we did an island tour that included the salt flats where were quite picturesque.  For Eastern itineraries, if you could find one that does Bermuda (overnight even better), I would be highly recommend considering that as well.

[PatsFanBrian]

22 hours ago, loki007 said:

Southern Aruba and Curacao are great ports. Curacao is our favortite. Bonaire is a nice ship day unless you really like snorkeling, the island doesn't offer much more.  

Agree about Aruba and Curacao.  We just did the Odyssey 8 day Southern in late January and chose it specifically for the stops (along with Coco Cay).  Both island ports are easy access to the downtown areas with plenty of shopping and food/drinks.

We were in Aruba until 11 PM.  We did Baby Beach during the 1st half of the day.  Then we walked the town, went back to the ship to eat, then went back on the town for a couple of night cap beverages at one of the local establishments.

Curacao is our favorite stop.  The walk from the ship to the town is great, lots of shopping, vendors and places to stop along the way.  The floating bridge is a quirky enjoyable experience.  And we love the town.  All we did was walk, shop, eat and stop for a beverage or two along the way.  We would never hesitate to go back there.

[Fastfaller]

Heading to Aruba and Curacao next month, never been but I have heard wonderful things. I have done several ports in the eastern Caribbean and while most are nice, I am bored with the St. Thomas, San Juan etc... doing the southern Caribbean is going to be a nice change.