Thoughts on 10 Day Eastern vs 10 Day Southern

We are in the planning process for our 2017 cruise and having a hard time deciding between these two itineraries. Anyone been on either of these because I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much!

Both are good, so either would be a good pick.

To consider:

o Does one have more ports that you have not visited before?

o Does one spend more time at each port than the other?

o Does one have more sea days than the other?

We are in the planning process for our 2017 cruise and having a hard time deciding between these two itineraries. Anyone been on either of these because I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much!

We have done both several times. What we do is find a ship that will do one itinerary followed by the other. That way we get to experience both areas, get to spend more time out of the cold weather, and it is cheaper that taking two separate vacations. Princess often sells two consecutive cruises as one booking and it is about $200 lower fare than the sum of the two cruises if booked as two bookings. Also, we only have to fly to the cruise embarkation port once. Of course, being retired, we have the time to do this.

If I had to pick a favorite from the two itineraries you mention, I would vote for the southern. We like Aruba better than St. Thomas

We have done both the Eastern and Southern 10-day on Princess. Both were wonderful, but I have to give the slight edge to Eastern Caribbean because St. Kitts is my favorite island and Barbadoes is wonderful too.

I don't think you can go wrong with either choice, but if you have to choose, think about what you want; great beaches, snorkeling, shopping, etc, and then research the different islands to see which would be the best fit for you.

Both are good but we'd go with the 10 Day Southern because we love going to any of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao).

A Southern will also include a bit of the Eastern port stops.

LuLu

We have done both and either would be great! We elected to return to the Southern because we loved both Dominica and Bonaire and will be going to Curacao, a new port for us.

Hands down, Southern Caribbean in my opinion!

Another vote for Southern! Love Bonaire and Dominica!

Here's another vote for southern!

It's the time off work...not so much the destinations! I'd prefer the Southern, but the Eastern is beautiful, too! Either/or!

Both are good but an edge to southern.

Both are great.

I do prefer Southern as some of the ports have less ships and to me they are more interesting.

Keith

We Just did the Eastern and loved it. We are mid fifties, and are more into beaches and snorkeling over bus tours and sightseeing.

Antigua - went to Stingray city and thought it was great.

St Lucia - Did the Tree Top Adventure Zip Line - was good fun. (be in good health for this - sometimes you come in a bit "hot" and have to bounce off trees with your legs to stop)

Barbados - We just headed on our own over to Carlisle Bay, rented a couple chairs, and snorkeled right out to the sea turtles. They are only about 100 yards off shore. Very easy snorkel for an average swimmer. Just loved this beach. Pure white sand, clear blue water. You can see down 50 feet in the water.

St Kitts - Took a taxi to Shipwreck beach bar and loved it (on South Friars beach). Water clarity is not as sharp as Barbados, but you feel like you are on Gilligan's island. No charge for chair and umbrella use. Black volcanic sand, snorkeling is right off the beach with many fish present. Place has a rustic look about it that just feels good. Your chair is literally 1 foot from the water's edge. Saw multiple mongoose and green monkeys as they come down mid-afternoon (the bar leaves some food out for them).

St Thomas - Took a catamaran snorkel trip out to Buck island to see the sea turtles and a shipwreck. Was a good excursion.

Princess Cays - Missed the stop due to the approach of Hurricane Joaquin.

We have not yet done the Southern, but plan to when the Canadian exchange rate improves. Sounds like it should be just as good.

Don and Allison

We are doing the 10 day southern this February because you hit ports that you normally have to sail from Barbados or San Juan to get to and flying to either of those locations is almost more than the cruise in some cases. I say go southern!

Personally I would take the Southern itinerary because Princess only sails them on a 10 day cruise and they are quite rare lately. Eastern interaries are common for short 4 day and 7 day cruises among all of the cruise lines. Celebrity offers a Southern itinerary but you have to sail from San Juan. We wish Princess would go back to sailing from San Juan. They used to offer an Eastern and Western, southern 7 day itinerary at one time. Wish they would bring them back it made a great B2B cruise.

We've done both and enjoyed each itinerary. I'd say go for the one that has more islands you haven't visited yet, or has the ones you'd really like to go back to. Either way, 10 days is the perfect cruise length in my book, just wish we could do more of them!

Another vote for the Southern itinerary. We like the ports and always go in January and February; appreciate the few extra degrees of warmer weather!

I love the southern itinerary for that chance to visit one, two or all three of the A-B-C islands (getting in all 3 this winter, finally visiting Curacao). Dominica and Grenada are fun to visit, too. We loved the Champagne reef and the falls and sulfur springs in Dominca. Snorkling in Grenada was fun with the underwater sculptures, and spice shopping was very good there.

I agree with posters that say pick the one that has the most places you haven't visited yet.

It's a 10 day cruise, so not possible to have a bad time!

:D

nukesubsailor, how does that work? Booking 2 consecutive cruises as one booking?

how does that work? Booking 2 consecutive cruises as one booking?

Sometimes (not always) Princess will offer B2Bs as two separate cruises and also as a single cruise.

Sometimes there is a financial advantage of one way over the other and sometimes there is not.

For those who get OBC from FCCs, CCL stock, Loyalty credit after 21 cruises, and/or military service, the amount you get from booking it both ways should be taken into consideration.

And no matter which way you book it, you will get two cruise credits

We did the Eastern 10 day this past February and loved it so much that we booked the Southern 10 day for November of 2016. I wanted to go to Bonaire though, so I made sure to check the routes because not all of them go there. On both cruises, I was happy that we found one that skips Princess Cays and instead stops at Grand Turk; it is one of my favorite places to have a beach day and I hat tendering if I can avoid it.

I would see which one I've visited more places on and choose that way because I like to go to new islands if I can, but I would lean towards the Southern. Even though it skips Barbados (which is my favorite port I've visited ever - I had so much fun on a Calabaza catamaran that I didn't want to go back to the ship) BUT the diverse combination of islands for the Southern is why we booked it for our next trip. Plus, the day in Aruba is way longer than the last time I was there on my Panama Canal tour, and my goal is to not be as sunburned so I can thoroughly enjoy it.

Southern, unless you can get a B2B that includes both.

Thank you all so much! We were leaning towards the Eastern but now you all have us looking more seriously at the Southern!

I know this post is over a year old, but you mention Barbados twice. Is that correct? Did you go two different times or are you still talking about Carlisle Bay in both sections?

We Just did the Eastern and loved it. We are mid fifties, and are more into beaches and snorkeling over bus tours and sightseeing.

 

Antigua - went to Stingray city and thought it was great.

St Lucia - Did the Tree Top Adventure Zip Line - was good fun. (be in good health for this - sometimes you come in a bit "hot" and have to bounce off trees with your legs to stop)

Barbados - We just headed on our own over to Carlisle Bay, rented a couple chairs, and snorkeled right out to the sea turtles. They are only about 100 yards off shore. Very easy snorkel for an average swimmer. Just loved this beach. Pure white sand, clear blue water. You can see down 50 feet in the water.

St Kitts - Took a taxi to Shipwreck beach bar and loved it (on South Friars beach). Water clarity is not as sharp as Barbados, but you feel like you are on Gilligan's island. No charge for chair and umbrella use. Black volcanic sand, snorkeling is right off the beach with many fish present. Place has a rustic look about it that just feels good. Your chair is literally 1 foot from the water's edge. Saw multiple mongoose and green monkeys as they come down mid-afternoon (the bar leaves some food out for them).

St Thomas - Took a catamaran snorkel trip out to Buck island to see the sea turtles and a shipwreck. Was a good excursion.

Princess Cays - Missed the stop due to the approach of Hurricane Joaquin.

 

We have not yet done the Southern, but plan to when the Canadian exchange rate improves. Sounds like it should be just as good.

 

Don and Allison

We're doing both runs in January...

At least, we are for now. Disappointed to hear that Perry Grant won't be playing through January :(