Uuuuugh! Please help me pick a cruise!

[tammymacb]

Help! I'm literally driving myself batty with my indecision. :confused:

 

I'm looking for a family cruise leaving January 8th or 9th for 7 nights. The traveling party will be me and DH and DS 19 and DD 14. I want everyone to have fun.

 

I'd originally booked an 8 night cruise on CCL's Liberty. I loved the itenerary, but it didn't end up working with DDs school schedule. So, I then began researching cruises leaving from Port Canaveral that week. ( We live in SC and can drive and save $$ on airfare ) Every cruise leaving PC that week is going west. I'm not at all excited about another Western cruise.

 

So, now I'm looking at going back to FL/MIA. But, for the price of airfare to MIA, I can fly to San Juan and do a nice itenerary with ( almost ) certain warm weather. But, I don't know much about sailing from San Juan..

 

I've looked at sailing:

 

CCL- past cruisers with most recent a western on the Dream in Jan '10. Nice, but not my all time favorite. I'd consider this ship again if it was going east this year, but no dice.

 

RCCL- the FOS is going west..I'm also considering the AOS out of San Juan and maybe the Liberty out of Miami.

 

DCL- I personally love DCL. I know there isn't as much for the teens, and that's issue one. Issue 2 is it's ANOTHER ship going west that week..:confused:

BIG PLUS- DH ( aka James freakin Bond ) won't have a casino in which to hang out every night and I wouldn't have to budget for gambeling on this cruise.

 

NCL- honestly haven't looked much. Sailed them once and didn't enjoy it. It was an old ship though. And for a nice itenerary, I'd have to head to MIA/FL and I might as well ( at that point ) go with someone I know I like.

 

Celebrity- Love them, not sure the kids would...probably not for this trip...

 

Uuuuuugh...help me please...Go to Mia/Fl? Go to San Juan? Back to the western Carib? Even though I'd only get off the ship in Grand Cayman?

[forwardcabin]

What a delilmma! We've taken our entire family (3 groups, 10 in all) on the same ship and on the same itinerary two years in a row. They all loved it, even the second time around. Even tho some of them have since gone with us on another ship in March, they still ask about going again from Galveston in December. Nothing wrong with a repeat performance.

 

Here's hoping you pick a great cruise. Bon Voyage!

[tammymacb]

Thanks!

 

I'm reading more reviews on RCCLs AOS, as I like that itenerary the best.

 

I just can't get excited about a western itenerary again- reason being:

 

Dh and I are scuba divers, we both spend time in the Caribbean each year. We go to Grand Cayman a LOT and we love it. That's the only place we'd get off the boat. I wouldn't mind taking the kids to Stingray City for the day, though they've been there. But, for us, it's always hard leaving Grand Cayman after just a few hours

 

Cozumel- just spent 11 days there this August. That was about 9 days too long. In all fairness, I didn't love the place I stayed and starved to death, AND my dog died unexpectedly the week before we left so I spent much of the time there in tears. I've also been on a lot of cruises to Coz and just have never had any burning desire to leave the ship.

 

Belize- hate the city. It's too far to get away for the day unless you'll defy death with a little puddle hopper. Not a huge Belize fan. ( and have been there several times before )

 

Roatan- sick starving dogs everywhere. That's all I need to say about Roatan. I won't go back.

 

And that's why I don't want to do another western Carib. itenerary.

[c-cruise]

Might help to determine where you want to go first and then look at the ship/port options . If you want to do an Eastern that week then you can eliminate Port Canaveral and San Juan. If you want to do a Southern itinerary then San Juan would be your option (for a 7 day anyway).

 

The RT San Juan itineraries are very port intensive with generally 1 or no sea days which is either a plus or minus depending on what you want to do. I would probably opt for a Miami/Ft. Lauderdale departure because of the shorter flights and the days at sea on those itineraries.

[jam82]

If you can get airfare and decent flights to San Juan, I do that in a second. We sailed CCL Victory out of San Juan and it was great. The ship was older and didn't have a steakhouse, but it was still our favorite cruise because of the ports. We are doing another cruise out of San Juan this year and again are really pumped up about the ports. DH would have done the Victory again in a heartbeat, but we wanted to try some new ports, so we chose Princess for our next cruise.