Eastern or Western, Jan or Feb? FOS out of Port Canaveral

[bhpeters]

We are deciding between FOS Eastern or Western 7 night itineraries for Jan/Feb 2011. It's been 5 1/2 yrs since our last cruise and have never been on RCI ships. Freedom looks very inviting to me. Hoping you can help with my questions.

 

1. We've never been the eastern route, with one less port is it too boring? Would FOS offer us enough to do each sea day?

 

2. Is the eastern route that much more commercialized? (is there anything of historical interest we could see?)

 

3. Is a late Jan sailing going to be warm enough or should we wait for Feb? I've been reading about Jan sailings having more wind, much cooler, more boat rocking, etc. I don't think we'd be seasick, but you never know...hoping you have some advice. Right now the Jan trips are cheaper and the eastern trips are cheaper... but of course I'm leaning toward western and Feb since that's what we did last time.

 

4. If we chose Jan, would eastern or western be warmer, or about the same? Experienced cruisers would maybe remember. I know every year can be very different, just looking for the norm.

 

That's it for now, have enjoyed reading all the RCI posts.

 

Thanks

[Bakincakes]

I've never had issues with January sailings...weather has been great..granted mostly have done Western itineraries in Jan.

[maggieq]

Look at the itin route.....sometimes when you go out to the right of the islands of the bahamas into the atlantic, you can get a cool day. This would be going the eastern route.

 

I do think that the weather has not been predictable the past couple of years. We did a feb eastern in 2009...we had cold and rainy weather for 4 days and then 4 days of sun. We did an eastern in April and had the worst weather of all of our cruises.

[Ashland]

My favorite is the 8 night eastern..more bang for your buck !!!! Have cruised in Jan - Mar..really good weather !!!

[kh81828587]

You could end up with only 2 ports. We just got back from the Eastern route in May. We didn't get to stop at CocoCay, so our only stops were St. Thomas and St. Maarten. They were both great stops, but we had 4 full days at sea. While we enjoyed it, it did start to get old. We like ports better than sea days, so keep that in mind if you really like getting off the ship. We're doing the Western again in Sept., 2011 on the Freedom. We loved the Western route.

[Bazzito]

This is just a personal opinion:

 

We'd chose the eastern route.

 

We've taken both routes numerous times and in various seasons.

 

Weather for either route should be warm, but sometimes temps can dip into the 60's or slightly below for "cool" days. (The locals will be wraped in jackets and you'll have a big laugh.) Weather is always unpredictable, but we've found that you should get plenty of sunshine and warmth on either route.

 

EAST: You get a beach day a Coco Cay and don't have to visit Nassau.

This is a big plus. Nassau - not so impressive. It's OK to skip.

 

WEST: Labadee is your beach day. It's isolated, like Coco Cay, and we understand that they've made a number of improvements in the facilities there. It's a lovely, picturesque spot, but still a beach day. Not much to recommend it over the Bahamas stop, IMHO.

 

EAST: Sea Day.

 

WEST: Jamaica. We are through getting off the ship in Jamaica, so we now have a "make your own sea day" program. The constant hectoring by the poor locals for handouts, the similar come-ons to try to sell drugs to your children, the difficult travel to shore excursions over deteriorating roads, etc. make it a port to be missed. Also my personal opinion. There's nothing there to see. Just mone on.

 

EAST: St. Thomas. A nice, clean, well tended port city with outstanding shopping and true bargains on jewelry, etc. I'm not a "shopper" per se, but my wife tells me this. I have bought several watches there on more than one occasion, and found the prices to be the best of any of the ports that RCI visits. For the value-minded, highly recommended.

 

WEST: Grand Cayman. A nice island with many nice beach oppotunities, if you like. Prices there for everyting you buy are sky high. On our first trip there, we bought a coke, a bag of chips and a newspaper for a total of $10.00 USD, and haven't been tempted to spend another penny there. We did take in the Butterfly Ranch, or whatever they call it (I promised my wife that I'd go anywhere she wanted - and that was it.) and was suprised at how interesting and pleasant it was. A grudging thumbs-up for this unlikely shore excursion. Beach-going and scuba diving are the things to do here, as much as any place in the Caribbean.

 

EAST: St. Maarten. Another nice island with shopping opportunities, but not the bargains that St. Thomas affords. (You'll kick yourself for not buying yesterday!) It is, however, the best place you'll visit on an RCI ship to by Cuban cigars, if you are so inclined. The merchandise is almost all authentic, and fairly priced, like no where else you are likely to visit. The shops are small and even though legal and legitimate, have the feel of the clandestine about them to the U.S. visitor. They may even lead you to another shop via alleyways should you request something not in stock. A real experience! The island tour is fairly interesting, but you won't miss the thirll of a lifetime if you don't take it. The America's Cup Regatta, where they take you on a simulated race on real America's Cup yachts was the best shore excursion EVER, IMHO. Lots of fun and if you buy the t-shirt, you can boast to others in the Windjammer that you beat their boat!

 

WAST: Cozumel. Well, it's Cozumel. It has "tourist trap" written all over it, but we still seem to bring back sacks of souvenirs from the shops there. OR you could just stop at Senor Frogs on the way off the ship and not see the rest of Cozumel at all! They have steadily attempted to improve this port over the years and have pretty much succeded, especially since the last hurricane. It's the classic Mexican tourist stop and my wife always talks me into doing something in town. Just a tip: If you book a tour to visit ruins, or rent any off-road vehicles, etc. book them on the ship! Vehicles in the area are notorious for breaking down and the ship will not wait on tour operators that don't book through the ship. We have seen people miss departure by returning late from tours not booked on RCI. (We've also seen them stagger back to the gangway as the ship is leaving! Waving to them from the Promenade Deck is not listed in the Cruise Compass, but is always entertaining!)

 

So, for us the eastern itinerary offers more bargains, and less Jamaica than the western trip. I know that others will offer the opposite opinion.

[Cruise Cazy]

Sea Days on Freedom are the best! Lots to do, I found myself several times wanting to be at two events at the same time. Port days are not as jam packed but there still is lots to do. Freedom is a wonderful ship, staff is very friendly and interact with guest well. We just returned from sailing on her Sunday. I did not want to leave. And am scheduled to return to sail on Freedom next June on Eastern cruise.

 

I agree with one of the previous post-- I will not be getting off in Jamaica again. I love Senior Frogs in Cozumel and Pancho's Backyard. Grand Caymen is expensive but is a beautiful destination and snorkeling is wonderful.

 

But you can't go wrong on the Freedom of the Seas, she is beautiful and the crew is great!

 

We are deciding between FOS Eastern or Western 7 night itineraries for Jan/Feb 2011. It's been 5 1/2 yrs since our last cruise and have never been on RCI ships. Freedom looks very inviting to me. Hoping you can help with my questions.

 

1. We've never been the eastern route, with one less port is it too boring? Would FOS offer us enough to do each sea day?

 

2. Is the eastern route that much more commercialized? (is there anything of historical interest we could see?)

 

3. Is a late Jan sailing going to be warm enough or should we wait for Feb? I've been reading about Jan sailings having more wind, much cooler, more boat rocking, etc. I don't think we'd be seasick, but you never know...hoping you have some advice. Right now the Jan trips are cheaper and the eastern trips are cheaper... but of course I'm leaning toward western and Feb since that's what we did last time.

 

4. If we chose Jan, would eastern or western be warmer, or about the same? Experienced cruisers would maybe remember. I know every year can be very different, just looking for the norm.

 

That's it for now, have enjoyed reading all the RCI posts.

 

Thanks

[CroozeAddict]

WOW ... we were at Jamaica last year and had no problems at all. The locals seemed very friendly. We didn't experience any of the problems previous posters had.:confused: Actually, we didn't feel any of the ports were tourist traps. I agree that Grand Cayman was a bit expensive though.

 

We've cruised the east, west, and southern routes. We both agree that the western Caribbean was the best ... by far!

 

We were on Freedoms sister ship (Liberty) and it was absolutely beautiful! (Link to pictures is below.) There's so much to do on the Freedom Class ships that I don't know where to start. The crew was fabulous too.

[hazeleyez3]

For the most part I agree with Bazzito...

 

I've been to Jamaica twice. The first time we, of course, got off the ship to see the island, but were less than impressed with it. Our FOS cruise in January also stopped there. We only got off to see if any of the stores right next to the ship had anything for my Mother-In-Law, and then went back to the ship. Of course it took longer than expected because of all the locals bothering us as we walked.

 

Grand Caymen is very pretty, has some nice beaches, and is expensive.

 

We thought both St Marteen and St Thomas were very nice islands. I typically don't buy anything of real "value"; however, that changed when I saw a very nice watch for a good price

 

 

Where I differ...We have had 1 cruise that was scheduled to go to Coco Cay but missed it, and we missed Labadee this last cruise. We are not beach people and we like sea days so this was actually a plus for us. We would much rather do Nassau.

[TheWog]

We are booked on a Western in Feb 2011. While I would prefer January, we chose February because of school vacation. We have sailed twice in January and experienced great weather on both Eastern and Western. We chose Western this time for the ports. We did however love the extra sea day offered by Eastern. I say you can't go wrong with either.