EPIC Itinerary -- Eastern or Western Caribbean?

[jrj972]

Hello everyone :)

 

We're contemplating cruising on the EPIC in 2012 and wanted to know your opinions regarding the itineraries...

 

In your opinion, which itinerary would you say is best and why... Eastern or Western Caribbean?

 

thanks much! :D

[floinnc]

We just did the Western Caribbean because we've done the Eastern several times. We really enjoyed Roatan. That being said, I don't think the Epic is going to be doing the Western Carib in 2012. Please check with them. I believe I heard this while on our cruise. That's a bummer if true!

[Medtech2]

Western is definitely better. The ports are more interesting and "active excursion" oriented while Eastern is more about shopping...

The clientale, therefore, on a Western cruise tend to be younger and more wanting to dance at the parties...

[david_sobe]

Good question

I did the eastern on Epic. I have done western on Jewel. Each are nice and each contain one dud port (Nassau and Cozumel). I call them duds only because they are probably the most populated cruise ports in the world and just over run with cruise passengers and tourists.

But use that to your advantage (unless you have never been to either port before) and stay on the ship. I deeply regret getting off in Nassau because Epic is so big you need lots of time to explore her and having a mostly empty ship in port gives you lots of pool chairs, etc.

 

One big downer for the eastern side is Epic leaves St Maarten at 7 pm. It is a full day on the island. However Epic has to leave 2 hours early in St Thomas (5pm) and those 2 hours impacted excursions greatly. We only had an hour at Honeymoon Beach (St John) and had to head back to the ship. Even with leaving 2 hours early, Epic does not get to Nassau until after 12pm noon. This greatly impacts excursions esp in the winter because it is dark by 530pm.

 

Having said all of this, Epic is the ship to not worry about ports because there is so much to do on board that you cant see or do it all in 7 nights.

 

If I ever sail Epic again, eastern or western, I wont get off the ship in some ports. Go to the spa, use the slides, lay out at Posh in a mostly empty ship!

[tiyana4]

I feel the same way as David.

 

Having done the western itinerary several times, the southern (which I think is the best of all the Caribbean), and the eastern ports (by the time we sail), we will just enjoy the ship. The Epic WILL be the destination for us.

 

Had we not gone to any of these ports previously, I would probably choose the western itinerary again. We loved Roatan and the natural beauty in northern Belize.

[VideoTech]

Agree with David about Cozumel and Nassau, and those are the perfect ports to just stay on board. I'm not big on the Mexican ports in general (Costa Maya, Cozumel) because it all reminds me too much of border-town Texas, and I've "been there, done that" enough.

 

Roatan, though, has beautiful beaches, and we're looking forward to our first stop in Belize this summer, where I understand the snorkeling is amazing.

 

In general, I think I like the Eastern Caribbean better, but I'm really looking forward to our first visit to the Southern Caribbean. From what I've seen while researching that trip, it does seem like the more traditional Caribbean.

[keystoneboarder]

Epic is only eastern nov '11 - april '12 but both eastern and western nov '12 -april '13. I enjoyed the eastern itinerary, though.

[Minoushka]

last time we did Western last March Break ...got bitten by Jellyfish ...microscopic in Cozumel .Now I know why THEY wear wet suits

sand fleas in Roatan

 

yuck

 

i will pass Western from now on !!!!