A RCI ship and ports to meet our likes? After our first cruise experience

[OhCheck]

Hello everyone!

I am new here as I am also a new cruiser. I just got back from my first ever cruise on May 13th and went with my girlfriend who also was her first cruise. After this, we now have a taste for what it was about, what we like, and what we will look for in our next cruise. This is where I was wondering if you could help with some suggestions if you have experienced some of what we are looking for in our next cruise!

 

First off: We went on the Majesty of the Seas to the Bahamas and stopped at Nassau, Coco Cay, and Key West, departing and arriving from Miami.

 

What we liked: No problems at all with RCI. The staff was very pleasant, we enjoyed every bit of all including the food, hospitality, ship, etc. We really liked the 2 pools on the Majesty with lots of sun bathing area having 2 bars at the ends of the pools for easy alcohol access during relaxation in the sun. We also really enjoyed Coco Cay with the abundance of beach, ocean to swim in, and no hassle of locals bugging us with services and trying to sell stuff.

 

What we didn't really care for: We honestly didn't care for either Nassau or Key West. We are a pretty young couple and found Nassau a bit of a pain being hassled by the locals on our way to Parasail. Experiencing this we decided to spend the rest of the day at the pool on the ship after parasailing. We also didn't care for Key West all that much. It seemed a little bit too historical for us. We were really looking for beach, ocean, and sun. We had to walk 20 minutes to a beach that honestly we weren't really impressed with and have better here in Michigan on the lakes.

 

With this I now know what I am looking for and based off this, maybe you could suggest some port we make sure to hit and a ship that would fit us well!

-On the Ship: Pools, lots of area of sun bath and enjoy the weather out on the ship. We liked what the majesty had to offer and would like at least this much sun area and pools if not more on our next ship. This is really our only request and where we spent the majority of the time on the ship while the sun was out!

-Ports: We want hot hot sun, thinking Caribbean for our next, but which specific ports we have no idea! We like beaches, nice sand, ability to swim in the ocean. We don't care to purchase souvenirs or take historical tours. We just want to relax, enjoy the sun, swim in the ocean and RELAXXXX! We hate being hounded by locals.

 

With this, could any of you suggest a cruise that might have some good ports to fill what we are looking for and/or a ship we would enjoy?!?!

 

Thank you very much! :cool:

 

-Jon

[Reimer]

By the sounds of it any ship will do. In all honestly if it is just beaches that you are looking to be able to go to and lay out in the sun and relax then in all honesty you need to go to Hawaii. No other place on earth has as many gorgeous beaches per sq. mile. I can also guarantee that in Hawaii you will not have to worry about being hassled. This is coming from the perspective of a mid 20's couple who just sailed to Hawaii last fall.

[tfrcal]

Western Caribbean on Oasis or Allure

[Merion_Mom]

Hello everyone!

I am new here as I am also a new cruiser. I just got back from my first ever cruise on May 13th and went with my girlfriend who also was her first cruise. After this, we now have a taste for what it was about, what we like, and what we will look for in our next cruise. This is where I was wondering if you could help with some suggestions if you have experienced some of what we are looking for in our next cruise!

 

First off: We went on the Majesty of the Seas to the Bahamas and stopped at Nassau, Coco Cay, and Key West, departing and arriving from Miami.

 

What we liked: No problems at all with RCI. The staff was very pleasant, we enjoyed every bit of all including the food, hospitality, ship, etc. We really liked the 2 pools on the Majesty with lots of sun bathing area having 2 bars at the ends of the pools for easy alcohol access during relaxation in the sun. We also really enjoyed Coco Cay with the abundance of beach, ocean to swim in, and no hassle of locals bugging us with services and trying to sell stuff.

 

What we didn't really care for: We honestly didn't care for either Nassau or Key West. We are a pretty young couple and found Nassau a bit of a pain being hassled by the locals on our way to Parasail. Experiencing this we decided to spend the rest of the day at the pool on the ship after parasailing. We also didn't care for Key West all that much. It seemed a little bit too historical for us. We were really looking for beach, ocean, and sun. We had to walk 20 minutes to a beach that honestly we weren't really impressed with and have better here in Michigan on the lakes.

 

With this I now know what I am looking for and based off this, maybe you could suggest some port we make sure to hit and a ship that would fit us well!

-On the Ship: Pools, lots of area of sun bath and enjoy the weather out on the ship. We liked what the majesty had to offer and would like at least this much sun area and pools if not more on our next ship. This is really our only request and where we spent the majority of the time on the ship while the sun was out!

-Ports: We want hot hot sun, thinking Caribbean for our next, but which specific ports we have no idea! We like beaches, nice sand, ability to swim in the ocean. We don't care to purchase souvenirs or take historical tours. We just want to relax, enjoy the sun, swim in the ocean and RELAXXXX! We hate being hounded by locals.

 

With this, could any of you suggest a cruise that might have some good ports to fill what we are looking for and/or a ship we would enjoy?!?!

 

Thank you very much! :cool:

 

-Jon

 

Navigator to Labadee, Jamaica and Grand Cayman. (out of FL)

 

Jewel to Costa Maya and Cozumel (out of Tampa)

[will773]

I agree with Reimer, it seems as though any ship will do you good. You may want to try an Eastern Caribbean cruise. It will go to the generic places like St. Thomas and St. Maarten which have very nice locals that aren't pushy. They also have beautiful beaches.

[Lazz]

The best thing for you to do is research the islands (if you wish to stay in the Carib.) and this board to find what you would like and not like. Everyone has different tastes. As for a great beadh, my wife and I LOVE Trunk Bay on St. Johns (USVI). Wonderful uncrowded beach with an underwater snorkel trail. However, you will have to take a ferry or a tour to get from St. Thomas. The beaches on Antigua are beautiful as well. Remember that in many cases you will be in a 3rd world country (except for USVI) when visiting these islands. To the locals, you are rich Americans and they are just trying to make a living. Most people on these islands are very friendly, and if you remember that you are their guest in their country, you will have a wonderful time.

[wolfganghowell]

Hi Jon, welcome to the addiction of cruising. From what you have described, I am throwing Mariner out of Galveston at you. When Voyager gets to New Orleans that may be a similar choice. Couple of reasons - you guys are younger and there do tend to be younger cruisers out of this market. A nice energy onboard.

 

What you like to do in port is exactly what the Galveston and New Orleans offer. There are alternating itineraries so you will want to do some research. You will love Cozumel - many beaches/restaurants/bars and nice locals. Grand Cayman - same thing. Roatan - prettiest beaches I've ever seen. Check out a great beach club Bananarama. The other 2 ports are Belize and Falmouth. Belize is where I would book a snorkeling excursion or cave tubing. Falmouth - no clue, it's too new.

 

From what you said, my instinct is to tell you to research the Roatan/Belize/Cozumel route. Happy hunting.

[OhCheck]

Thank you very much everyone! Boy this board flies!!! I like it! Keep the suggestions coming, all are appreciated!

[Familygoboston]

I agree that if you like beach and pool; Oasis or Allure- loads of pools and tons to do on board.

Eastern has the appeal of being further south and warmer (except for Bahamas) you could do Turtle Bay in St Johns/St Thomas and Orient beach in St Martin. You won't be hassled with vendors at either beach.

 

Western has the private beach (Labadee) that you seemed to enjoy, and Cozumel has Nachi CoCom, a private all inclusive beach club (about $49 pp), We've not been bothered by vendors in either place.

 

Good luck!! And a piece of unsolicited advice...don't worry about vendors, you are not being rude if you say, "no thanks" or "Gracias, No!" firmly and then don't engage, or make any further eye contact, just move on, they will go on their way to find someone they can more likely do business with!

[patseacruiser]

Personally I just love the southern caribbean but I have to say I have yet to go to any island where I haven't been hassled to shop or take a tour or any number of things until I've gotten out of the pier area. Once out of that way it generally isn't that bad.

[Wilda]

We are also pool people on sea days and beach people on port days. I would suggest a Freedom class ship with an eastern Caribbean itinerary. Great weather and fabulous beaches.

[time4u2go]

Hawaii.

[Cheryl H]

If you don't like being swarmed by locals, you might avoid Jamaica. That was our worst experience. I don't care too much for Mexico either for the same reason. Please no flames...that was just our experience.

 

But we loved St Thomas/St John. We booked a catamaran over to St John. St Martin, St Croix, Barbados, and Antigua were very nice too. When we arrived at St Thomas, we had a port side balcony and the harbor view with all the sailboats was gorgeous!

 

What about Bermuda? I've heard they have really nice beaches there. Maybe you could find an extra long carribbean one that tacks on a day at Bermuda.

 

Have fun planning!

[cedar41]

Barbados and Martinique!!!!

[wingnutphl]

I was going to suggest a Southern route except St. Lucia had annoying people bothering us. Not sure how they are at the beaches since we had a not so good weather day that day.

[digital_curator]

I would also suggest the Southern Caribbean routes- they are port-intensive but the beaches are lovely and it is easy to take public transportation or a cab to either quiet spots or resort areas. One problem with the port-intensive cruises is that one doesn't tend to spend much time on the ship.

 

RCI has Southern routes on the Adventure, Explorer and the Brilliance. The first two are large ships with good pool areas and lots of bars and activities. The Brilliance is a smaller ship but beautiful with lots of glass and great views. If you liked the Majesty, I think you would like any of their ships!

 

Cheers,

[popcicle]

Well, we are defiantly not a 20 something couple, probably old enough to be your parents but like the western Caribbean for the adventure tours. We are not big shoppers and did not have a lot of fun on St Thomas for that reason on our eastern cruise, a lot of St Croix, St. Martin, and Guadeloupe was history which my hubby loves but not my cup of tea. Jamaica, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Labadee have the beaches and the fun. We have snorkeled with the stingrays, done the bobsled run and dunns river falls climb, played with the dolphins, x-caret, and veged out on the beach. We are doing Freedom of the Seas in March 2012 and already have booked a sand rail buggy trip on a rain forest two track to swim in a cave. Thinking about a zip line, the bobsled again, something that we can only do out there. I don't want to die old and boring!

[Grannycb]

If you liked Majesty I'd suggest something smaller than Oasis and Allure. How about Seranade of the Seas to Barbados (great snorkeling), St. Lucia (great sailing trips), Antigua (wonderful beaches), St Masrten (fun beaches and more), and St Croix (more beaches). The cruise leaves out of San Juan, an interesting place to stay pre cruise.

[PhinsAndGills]

Welcome Jon! My husband and I are a couple of early 30something water-and-adventure-loving cruisers as well. We (try to as much as possible on a cruise) avoid the tourist activities (shopping, city walking tours, etc.) Here's our take on a few islands.

 

First off, we've only ever sailed RCCL (You can see my cruise history in my siggy). However, I think at least 2 of the ports I'm about to mention were dropped from RCCL's stops; which may cause us to "jump ship" to another line that takes us places we haven't been.

 

As far as mostly water adventures go, I have a couple personal favorites.

#1 - Eli's eco-tour in Antigua. My Travbuddy profile has a review of this (and most of the other adventures / cruises that I'm typing about.) at www.travbuddy.com/PhinsAndGills. It was an AMAZING time. We saw some awesome stuff.

#1.5 - Snorkeling Buck Island in St. Croix. Despite the fact that I think the 5.5' barracuda that followed me around wanted blonde for lunch; it was an amazing experience! Next time I'm in St. Croix, I'll find a private trip as opposed to an overly crowded "wait for the last of the lazy people who can't keep time" ship trip.

#2 - Rendesvoux (yeah, I can't spell that - I took Spanish - honestly, the French language confuses me) Caye snorkel in Belize. Belize is beautiful, especially the coral!

I will mention that the next time you're in Nassau, take a catamaran out to a reef. VERY cool fish around the Bahamas. We've booked a private excursion to take us out on our upcoming cruise.

 

Other adventures that we've LOVED (that involved water in some way)

#1 FAVORITE SIDE TRIP OF ALL TIME - Spice plantation and hike to swim in 7 sisters waterfall in Grenada. If you love adventure, nature, amazing scenery, knock-you-on-your-butt rum, and friendly people; get yourself to Grenada. We were there on the Legend (look for the blog on Travbuddy for more details) but it was literally a day in heaven.

#2 FAVORITE - touring Margarita Island (Venezuela) in a jeep: tour including Bolivar square, a private breakfast of fresh fish empanadas (for $1 US), and ended at the best beach ever.

Other memorable adventures:

- Hiking into a cave in Barbados. I LOVE BATS! :)

- Bicycling up a dormant vocano in St. Lucia to play in waterfalls.

- Kayaking (Nature kayak) in Key West. I, personally LOVE Key West. I agree with you, not a beach day by any means; but I'm a BIG fan of beer and open-air bars... therefore, I love Key West. This is the only side trip I've ever repeated and would do again a 3rd time.

 

My best advice - get to the Southern Caribbean. The Jamaica, Nassau, Cozumel routes are fun, but if you're looking for out-of-this-world Caribbean water adventure; head south.

 

Now, the flip side of this post: the things I've experienced that I didn't care for:

- Aruba. It's WAAAY to "South Beach" for me. The island isn't lush and beautiful (unless you count the people on the beach - how DO they keep the plastic from melting in that heat, anyway... ;) We went on a "pirate snorkel" which was more about getting you to spend money on T-shirts, a phoney "booze cruise" atmosphere with loud, cheesy 'rasta' music when docking for show, and average to poor snorkeling at best. No thank you. My personal experience with Aruba is that it's only friendly if you've got the money.

- Zip Line in Jamaica. Most people RAVE about this trip, and until I had a little more experience with zipping, I did too! It WAS my #1 favorite for awhile. That was until I did a professional zip-line here in the states. While zipping through the palm trees WAS pretty amazing; the whole zip-line experience was just better here in Ohio. And to say that Ohio has anything over on Jamaica is really saying something.

 

I hope this helps you decide and if you want me to expand on anything, let me know! Whatever you decide, HAVE FUN doing it! :)

[PhinsAndGills]

If you liked Majesty I'd suggest something smaller than Oasis and Allure. How about Seranade of the Seas to Barbados (great snorkeling), St. Lucia (great sailing trips), Antigua (wonderful beaches), St Masrten (fun beaches and more), and St Croix (more beaches). The cruise leaves out of San Juan, an interesting place to stay pre cruise.

 

I was on the Adventure (which is the LARGEST class I'll sail) to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Martin, and St. Croix. You're right - AMAZING ports! :) I'd re-book that cruise in a heartbeat.

 

With as much as I'm a fan of smaller ships (Legend is my favorite so far); the Promenade is nice on Explorer class. Unless someone GIVES me a cruise, you'll not find me on the mega monsters like Freedom and Oasis. Those ships, literally, hold more people than are in my town. No, thank you.

[Wilda]

- Aruba. It's WAAAY to "South Beach" for me. The island isn't lush and beautiful (unless you count the people on the beach - how DO they keep the plastic from melting in that heat, anyway... ;)

 

Thanks for the early morning chuckle:D

[dcward89]

Although my DH and I are probably 20 years older than you, it sounds like we enjoy the same activities...meaning not much activity, just relaxing with a cold drink on a beautiful beach somewhere...love it, love it, love it!!! We did the Southern Caribbean route on the Serenade this past January. We started in San Juan and hit St. Marteen, Barbados, Tortola, Dominica and St. Kitts. St. Marteen had the most beautiful beaches and Barbados and Tortola are right up there too. Actually we took a ferry from Tortola over to Virgin Gorda to the Baths and I loved that. Serenade also has a fantastic adults-only glass enclosed solarium which we spent time in on our 1 sea day and really enjoyed. We loved it so much that we rebooked the same cruise for next January as the first leg of a B2B with the 2nd leg hitting St. Croix, Grenada, St. Thomas, St. Lucia...and one more island I can't think of right now. Try the Southern Caribbean, you won't regret it!!

[phoenix1181]

If the beach is what makes you happy, I'd suggest Aruba. There are numerous options which include several all inclusive resorts, timeshares & hotels. Basically, there's something to fit every budget & the beaches are beautiful..................

[funNsun4me]

Explorer out of NJ has some great itineries. Their private beach on Haiti is a wonderful lounge day. We have been to Saint Thomas' Meghans Bay which is a lagoon type beach and we love Saint Maarten. Best of all, they are very friendly islands, easy to navigate and no one harrasses you. The Explorer itself is a wonderful ship and we have sailed her many times.:)