Eastern/Western/Southern?? What cruise did you like the best?

[eboon]

I'm trying to decide where to go in the Caribbean and am not sure so I'm looking for feedback on each. We are in our mid 30's and would like to take some tours and see some stuff and not just sit on the beaches the whole time.

 

Thanks!!

 

erica :)

[serene56]

I have done western and eastern and due for the Southern next year.

 

Depends on what you want to do== there is tons of stuff to do in each port.

May I suggest to visit the port of calls board and read whats available to see what you may like to do.

 

Western is the swimming with the stingrays. river tubing in Belize, dunns river falls in Ochos Rios.

 

Lots of beaches in St thomas. island tours using godfrey. shopping in St Marten.

[Tmeister]

We've never had a bad cruise anywhere inthe Caribbean, but I've got to say that the Southern Caribbean stands out as my favorite, being less touristy than cruises closer to the US and Mexico. Try to make sure Dominica is on your itinerary. It's not a resort paradise, but the scenery is incomparable, and the snorkeling is excellent as well.

[Luvcrusin']

The southern seemed to port intensive, as we like spending time on the ship.

 

The western had highlights of climbing the (Jamacia) Dunns River Falls, & (Grand Caymen) Stingray City.

 

The eastern is to me the most beautiful! St. Thomas has beautiful beaches, and we always rent a car and take a water Taxi to St. John so we can snorkle at Trunk Bay. St. Maarten has colorful ports, Dutch side & French side.

 

All in all, you can't go wrong with any!!!!!!!! :D

[Nessi]

We've never had a bad cruise anywhere in the Caribbean, but I've got to say that the Southern Caribbean stands out as my favorite, being less touristy than cruises closer to the US and Mexico.

 

I agree! We've done Western twice and Eastern once. On our last cruise, we did a ten day to the Southern Caribbean. The West Indies have a different culture and cuisine than the Eastern and Western Caribbean islands. Much less touristy and much more culture. We visited five islands on that cruise, and it was amazing how different the topography was between the islands. Each island was so different and special. Plus, the incredible spices you can buy in the West Indies. The Virgin Islands (whether US or British) are completely amazing, and they blow away the Western Caribbean experience (in my opinion - please don't fry my for that opinion). St. Lucia was over-the-top our favorite island we've visited, and we hope to return there for a land vacation. Grenada was absolutely beautiful, but a huge lesson in what a catagory five hurricane can do. The perserverence of the people was amazing. Experiencing Grenada was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had on a cruise. I would definately recommend Southern if you want something different than Dunn's River in Jamaica and Sting Ray City in Grand Caymon. Those are great choices (no one fry me for that), but I think my experiences in the Southern Caribbean were even better than those tourist-laden, over crowded experiences. To each his own. This is just my opinion. Hope it's helpful.

 

Nessi

[CaptData]

I think you should check and see which cruise lines have ships doing alternet weeks either east/west or west/south. That way you get to for the price.

[MamaParrotHead]

We visited five islands on that cruise, and it was amazing how different the topography was between the islands. Each island was so different and special. Plus, the incredible spices you can buy in the West Indies. The Virgin Islands (whether US or British) are completely amazing, and they blow away the Western Caribbean experience (in my opinion - please don't fry my for that opinion). St. Lucia was over-the-top our favorite island we've visited, and we hope to return there for a land vacation. Grenada was absolutely beautiful, but a huge lesson in what a catagory five hurricane can do. The perserverence of the people was amazing. Experiencing Grenada was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had on a cruise.

 

can you tell me which ship/line this was on? thanks!

[cruiseapril]

The Southern Caribbean Medley, offered by Princess, has a good itinerary which we recently enjoyed: Curacao, Isla Margarita, Barbados, Dominica, St. Thomas, and Princess Cays in the Bahamas.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done the western, eastern and southern itineraries many, many times. And we love the southern itineraries the best. Just got home from our TA and booked a southern for 2006.

 

[DEL67]

We like the Western the best because we can visit ruins, snorkle, climb Dunns River Falls, swim with the sting rays, etc.

[agd38]

I've done western and just returned from Southern. Southern was awesome, much better shopping and tours and I've been to many Carribean islands and Aruba by far was my favorite...Good luck and feel free to ask any additional questions..If you like to shop i saved big bucks in St. Thomas over 400 dollars on a watch!!!

[cim]

I have done the eastern and western several tmes each. I like the western if you leave cozumel late say around 11pm. Dunn river falls is a must in Ochos Rio. I have done the southern once. I could learn to like this one very much. Will have to do this a few more times to make a decision. Problem with southern (for me) was not enough sea days on the Destiny. Seems like you were always in port. Other lines seem to have even less sea days. Regardless there are no "bad" cruises or lines unless you travel with Storm Arlene

[imosoreal]

We've done partial western, eastern and southern. I say partial western because we haven't been to Cozumel, Costa Maya or Belize yet. We went to Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. My most favorite so far has been the southern. I have enjoyed every Southern Caribbean island we visited. Could do any one of those again and again and again and again and again ...

[Nessi]

can you tell me which ship/line this was on? thanks!

 

Norwegian Spirit out of Miami. Right now the Spirit is doing the Alaska route, but it should be back to it's Caribbean routes in the fall. Great ship, and the best itinerary I've ever experienced in the Caribbean. We also got a great deal. We spent like $1,200 per person for a balcony cabin for a ten day cruise. Best cruise to date!!!!:)

[momofmeg]

I think my fav. was southern carib. but not for the reasons mentioned here in the other posts. We had a lot of Europeans, Puerto Ricans, and even people from other islands (we met several people from Curaco-they are very proud of Andruw Jones the ball player) that were on the passenger list. To me it was more of an internationial air then other cruises I have taken. Whenever they did ship announcements they would do them in English, Spanish and Italian.

 

Also for the southern carib. we still did St. Thomas and St. Martin. Just no Nassau-I did not mind that-after all Nassau is close enough you can get it from a mini cruise- so I have been there several times.

 

I also found too alot of the tours they offer-you can do similair things no matter which port you go to-you know-the party boat-snorkling-scuba diving, glass bottom boat, swim with the dolphins-dolphin encounter etc.

 

But there are exceptions such as the rain forrest in Dominica,cave tubing in Belize,Dunriver Falls in Jamaica (have not done that-I am yet to go to Jamaica) Obviously you can only get those tours on those islands.

 

If you have some specific cruises and cruiseships you are looking into-go ahead and read up some reviews of those cruises-and I suggest you read at least 3 or 4 reviews of each ship minimum. I say that because one person may love that cruise where as another will hate it-so you need several viewpoints to really know if you would like that cruise.

[Tarkus]

i too have done all three, and gotta say that i liked southern best. eastern (imo) is best for shopping, with western best for feeding my scuba diving habit. but, for overall beauty - and being "off the beaten track" the southern itineraries are hard to beat.

 

p.s. i'm also a port intensive cruiser - if a ship has more than two days at sea every week, i won't book that itinerary. i detest at sea days (which i know puts me in a minority, but is at least worth pointing-out as a personal preference).

[fay54]

Southern Caribbean is best, especially Aruba and St. Thomas.

[arnieslady]

The southern seemed to port intensive' date=' as we like spending time on the ship.

 

The western had highlights of climbing the (Jamacia) Dunns River Falls, & (Grand Caymen) Stingray City.

 

The eastern is to me the most beautiful! St. Thomas has beautiful beaches, and we always rent a car and take a water Taxi to St. John so we can snorkle at Trunk Bay. St. Maarten has colorful ports, Dutch side & French side.

 

All in all, you can't go wrong with any!!!!!!!! :D[/quote']

 

ditto......