Our Amazing European Adventure! Navigator of the Seas & Norwegian Epic Review w/pics

[ShellDil]

Hi everyone! I'm back....I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, and those here in the US got to enjoy a little extra long holiday weekend! We finally made it to the beach here! :D So, let's get back to the ship comparison!...

 

 

Kids Clubs Well these areas obviously will be based on comments from Alex and Megan. Hopefully I'll get them right!

 

I'm just going to post their comments instead of a section on each ship.

 

Megan only went to the kids club on the Navigator one time. She didn't like it at all. She was 11 at the time of the cruise and felt like she was too old to be put in with the younger kids, although she probably would have also felt out of place with the older kids. It may have been just the night she was there - but they had the young kids grouped with the kids her age - everyone together. She said it was odd. There was no split up of ages at all. She said there were a lot of foreign kids, which was fine, but they didn't speak English at all, which meant that the counselors had to repeat everything in more than one language. She said they spent most of the time sitting in a circle listening to instructions being repeated in more than one language. She was bored. This was an after dinner time period. I think she tried to go back once on one sea day, but again, they weren't doing what was scheduled and she ended up back in the cabin. She never went back.

 

Megan went to the kids club on the Epic at least 2 or 3 times. I think once during the day, either a Sea Day or one day that we docked late afternoon and she went in the morning. I'm not sure. And she went at least one evening. She had a good time and wanted to go back more. Most nights she was just too darn exhausted! She said they grouped the kids by age within the bigger age grouping. So for example, maybe the 10-11 year olds together or something like that.

 

Overall though she preferred hanging out in the cabin or with us or my parents to the kids club on both ships. This was surprising to me.

 

Alex on the other hand spent almost every moment he could in the teen clubs. This was totally out of character for him! He's one of the least social kids I know, with kids he doesn't know that is! I think this is where cruising made this long vacation perfect for a nearly 14 year old. He had the perfect opportunity to get space from his sister, parents, and grandparents so that he could enjoy the time with us when he was us for such long periods each day!

 

His opinions on the teen clubs (he was 13, nearly 14 at the time of the cruises) was that he liked the structure of the club on the Navigator - meaning when something was scheduled it was actually what was done. But he liked the counselors on the Epic better. However, they didn't often stick to the programmed activities. He'd see something interesting, get there and they would be doing something different. He met great kids on both ships. Even on the Epic with the multiple embarkation ports - he'd meet kids and then they left on Barcelona, new ones came on and we left in Rome. Kids came on in Marseilles...etc. But everyone seemed very nice.

 

As I mentioned, on both ships nearly every night he was out until the teen curfew of 1:00 am.

 

 

Overall, the teen clubs on both ships were positive experiences for Alex. And on the Epic Megan seemed to enjoy her age group, but not enough to make a huge effort to get there.

 

Megan has decided that until she's old enough to be in the teen club, she's given up trying to participate... :rolleyes:

 

[ShellDil]

 

Laundry Services

 

Both the four of us and my parents used the $25 dollar fill a bag special on both ships.

 

Overall impressions - on the Navigator they made it very clear when the special was, and everything came back fine. The bag wasn't quite as big as the one on the Epic. No issues from any of us.

 

On the Epic, I had to ask for the bag for the special and our Cabin Steward didn't even seem sure when the day for the special would be. Partially because it's different for passengers who board in different ports I believe. If you board in Barcelona your special day is different than if you board in Rome. But still - we should have received the information automatically.

 

The bag was bigger and we stuffed it - a LOT! Actually we did on both ships.

 

Our clothes came back fine.

 

My parents on the other hand....a few t-shirts of my dads, and one of my mom's shirts were ruined by what looked like an iron or press. They had stains the shape of an iron press on the front. He didn't notice until he was packing to disembark. He packed up and then went to the guest services desk and they really didn't seem to care. They told him to bring the clothes down. He told them they were already packed. He didn't necessarily want compensation - but to make them aware that they were burning t-shirts. Why they were pressing t-shirts I don't really know. But he was disappointed because they were what he would call souvenir shirts - ones he's gotten on other trips and that were sort of mementos from past vacations.

 

So their laundry experiences was not good on the Epic.

 

 

[ShellDil]

Before I add my final thoughts on each of the two ships, does anyone have any other specific questions on either of the ships? I can't really think of anything else that I may have missed in comparing....

 

Just let me know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HighlandGirlEB]

Before I add my final thoughts on each of the two ships, does anyone have any other specific questions on either of the ships? I can't really think of anything else that I may have missed in comparing....

 

Just let me know!

 

 

 

 

What about safety ? I know its a bit scare mongering but who did you feel made you feel the safest? Was there anything on either ship you thought "hmmm" about but put it aside cause of course the "worst will never happen"??

 

And what about the stability of the two ships? I know when we were on the Navigator together it rocked about a bit a couple of times but to be honest it was nothing compared to the wee ship I went over the north see from Scotland to Norway last year lol. How did they both fair against each other?

[LPYRCRUISER]

I don't have a question about the ship, but about your apartment in Rome. Which neighborhood was it located? I've been doing a little research and I have to admit, I'm overwhelmed.

 

We'd like to be somewhere in a nice neighborhood where we would feel comfortable walking in the evening. There is much to choose from in Prati, which is near the Vatican, but is that far from everything else?

 

I'm considering Trevi, Termini, or near the Colliseum. I don't mind traveling around the city during the day, but I'd like some choice of restaurants to walk to for dinner.

 

The pictures of your apartment look perfect! Just what I'm thinking about

 

Thanks!

[ShellDil]

What about safety ? I know its a bit scare mongering but who did you feel made you feel the safest? Was there anything on either ship you thought "hmmm" about but put it aside cause of course the "worst will never happen"??

 

And what about the stability of the two ships? I know when we were on the Navigator together it rocked about a bit a couple of times but to be honest it was nothing compared to the wee ship I went over the north see from Scotland to Norway last year lol. How did they both fair against each other?

 

Hey there! I can honestly say I felt totally safe on both ships. I do know that bad things can happen anywhere, and that on ships of either size you have a diverse population, both good and bad. But I think all of us felt comfortable on both the Navigator and the Epic.

 

The only time that Megan was allowed to be alone on either ship was coming or going from the kids club. She knew not to wander on the way. It was straight back to the cabin. Or straight to the kids club. At her age, I would not be comfortable with her just hanging out, even with a group of kids.

 

And Alex, I wouldn't be totally comfortable with him wandering the ship either. He was allowed slightly more freedom, only in the sense that I think the teen club gave the kids more freedom. They let them hang out in groups in a more unsupervised setting. Letting them do scavenger hunts and that type of thing at night. They weren't always in the "club" setting. I didn't really have a problem with him coming back to the cabin at 12:30 or 1:00 am but I didn't want him out and about on his own either.

 

He did tell me once that after leaving the teen club he went to the helipad on the Navigator to check out the stars, ALONE, and that bothered me. There are too many dark and isolated walkways that he had to be in. I told him he shouldn't walk in any unlit areas alone at any time. He had to always be with someone else. He doesn't have much fear of things happening to him, but I felt that if someone wanted to approach him, they could have very easily. It was the perfect place. He and I walked back there one night after he came back to the cabin - it was late, around midnight and while I felt it was creepy - I didn't feel unsafe. The helipad had several people on it. But it wasn't a place I wanted my 13 year old walking alone.

 

I thought the muster drill on the Navigator was done more "professionally" where I thought the one on the Epic was more of a routine gathering with less emphasis on safety.

 

Otherwise - I didn't have concerns on either ship.

 

As far as motion, I think a lot depends on the seas at the time and where you are on the ship. I didn't really notice any motion on the Navigator.

 

But on the Epic, the night we left Barcelona was the most motion I have ever felt on a ship! It was to the point that the items in our cabin, on the counters, were rolling all over the place! I couldn't even walk straight - had to hold onto things! However, my parents, who were towards the front of the ship, they said they barely felt it!

 

I was surprised to feel so much motion on such a big ship! But it was all the talk the next day!

[ShellDil]

I don't have a question about the ship, but about your apartment in Rome. Which neighborhood was it located? I've been doing a little research and I have to admit, I'm overwhelmed.

 

We'd like to be somewhere in a nice neighborhood where we would feel comfortable walking in the evening. There is much to choose from in Prati, which is near the Vatican, but is that far from everything else?

 

I'm considering Trevi, Termini, or near the Colliseum. I don't mind traveling around the city during the day, but I'd like some choice of restaurants to walk to for dinner.

 

The pictures of your apartment look perfect! Just what I'm thinking about

 

Thanks!

 

Our apartment was right across from Largo Argentina. It would be considered the Pantheon neighborhood I think. I thought it was a perfect location. We really walked everywhere, day and night, except the Vatican. Our Vatican tour was just too early to consider walking!

 

Here's the link to the apartment:

 

http://www.sleepinitaly.com/rome/navona-pantheon-apartments/apartment-argentina-lux

 

If you have any questions about it, let me know. We loved it and would stay there again in a heartbeat!

[LPYRCRUISER]

Our apartment was right across from Largo Argentina. It would be considered the Pantheon neighborhood I think. I thought it was a perfect location. We really walked everywhere, day and night, except the Vatican. Our Vatican tour was just too early to consider walking!

 

Here's the link to the apartment:

 

http://www.sleepinitaly.com/rome/navona-pantheon-apartments/apartment-argentina-lux

 

If you have any questions about it, let me know. We loved it and would stay there again in a heartbeat!

 

Thanks so much, that gives me a place to start!

[ShellDil]

Overall ship thoughts...

 

Ok - so I mentioned that going into the trip both kids were thrilled to be sailing on the Epic. Probably Megan more than Alex, but they were mostly looking forward to the Epic. My parents didn't really have an opinion of one ship over the other. Keith didn't either - he's not a fan of cruises, so to him, a ship is a ship. And for me, I was drawn to the entertainment and dining options on the Epic and wasn't too sure about the Navigator. I felt that the ports on the Epic seemed to be a bit more of my taste going into the trip, although by no means was I not looking forward to the ones on the Navigator. But initially, when we thought of Mediterranean, I thought of Western Med, not so much Eastern.

 

So afterwards....looking back and reflecting.

 

After just a couple of days on the Navigator, we all loved the ship. I think that really comes through in the review. I'm not sure that any of us had any complaints, other than Megan with regards to the kids club. There may not have been the variety in the dining when it comes to specialty restaurants, but the ones they did have were very good. And the entertainment is not the caliber of the Epic. But we all loved the Navigator. I enjoyed the ship and the staff. I enjoyed both sea days, which as I mentioned somewhere before, are not my thing. I sail for the ports and often get bored on the sea days. I ended up loving our ports and feeling overall totally impressed with everything about the cruise.

 

Now the Epic, we all wanted to love the Epic. I had every expectation that I would love the Epic. I read the reviews and I knew ahead of time what to expect as far as the positives and negatives. But it just didn't do it for me. After just a couple of days had it not been for the ports, I was ready to be off of that ship. Before boarding I thought for sure I would have purchased the Future Cruise Certificate for a Caribbean cruise on the Epic so that we could return and enjoy more of what the ship had to offer. But after being on it, I could find no real reason to want to sail on the Epic again. It's not that there was anything specific that happened to cause me to not like it, but I just didn't enjoy the ship itself. I found it to be very dark and felt in no way connected to the sea. If we didn't have a balcony cabin I would have felt that we were in a hotel. I thought the hallways where the cabins were were dingy feeling and crowded with the cabin steward carts, which were never put away.

 

There were very few areas other than the deck with the pool where you could get a feeling of being at sea, or even see the sea. Some of the restaurants had nice sea views - but that's only while you were eating.

 

The ship is huge, but that didn't bother me - it never felt crowded, even while sailing at capacity. But to me, what made it so big wasn't that there was so many more amenities offered or even spaces to enjoy - it was just big with extra cabins. It was deck after deck after deck of cabins. The actual space to enjoy was mainly casino, which you had to walk through to go pretty much anywhere, high end shopping - so if you want to shop at sea, that is there for you, and then the restaurants. The what I would consider "fun" spaces, were actually less or the same as the smaller ships we've been on. Sure, there are the water slides - but other than that - we all felt the Navigator actually offered more in the way of activities and family usable space than did the Epic.

 

I didn't mind the Freestyle concept at all, especially since we choose My Time Dining on the Navigator. But it would have been nice to have had a better experience at the Main Dining Room at the Epic. I don't know if we returned if we would have gotten the same table or same staff, I would think not. And I suppose that would be fine.

 

We had one Sea Day on the Epic and since the weather was bad, the pools were closed for most of the day. Sitting outside was pretty much out of the question. I was totally stir crazy. There really wasn't much at all to do, which I couldn't believe on a ship that size! Even finding a nice place to sit, by a window with a sea view was difficult - there weren't many! However, on the flip side, as I mentioned, Keith spent the day with his spa day pass and he loved every minute of it! If you like that, it's definitely the way to go!

 

My parents, especially my mom, really disliked the Epic. Mainly the cabin. She felt it was far too small. She didn't like how dark the ship was and she thought the ship was filled with too much shopping. They did like the entertainment though.

 

Now all of that being said, we all loved the ports on the Epic. Loved them! We thought the amount of time in each port was great. The ease of getting off the ship was great. We never had to wait in lines. We never had issues with any of the staff. The shows were all great and with the exception of Cagney's we thought the specialty restaurants were very good.

 

So like I said, there was nothing specifically that was wrong with the Epic, maybe we just expected more from it?

 

I probably wouldn't choose to sail on the Epic again unless the dates, price and ports were my best option. I wouldn't say I'd never sail on it again though. But it definitely wouldn't be my first choice. Based on our experience, Norwegian wouldn't be my first choice of cruise line either.

 

I wonder if our feelings would have been different had we sailed only on the Epic and not gone on the Navigator first?

 

I also have nothing against bigger ships. I would love to compare the Epic to the Allure or Oasis, but I'm not thrilled with either itinerary (too many sea days for me!) and they're out of my budget right now! :eek:

 

Still open to any questions!!

 

Next up, how we prepared for this adventure!

 

 

[sunandsnow]

Enjoyed reading your review. We have been on two Med cruises both with RCI most recently last Jan. on Serenade departing from Barcelona. We have cruised with several cruise lines but like RCI best especially when traveling with our children. We have been to several of the ports you visited so it was fun to relive our cruise and also see other possibilities. I love traveling in Europe. Your photos are amazing. Thanks for taking the time to post. Happy future travels!

[ShellDil]

One of the things that we did before the cruise to prepare was "International Movie Nights"!

 

I tried to find as many movies set in the countries and cities that we'd be going to as possible and watch them with the kids. A lot of them Alex thought were to "chick flick" type movies so he bailed on quite a few - but he did watch several. My parents and Keith watched some, but I'd say that Megan and I watched the majority.

 

Alex had the attitude before traveling that he'd rather not know everything about everywhere we were going. He'd rather go with a bit of surprise -which sort of comes into more of our travel planning, that I'll go into later. He also already had a pretty good background in European culture and history, either from school or just his somehow endless knowledge that he seems to jsut have.

 

I think it was really helpful for Megan to see in advance so many of the places we'd be going. When we were actually there, she often would reference the movies we saw. It gave her a sense of familiarity.

 

So, what did we watch? I'll try to remember them all, but let's see:

 

Of course - Angels and Demons - both kids really enjoyed this one! They enjoyed seeing the various sites from the movie when we were in Rome.

 

The Agony and the Ecstasy - which as much as they both thought it would horrible as it started, they both really got into the story and enjoyed it. And when we were at the Sistine Chapel it really was brought to life for them. Well, Alex did fall asleep sitting on the bench after getting his initial impressions of it! :eek:

 

Julius Caesar - This was maybe a TV movie? I'm not sure - Richard Harris and Christopher Walken were in the movie. It was quite interesting and when we were in Rome and the Roman Forum area it really brought those areas to life for us.

 

Gladiator - Alex and I enjoyed this A LOT - of course - being in the Colosseum and the underground tour, you could really imagine the whole Gladiator life. This one is rated R though, so watch for that if you have younger kids. Megan had no interest in watching it, so I didn't have to worry about it with her. Although after going to the Colosseum, she said she wished she had seen the movie.

 

Roman Holiday - Megan and I watched this - Alex wanted NO part of it! :) It was a cute movie and we saw several of the main sites from the movie while in Rome. As a matter of fact it seems that several tour guides referenced the movie while we were there!

 

Only You - Both kids like this one. It's set in multiple places through out Italy. This was a cute romantic comedy. Liked it a lot!

 

Under the Tuscan Sun Megan and I watched this one - she thought it was boring - of course I liked it.

 

Letters to Juliet Megan and I liked this a lot. Our initial trip plan, when we were planning to rent a car and drive ourselves to Fallo....had us stopping in Verona and visiting Juliet's wall! But we changed plans and missed Juliet's town. Oh well, another trip!

 

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Even though they weren't in Athens, it still was Greece and it was a cute movie. We liked it.

 

My Life in Ruins - Megan and I watched this. I think my parents saw it too. Loved this movie! And it was a great tour through the ruins in Greece! Mainly Athens!

 

The Tourist Both kids and I think Keith watched this one. Set in Venice. We enjoyed this too.

 

Pompeii We watched a movie on the last day of Pompeii. Alex had seen it in school, but it was really the first time Megan really knew what happened in that last day there. She was totally freaked out about it - but when we went there, it meant so much more to visit! It was sort of a re-enactment of the time from the eruption of Mt Vesuvius going through the life of a few people.

 

 

I think that may be it as far as the movies! Still a few more tips to come!

[ShellDil]

Something else that we did so that we'd all have an idea of traveling overseas, as well as packing etc...was have "meetings" every so often. Megan went on an educational overseas trip the summer before our trip. She went with 30 other kids her age to England and France for 2 weeks. In order to prepare for this trip they had monthly meetings. So she came up with the idea to have monthly family meetings similar to the ones she went to. She organized them and presented them. I'm telling you, she's going to be a teacher when she grows up!

 

So, we may not have actually done this monthly, but she would prepare an agenda and then she had handouts and usually a powerpoint presentation for us! She did this on the laptop and showed it on the tv.

 

So what did she show?

 

Some topics included:

 

Packing tips

How to avoid pickpocketing

You Tube videos of each ship

She put together games -

one was Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire - Greek Culture

another was Italian topics on Jeopardy

 

To do the games she found templates online and then filled in all of the questions. They were all interactive on Power Point I think. She bought candy so we'd get prizes when we got answers right. I'm pretty sure the games were the only meetings that Alex participated!

 

She did Italian Language Lessons - basic words from things she found online. One night was a game to translate all foods items from Italian to English!

 

I think my parents and Megan got a lot from her meetings. She got much of her information from the Rick Steves website and just googling around.

 

It was also pretty timely that Megan's History class last year happened to be Ancient History! She covered pretty much every country and culture that we would be visiting! This helped her to become much more familiar with where we'd be going. For example, one of her projects was to write a letter to a friend as if you lived in Ancient Rome. The Colosseum has just opened and you just attended a Gladiator match. Explain to a friend who doesn't live in Rome what you saw, who was there, everything you can. So she watched endless History Channel videos and read so much about the building and the matches and Gladiators. She really learned so much! She also learned about Greece and Turkey which was so interesting!

 

Next up - packing tips!

 

If anyone has any other questions, just let me know!

 

Thanks!

[joand452]

Something else that we did so that we'd all have an idea of traveling overseas, as well as packing etc...was have "meetings" every so often. Megan went on an educational overseas trip the summer before our trip. She went with 30 other kids her age to England and France for 2 weeks. In order to prepare for this trip they had monthly meetings. So she came up with the idea to have monthly family meetings similar to the ones she went to. She organized them and presented them. I'm telling you, she's going to be a teacher when she grows up!

 

So, we may not have actually done this monthly, but she would prepare an agenda and then she had handouts and usually a powerpoint presentation for us! She did this on the laptop and showed it on the tv.

 

So what did she show?

 

Some topics included:

 

Packing tips

How to avoid pickpocketing

You Tube videos of each ship

She put together games -

one was Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire - Greek Culture

another was Italian topics on Jeopardy

 

To do the games she found templates online and then filled in all of the questions. They were all interactive on Power Point I think. She bought candy so we'd get prizes when we got answers right. I'm pretty sure the games were the only meetings that Alex participated!

 

She did Italian Language Lessons - basic words from things she found online. One night was a game to translate all foods items from Italian to English!

 

I think my parents and Megan got a lot from her meetings. She got much of her information from the Rick Steves website and just googling around.

 

It was also pretty timely that Megan's History class last year happened to be Ancient History! She covered pretty much every country and culture that we would be visiting! This helped her to become much more familiar with where we'd be going. For example, one of her projects was to write a letter to a friend as if you lived in Ancient Rome. The Colosseum has just opened and you just attended a Gladiator match. Explain to a friend who doesn't live in Rome what you saw, who was there, everything you can. So she watched endless History Channel videos and read so much about the building and the matches and Gladiators. She really learned so much! She also learned about Greece and Turkey which was so interesting!

 

Next up - packing tips!

 

If anyone has any other questions, just let me know!

 

Thanks!

 

What a great kid!! She'll be a great teacher!

[Miryam1234]

Hi, did you already post Navigators cruise compasses, or did I miss something? :confused:

I'll be going on same cruise in Oct, so I'd like to get some idea of what's happening onboard.

Thanks for your lovely report. You are making me enjoy my travel plans even more.

Miryam

[ShellDil]

Hi, did you already post Navigators cruise compasses, or did I miss something? :confused:

I'll be going on same cruise in Oct, so I'd like to get some idea of what's happening onboard.

Thanks for your lovely report. You are making me enjoy my travel plans even more.

Miryam

 

Oh you're right! I never did scan the cruise compasses. I'll see if I can find them in my piles of papers! If I have them I'll scan them and post them. Thanks for the reminder.

[bdink921]

I just came across your review a couple of days ago!!! OMGosh what a fabulous trip!!!! Our dream trip is a 'heritage' trip to France, Germany, and Italy for DS high school graduation (we have time, he just started lol). Did you find it better getting around by ship or did you enjoy staying in one place for a few days and doing day trips? We love cruising but I'm torn with the limited time in each port.

[ShellDil]

I just came across your review a couple of days ago!!! OMGosh what a fabulous trip!!!! Our dream trip is a 'heritage' trip to France, Germany, and Italy for DS high school graduation (we have time, he just started lol). Did you find it better getting around by ship or did you enjoy staying in one place for a few days and doing day trips? We love cruising but I'm torn with the limited time in each port.

 

I really enjoyed the combination that we did. We wanted to really focus on Italy, so having the time on land in Venice and Rome, was especially nice. I would have definitely enjoyed more time on the Amalfi coast though. And I'm glad we had the bit of land time in Florence, and probably will return someday. However, had it not been for the cruise, we wouldn't have been able to travel to so many varied places. We got to go as far East as Turkey and as far West as Spain! Even though our port time was limited, I felt that our days were very complete.

 

I think that had we only done a cruise, and not extended our time in Italy to stay the extra days, the trip would have definitely not have felt as complete. So I suppose if I had to pick only one, I would do land. But if you have the time, I would try to do a combination of a cruise to get the variety, and then add on land to the areas that you want to focus on the most.

[Can't Stop Cruisin]

I just spent the afternoon reading your post on this Awesome trip! I am tired and I didn't even go! You have some beautiful photos and great tips. In a week and a half my husband and I are about to take a trip on the Oceania to visit many of the ports you visited and you helped me with my planning.

 

What a wonderful family vacation. Thank you for posting such a thorough and enjoyable review of your trip!!!:)

[ShellDil]

I just spent the afternoon reading your post on this Awesome trip! I am tired and I didn't even go! You have some beautiful photos and great tips. In a week and a half my husband and I are about to take a trip on the Oceania to visit many of the ports you visited and you helped me with my planning.

 

What a wonderful family vacation. Thank you for posting such a thorough and enjoyable review of your trip!!!:)

 

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed my review and also that you got some helpful information from it! Have a fantastic trip! I'm sure you will! :D

[ShellDil]

Hey there! If anyone happens to check back in here, I just couldn't stay away! ;) No seriously... I am getting stir crazy here and that urge to travel again is hitting, so I'm back in my trip planning mode and I was wondering if anyone who checks back here has done the Southern Caribbean cruises? I'm mainly looking at Royal Caribbean - but any recommendations would be great! Again, it would likely be our family of six! My group of four, and my parents! We've started a trend here! I'm hoping this February if we can manage to swing it financially. I would LOVE to go over New Year's but it's just too expensive when compared to other times of the year!

 

And I also wanted to let everyone here know that I finally finished updating my blog with our Europe vacation! It's pretty close to the trip report here, but it's a bit more condensed since there's no comments. Feel free to check it out! The link is in my signature! I've added a few posts since the last Europe one, but you can get to the links on the side bar!

 

I miss posting here! I'm definitely going to have to take another cruise soon!....:D

 

[joand452]

We did a Southern Caribbean cruise in 2007 on the Crown Princess, out of San Juan. We went to some additional southern Caribbean island on our "eastern" Caribbean cruise on the Ruby Princess (out of Fort Lauderdale) a few years later.

 

We have friends who have done a Radiance class cruise to the Southern Caribbean a few times now. In fact, they're on Jewel of the Seas right now.

 

We really liked Aruba and Bonaire -- so different from the other islands. Curacao is high on our must-see list. We want to finish off the "ABC" islands!!

 

Hope you get to go -- all cruises are good.

[ace1zoe2]

We have done both itineraries out of San Juan on RCI. In 2009 we did it with all of our kids & spouses& had a blast. San Juan is a wonderful departure port with lots to do. We did the El Yunque Rainforest, both forts, the kids went to the Barcardi factory for a free tour & lots of free rum, we also did a tour over to Vieques to do the bio-bay swimming with the dynoflagulites. All of this was before our cruise ever started! On the second trip with friends in 2012 we did a Segway tour that was wonderful the morning before we boarded the ship.

 

We stayed both times at the Marriott Stellaris Resort & Casino which is right on the beach.

 

Our favorite island was St Lucia. We did private excursions on most every island and had a fabulous time. We did Moho Beach (with the planes) & Orient Beach and lots more.

 

Regardless of which itinerary you pick, the islands are wonderful. I was surprised by Aruba. Thought it was going to be lush & tropical... It's a desert with cactus everywhere!

 

If you are interested I can look up the tour providers that we used & post them for you. I know we did Cosul Tours & Adventure Antiqua those come to mind right off hand.

Edited November 6, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[Ocean Boy]

We have done the southern Caribbean several times on both Adventure and Serenade. The southern routes are by far my favorite. The islands a beautiful and not quite as crowed as the eastern and western islands as not as many ships go down that far. You also get to see a lot of variation in topography from very lush St. Lucia to the deserts of Aruba and Curacao.

 

I would not hesitate to book a cruise out of San Juan, whichis another place I love visiting, to these great islands.

[ShellDil]

What are the differences between the Adventure and the Serenade? I is it just the itinerary or are the ships different too?

 

I'm just starting to research now so I haven't really had much time to look into it much at all.

 

Keith and I have spent some time in Puerto Rico, and I love Old San Juan! And we've been to some of the ports in the Southern Caribbean on land based vacations, but my parents and the kids haven't been to any of them.

 

The airfare to San Juan can be pricey though. It always bugs me when I pay more for airfare than the cruise!

[ShellDil]

We have done both itineraries out of San Juan on RCI. In 2009 we did it with all of our kids & spouses& had a blast. San Juan is a wonderful departure port with lots to do. We did the El Yunque Rainforest, both forts, the kids went to the Barcardi factory for a free tour & lots of free rum, we also did a tour over to Vieques to do the bio-bay swimming with the dynoflagulites. All of this was before our cruise ever started! On the second trip with friends in 2012 we did a Segway tour that was wonderful the morning before we boarded the ship.

 

We stayed both times at the Marriott Stellaris Resort & Casino which is right on the beach.

 

Our favorite island was St Lucia. We did private excursions on most every island and had a fabulous time. We did Moho Beach (with the planes) & Orient Beach and lots more.

 

Regardless of which itinerary you pick, the islands are wonderful. I was surprised by Aruba. Thought it was going to be lush & tropical... It's a desert with cactus everywhere!

 

If you are interested I can look up the tour providers that we used & post them for you. I know we did Cosul Tours & Adventure Antiqua those come to mind right off hand.

 

If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to know the tour providers you used! It would be a great starting point for me!

 

Thank you so much!