Jewel/Adventure OTS - Which Itinerary?

[Lumee23]

Hey Everyone! I am hoping some seasoned cruisers can offer some advice/suggestions. Hubby and I are going to go on our first big vacation without the littles in April of next year and we are at the beginning stages of our planning. This is a very rare opportunity for us so we want to make this vacation count. We have narrowed our trip down to a cruise out of San Juan but are having difficulties deciding on an itinerary. The ones that work best with our schedule are:

 

1. Jewel OTS - 4/2 - St Croix, St Maarten, Dominca, Barbados, Grenada

2. Adventure OTS - 4/15 - St Thomas, St Kitts, Curacao, Aruba

3. Adventure OTS - 4/22 - St Maarten, St Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados

4. Adventure OTS - 4/29 - St Maarten, Bonaire, Aruba, Curacao

 

We have been to St Maarten and St Thomas for a cruise stop but didn't do too much so we don't have any issues going back to either. Every other spot we have never been.

 

Since we won't have our young children we were hoping to do more "adventure" type stuff that is impossible/hard to do with kids. The only problem being we are not the most adventurous of people so we would need to start light. We were just on a cruise and did a rainforest hike and swim with a private tour guide that we absolutely loved.

 

Overall I think I would prefer the Adventure OTS but with such port intensive itineraries I don't think the ship will make that big of a difference to us.

 

So what do you guys think? Any tips on excursion recommendations would be great too!

[cruiseapril]

We would choose #4 first and #2 second.

 

We have been to the ABC islands many times and enjoy the beaches in Aruba, the snorkeling in Bonaire, and the cove beaches and sight seeing in Curacao. There are many varied excursion choices mentioned on the port forums.

[Clarea]

I would also opt for the itinerary that includes Bonaire.

[bouhunter]

I vote #3. St. Lucia is beautiful and we love Barbados (spent a week there in November). The thing is, you'll get lots of different opinions here and it won't help much with your decision making:D Bottom line - you can't go wrong with a southern cruise from San Juan!

[erniesband]

With no kids in tow I'd go for the Jewel cruise. The ship is smaller, has less kids onboard and the ports you've got are really good ones for adventure tours.

If you're looking for a more intimate but fun ship go with Jewel.

Recommendations for excursions in Barbados -Calabaza , book it early, they only take a small group and sell out fast.

http://www.barbadossailingcruises.com

Dominica - Bumppiing Tours , hike the rainforest, swim Titou Gorge, snorkel at Champaign Reef with the best guide in Dominica, Levi Barron.

http://bumpiingtours.com/cruise-ship-visitors.html

St Croix - kayak the Salt River with Virgin Kayaks, Brian is a great tour guide and this one is twice as long as the ship's tour.

http://www.virginkayaktours.com

Grenada - There are some good rainforest hikes here. Hiking the 3 Sisters is a good one, we used Mandoo Tours for this. He's got a lot if different tours that give you there highlights of Grenada too.

http://www.grenadatours.com

[bigque]

We have been on Adventure & Serenade (Sister of Jewel) on itinerary 2 & 3 and we enjoyed both ships and the ports in both a lot. One thing to consider that might make a difference to you is the sea days. The itineraries with 4 ports have 2 sea days and the ones with 5 ports only have 1 sea day. :cool:

[Lumee23]

Thank you you everyone for your input! Much appreciated :D I am really torn between Dominica and Curacao. Such a wonderful problem to have!

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

OP: I like options 2 and 4 the best, but you can't go wrong with any of them.

 

We have been on Adventure & Serenade (Sister of Jewel) on itinerary 2 & 3 and we enjoyed both ships and the ports in both a lot. One thing to consider that might make a difference to you is the sea days. The itineraries with 4 ports have 2 sea days and the ones with 5 ports only have 1 sea day. :cool:

 

Well who woulda thought...

 

:p

[KBRADFORD79]

I vote for #3 or #4 - Definitely Adventure of the Seas compared to the Jewel. There are more destinations for number 3 and number 4 includes Bonaire. :)

[Ashland]

We've done # 2 on Jewel.

 

And will be doing #2 & #3 on Adventure this coming May as a B2B.

 

With kids I would definitely do the Adventure regardless of itinerary.