Souther Caribbean- Which Itinerary

[akolasz]

Looking to book a Southern Caribbean cruise, both are the same price for 7 nights and just trying to find out which ports are favorites of others. Out of these ports half of our party have already been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten though I am always happy to visit a port more then once. Both are round trip out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

Option A:

Willemstad, Curacao

Oranjestad, Aruba

Kralendijk, Bonaire

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

 

Option B:

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

St. Johns, Antigua

Casteries, St. Lucia

Bridgetown, Barbados

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

 

 

Thanks so much!

[Clarea]

We prefer option A because it has Bonaire (outstanding snorkeling) and one more sea day.

[akolasz]

One more note to add is that we will be travelling with 2 kids, ages 8 and 4.5 at the time of travel plus two sets of grandparents. So looking for nice beaches but nothing super adventurous. We do like boat/catamaran trips too.

[OCruisers]

We would pick Option A because it goes to the DEEP Southern Caribbean to the ABC islands -- Aruba, Bonaire, & Curacao. :D

[mixplix]

We've done B (with substitutions one year for St. Kitts and the other for St. Croix) twice. My family didnt want to do it again, so we are doing A next spring. With the exception of St. Thomas, i liked all the B islands. We havent done the ABC's yet, and liked St. Maartan. I am not a sea day fan, however, and A has two.

[ColoradoGurl]

I would do option B first because it visits the most places, and my goal when picking an itinerary is to visit the most new places. However, they seem to be getting rid of itinerary A, eliminating Bonaire for some reason, at least for next summer, so with that knowledge, I would consider A first to make sure I was able to visit a port that might not be available next time.

 

All of the ports are great. Decide if you'd rather have more time on islands or more time on the ship, and choose that way.

 

 

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[Clarea]

I would do option B first because it visits the most places, and my goal when picking an itinerary is to visit the most new places. However, they seem to be getting rid of itinerary A, eliminating Bonaire for some reason, at least for next summer, so with that knowledge, I would consider A first to make sure I was able to visit a port that might not be available next time. ...

You're right, I forget to mention how they seem to be eliminating Bonaire. Plus, Jewel (the other RC ship in the Southern Carib itinerary out of San Juan) does not do Aruba or Curacao at all.

[cb at sea]

We prefer more port days...so B!

[cruzgryphon]

I would suggest Option A. I like the ports in A better. The ports are pretty easy to get around (i.e. Barbados takes about a 15 minutes ride to get to the main town from the port). Also you get a lower weather risk in terms of hurricanes (assuming you're travelling during hurricane season).

[akolasz]

Thanks everyone! Lot's of good tips so far. This is being booked way far in advance. We are looking at March 2019. This will be my daughters 3rd cruise and my sons 2nd. Though this cruise will be 4 years since the last time they were on a cruise as my husband and I will be doing Alaska in May 2018 for our 10 year wedding anniversary. Option A actually leaves on my daughters 8th birthday! Both kids love swimming in the ocean. We were supposed to do the Puerto Rico cruise this past April 2017 but had to cancel it as we ended up going to Hawaii for a family wedding instead.

[SG65CB]

Easy decision. I am going to recommend you do both. We have Option A booked for March 2018 and Option B booked for March 2019. Suggest you do the same and we'll see you there!

[easyboy]

We frequent the ABC cruise so we would choose A.

 

 

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[kccrzr]

Personally, I prefer option A as well because of Bonaire. However, with two younger kids who are happy to just go to the beach I would opt for B - both Antigua and Barbados have beautiful beaches convenient to the ship. And, if you want a boat ride combined with swimming or snorkeling, Barbados and St Maarten and St Lucia have great options.

[LondonTowner]

Definitely B as the islands are beautiful, lovely local people and so much to see and do.

[Virtopia]

Option A for me. I prefer sea days and absolutely love the longer port days in Curaçao and Aruba. For my upcoming cruise, Curaçao is in port from 8am to 8pm and Aruba from 8am to 11pm. Can't beat experiencing the Aruban nightlife.

 

 

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[cruiseguy1016]

You can't go wrong with either one and you won't be disappointed with whichever one you choose. We will be doing option A next spring for the simple reason we have never been to Bonaire. DW and I are both scuba divers and Bonaire supposedly has some of the best diving in the world. We have done variations of option B several times. We have been to all of the islands in option B and I believe those islands offer better beaches than those in option A. St. Thomas has some gorgeous beaches but I would recommend Trunk Bay on St. John. It is my favorite beach in the Caribbean. There are many options to get to St. John from St. Thomas. You will have to take a ferry (boat trip :D) and you will visit another island that you haven't been to yet. One of our family's best excursions ever was our catamaran trip with Cool Runnings in Barbados.

[Virtopia]

You can't go wrong with either one and you won't be disappointed with whichever one you choose. We will be doing option A next spring for the simple reason we have never been to Bonaire. DW and I are both scuba divers and Bonaire supposedly has some of the best diving in the world. We have done variations of option B several times. We have been to all of the islands in option B and I believe those islands offer better beaches than those in option A. St. Thomas has some gorgeous beaches but I would recommend Trunk Bay on St. John. It is my favorite beach in the Caribbean. There are many options to get to St. John from St. Thomas. You will have to take a ferry (boat trip :D) and you will visit another island that you haven't been to yet. One of our family's best excursions ever was our catamaran trip with Cool Runnings in Barbados.

 

 

How long does it take to get to St John? I wasn't planning to come off in St Thomas but wouldn't mind exploring another island.

 

 

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[akolasz]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! We ended up booking option A as it worked better for my husbands foreseeable work schedule but since it's so far out who knows what will happen by then. Hopefully this won't be our last time to do a cruise from San Juan!

 

We officially booked Freedom of the Seas 3/3/2019!

[Hoopster95]

One more note to add is that we will be travelling with 2 kids, ages 8 and 4.5 at the time of travel plus two sets of grandparents. So looking for nice beaches but nothing super adventurous. We do like boat/catamaran trips too.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! We ended up booking option A as it worked better for my husbands foreseeable work schedule but since it's so far out who knows what will happen by then. Hopefully this won't be our last time to do a cruise from San Juan!

 

We officially booked Freedom of the Seas 3/3/2019!

 

Congrats on your choice!!!

May I make a (rather strong ;)) suggestion considering what I underlined in your quote above?

 

Book Woodwind Snorkeling adventure on line before you go. You and your entire family will not regret this

If interested, scroll through this short picture review and read what some fellow cruisers have said as well

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=50965242&highlight=Woodwind#post50965242

 

There are a ton of other positive reviews here on this forum for Woodwind by using the search function

Have a great cruise!:D

[akolasz]

Congrats on your choice!!!

May I make a (rather strong ;)) suggestion considering what I underlined in your quote above?

 

Book Woodwind Snorkeling adventure on line before you go. You and your entire family will not regret this

If interested, scroll through this short picture review and read what some fellow cruisers have said as well

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=50965242&highlight=Woodwind#post50965242

 

There are a ton of other positive reviews here on this forum for Woodwind by using the search function

Have a great cruise!:D

 

 

Thanks! I will be sure to look into it.

 

SaveSaveSaveSave

[dani negreanu]

How long does it take to get to St John? I wasn't planning to come off in St Thomas but wouldn't mind exploring another island.

 

Hi Deon,

I've done A, instead of St. Marteen we had St. Kitts.

I wasn't interested in St. Thomas, so we took (rarely for us) a ship excursion since it involved a boat transfer. It took 40 mins instead of the Red Huck ferry, which takes ~15 min. We had some OBC to "burn", otherwise I wouldn't recommend this excursion with RC.

I'm attaching a link to a very detailed thread from the St. Thomas/St. John port of call "Spending the day at St. John" - very useful info. The beaches looked stunning.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2017377

 

Enjoy, Dani :D

[karena1]

Looking to book a Southern Caribbean cruise, both are the same price for 7 nights and just trying to find out which ports are favorites of others. Out of these ports half of our party have already been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten though I am always happy to visit a port more then once. Both are round trip out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

Option A:

Willemstad, Curacao

Oranjestad, Aruba

Kralendijk, Bonaire

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

 

Option B:

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

St. Johns, Antigua

Casteries, St. Lucia

Bridgetown, Barbados

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

 

 

Thanks so much!

 

Option B without a doubt, our favorite southern itin! We don't do excursions, just got hit our favorite beaches.

 

Cannot stand Bonaire, one of the worst islands for beaches ever! If you take an excursion to snorkel or dive it is great, but if you want a great beach to relax at, not so much. Also not fans of Aruba, too much like a desert. We have been to Option B islands many, many times, have our favorite beaches at all of them and never get tired of going there!

[vamartha]

Option A! Aruba is fantastic and this one also goes to Bonaire and that is a huge plus! Not many cruises hit all of the ABC islands in one sailing!

[LondonTowner]

I had already said I would choose Option B, but is interesting how every bodies likes and dislikes are different. We have visited quite a number of Caribbean ports and our least favourites ar Aruba and St Maarten.

[cruiseguy1016]

How long does it take to get to St John? I wasn't planning to come off in St Thomas but wouldn't mind exploring another island.

 

 

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There are two options. There is a ferry that (I think) leaves directly from Havensight pier. That ferry takes about 45 minutes I believe. We prefer the other option which is to take a taxi to Red Hook and then take the Red Hook ferry to St. John. The taxi ride to Red Hook is about 20 minutes and the ferry to St. John is about 15 minutes. The ferry leaves every hour on the hour. We always get off the ship around 8:15 and grab a taxi. That gets us to Red Hook in plenty of time to catch the 9:00 ferry. Once on St. John, grab a taxi to Trunk Bay. Plan your return trip so you make it back to the ship with plenty of time to spare before departure. We usually catch the 2:00 ferry back to Red Hook. That puts us back at the cruise pier before 3:00 and then DW has time to shop.