Please help me decide

[jonj]

We are trying to decide on which cruise line and ship we want to go on for our next cruise

 

I am hoping that some of you can help me decide with what you liked best on any or all 3 of these lines

 

2 adults and 2 children, who will be 12 and 9 at the time we take the cruise

 

In the running are:

HAL Zuiderdam (we sailed before in a S suite with a great price) or Westerdam

We like the itinerary they have the week we are looking to go. The itinerary calls on Turks and Caicos and Tortola, two of the ports we haven't been to

 

Loved their private island, free laundry service, concierge lounge with espresso machine. The offerings in the lounge were the same each day, after the 3rd day we didn't bother anymore except for the coffee. Loved the larger balcony and cabin layout. Kids didn't like the kids club much. Liked the option of having the same menu as the dining room in the Lido if we didn't feel like dressing up. We were cruising with other people not in suites so we didn't utilize the concierge service as much as we would have if we were alone

 

Caribbean Princess I was in a regular balcony cabin but looking at the VS suite this time - anyone have any info on this suite or photos?

 

Loved the MuTS, the many seafood buffets during the week, with waiter service during dinner for drinks. Loved Princess Cays. Liked the ship in general

Itinerary is the standard Eastern Caribbean and we probably wouldn't even get off the ship in St Maarten or St Thomas, only on Princess Cays

 

Or NCL Jewel in an AB Penthouse suite (we have sailed on the Dawn and Dream in regular staterooms)

We didn't like how they nickle and dime you on the Dawn. Also didn't like that there was only one pool for over 2000 people. Didn't like that one of the small sections of the pool was closed each afternoon for the deck BBQ. Also didn't like the kids pool being way in the back, where we couldn't enjoy a pool ourselves.

 

Other then that we did enjoy the ship itself. Kids really liked the large chess set available, they even liked the kids club at night. They didn't go during the day as they wanted to be in the pool, and on the Dawn you were charged to use it when the ship was in port even if we weren't getting off the ship.

Thought Great Stirrup Cay was just ok and pales in comparison to Half Moon Cay (which at the time was the only other private island I had been to)

 

Jewel seems better with two pools side by side and the kids would love the slide. Like the idea of the butler service and enjoy the freestyle dining

 

In some pictures I have found on the web there seems to be a coffee/ espresso maker in some of the suites. Is this available in the AB suites on the Jewel? I thought I saw one photo that had it

 

The biggest factor of the Jewel is that we like the layout of the AB suite since it gives us a separate, small bedroom bedroom for the kids with a second bathroom. We have never been to San Juan or Antigua so those ports are a factor too

 

All are pricing at about the same with Princess coming in a little less by about $250

 

We have also sailed in the past on Carnival, only on new ships which we enjoyed but their suites don't offer anything extra. We sailed on Disney this summer and loved it but a regular verandah room is the same price as any of the 3 suites listed above

 

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? All are welcome in helping us decide

I am going to post this on the other two boards also

 

Thanks