Southern Versus Eastern Caribbean from Florida

[CoolOne56]

17 hours ago, amydresh said:

 

I am loving to see all the responses about Aruba and Curacao being the best ones.  My family and my 2 sisters with their families are going on the Horizon doing the ABC islands in Jan 2021.  My dh and I did St Kitts and St Maarten and those were our favorite islands so far so I would have chosen them from the OP's list.  I can't wait to do this cruise and experience even better islands!

I'm looking into St. Kitts or Antigua for 2020.

Edited December 1, 2018 by CoolOne56

[CoolOne56]

I'm still checking Carnival's website for St. Kitts or Antigua for March 2020, haven't seen anything new yet. 😞

Edited December 1, 2018 by CoolOne56

[CoolOne56]

7 hours ago, 1lizette1 said:

Why? Is it because it was too cold at the beginning? Any other reasons?

I'm asking because we're from Toronto and we're looking into a Baltimore sailing but if there are enough "cons" then we'll cough up the extra $$ and fly to Florida

Son, granddaughter & myself sailed from Baltimore 10/2011 to Coco Cay, Nassau and Freeport.  We will not do that again.  It's too cold to be outside and we had a balcony - no one out on deck.

 

My 2 sisters and others sailed out of Baltimore in 2012, both said they would not do that again.

 

1lizett1, if you can, cough up the extra funds & fly to Florida - so much more fun! 

[amydresh]

On 11/30/2018 at 6:15 PM, CoolOne56 said:

I'm looking into St. Kitts or Antigua for 2020.

 

St Kitts was my favorite island out of San Juan, St Thomas, St Lucia, Barbados, and St Maarten.  It is a beautiful island and seemed to be the most well taken care of.  But, a lot of the other islands were still recovering from Maria so maybe I’m not being fair...

[kcdancerkc]

If you want to go further south, do what we did and book and pay for a Princess ship that goes to all three of the ABC islands.  Like the following year.

We made small payments over several months. Our first priority is the destination, not ship nor cruise line.  Life is short, bucket list is

trying new things as well as to balance with our budget !

 

any cruise is a good one !

[SNJCruisers]

On 11/30/2018 at 7:17 PM, CoolOne56 said:

I'm still checking Carnival's website for St. Kitts or Antigua for March 2020, haven't seen anything new yet. 😞

At this point for March of 2020 visiting those 2 islands, these would be your choices on the mainstream lines. 

7 Days...RCI Freedom of the Seas or Celebrity Summit out of San Juan.

10 Days...RCI Serenade of the Seas, Crown Princess or Celebrity Reflection all out of Fort Lauderdale.

10 Days...NCL Epic out of San Juan and NCL Gem out of NYC.

[pacruise804]

On 11/30/2018 at 12:13 PM, 1lizette1 said:

Why? Is it because it was too cold at the beginning? Any other reasons?

I'm asking because we're from Toronto and we're looking into a Baltimore sailing but if there are enough "cons" then we'll cough up the extra $$ and fly to Florida

The Pride can be a fun ship and we've sailed it twice since it's an easy drive.  The biggest negatives to me are the chillier weather and limited ports.  The first time we sailed her was Feb/March of this year.  High winds kept the upper decks closed much of the time, and even the lower deck was closed part of the trip home (nor'Easter). Our September cruise was fine, although I think upper decks might have been closed some with wind even then.

 

Pride mostly sails to Bahamas which many cruisers don't enjoy.  We love being on the ocean and can always find something to do at each port (even if it is staying on the ship 😉 ).  We don't use ship pools, so 70's is fine for us (even 50's/60's) for the chance to get away from harsh winters and not deal with flying.  There is a retractable roof too, so parts of the pool area are still usable even in the cold.  If you prioritize warm weather for the entire trip or more varied ports, then I would up the budget to include Florida.