Which itinerary?

[mama_2_boys]

Which itinerary would you chose aND why?

 

Cruise 1: Carnival Magic, 7 day to Grand Cayman, Mahogany Bay, Belize and Cozumel.

 

Cruise 2: Carnival Horizon, 8 day to Aruba, Bonaire, La Romana and Amber Cove.

 

We've been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel several times and land vacations in Aruba but know nothing about the other ports. We've never been on the Magic or Horizon so either ship is fine with us.

[elcuchio24]

asking for itinerary.....Cruise 2 for sure. I am actually doing that same cruise but on the magic later this year. Great ports. But, I would certainly prefer Magic over Horizon. Tough choice! Overall, if the price is similar I would probably still do Cruise 2. Enjoy!

[tallnthensome]

No question, the Horizon cruise. 

[shellindc]

Def. Horizon, esp. if you've already been to Cozumel and Grand Cayman ports. 

[mvaughn11]

Definitely love the Southern cruise! And I would choose Horizon over Magic just because there are more things to do plus Havana Cabanas

[madiaka]

I have the same question. The reason that it is even a question for me is the price difference - around $1300. 

[mdsgu]

Horizon.  Aruba is beautiful.  Bonaire....not so much, just a little, rocky, arid speck on the map. 

 

You've been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel.  Belize and Mahogany Bay aren't very much fun.  We were just in Belize at Thanksgiving; the ship cancelled all the water excursions on arrival because of raw sewage in the water (bleh).  

[ABQrobin]

It totally depends what type of activities you enjoy.

 

Belize and Mahogany Bay Roatan are fantastic if you are active and love adventure and more rustic locations.  They are not like the fancy Grand Cayman...big contrast.  We love both, headed there on Vista again for 4th time in April.  They are our type of ports.  Cozumel has been the destination for our family land vacations for 18+ years, so you can say we love it.  

 

Bonaire is a great diving and snorkeling location, but not much else to do, it is a big rock in the ocean but that rock is actually a coral reef that surrounds the island with zillions of fish.  So if you are not a water activities person, it will be a bit boring.  We've been there twice for week-long diving vacations and love it.  

 

I have videos of excursions from our previous trips if you are interested.  

 

[Cruisegirl6]

Without a second doubt Horizon!

[mama_2_boys]

38 minutes ago, madiaka said:

I have the same question. The reason that it is even a question for me is the price difference - around $1300. 

Oh yeah, that's a big difference. It's only $500 more for the dates we are looking at.

[mama_2_boys]

23 minutes ago, ABQrobin said:

It totally depends what type of activities you enjoy.

 

Belize and Mahogany Bay Roatan are fantastic if you are active and love adventure and more rustic locations.  They are not like the fancy Grand Cayman...big contrast.  We love both, headed there on Vista again for 4th time in April.  They are our type of ports.  Cozumel has been the destination for our family land vacations for 18+ years, so you can say we love it.  

 

Bonaire is a great diving and snorkeling location, but not much else to do, it is a big rock in the ocean but that rock is actually a coral reef that surrounds the island with zillions of fish.  So if you are not a water activities person, it will be a bit boring.  We've been there twice for week-long diving vacations and love it.  

 

I have videos of excursions from our previous trips if you are interested.  

 

We aren't very adventurous. Haha! We are more beach people. We love Aruba but I was concerned we wouldn't find much to do in the other ports.

[ABQrobin]

2 hours ago, mama_2_boys said:

We aren't very adventurous. Haha! We are more beach people. We love Aruba but I was concerned we wouldn't find much to do in the other ports.

 

Belize has hundreds of tiny outer islands that are amazing excursions.  Roatan has the west end beaches with excursions.  

Cozumel has lots of beaches.  Roatan also has the sloth/monkey excursions or iguana farms, etc.  Belize has Mayan ruins.

 

Bonaire doesn't really have great beaches, it has ironshore (rocky shoreline of dead coral).  

Amber Cove you have to take an excursion to get to a beach as the port area only has a huge pool.

 

As I said before, it all depends on what you want.

 

[brookeq]

Amber Cove has no real beaches close by.  Its just a pool and shops at the port.  There are fun things to do outside of the port.  We did the 27 waterfalls of damajagua.  But it involved a hike and sliding and jumping from falls.  It was a lot of fun but not for everyone.   

 

We were looking at doing a family cruise with my siblings and their families next year.  We actually picked the horizon cruise you have listed.  But now everyone is doing their own vacation.   

 

My husbands family is doing the magic cruise next month.  We have already done that exact cruise but different ship.  I still wanted to do the horizon but we decided to join them on the magic.   

[brookeq]

Belize also has no beaches close to port.  We had to head to Goffs Caye for beach time.  This trip we are doing the ruins.  

Roatan has a beach right there at the dock but the "better" (depends on your opinion) beaches about a half hour away at West Bay beach.  

[LuckyStar]

4 hours ago, ABQrobin said:

It totally depends what type of activities you enjoy.

 

Belize and Mahogany Bay Roatan are fantastic if you are active and love adventure and more rustic locations.  They are not like the fancy Grand Cayman...big contrast.  We love both, headed there on Vista again for 4th time in April.  They are our type of ports.  Cozumel has been the destination for our family land vacations for 18+ years, so you can say we love it.  

 

Bonaire is a great diving and snorkeling location, but not much else to do, it is a big rock in the ocean but that rock is actually a coral reef that surrounds the island with zillions of fish.  So if you are not a water activities person, it will be a bit boring.  We've been there twice for week-long diving vacations and love it.  

 

I have videos of excursions from our previous trips if you are interested.  

 

I'm told Bonaire is good for snorkeling.  We LOVE to snorkel so the A-B-C islands are a must for us.  I'd pick 2.

[mvaughn11]

3 minutes ago, LuckyStar said:

I'm told Bonaire is good for snorkeling.  We LOVE to snorkel so the A-B-C islands are a must for us.  I'd pick 2.

Bonaire is great for snorkeling. We saw 5 of 6 sea turtles last time...

[mama_2_boys]

Would Bonaire be an ok place for first time snorkeling or only for someone more advanced?

[mvaughn11]

We used a company for our excursion called Woodwind. Just google "Woodwind snorkel Bonaire". They are very good. They had enough guides to take us out in groups of 8 to 10 people. We snorkeled in 3 different spots. It was an awesome experience. Best snorkeling we've ever done. 

[mama_2_boys]

14 minutes ago, mvaughn11 said:

We used a company for our excursion called Woodwind. Just google "Woodwind snorkel Bonaire". They are very good. They had enough guides to take us out in groups of 8 to 10 people. We snorkeled in 3 different spots. It was an awesome experience. Best snorkeling we've ever done. 

That sounds like so much fun. I'll look them up. Thank you!