NYE Cruise to the ABC Islands

[dacf]

We are planning a Southern Caribbean cruise either over NYE or the first week in January.    We want to make sure the cruise includes all 3 of the ABC Dutch islands.   What I can see, out of all ships at sea, the only ones going to all 3 of the ABC dutch islands are with RCCL:

1)  Explorer of the Seas - departs Miami Dec 27th - 9 nights.  

Ship is in Aruba - Dec. 31st 8am - 9pm.   Bonaire - Jan. 1st 9am - 6pm

 

2)  Freedom of the Seas - departs San Juan Dec. 29 - 7 nights

Ship will be in Curacao - Jan. 1st (8am - 8pm) - Dec. 31st is a sea day

 

3)  Adventure of the Seas - departs Ft Lauderdale Jan 4th - 8 nights

* this cruise I am not concerned about because the holidays are now over and I'm assuming all tours are up and running again  and everything opened.

 

2 Questions I have:

a)  Are the NYE cruises (Dec. departures) more crowded than Jan departure?

b)  Does anyone know if the locals will be running their tours and shops/tourist places opened (NYE and New Years Day)?  I included only the ports during the 31st and 1st, as I'm sure the other days would be business as usual.

We are aware the ship will have their excursions up and running, but when we go on excursions, we like to support the locals.   We find it more personal.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer 🙂

Denise

Edited June 14, 2019 by dacf

[mom says]

A) cruises over holidays are usually  fully booked. Then again, MOST cruises nowadays sail full or close to it.

 

B). Have no idea, since we've never been there at that time. But you could try doing a few dummy bookings with the local operators you might be interested in  to see if they will be running their excursions.

[cb at sea]

Yes...holiday cruises are usually booked WELL in advance, and more expensive, too!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Cruises over the holidays are expensive.

 

You will find some vendors and stores closed on New Years day.

[MCC retired]

The prices and current availability should be night & day different between the NYE sailings and Early Jan.

Other than that expect a full ship , perhaps less families in Jan.

Edited June 15, 2019 by MCC retired

[crystalspin]

On 6/14/2019 at 8:27 AM, dacf said:

We are planning a Southern Caribbean cruise either over NYE or the first week in January.    We want to make sure the cruise includes all 3 of the ABC Dutch islands.   What I can see, out of all ships at sea, the only ones going to all 3 of the ABC dutch islands are with RCCL:

HAL Koningsdam Jan 2-12 2020 r/t FLL

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/C0S10A/K010.html

HTH

Edited June 18, 2019 by crystalspin

[George C]

On 6/15/2019 at 9:44 AM, MCC retired said:

The prices and current availability should be night & day different between the NYE sailings and Early Jan.

Other than that expect a full ship , perhaps less families in Jan.

Totally agree , we avoid holidays cruises too many children and cost extra 

[dacf]

Yes, there is definitely a price difference.   The only reason why we were thinking the NYE cruise is because a friend and her 13yr old son wants to come but she also doesn't want him to miss any school either.  So I guess we will see what happens.

 

OMG!!  Crystalspin just posted a Holland America cruise that has the perfect itinerary.   I was actually looking for a cruise with the ABC Dutch islands that also included a stop over in Grand Turk, however it's Holland America and that's probably why I didn't see that cruise.  Our last cruise was with Celebrity and we were talking to couples that were even 10yrs our senior and everyone was saying to stay away from HA, they said it was like a floating seniors home.   So no thanks, I'll pass.   Unless there's another cruise (Not HA)  then I would love to know and if not then we're back with RCCL which is ok with me.

[dacf]

I think I'm leaning towards Jan. departure onboard the Adventure of the Seas as it's a newer refurbished ship compared to the others and also I won't have to worry about if excursions are closed or not.  However the post from "mom says - cool cruiser" has a really good idea to do a dummy booking and see what happens.  We could always do NYE in Miami.   That sounds exciting too.

[wdw1972]

52 minutes ago, dacf said:

Yes, there is definitely a price difference.   The only reason why we were thinking the NYE cruise is because a friend and her 13yr old son wants to come but she also doesn't want him to miss any school either.  So I guess we will see what happens.

 

OMG!!  Crystalspin just posted a Holland America cruise that has the perfect itinerary.   I was actually looking for a cruise with the ABC Dutch islands that also included a stop over in Grand Turk, however it's Holland America and that's probably why I didn't see that cruise.  Our last cruise was with Celebrity and we were talking to couples that were even 10yrs our senior and everyone was saying to stay away from HA, they said it was like a floating seniors home.   So no thanks, I'll pass.   Unless there's another cruise (Not HA)  then I would love to know and if not then we're back with RCCL which is ok with me.

I've done that HAL itinerary many times, over several years - and it's my favorite!  I'm booked again for this November.  I started cruising in my mid-30's and don't buy the whole "floating seniors home" nonsense.  I've tried other lines, but HAL is my cruise line of choice, and now at age 60 I find myself being one of the "seniors" compared to many of the passengers.  In the old days, when I was younger, I really enjoyed the older HAL passengers - they were interesting, well-traveled, and just great to be around.  But, if you want to believe the old stereotypes that's fine...but it could possibly be your loss too 😉  

 

Sue/WDW1972

[dacf]

I'm going by the majority of the population and what I heard while on Celebrity.  I also took a quick look at the ship.  It doesn't show much in the lines of fun and entertainment.   I like NCL, Carnival and now I'll try RCCL.   These ships have water slides, mini putt, late night deck parties, etc.   The people on Celebrity that we met (and we spoke to quite a few of them too) said HAL is very low key catering to the seniors.  I can totally see myself as being bored if that was the case.  Like I said, I'm just going by what I heard and it wasn't just one couple making those statements.