which cruise to chose? and why? HELP : )

[melika091900]

i love all of you great CC members so maybe you can help me out,

weve been on 3 cruises and the 4th is booked,

were looking to go to the caribbean again next year

which iten/ship would you book for the caribbean, ?

weve been to cozumel and jamaica, so we dont really want to do the western caribbean,

im really heading towards somewhere that goes to dominica? belize maybe? st thomas ? any good nice ports in the caribbean...

 

any suggestions would be great , just wondering which itenerary is a favorite to kinda get a lot of the islands of the caribbean all in one trip?

i keep looking online and it seems they all have a lot to offer but since weve never been to the islands in the caribbean i wanted info about which ones we should definetley go to ????

 

 

 

thanks to everyone in advance....

 

melissa

[CruisinMK]

I would go for southern caribbean. NCL has some great itineraries out of New York, 11 day, I think they have one out of Miami too.

 

I did one that started and ended in Puerto Rico, liked that a lot but you don't get the sea days. NCL doesn't do that itinerary.

[electricron]

I'll second the Southern Caribbean choice.

 

9-Day Southern Caribbean - Norwegian Pearl

2007: Jan 5, 19; Feb 2, 16;

Mar 2, 16, 30; Apr 13

Day 1 Miami, Florida - - 4:00pm

Day 2 At sea

Day 3 At sea

Day 4 Roseau, Dominica 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 5 Bridgetown, Barbados 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 6 Castries, St. Lucia 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 7 St. John's, Antigua 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 8 Tortola, British Virgin Islands 7:00am 1:00pm (Optional tour to Virgin Gorda is available)

Day 9 At sea

Disembarkation Day Miami, Florida 12:00pm

 

9-Day Southern Caribbean - Norwegian Pearl

2007: Oct 19; Nov 2, 16, 30; Dec 14, 28

2008: Jan 11, 25; Feb 8, 22; Mar 7, 21; Apr 4

Day 1 Miami, Florida - - 5:00pm

Day 2 At sea

Day 3 Samana, Dominican Republic 10:00am 6:00pm

Day 4 Tortola, British Virgin Islands 10:00am 6:30pm (Optional tour to Virgin Gorda is available)

Day 5 St. John's, Antigua 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 6 Bridgetown, Barbados 9:00am 6:00pm

Day 7 Castries, St. Lucia 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 8 At sea

Day 9 At sea

Disembarkation Day Miami, Florida 7:00am

 

9-Day Southern Caribbean - Norwegian Jewel

2007: Nov 9, 23; Dec 7, 21

2008: Jan 4, 18 ; Feb 15, 29; Mar 14, 28; Apr 11

Same itineary as the Pearl for this winter.

 

Ships from New York also have a few sailings to the Southern Caribbean.

 

10-Day Exotic Southern Caribbean, New York round-trip - Norwegian Spirit

2006: Oct 19; Nov 9, 30

2007: Jan 13, 23

Day 1 New York, NY - - 4:00pm

Day 2 At sea

Day 3 At sea

Day 4 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands 11:00am 6:00pm

Day 5 St. John's, Antigua 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 6 Bridgetown, Barbados 9:00am 4:00pm

Day 7 Philipsburg, St. Maarten 11:00am 6:00pm

Day 8 Tortola, British Virgin Islands 6:00am 1:00pm (Optional tour to Virgin Gorda is available)

Day 9 At sea

Day 10 At sea

Disembarkation Day New York, NY 8:00am

 

11-Day Exotic Southern Caribbean, New York round-trip - Norwegian Spirit

2006: Oct 8, 29; Nov 19; Dec 10

2007: Jan 2

Day 1 New York, New York - 4:00pm

Day 2 At sea

Day 3 At sea

Day 4 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands 11:00am 6:00pm

Day 5 St. John's, Antigua 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 6 Bridgetown, Barbados 9:00am 6:00pm

Day 7 St. George's, Grenada 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 8 Roseau, Dominica 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 9 Tortola, British Virgin Islands 8:00am 1:00pm (Optional tour to Virgin Gorda is available)

Day 10 At sea

Day 11 At sea

Disembarkation Day New York, New York 8:00am

 

12-Day Exotic Southern Caribbean, New York round-trip - Norwegian Spirit

2006: Dec 21

Day 1 New York, New York - - 4:00pm

Day 2 At sea

Day 3 At sea

Day 4 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands 11:00am 6:00pm

Day 5 St. John's, Antigua 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 6 Bridgetown, Barbados 9:00am 6:00pm

Day 7 St. George's, Grenada 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 8 Roseau, Dominica 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 9 Tortola, British Virgin Islands 8:00am 1:00pm (Optional tour to Virgin Gorda is available)

Day 10 At sea

Day 11 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 12 At sea

Disembarkation Day New York, New York 8:00am

 

11-Day Exotic Southern Caribbean, New York, round-trip - Norwegian Dawn

2007: Feb 18; Apr 1, 23

Same itinerary as the Spirit's 11 day cruise.

 

11-Day Exotic Southern Caribbeasn, New York round-trip - Norwegian Gem

2008: Jan 5, 26

Same itinerary as the Spirit's 11 day cruise.

 

10-Day Exotic Southern Caribbean, New York round-trip - Norwegian Gem

2008: Jan 16; Feb 6

Same itinerary as the Spirit's 10 day cruise.

 

Good luck finding the right cruise......

[melika091900]

thank you both so much for all the info..... : )

 

is there any ports you would say are must go to in the southern caribbean?

i personally want to go to all before i die, but just in general which ones would you say i should see 1st?

 

 

thanks again

melissa

[CruisinMK]

I don't know too much because I only did one cruise there. I liked barbados and Aruba (prayers for Natalee Halloway). People have different opinions about Puerto Rico but I really liked it a lot, so a cruise that starts there is kind of a bonus port. :) I think the itineraries out of PR are more interesting too, they start closer in so they can go to more ports and get further south.

 

Since you asked about ports-before-you-die, I looked at all the southern caribbean itineraries available and picked the one I would most want to do if it was my last cruise of my life.

 

The itinerary that made me drool the most by far was the Celebrity Galaxy ones out of puerto rico, 10,11 and 13 night. The runner up was RCCL Empress 11 day out of PR. I don't know how either of these ships are though.

 

Princess has an exotic one going to Manaus, brazil (think amazon rainforest) from PR, bouncing off some southern caribbean islands on the way. I did the regal and don't want to do it again but that is an interesting itinerary. You could have a fantastic land add-on in brazil at the end of your trip. Flying home from manaus brazil is probably rather expensive.

[CruisinMK]

Hey since you are in San Francisco, how about a Panama repositioning cruise?

Grab one of the 14 day that start in Miami and end up in San Diego or LA. Most will stop in Aruba or someplace else in the caribbean on the way. And you end up pretty close to home, only a very short flight instead of having to cross the country at the end of your cruise. Some of the stops are pretty interesting in Costa Rica, Huatulco (southern mexico), etc...

 

Also NCL sends their Hawaiian ships to San Francisco every few years for drydock. What you can do is catch a repositioning cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii, they are 11 day. I did one in June, was really great. Pride of America has one coming up... You'd just take a taxi to your cruise, then only have to fly one way back from hawaii. Since the cruise ends in Hawaii you can add on a hotel stay if you have time.

[judyf]

Hi mellissa, I've been to the Caribbean a few times. It really depends what you like to do. Are you guys the shoppertype or are you like me and wnat to see and do as much as possible and save shopping for when you're home.

 

 

First I thing from your posts you MIGHT be looking for a NCL ship. The Dawn is a wonderfull ship, I know you liked the Star so you will love the Dawn.

 

When I'm leaving from somewhere else then my homeport NYC, I pick a departure city on depending where I want to visit pre or post cruise.

 

Too bad you couldn't join us on the 11 day Dawn cruise out of NYC that has some great ports. NYC is a great pre or post cruise city.

 

Give me an idea of what you guys are looking for and I will give you my ideas and can let you know what I did in some of the ports.

[ce2000]

melika, you didn't say what months you are considering a Caribbean Cruise next year. There are lot fewer ships in the Caribbean during the summer months, if that is time frame you are looking at. I would recomend the Caribbean Princess eastern itenery cruise sailing from Ft. Lauderdale. It stops at St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Princess Cays. It is a 7 day cruise. My 15 year old son and I took this cruise this summer and we had a great time. Princess offers personal choice dinning, very similar to NCL Freestyle, if you like that concept. Princess also offers traditional dining if you prefer that. Someone suggested a re-positioning cruise from the Caribbean to the west coast through the Panama Canal. I like this idea a lot, but since the canal is located in the western caribbean, you may not visit any port that you have not already been to. I don't believe that NCL has very many ships in the caribbean during the summer, but I am reasonably sure they have some repositioning cruises going to Alaska from the Caribbean.

[Welove2cruise2]

My vote is also for Southern Caribbean -- our favorite so far! Dominica is a beautiful island, so different from the other Carribean islands! Contact Lestor Pond for a private tour! In Barbados we did a cataman tour through the ship and had a wonderful time! In Antiqua we just went to the beach -- the beach we went to was next to the Sandals resort -- beautiful! And for our port stop in Tortola, we took an excursion right from the shp to Virgin Gorda and the Baths -- one of the 100 places you MUST visit before you die! BEAUTIFUL!

 

We haven't done an Eastern Caribbean yet, but have done many of the island in the EC. Unfortunately I missed most of the islands on our WC cruise due to a back injury, but I guess that gives us an excuse to go back!

 

Whatever you decide, ENJOY!!

[wrp96]

Someone suggested a re-positioning cruise from the Caribbean to the west coast through the Panama Canal. I like this idea a lot, but since the canal is located in the western caribbean, you may not visit any port that you have not already been to.

 

Many Panama Canal cruises out of Florida stop at Southern Caribbean ports like Aruba and many also stop at places like Costa Rica - which few Western Caribbean cruises go to. A Panama Canal repo cruise would be even better because they usually stop at ports on the Pacific coast that are rarely stopped at by anything but longer cruises, due to the fact they can't be reached on 7 day cruises out of California.

[electricron]

For Panama Canal repositioning cruises, most sail westwards in the spring to the West Coast, and eastwards from the West Coast in the fall.

The few exceptions are those sailing from the East Coast for South America, for example the Crown, which does the Canal in reverse order. There's always the possibility of a new ship sailing in reverse order just to get to the West Coast, or one on a world wide tour, but they are few and far between.

[melika091900]

thank you all for your replys !!!!

and hey judy.. yeah we like to go to the caribbean for the beaches and scenery mostly..... all the white sand and warm water.......

any other suggestions?

thank you again everyone , you are all great !!!!!!

melissa

[newmexicoNita]

Depending on the time of the year and the number of days available, I would check out repositioning first and southern Caribbean next. We have cruised all the major ports: choices for us: Barbados and Dominica, both are beautiful with wonderful people. I have never seen the thrill in San Juan; love Aruba and Curacao though we have heard Aruba has changed some in the past few years. I still love the place. Tortola is wonderful if you want to venture over to Virgin Gorda to see the baths. The people on the island don't seem to really care if we visit them or not; I have seen friendlier people in the crabby camp...St Thomas is for shoppers. Again, maybe not the deals of yesteryear but wonderfully fun. St Johns is just really nice, again the people living in the Virgin Islands aren't terribly fond of the tourist either.

 

Whatever you choose I am sure you will have a blast.

 

Nita

[melika091900]

Depending on the time of the year and the number of days available, I would check out repositioning first and southern Caribbean next. We have cruised all the major ports: choices for us: Barbados and Dominica, both are beautiful with wonderful people. I have never seen the thrill in San Juan; love Aruba and Curacao though we have heard Aruba has changed some in the past few years. I still love the place. Tortola is wonderful if you want to venture over to Virgin Gorda to see the baths. The people on the island don't seem to really care if we visit them or not; I have seen friendlier people in the crabby camp...St Thomas is for shoppers. Again, maybe not the deals of yesteryear but wonderfully fun. St Johns is just really nice, again the people living in the Virgin Islands aren't terribly fond of the tourist either.

 

Whatever you choose I am sure you will have a blast.

 

Nita

 

thank you for the info.. yeah i was looking for something with barbados, and dominica.... at least.... we shall see what i find,

thanks again

melissa

[triplover]

I liked some of those itineraries that were posted at the beginning of this thread on ncl out of nyc to southern carribean. I have never cruised out of nyc before and was wondering if someone could tell me if you went on the 2/18 cruise for instance how many days at sea are chilly (cold) at the beginning and end of the cruise? Thanks!

[judyf]

yeah we like to go to the caribbean for the beaches and scenery mostly..... all the white sand and warm water.

 

You can't go wrong with any destination then. ST. Thomas which is know for shopping we went to Meaghans Beach which I thought was great and a there's a few others I haven't been too.

 

 

I would choose by line, ship, price and date. All the prots in the Caribeean have at least one if not many great beaches and fun things to do.

[awatt]

Southern Caribbean is our favorite. The 10-day exotic listed above looks wonderful. Some of our favorite ports with sea days before and after to relax,