Eastern or Western Carribean???

[wendell62]

We are planning to book a cruise with all my family members. I am hoping regular cruisers can help me.

 

Which is the better cruise an Eastern or Western Cruise? We are not great shoppers but would love beaches - beautiful white sand beaches to hang out in port.

 

Eastern or Western Carrbean?

 

Which cruise line is the better choice?

 

AND

 

Is the end of April a bad time of year go?

[CruiseCentric]

We are planning to book a cruise with all my family members. I am hoping regular cruisers can help me.

 

Which is the better cruise an Eastern or Western Cruise? We are not great shoppers but would love beaches - beautiful white sand beaches to hang out in port.

 

Eastern or Western Carrbean?

 

Which cruise line is the better choice?

 

AND

 

Is the end of April a bad time of year go?

 

I think EC is great for shopping and beaches.St thomas, Tortola and St Marteen come to mind

 

WC is more rustic and exotic, so many people who are into adventure are satisfied there like Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras

 

It might help to actually narrow down which EC OR WC cruises you are interested in, because it can vary.

[walkswife]

Both have their advantages ....

 

I know the Western has many more adventerous type excursions (cave tubing, ziplining, mayan ruins exploring) as well as beautiful beaches (Seven Mile, Paradise Beach, Majahual).......

 

Eastern from what I understand is much more easy going and laid back with lots of beautiful beaches.....

 

Depends what you are looking for .... don't think you could go wrong with either one.....

 

Cruised the Bahamas the end of April and the weather was beautiful.....

[NoName]

Hi,

 

I greatly prefer the Eastern route. I am really a beach person as well. I really love the beaches of the Virgin Islands and St. Martin as well. The Baths and Trunk Bay have got to be about as good as a beach can get. The only downside for me is that most Eastern cruises include a stop at San Juan, which I consider a waste of time.

 

I am not crazy about the Western stops. I have been to Jamaica a few times and hate it. Last time we went there, we got off the ship with the kids and decided to get right back on. I know some people probably enjoy themselves there, however my experiences have been very bad. Cozumel was okay, I enjoyed a little shopping and beach time there. Grand Cayman-only been twice, but didn't really love it.

 

Don't forget about the southern route as well. Some really nice islands there!

 

I really enjoy both NCL and Carnival and cruise them both. The major difference between the two lines is that on Carnival, you are given assigned meal times and tablemates. On NCL, you present to the dining rooms when you are hungry and request a table. To me, this makes NCL my favorite line. However, Carnival seems more "fun". For example, on NCL you won't find the waiters dancing and singing during dinner. I actually prefer Carnival when traveling with an extended family, because then you are all assigned to eat together. I really do not like eating with strangers.

 

Also, I usually factor in the price when deciding on a line. Currently Carnival is less expensive than NCL, so therefore we are booked on the Victory in March.

 

I have never cruised in April, but the weather is great in April. We simply just prefer to get out of town in Feb or March.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Kim

[jellylegs]

having taken both, I seem to like western better, marginally however. my advice...avoid jamaica...

[98idoc]

my advice...avoid jamaica...

 

I admit Jamaica can be very stressful, but I think that one should give it a chance. My experience thus far -

 

Ocho Rios - We walked into town to do some shopping. DH enjoyed interacting with the locals, esp the straw market. I found OR to be okay, but I did a lot of watching to see who was around us.

 

Montego Bay - The first time we did the Carnival river tubing excursion, and we enjoyed that. Also went shopping, again I found it to be stressful. Second time we skipped the shopping and went to Sunset Beach Resort. This was the best. :D

 

Bottom line for me - choose an excursion or go to a beach resort and skip the shopping.

[CoachTerry14]

More likely to have to use a Tender on the Western side (Caymans & Belize for sure -Cozumel is only a long shot at tendering)

[TennisLover]

Don't discount Jamaica! I am a total beach person and had a great day at Rose Hall Beach. Also loved the beaches in Grand Cayman, Cozumel (a little too crowded), Belize, Roatan. Panama is not a beach day (Panama Canal) and I don't think that Costa Rica is either (we did a tram over the rain forests).

 

I don't love 1/2 day in San Juan, but do like the beaches on Eastern.

 

What about the Southern Carib?

[chitown cruisers]

Which is the better cruise an Eastern or Western Cruise? We are not great shoppers but would love beaches - beautiful white sand beaches to hang out in port. It really doesn't matter, because you will want to go back....so when you do book the other

 

Which cruise line is the better choice? I've only done Carnival because they put out a GREAT product for a decent price. My first was just a year ago, and now I've taken 2 and booked for my 3rd

 

AND

 

Is the end of April a bad time of year go? I've done Feb and Oct(Hurricane season) and had beautiful sailing both times. Late April I would think have lower kid totals on board....there will still be some, because parents like myself have no choice but to pull the kids for a few days.

[Knights on the Beach]

We like BOTH! St. Thomas and St. Maarten/St. Martin (Eastern) are beautiful! Cozumel and Ocho Rios are FUN! There are nice beaches to be found in all these ports (Orient in St. Martin the most gorgeous in my opinion). We've had a lot of fun in Jamaica climbing Dunns River Falls and river tubing and great times snorkeling and beaching it in Cozumel -- as well as visiting Carlos & Charlies. We're tired of Grand Cayman, but really enjoyed the (several) times we spent at Stingray City. San Juan, we can take or leave, but did enjoy horseback riding by the rainforest. Some of the best snorkeling we've ever done was in Belize.

[ozgirl96]

I loved the beauty of the eastern caribbean beaches.. loved Sunny Liston tour in St. Thomas... however, western caribbean is more exotic and different. I'm hoping my southern cruise this summer is a combo of both... The eastern caribbean, to me, felt more like I was still in the United States.

[bphman]

It depends on what you mean by western caribbean. We did the Disney Magic to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and their private island and had a great time. We just returned from Panama, Costa Rica and Costa Maya and the ports were awful. So it depends on the itinerary. I agree that you should look at the southern caribbean which is probably the best mix. As far as which line, we loved them all. Just enjoy the sea.