Carnival or RCCL out of Jan Juan...Help!!

[alba216]

This will be our second cruise. We are a family with two young girls, 2 & 7 when we cruise. I am not to concerned with my youngest not being able to go in the pool, since we are going to be in port almost everyday. And the ocean does not care about swim diapers..:) We plan on cruising Sep 2009. The two ships are RCCLs Adventure of the seas or Carnivals Victory.

 

On our last and first cruise, we chose RCCLs Enchantment of the Seas and did the Western Caribbean itinerary. Both ships leave around the same time period, and the price difference for a balcony in not much to sway me in either direction.

 

The Itineraries are a little different

Adventure of the Sea - Departs From San Juan, Puerto Rico visiting Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; Roseau, Dominica; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

or

Departs From San Juan, Puerto Rico visiting Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John's, Antigua; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Frederiksted, St. Croix

 

while Carnival Victory - Departs From San Juan, Puerto Rico visiting Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Dominica; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John's, Antigua; Basseterre, St. Kitts

 

If anyone has been to these ports or these cruises in particular, let me know which you think I should pick.Thanks all

[frito58]

This will be our second cruise. We are a family with two young girls, 2 & 7 when we cruise. I am not to concerned with my youngest not being able to go in the pool, since we are going to be in port almost everyday. And the ocean does not care about swim diapers..:) We plan on cruising Sep 2009. The two ships are RCCLs Adventure of the seas or Carnivals Victory.

 

On our last and first cruise, we chose RCCLs Enchantment of the Seas and did the Western Caribbean itinerary. Both ships leave around the same time period, and the price difference for a balcony in not much to sway me in either direction.

 

The Itineraries are a little different

Adventure of the Sea - Departs From San Juan, Puerto Rico visiting Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; Roseau, Dominica; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

or

Departs From San Juan, Puerto Rico visiting Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John's, Antigua; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Frederiksted, St. Croix

 

while Carnival Victory - Departs From San Juan, Puerto Rico visiting Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Dominica; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John's, Antigua; Basseterre, St. Kitts

 

If anyone has been to these ports or these cruises in particular, let me know which you think I should pick.Thanks all

 

Well we have done both legs of the AOS and the ship alone is worth it to me, check out cabins 7388 or 7688 corner aft rooms, trust me these balconies are worth it, do a search and look at some pictures a lot of extra room for the young ones to play.

[rainforestgirl]

Well, with the kids, you probably want to go where you have easy access to beaches and kid friendly things. If you think the ships pools don't like swim diapers, you may want to limit the number of "days at sea".

 

Dominica is not know for its beaches. Great island, but they are just getting into the tourism thing... not too much to do right by the ship. Tough island with kids.

 

Each island is different, and people like them or dislike them for different reasons.

Barbados is fantastic- great gardens, and a monkey reserve, where you can see the green monkeys in the wild.

 

But for the ships, they are in 2 different classes. The Carnival is less "fancy" than the RCCL.

 

Sept is peak hurricane season. Not too big a deal....if there is any problem brewing, the ship just goes to other islands. If you do the Aruba/Curacao islands, they are outside the usual hurricane zone.

 

If I were you,I would pick the second RCCL cruise - only 1 day at sea,nice ship, nice ports.

[Beckaroous]

I have been to most of these places and here is the LD

 

Oranjestad, Aruba; - You can take a public bus for $2.30 r/t to either Eagle or Palm beach

 

Willemstad, Curacao; Never been

 

Roseau, Dominica; You can hire a guide for about $20-40 for the day and they will take you wherever you want to go. They have a rainforest with falls, a gorge to swim in, Champaign bubbles which is a ROCKY beach with GREAT snorkeling,

 

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas - I have been 4 times and always do sunny listons tour for $25pp and that gives you 3 hours of shopping 1.5 hour tour and a min of 2 hours at either saphier, cokki or megans bay beach

or

 

Bridgetown, Barbados; They have great beaches. All beaches are public so either go to a hotel with beach access or the boatyard.

 

Castries, St. Lucia; This is proveing to be our hardest port to choose if you are willing to spend $65pp Colosl tours is supposed to be nice but we are going to wait till we get there before booking because others have told us they did full day tours with beach for $30pp

 

St. John's, Antigua; Great beaches or Sunshine Tours is $20pp

 

Philipsburg, St. Maarten; I went a long time ago and remember it being EXTREAMLY touristy. Nice beaches though

 

Frederiksted, St. Croix - Never been

 

while Carnival Victory -

 

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Sunny listed above

 

Dominica; rainforest, gorge and champaign bubbles listed above

 

Bridgetown, Barbados; Beach day

 

Castries, St. Lucia; Colosl listed above

 

St. John's, Antigua; Sunshine or Beach listed above

 

Basseterre, St. Kitts - $10 r/t cab ride to South Frigates bay.

 

Personaly I would choose by which ports you want. We did the Carnival run last year on the destiny and signed up this year to do it AGAIN!!! with the victory. This will be our first time doing the same vacation twice.