Help with Caribbean cruises...

[charliegirlac]

Hi all,

 

Hoping I can get some help. We are a couple in our late 20's who love to cruise. We have cruised through Alaska and the Med both on Royal Caribbean. We are considering doing a Caribbean cruise after watching a TV special and seeing how stunning it was. We have started our research but there are so many options! We will only be able to do this cruise from late December (think 20th onwards) though to the middle of January as I am a teacher and this is our summer holidays. I am needing your opinions on which cruise to take in terms of what ports should we be aiming to visit. A bit of info - hubby doesn't particularly like to spend a whole lot of time at the beach, so a day of lazing on the sand is out, but a quick visit and dip would be great. I am not super fit (complete opposite actually!) so hiking up mountains wouldn't be great either. We are drinkers but not huge drinkers and I have Crohns disease so going to restaurants and eating spicy foods are also out. We would love to do things like snorkel with turtles and see the clear waters of the Caribbean.

 

Hope you can point us in the right direction!! It is a big, LONG (and expensive seeing how the Australian dollar has been) trip for us from Australia and we want to get it right!

 

Thanks!

 

Carly:o

[uksimonusa]

Hi all,

 

Hoping I can get some help. We are a couple in our late 20's who love to cruise. We have cruised through Alaska and the Med both on Royal Caribbean. We are considering doing a Caribbean cruise after watching a TV special and seeing how stunning it was. We have started our research but there are so many options! We will only be able to do this cruise from late December (think 20th onwards) though to the middle of January as I am a teacher and this is our summer holidays. I am needing your opinions on which cruise to take in terms of what ports should we be aiming to visit. A bit of info - hubby doesn't particularly like to spend a whole lot of time at the beach, so a day of lazing on the sand is out, but a quick visit and dip would be great. I am not super fit (complete opposite actually!) so hiking up mountains wouldn't be great either. We are drinkers but not huge drinkers and I have Crohns disease so going to restaurants and eating spicy foods are also out. We would love to do things like snorkel with turtles and see the clear waters of the Caribbean.

 

Hope you can point us in the right direction!! It is a big, LONG (and expensive seeing how the Australian dollar has been) trip for us from Australia and we want to get it right!

 

Thanks!

 

Carly:o

 

Seems strange seeing the words "Summer Holidays" for december january!! That being said, I would try on of the Freedom Class Ships, or maybe even Oasis

[J & G]

Hi all,

 

Hoping I can get some help. We are a couple in our late 20's who love to cruise. We have cruised through Alaska and the Med both on Royal Caribbean. We are considering doing a Caribbean cruise after watching a TV special and seeing how stunning it was. We have started our research but there are so many options! We will only be able to do this cruise from late December (think 20th onwards) though to the middle of January as I am a teacher and this is our summer holidays. I am needing your opinions on which cruise to take in terms of what ports should we be aiming to visit. A bit of info - hubby doesn't particularly like to spend a whole lot of time at the beach, so a day of lazing on the sand is out, but a quick visit and dip would be great. I am not super fit (complete opposite actually!) so hiking up mountains wouldn't be great either. We are drinkers but not huge drinkers and I have Crohns disease so going to restaurants and eating spicy foods are also out. We would love to do things like snorkel with turtles and see the clear waters of the Caribbean.

 

Hope you can point us in the right direction!! It is a big, LONG (and expensive seeing how the Australian dollar has been) trip for us from Australia and we want to get it right!

 

Thanks!

 

Carly:o

 

We LOVE the Caribbean! We are cruising out of San Juan, Puerto Rico on Adventure of the Seas. I believe Serenade does a similar itinerary out of San Juan. All of those ports have things like hiking, beaches, etc., but none of them require that you do those things to have a great time. Snorkeling is wonderful at almost all of them!

 

We are not hikers or the "beachy" type either. We choose shore excursions through private guides, in order to do and see just what we want. I highly recommend that itin!

[silentbob007]

I always think of eastern carribbean as the big shopping ports (though still beautiful stops) and the western carribbean as the adventure ports (but still plenty of shopping).

[Ronn452]

Charliegirlac,

 

We have sailed both the Eastern & Southern routes; both offering a variety of interesting and different ports. Based on what you may be looking for in a ship, there are several that offer the various cruises. You can get one of the newer, LARGEST ships from Miami or one of the large ships from either Miami or San Juan.

 

As for ports, my wife and I really love St. Maarten. You can rent a vehicle and drive around the island and see the Dutch and French sides. There are car rentals at the port. We prefer to use Arthur's Car Rental. It is just outside the port gate to the right and across the street. We email him and ask for a Jeep each time. He is honest and reliable. Also, the Jeeps seem to be better navigating the potholes in the roads. If you travel clockwise from Philipsburg, you can do the following during the stop. In Marigot, there is a flea market, French shops, bakeries and restaurants. From there, one can drive to Orient Beach for a short stay. It is a very beatiful beach. Since it is french, it is tops optional. There is also a nude beach at the far end if you choose. After the beach, take a left at the main road and stop at the shops at the top of the hill. Very nice vendors and a wonderful view of Orient Beach. From there, travel around to Dawn Beach for lunch at Mr. Busby's. Another nice beach that is smaller than Orient but the view is nice while you eat. After that, go back into Philipsburg for shopping; especially stop at the Guavaberry store! The liquer is nice and the frozen Guavaberry drink is a great way to cool down.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Captain Ronn

[wrp96]

If you want to snorkel with the turtles, look for an itinerary that visits Barbados (usually itineraries out of San Juan).

[golfer1966]

If you want to snorkel with the turtles, look for an itinerary that visits Barbados (usually itineraries out of San Juan).

 

 

We snorkeled with the turtles in Barbados and it was very exciting. We prefer the southern routes.

[tex_toby]

Southern Caribbean is our favorite as well. Although, I have been all over the caribbean by land or sea and it is all beautiful. The southern route is definitely the most exotic in my eyes.

 

tex :D

[negc]

Since you are coming all the way from Australia, you may want to choose an RCI ship that has the most bells and whistles, either a Freedom or Voyager class ship. Again, depending on air schedules you should see whether Miami or San Juan works best for you. That will narrow down your choice of ships. Eastern Caribbean cruises may offer you a wider range of islands and activities on those islands, but if you have two weeks to spend, you might try one of the ships that offers alternating eastern and western itineraries. Check out the Ports of Call boards to see what each island has to offer and to get good advice on possible excursions on those islands. Good luck. Planning your cruise can be almost as much fun as actually taking it.:)

[TravelerThom]

... We are considering doing a Caribbean cruise after watching a TV special and seeing how stunning it was....

Hope you can point us in the right direction!! It is a big, LONG (and expensive seeing how the Australian dollar has been) trip for us from Australia and we want to get it right!...

Is this cruise merely part of a longer trip to North America? If you look at my cruises below my signature you will see that I have nothing against the Caribbean, BUT you have considered cruises closer to home, haven't you? For instance, RCI Rhapsody Of The Seas sails from Sydney to Hamilton Island, Whitsunday Islands to Cairns to Cooktown to Willis Island to Brisbane and back to Sydney. I have been fortunate enough to have cruised once in the Whitsundays, and if I had the chance to do that for what it costs me to go to the Caribbean I'd be there tomorrow. But of course if I'd already done the Whitsundays a lot of times I'd probably be looking at the Caribbean for a change. Just my thoughts.

[MAGNUM PI]

Charliegirlac:

 

Welcome. I live in Michigan, USA-- but have visited Australia, almost 40 years ago. But I still vividly remember my experience at Sydney. I was serving a tour of duty, in S. Viet nam, and chose Australia as my destination for R&R. I still remember the beuatiful beaches, and the outback!

 

I have taken four southern caribbean cruises, with another one scheduled for March. Royal Caribbean is my favorite cruise line. We also have B2B cruises on AOS, in January 2010.

 

We believe that the southern caribbean ports, are some of the best options, anywhere.

I have visited Hawaii(twice), Jamaica, approximately 10 southern caribbean ports. We have not taken either eastern or western caribbean cruises.

 

We fly from Michigan to San Juan, and commence our cruises from that port. Itineraries, such as Serenade Of The Seas, permits exploring 5 ports of call-on a 7 day cruise!

 

some of our favorite ports:

 

Dominica-the only place in the world to visit the Carib Indian Territory. Purchase world reknown, handmade, woven baskets/other items. VERY reasonable prices. Our family group bought about 25 baskets! Beautiful waterfalls.

 

St.John-its beaches rival Australia's, as the most beautiful in the world, IMO.

 

Aruba-fantastic variety of terrain(desert area with cactus/wild goats; wonderful coastline/beaches).

 

I would strongly consider a southern caribbean itinerary. There are a variety of itineraries, that will provide plenty of adventures, NOT involving just spending a day at the beach.

 

If you want any further information, I would be happy to give my opinion.

 

Charliegirl: Throw a shrimp on the barB, for me!

[skandls]

If you have not been to the East coast of the US you might consider a DisneyWorld visit and Royal Caribbean cruise. (Florida weather should be nice). Since you are able to travel in early January you will find good prices for your holiday. I believe the Freedom will be sailing from Port Canaveral - it is a great ship with a lot to do. I am not a 'beach' person but I like cruising - the big RCI ships are my favorite.

 

Check out the excursions that are availble on the Royal Caribbean web site. That will give you an idea of the kinds of things that you may want to do. I would suggest you choose either the Eastern or Western Caribbean. Thats where most of us got our cruising feet wet for the first time.

 

And what ever you decide - have a great trip...

[MuncieCruisers]

Hi all,

 

Hoping I can get some help. We are a couple in our late 20's who love to cruise. We have cruised through Alaska and the Med both on Royal Caribbean. We are considering doing a Caribbean cruise after watching a TV special and seeing how stunning it was. We have started our research but there are so many options! We will only be able to do this cruise from late December (think 20th onwards) though to the middle of January as I am a teacher and this is our summer holidays. I am needing your opinions on which cruise to take in terms of what ports should we be aiming to visit. A bit of info - hubby doesn't particularly like to spend a whole lot of time at the beach, so a day of lazing on the sand is out, but a quick visit and dip would be great. I am not super fit (complete opposite actually!) so hiking up mountains wouldn't be great either. We are drinkers but not huge drinkers and I have Crohns disease so going to restaurants and eating spicy foods are also out. We would love to do things like snorkel with turtles and see the clear waters of the Caribbean.

 

Hope you can point us in the right direction!! It is a big, LONG (and expensive seeing how the Australian dollar has been) trip for us from Australia and we want to get it right!

 

Thanks!

 

Carly:o

 

I dream of going to Australia and some other islands in the area to snorkel. Funny how it works the opposite way also

[DebP]

We've been on several Caribbean cruises (no southern), but I also love active cruising. Here are some of the highlights for us (both eastern and western):

 

Swimming with Dolphins in Cozumel

Tulum tour from the Cozumel stop Playa del Carmen

Mayan ruins tour privately in Costa Maya

Swimming with Stingrays in Grand Caymens

Snorkeling with sea turtles in St. Thomas

America's Cup sailing race in St. Maarten

Cave tubing in Roatan, Honduras

 

Kids have asked for time to relax this time, so we will be saying LOS with three ports of call this time, giving us more time to enjoy the ship.

[DebP]

Cave tubing was in Belize. So many ports......

[charliegirlac]

Hi all,

 

Thank you so much for your responses! I dont know if they made me more confused though!!

 

skandls we do plan on making a trip out of it and going to Disney and DH really wants to go to the Kennedy Space Centre. TravelerThom we have been to Cairns and FNQ (Far North Queensland) before and while it is beautiful there the Rhapsody is not sailing there during my school holiday times. It is sailing to New Zealand and we are considering doing this cruise however the prices are high and my husband travels to NZ a lot with work and seen many of the sights and stayed at many of the ports.

 

A few more questions for you:

A lot of the ports that seem fantastic are on ships leaving from San Juan. We dont really know much about San Juan and though some research it seems a safe area. What is the best way to travel there? We would be coming from LA or San Fran. so is it best to travel directly to San Juan? I can see the advantages in that you do not have as many sea days in travelling thus getting more ports in. Does this also mean that there is less chance of rough seas? ;)

 

MAGNUM PI - you need to come back over here! Especially with the American dollar being so strong here at the moment!! We last cruised in July and the dollar was almost 1:1 meaning lots of on board drinks! Not any more!! Just bring some water as we are in the worst draught in history!! You also mention Jamaica in your post - over on the ports of call board a lot of people are saying to turn Jamaica in to a sea day as it is not safe and you are constantly hassled. Did you find this??

 

Thanks again and if any one has any further info to add it would be MUCH appreciated!!

 

Carly

[TravelerThom]

Hi all,

 

Thank you so much for your responses! I dont know if they made me more confused though!!

 

skandls we do plan on making a trip out of it and going to Disney and DH really wants to go to the Kennedy Space Centre. TravelerThom we have been to Cairns and FNQ (Far North Queensland) before and while it is beautiful there the Rhapsody is not sailing there during my school holiday times. It is sailing to New Zealand and we are considering doing this cruise however the prices are high and my husband travels to NZ a lot with work and seen many of the sights and stayed at many of the ports.

 

A few more questions for you:

A lot of the ports that seem fantastic are on ships leaving from San Juan. We dont really know much about San Juan and though some research it seems a safe area. What is the best way to travel there? We would be coming from LA or San Fran. so is it best to travel directly to San Juan? I can see the advantages in that you do not have as many sea days in travelling thus getting more ports in. Does this also mean that there is less chance of rough seas? ;)

 

MAGNUM PI - you need to come back over here! Especially with the American dollar being so strong here at the moment!! We last cruised in July and the dollar was almost 1:1 meaning lots of on board drinks! Not any more!! Just bring some water as we are in the worst draught in history!! You also mention Jamaica in your post - over on the ports of call board a lot of people are saying to turn Jamaica in to a sea day as it is not safe and you are constantly hassled. Did you find this??

 

Thanks again and if any one has any further info to add it would be MUCH appreciated!!

 

Carly

I expected that you had considered your "local" cruises, but it is dangerous to assume:rolleyes:. Where are you in Oz? In our two trips to Australia we have made it to every state except W.A. - we have even spent nine days driving around Tassie [most of the Australians I know have travel to many, many countries and most of them have never been to Tasmania:eek:]. We have never been to Cairns, but have driven up the coast as far as Townsville [caught a plane to Alice from there]. Would love to come back down; maybe some day but so many places in the world to go....

 

The sea trip from Florida to San Juan takes about a day and a half each way, and being north of the Greater Antilles is technically not in the Caribbean; it is often rougher than anything you would encounter in the Caribbean unless a huricane is present [huricane season is June-November, peaking about September]. So a lot to be said for starting a cruise there. There are many flights to San Juan from many cities on the US mainland, and although Puerto Rico is not a state it is fully integrated into the US customs and immigration zone, so other than an agricultural inspection [for tropical pests] coming out of PR flights to and from there are just like any intra-US flights. I'd rate San Juan about as safe as many US cities - but I'm sure you are aware that one needs to exercise some caution in most US cities.

 

I have had limited experience in Jamaca but did have a port stop at Ocho Rios in December. Not feeling any personal compulsion to climb Dunns River Falls, we just wandered around town for awhile. Other than being offered a taxi quite often we did not encounter anything close to what I would call hassle. I'm pretty good at politely but firmly saying No, and the taxis guys gave up fairly rapidly. There are enough remarks otherwise that obviously some people do feel hassled. BTW Jamaca is in the Western Caribbean and would not generally be on any trips out of San Juan. Hope this helps.

 

Thom

[charliegirlac]

Thank you very much Thom! That is good to know about San Juan especially the info about flying in and out! We live in Melbourne and have traveled around Oz a fair bit. Hubby has traveled to all states and I am missing WA and NT. But as they say the grass is always greener!

 

Carly

[IUFAN]

Serenade out of San Juan is a great boat with even better ports!

[Cavatelli430]

Hi all,

 

Thank you so much for your responses! I dont know if they made me more confused though!!

 

skandls we do plan on making a trip out of it and going to Disney and DH really wants to go to the Kennedy Space Centre. TravelerThom we have been to Cairns and FNQ (Far North Queensland) before and while it is beautiful there the Rhapsody is not sailing there during my school holiday times. It is sailing to New Zealand and we are considering doing this cruise however the prices are high and my husband travels to NZ a lot with work and seen many of the sights and stayed at many of the ports.

 

A few more questions for you:

A lot of the ports that seem fantastic are on ships leaving from San Juan. We dont really know much about San Juan and though some research it seems a safe area. What is the best way to travel there? We would be coming from LA or San Fran. so is it best to travel directly to San Juan? I can see the advantages in that you do not have as many sea days in travelling thus getting more ports in. Does this also mean that there is less chance of rough seas? ;)

 

MAGNUM PI - you need to come back over here! Especially with the American dollar being so strong here at the moment!! We last cruised in July and the dollar was almost 1:1 meaning lots of on board drinks! Not any more!! Just bring some water as we are in the worst draught in history!! You also mention Jamaica in your post - over on the ports of call board a lot of people are saying to turn Jamaica in to a sea day as it is not safe and you are constantly hassled. Did you find this??

 

Thanks again and if any one has any further info to add it would be MUCH appreciated!!

 

Carly

 

Hi Carly,

We have only been to the Western Caribbean on Liberty, but we very much enjoyed it. Since you are interested in Disneyworld & Kennedy Space Center, I would check out the cruises on Freedom of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. I believe there are both Eastern & Western 7-night cruises from there. I have Crohn's also, I would stick to eating on the ship, there is plenty of variety and the dining staff is very helpful with special dietary needs.

Also, regarding Jamaica, we had a stop in Montego Bay and it did feel unwelcoming and there were people hasseling for hair braiding and taxi rides. So we went back to the ship and enjoyed the day exploring the ship and going to the pool. It's a great time to do it, since most people get off the ship. I would probably only get off the ship if I arranged an excursion through the cruise ship, but that's me.