Southern Caribbean Help Requested

[Dabbo]

LOVE Carnival (just got off the Legend and they're 4-for-4 with me).

 

Would prefer to stay with them BUT I can't seem to find a Southern Caribbean trip that doesn't involve two languages (I left out of PR before - some annoyances involved that I'd like to avoid), two consecutive days at sea (Florida), or indirect flights (Barbados).

 

Thoughts? Suggestions? Recommendations? Again, I'd prefer to stick with Carnival, but getting the most out of the Southern Caribbean is Priority One. Happy to hear about other lines if they have a better complete offering.

 

Thanks!

[kakarp]

Hi Dabbo

I’ll be going on my first Southern on March 13 on Carnival Mircale. I never wanted to leave from PR because there were too many stops for me. You might want to check out this or similar dates. We leave from FLL, have 2 days @ sea. We will stop @ St. Maarten, St. Lucia, St. Kitts. Than have 2 more days @ sea. An 8 day trip. The DW and I can’t wait to see 2 different islands.

Kevin

[NCTribeFan]

You do realize that most Puerto Ricans speak English, right?

 

I'm doing the Victory cruise in May specifically so we can spend a day pre-cruise and 2 days post-cruise in PR. I love it there (and I don't speak Spanish).

 

I'm not thrilled about all the ports, but I've only been to St Thomas and it will be nice to see all those new ports. That's part of the reason we're stayin in San Juan two days after, because I know it's going to be exhausting (and I'm only planning island tour-type excursions; no activity types just to try to not be so tired).

 

I agree that if you like Legend, sticking with a Spirit-class ship would be a good idea. Warning - Miracle is pretty gaudy and the dining room is every bit as hideous as you may have read. But I loved her and can't wait to sail her again next December (doing the Western to Panama, Costa Rica and Belize).

[TheVegasMan]

We were on the Victory in December and loved the itinerary. We had a few issues with other passengers, but you'll have that anytime you're together with 2,000 strangers. Not sure what you mean by the two language issue, we heard at least 10 different languages on our ship: English, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, German, Italian, Portugese, Danish, Polish and French were some of the languauges we heard.

 

In order to do the Southern Caribbean you have to start there or get there, no magical fast boat from Florida.

[EbonyBeauty]

Hi Dabbo

 

If you would like to stay with Carnival probably you can look at the option of boarding in Barbados on the Carnval Victory. It all depends on which islands you are interested in visiting. If you decide on boarding in Barbados, your ports of call would be Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Dominica and return back to Barbados.

 

Cruises taken:

 

RCI "Adventure of the Seas" - Southern Caribbean (21/10/2007)

Carnival Destiny - Southern Caribbean (30/07/2008)

[Dabbo]

I've cruised out of PR before.

 

It's not necessarily a deal-breaker, but hearing all of the announcements twice (once in English and again in Spanish) gets old very quickly (and there are plenty of announcements). I didn't mind the bongos & mariachi's too much - though previous posters do have a point about the Lido deck being taken over.

 

Two consecutive days at sea *is* a deal breaker. We have a hard enough time with one.

 

Barbados, crappy flight schedule & all, is unfortunately looking like our best bet at the moment. :(

[vkramer]

You do realize that Barbados is the mid point of the 7 night out of San Juan. You will have people disembarking and boarding on the Barbados port on the San Juan cruise.

 

I just thought that I would throw that in.

 

Vicki

[lizardhowson]

Look, the attraction of the Victory out of SJ is the 7 ports.

 

You are off the ship everyday, most all day long if you choose.

 

Everything else is a minor inconvenience.

[cantstayhome]

Can't beat that S Caribbean itinerary! Being from Canada, we hear everything in 2 languages all the time...Eng & French.

Having the second language in Spanish is a welcome break! We have just learned to tune out the second announcements.