Carnival or Princess for first time cruising family...

[braster]

Hi all,

 

My family is getting ready to book our first cruise (yay!). We are looking at the Crown Princess Western Caribbean (Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel, Princess Cays) and the Carnival Liberty Western Caribbean(Grand Cayman, Cozume, Ocho Rios), both in January 2010.

 

About us... my parents are both in their late 40s, I'll be 25, my brother is 22 and my sister will be 19. We are pretty active and plan on doing the more active excursions (snorkeling, tubing, etc). None of us are huge drinkers, although my dad and I will probably drink some.

 

I'm hoping some people could give some opinions on which cruise line (or itinerary) might suit us better.

 

Thanks!

 

Deanna

[jakeil7]

Do you have a general area in the world (Carribean, Med, Alaska, etc.) that your family would like to go to?

[rcrdale]

Hi all,

 

My family is getting ready to book our first cruise (yay!). We are looking at the Crown Princess Western Caribbean (Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel, Princess Cays) and the Carnival Liberty Western Caribbean(Grand Cayman, Cozume, Ocho Rios), both in January 2010.

 

About us... my parents are both in their late 40s, I'll be 25, my brother is 22 and my sister will be 19. We are pretty active and plan on doing the more active excursions (snorkeling, tubing, etc). None of us are huge drinkers, although my dad and I will probably drink some.

 

I'm hoping some people could give some opinions on which cruise line (or itinerary) might suit us better.

 

Thanks!

 

Deanna

 

 

It states in his post where they want to go.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

I've cruised on both Princess and Carinval. My preference is Princess. We have sailed on the Crown and that trip included my 17 & 18 yo sons as well as other family members that included my nephew (26 yo) and a couple of his friends. They enjoyed the night club (Skywalkers).

 

You'll get lots of opinions but I like Princess as I like the layout of the ship, especially the aft where there is one of the adult only pools and also conveniently located near Outrigger's Bar and the buffet.

 

The International Cafe is also a wonderful place that you can get pastries and some great lunch items at. The gelatto and a few evening items have a small fee but all the lunch and pastry items are included in the cruise fare.

 

Both cruises that you listed have Grand Cayman as a stop. You should consider a stingray tour. It was the highlight of one of our cruises. You should check out the ports of call board under Caribbean as there are lots of recommendations on what to do on each island and also book your tours independently if you wish.

 

Good luck to you. Planning a cruise is half the fun!!:)

[Keith1010]

I would recommend Princess. At the same time, based on your ages I would also take a look at Royal Caribbean to see if they might have a cruise itinerary that would work.

 

Keith

[hazeleyez3]

As for itinerary... I have been told that the Western route is one of the better places to snorkel (I've never been). Jamaica has Dunns River Falls which you can climb, and it seems that there are a few tubing excursions to choose from in those ports, along with some offroad jeep excursions. Belize and Roatan (which are also Western ports) are nice - We did an airboat in Belize and in Roatan we did one in which we followed a guide on paths in a forest and came across a lot of birds and some monkeys. We also had to walk across an old rope bridge (could only hold a few people at a time).

 

I agree with the previous poster about checking out Royal. The Freedom goes to Ocho Rios, Cozumel, GC, and a private island. They also have the Liberty that does a Western route. Both ships have a surf simulator, rock climbing wall, and ice rink which may be good to use during sea days.

[Willbcruisin]

Not to confuse you more but I have sailed both and prefer Carnival over Princess. I think the CCL age range is more mixed. You find cruisers of all ages.

 

Princess there were many older than us (we're mid 40's). Not so much going on and the food was just OK. You can't get "bad" food on a cruise but CCL's was far more superior than Princess. Also was not impressed at all with Princess private Island.

 

I had not wanted to try CCL due to the rep it has as the "party" ship but am so very glad we did! It's not a "party" ship with drunks all over the place......it is the FUN ship!!

 

We sailed CCL Liberty and she is a beautiful ship! Great lay-out, fun activities, great service, crew and food! We did the same itinerary and had a wonderful time. My 16 yr old loved it as well. We're booked again for next April.......that's how much we loved CCL Liberty.

 

As the other poster mentioned you may want to look at RCL as well. The Voyager class ships are wonderful for first timers! We are HUGE fans of RCL & CCL. You may find that RCL pricing is a bit higher than CCL but those we be the two lines I would try first!

 

Whichever you choose have a wonderful time! Welcome to Cruise Critic and the very addicting world of cruising:D

[jimbo5544]

Only thing I can add is price consideration. Would be surprised at Princess and Carnival being the same price point.

[mizLORInj]

I like both Princess and Carnival. I enjoy variety.

Princess Cays I could skip anytime--nothing spectacular and the tendering is less than enjoyable. Ocho Rios--Dunns River Falls is cool and has a very nice beach at the bottom of the falls.

I'd be happy on either of those ships. Crown is beautiful and we're going on the Liberty in October.