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New to cruising - Advice needed please. Caribbean or Dubai?!


lope123
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Hello,

 

My husband , myself and our baby daughter are looking to book our first cruise for January. We saw two packages yesterday both different companies and both completly different cruises. The price for both is good and is ALL inclusive , both include our flights from Ireland & they are balcony rooms.

 

First one : MSC SPLENDIDA . Fantasica Experience .

Itinerary: Abu Dhabi (U.Arab Emirates), Sir Bani Yas Is (U.Arab Emirate), Muscat (Oman), Khasab (Oman), Dubai (U.Arab Emirates), Abu Dhabi (U.Arab Emirates)

 

 

Second One : Royal Caribbean ( don't know which ship)

Itinerary : 8 nights Eastern Caribbean cruise

Embark Fort Lauderdale ,

Cruising ,

Cruising ,

Haiti , Puerto Rico , St. Maarten , St Kitts & Nevis , Cruising ,

Cruising









I love the sound of Carribean cruise as I feel there would be more to do with a baby and the ships are apparently nicer than MSC? and the food ! But it would be a 9.5 hr flight to get to Miami direct, whereas Option one would be 7 hours approx.

Our daughter will be 18 months at the time of traveling so I want to make everything as easy as possible. I would also be concerned about the Zika?



Looking forward to your replies.



Thanks

Edited by lope123
Edit to say : The Royal Caribbean ship is Adventure of the Sea
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I have never been as thrilled about going to the Caribbean as many others. Have been a couple of times, and it ranks at the bottom of our cruises.

 

We have been to Dubai several times and also visited Abu Dhabi and Muscat. They were fascinating to me. These visits were part of longer cruises, usually between Rome and Singapore.

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While I would absolutely love to see Dubai and these ports, I would chose the Caribbean one with your daughter. I believe beach days at the islands would be easier to navigate through than the cities. But, then again, my husband and I are beach/scuba dive/snorkel people. We took our kids on their first cruise last year (ages 3 & 7) and they loved it. The again, we had beach/water time at every port we stopped at. They loved the warm water & sand.

 

I am hoping to visit Dubai and several other ports as they get older and can hopefully remember each area. Right now we just want to use our vacations to relax with them.

 

Overall, these are very different cruises. I don't really think you can go wrong with either one. You just need to decide what your family wants/needs right now. Deals and specials come up so often that I am sure whichever one you don't choose will come around again.

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As you said...2 entirely different "feeling" cruises. The Caribbean is a vacation...to relax, see gorgeous sights, beaches, etc....it's more about the ship than the destinations...as most islands are fairly similar.

 

Dubai is going to be about sightseeing.....and not so much about the ship. But...your distance to port will have a lot to do with your decision. I'm sure you'll have a great time, no matter which you choose.

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They both have a lot of sand. That's about all they have in common. Not sure what you would do with your daughter in Dubai.

 

Roz

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MSC middle East cruise.

Perfect time of the year to come to these parts.

The Arabs LOVE, LOVE, LOVE children. Also MSC Italian /Swiss ships tend to be very child friendly.

Easy daily flights from DUB to AUH. Minimal hassle entering the UAE on an EU/Irish passport. Book online meet and assist service from Etihad. They collect you from the plane's door and whisk you through the formalities

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The MSC one... even P&O are placing a ship out there this winter, as the resorts are becoming so popular. I don't think you'd find anything comparable to the water parks, ski runs, funfairs, malls in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, in the Caribbean, and then there's all those lovely beaches...

Sadly, we've not made it yet, but so many people we know return lots of times...and we're thinking about going next winter, as my OH is a snorkelling fan, so he can be on the beach and I can shop!

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While the destination depends more on who you are and what you are looking to do, you also need to take into account being able to keep your daughter entertained and happy. She will be a different little person in January also since kids change so quickly.

 

One thing you should look at is if either ship has a splash area for children. If your daughter likes water, she won't be allowed into any of the pools or such on ships without a designated splash area even in a swim diaper.

 

Also you need to look at what you mean by ALL inclusive when you say that. Do you mean with airfare and the cruise or something else? Depending on what your TA is doing for you, the cruise lines and their definition of all inclusive and yours might be vastly different. For example the MSC cruise with the Fantasitca experience does not include alcohol unless there is a special promotion or your TA is rolling it into your fare. Also remember this won't include anything you want to do in port and that will cost extra also. I always take those into account in total cruise prices, which you should also since this could easily add up to over $1000 on a port intensive cruise for 2 people.

 

On another note about that if you are looking to drink on your cruise, the US prices for drinks are well.... shocking compared to EU prices. By shocking I mean you are looking at a $12 drink in general for anything more than a beer, and even that is generally $6-8 each on a US ship.

 

Also since my kids are older it hasn't been something I have looked into for awhile, but if it is something you are interested in you would need to find out if the RCCL ship has a nursery. This would let you drop your daughter off for a time for you and your husband to relax, though this is also not included in the fare and would cost extra. I don't know if MSC has similar offerings or not.

 

Also since neither of these are in your home currency, you might want to take that into consideration also with exchange rates. I believe MSC uses a EU bank as I have heard reports of people getting stuck with foreign transaction fees on their US sailing with MSC, so they probably wouldn't be an issue. But RCCL out of the US will charge everything in US currency. This might end up costing you a lot more if exchange rates go bad, or you don't have a credit card that charges no foreign transaction fees (if that is even a think in Europe I don't know for sure!)

 

I only point these out because I would hate to see another person take their first cruise, and then be shocked and broke because it cost so much more for them!

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What time of year is it going to be? Summer in the Middle East? With a baby? Yikes.

 

I live in an area that gets HOT. I remember it sucked when my kids were really young.

 

The OP says the cruise will be in January.

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