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Itinerary - Which to choose? Southern vs. Western

Hoops_Baller

By Hoops_Baller,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Hoops_Baller

Hoops_Baller

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We are trying to decide which cruise to take, and while ports are not the only consideration, I'd like to hear opinions about which itinerary/ports you like better and more importantly, why?

 

Southern - St.Thomas, Barbados, St.Lucia, St.Kitts, and St.Marteen

Western - Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan

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lmcubs

lmcubs

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We are trying to decide which cruise to take, and while ports are not the only consideration, I'd like to hear opinions about which itinerary/ports you like better and more importantly, why?

 

Southern - St.Thomas, Barbados, St.Lucia, St.Kitts, and St.Marteen

Western - Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan

 

I have been to all of these ports, and enjoyed each one. All have something different to offer. If money were no object, I would do the Southern itinerary. Even though I love Roatan, you just can't go wrong on a cruise with all those Saints!!

Enjoy,

Kathi

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prchoudh

prchoudh

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I have been on the Eastern and Western. The Eastern is similar to the Southern. This is a tough call. I was faced recently with the decision of doing the Southern verses the Eastern.

 

What helped me decide was the following:

 

The southern itinerary allows you to see more ports. It is generally an older ship that sails out of San Juan. The air to fly into San Juan is often expensive and Carnival would fly be in via a red-eye which I hate. You would also connect through Miami to get to San Juan.

 

The Eastern and Western tends to have newer ships. The air is less and if you are using Carnival, they will fly you in the day before. This is assuming you live in the West Coast.

 

St. Thomas is nice. St. Marteen I could pass on that one. The other ports on the Southern, I have not been to.

 

The Western has Cayman Islands where you can swim with the Sting Rays. Belize you can raft down a river and Cozumel is a nice island. I went to Roatan and that is very economically deprived area. That city I could pass along with Belize.

 

Have you looked at the Valor Eastern itinerary? I am going on this one in 2 weeks and that is the one I decided on. The main reasons is that it is a newer ship. I do not have to take a red-eye. The ports combine the best of the Eastern and Southern. You go to St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turks and Half Moon Cay (HMC) and it costs less than the cruise out of San Juan.

 

Half Moon Cay is Carnival's private island in the Bahamas. I hope its as nice as Disney's private island. The boat docks on the island and when you look around there is nothing but the ship and the island and water. The island is small and its not commercialized.

 

I hope this helps.

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dcrobin

dcrobin

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we have done both recently, and liked them both for different reasons.

 

Although Southern is port-intensive, you can elect to stay on the ship one of the days (we did in Dominica) to have your "at sea" experience.

 

Loved San Juan as well, and we went there two days before to enjoy it!

 

Given the choice, cruise with the Saints!!!! (St. Lucia was our fav).

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elcuchio24

elcuchio24

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I have been on the Eastern and Western. The Eastern is similar to the Southern. This is a tough call. I was faced recently with the decision of doing the Southern verses the Eastern.

 

What helped me decide was the following:

 

The southern itinerary allows you to see more ports. It is generally an older ship that sails out of San Juan. The air to fly into San Juan is often expensive and Carnival would fly be in via a red-eye which I hate. You would also connect through Miami to get to San Juan.

 

The Eastern and Western tends to have newer ships. The air is less and if you are using Carnival, they will fly you in the day before. This is assuming you live in the West Coast.

 

St. Thomas is nice. St. Marteen I could pass on that one. The other ports on the Southern, I have not been to.

 

The Western has Cayman Islands where you can swim with the Sting Rays. Belize you can raft down a river and Cozumel is a nice island. I went to Roatan and that is very economically deprived area. That city I could pass along with Belize.

 

Have you looked at the Valor Eastern itinerary? I am going on this one in 2 weeks and that is the one I decided on. The main reasons is that it is a newer ship. I do not have to take a red-eye. The ports combine the best of the Eastern and Southern. You go to St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turks and Half Moon Cay (HMC) and it costs less than the cruise out of San Juan.

 

Half Moon Cay is Carnival's private island in the Bahamas. I hope its as nice as Disney's private island. The boat docks on the island and when you look around there is nothing but the ship and the island and water. The island is small and its not commercialized.

 

I hope this helps.

 

We did that GT/HMC itin on Liberty, it is indeed awesome.

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ladeeesquire

ladeeesquire

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we've done both and I liked both! In fact we're doing southern again in nov (different itinerary) and the western next feb. I agree with the other poster who said that southern is a little more exotic. Everyone goes to the western southern not so much. I found flying into san juan to be a benefit. Yes it cost a bit more but we did 3 days pre-cruise and had a wonderful time. We'd actually like to do that again sometime.

 

There's lots and lots to do in both. I disagree that roatan isn't a great port. We loved it there. Yes, its a very poor place but the beaches are beautiful and the snorkling fantastic. Similarly in belize my kids did cave tube and ziplining and we went to the ruins. The dock area is gross but for sure don't stay there!

 

I just don't think you can go wrong in caribbean. But I'm admittedly completely biased as I've never been to an island I didn't enjoy. Some more than others but all great!

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dettlja

dettlja

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We are doing the Southern one on 07/31. Part of the reason I chose this cruise was because all the ports are dock ports- no tenders. Something to consider if you don't like tendering.

 

Jaimee

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MissRabbit

MissRabbit

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We are trying to decide which cruise to take, and while ports are not the only consideration, I'd like to hear opinions about which itinerary/ports you like better and more importantly, why?

 

Southern - St.Thomas, Barbados, St.Lucia, St.Kitts, and St.Marteen

Western - Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan

 

Hands down, Southern!!

 

We've been to all these ports before and the Southern itinerary is so much nicer. While i loved Roatan and Grand Cayman, Belize is only good if you go diving or like water tubing. Personally i hated it. Cozumel is good for shopping and partying. We hated it, but we're giving it another go in the spring.

 

St. THomas has got great shopping, wonderful beaches, awesome snorkling, options to go to other nearby islands. Barbados was kinda meh for me. Sure it had beautiful beaches, but it was just ok. St.Kitts and St. Maarten were wonderful. We did go to St. Lucia but we were exhausted by then so didn't go ashore. I think it has got to be one of the most beautiful tropical islands around though.

 

If i had to choose between the two, i'd go Southern, hands down. Good luck choosing and bon voyage!

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APDMOM "Live from...." Rare

APDMOM

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Western is a dime a dozen and you can do that route on tons of cruiselines and ships.

 

Southern is harder to find, so Id do that if I had a choice and prices were close.

 

I totally agree. We have been looking for an affordable option for Southern Caribbean since 2004. This is the first year we found one at a great price that fits the school schedule.

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Morebeer

Morebeer

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Doing the Southern itinerary July 2012 out of Ft Lauderdale on the Carnival Freedom. Sails once a month to Grand Turk, La Romana, Aruba, and Curacao. Done the Western three times previously really looking forward to the Southern itinerary next year.

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loveJake

loveJake

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We have done the Western (numerous times) and Southern. Southern wins hands down and is still my favorite cruise. But what helped make it the best cruise is that we chose Princess for this one and left from FLL. Was great, 10 day cruise with the 6 ports and 4 sea days. Actually when we considered the cost of flying to SJ for a 7 day cruise vs flying to FLL the cost was the same and we got 10 days on the ship.

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sharecruises

sharecruises

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Southern !

 

the true southern from San Juan...Victory...and also the new "Southern" routes that have Aruba etc are great...it is good to see some different routes out there finally

 

Like others say....the "western" routes are soooo available, so many ships, cruiselines visit those same ports over and over, if you have the chance for a Southern cruise I would surely take it !

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