Looking for opinions on 2 S. Caribbean choices

[MNfamilycruiser]

6 people - next November. Myself, dh -2 dds, and my parents. We will be staying in 2 staterooms in some combination. 3 and 3, or 4 and 2

 

Choice 1 - Brilliance departing from San Juan - St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Antigua and St. Croix. Most of us have never been to St. Croix and none of us has been to Guadeloupe.

 

This is the week before Thanksgiving and ALL the Junior suites on Deck 10 are taken - a group? Because of that we were unable to get connecting JS - or even adjacent. Our staterooms would be separated by 2 intervening rooms.

 

Choice 2 - Adventure departing from San Juan - St. Croix, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados. Thinking Barbados was an island we didn't really enjoy that much the last time we visited (maybe 8 years ago) but I don't know if we really planned much either.

 

This is Thanksgiving week - we are slightly concerned with being able to find friends to watch family pets. We were able to get connecting rooms with 4 of us in a OS, my parents in a connecting JS. These rooms are on the curve - 1312 and 1314 - they look like the balconies might be a bit bigger? I don't suppose the balconies connect as well do they?

 

Just looking for some info, opinions on the two different ships, slightly different ports etc. to help us decide. It has been several years since we have cruised, and quite a long time since we have done Southern Caribbean.

[lexingtonave]

I have cruised the southern Caribbean twice and visited all the islands mentioned except Guadeloupe. My favorite is St. Croix. The people are great, and if you are looking for a nice beach you can't beat going to the Sand Castle. Just get off the ship and look for a sign. Vans will take you there. This is a small hotel with a good restaurant, bar, outdoor pool, umbrellas, chairs, restrooms and a changing room. I think we paid $20.00 for two chairs and an umbrella. Vans return every 15 minutes so you can come and go as you please. The water is calm and you can snorkle right off the beach. Like you, on my first trip to Barbados I didn't really like it. On our second trip (there were 6 of us), we found a cab and asked the driver to give us a tour and take us to a beach not loaded with tourists. We drove around the island, cut our own sugar cane, and went to a lovely beach. It was much better than traveling on a tour or figuring out where to go on our own. This was about 5 years ago, and the cost was $15.00 per person. Keep in mind that Thanksgiving week will have lots of children on board. Some people like this, others hate it. Good luck with your decision and have a great trip.

[will773]

Wow, those are both really great itineraries, but I think I like the one on Adventure just a little bit more. Also, the Adventure better suits my taste, but that is subjective to everyone, so you would have to think harder on that one.

[masonpips]

we did the same itinerary on Adventure and loved it. Honestly Barbados was one of our favorite spots (Shasa private sail/snorkel w/sea turtles, you can google it).

 

DDs will probably like Adventure better for activities (ice skating) and kid's clubs are a bit bigger too if they'll be going. I think both have the rock wall and mini-golf

[MNfamilycruiser]

I have cruised the southern Caribbean twice and visited all the islands mentioned except Guadeloupe. My favorite is St. Croix. The people are great, and if you are looking for a nice beach you can't beat going to the Sand Castle. Just get off the ship and look for a sign. Vans will take you there. This is a small hotel with a good restaurant, bar, outdoor pool, umbrellas, chairs, restrooms and a changing room. I think we paid $20.00 for two chairs and an umbrella. Vans return every 15 minutes so you can come and go as you please. The water is calm and you can snorkle right off the beach. Like you, on my first trip to Barbados I didn't really like it. On our second trip (there were 6 of us), we found a cab and asked the driver to give us a tour and take us to a beach not loaded with tourists. We drove around the island, cut our own sugar cane, and went to a lovely beach. It was much better than traveling on a tour or figuring out where to go on our own. This was about 5 years ago, and the cost was $15.00 per person. Keep in mind that Thanksgiving week will have lots of children on board. Some people like this, others hate it. Good luck with your decision and have a great trip.

 

If we do Barbados I'll make sure to keep track of this idea - now that I have found this board and feel comfortable doing our own excursions - I am sure we will have a good time this time. I think we were doing all ship excursions the last time we were there - and we were travelling with a bunch of new cruisers at that time (my grandpa and my aunts) so that affected our excursion decisions.

[MNfamilycruiser]

we did the same itinerary on Adventure and loved it. Honestly Barbados was one of our favorite spots (Shasa private sail/snorkel w/sea turtles, you can google it).

 

DDs will probably like Adventure better for activities (ice skating) and kid's clubs are a bit bigger too if they'll be going. I think both have the rock wall and mini-golf

 

Great to hear about Barbados - this time I will know to go over to the port section and check out ideas for private tours.

 

Yes, DD's will be going - and so we don't mind that there will be more kids on board. This itinerary is so port intensive that I am not sure how much time they will spend with other kids. They are older now - 13 and 14 at the time of the sailing - we would probably do all excursions with them. We would occasionally leave them on board if a port was mostly a shopping port - but they enjoy shopping now ;)

 

The bigger kids club can be a benefit.....not sure what they do for teens - but that is another question!

[whiteway906]

I've done that itinerary on the AOS. The ship and the itinerary are great. I'm booking the first sailing to Guadaloupe on 11/10/12 when I get to the Freedom. I don't think you can go wrong either way. While I've never sailed on the Brilliance, I do love the Serenade. She is awesome. Since the Brilliance is also Radiance class, I'm expecting she will be as awesome as her sib.