Bahamas- CocoCay or Nassau?

[simmo67]

Can anyone advise which is the nicer port to stop at in the Bahamas-CocoCay or Nassau? We are considering doing a Western & Eastern cruise in Dec/Jan and the Oasis stops at Nassau & Freedom of Seas stops at CocoCay, other ports are the same.

 

Has anyone travelled to the Caribbean over during this time? If so how was the weather at this time of the year for you?

[Miamia65]

Simmo67

 

We are booked on Oasis for 7 and 14 december B2B cruises this year, we chose the ship rather than the ports because we want to go in the biggest class of ships! I have read that the weather is great and its not hurricane season.

[simmo67]

Simmo67

 

We are booked on Oasis for 7 and 14 december B2B cruises this year, we chose the ship rather than the ports because we want to go in the biggest class of ships! I have read that the weather is great and its not hurricane season.

 

Have a great trip Miamia65...Oasis looks awesome. The only reason I was looking at Freedom is that its a bit cheaper (theres 5 of us) and you get an extra port on the Western leg of the trip.

 

I'm trying to looks at pros & cons for both so that's why I asked about Bahamas port. I might try the Royal Caribbean thread. Have you had any luck with airfares for that time of the year?

[Miamia65]

Hey Simmo67

 

The reason who have booked the dates early in december is to get cheaper airfares. I kept my eye on airfares last year and they are more expensive after the second week of december. My TA explained to me that if you buy your departing date in the low season then your returning flight is priced the same as part of a return ticket.

 

So i am waiting for the sale for esrly december departures to go on offer and i will buy the tickets ... There is four of us. We are planning to leave around 4 december and plan to go to orlando before and after the cruises and then new york for christmas and new year .... Four weeks in total. My kids are teenagers still students but work part time so they have to save for their own spending money.

 

Am hopeful of snagging airfares for around $2000 each, brisbane to orlando, orlando to new york, new york to brisbane ... Some driving to and from orlando before and after the cruises. Depending on pricing i might buy return airfares to new york and then internal flights to orlando!

 

What are your plans?

 

Aleisha

[Miamia65]

There is a lot of information on the RCI board and also the ports of call and east coast departures thread.

[Miamia65]

Here is a link to the florida departures thread

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=495

[simmo67]

Hey Simmo67

 

The reason who have booked the dates early in december is to get cheaper airfares. I kept my eye on airfares last year and they are more expensive after the second week of december. My TA explained to me that if you buy your departing date in the low season then your returning flight is priced the same as part of a return ticket.

 

So i am waiting for the sale for esrly december departures to go on offer and i will buy the tickets ... There is four of us. We are planning to leave around 4 december and plan to go to orlando before and after the cruises and then new york for christmas and new year .... Four weeks in total. My kids are teenagers still students but work part time so they have to save for their own spending money.

 

Am hopeful of snagging airfares for around $2000 each, brisbane to orlando, orlando to new york, new york to brisbane ... Some driving to and from orlando before and after the cruises. Depending on pricing i might buy return airfares to new york and then internal flights to orlando!

 

What are your plans?

 

Aleisha

 

Thanks for all the info Aleisha,

Have really only just started looking into it all. I know we want to do a B2B Eastern & Western Caribbean (reading through Cruise Critic has thrown another spanner in the works...the Southern Caribbean itinerary from San Juan sounds good too)!

 

Our kids are also teenagers 14 & 18 (+sons girlfriend), so they are at a great age to be doing this....the Flowrider is a must! We will also stay in Orlando pre & post to do Disneyworld & Universal studios. Not sure about a stopover yet...it's tempting :D Have you picked any hotels out yet in Orlando?

Your trip sounds fantastic....xmas in New York WOW! Donna

[kaseyoz]

We have done a carribean cruise over christmas on the Mariner. The weather was beautiful.

Coco cay is a private island and a beach stay. Great as there is also a lot of stuff to do(extra cost though) the teenagers would love this. The girls and I did the parasail and the boys did kayaking and surfskiing.

 

Nassau, also did this on a different cruise and did the sting ray swim. Fantastic. The Atlantis resort is also here where you used to be able to go for the day. Please check this out..

 

With regards to Orlando and I hope it is OK to post this here as not cruise related, try a house rental. We went with our 2 teenagers and another family with their kids same age and booked 2 homes. Great BUT you need to drive to the parks which is easy to do.

 

This is where we stayed, our own pool etc and every thing else shared you can think of, shop, tennis court , huge pool.

 

http://www.windsorhillsrentals.com/

[Miamia65]

Thanks for all the info Aleisha,

Have really only just started looking into it all. I know we want to do a B2B Eastern & Western Caribbean (reading through Cruise Critic has thrown another spanner in the works...the Southern Caribbean itinerary from San Juan sounds good too)!

 

Our kids are also teenagers 14 & 18 (+sons girlfriend), so they are at a great age to be doing this....the Flowrider is a must! We will also stay in Orlando pre & post to do Disneyworld & Universal studios. Not sure about a stopover yet...it's tempting :D Have you picked any hotels out yet in Orlando?

Your trip sounds fantastic....xmas in New York WOW! Donna

Hi Donna

 

There are so many Walt Disney World (WDW) and Universal hotel options - it is mind blowing. However, we have a budget which is $200 per night and I have looked at the Disney hotels and the disney partner hotels. Most of them are over $400 a night and out of my budget. So I have made a booking (just with a credit card number - no deposit) for the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista hotel. It's about $250 (incl taxes and resort fee) or $209 (with no taxes and resort fee included) a night from 28 Nov to 7 Dec which is OK - it is a family suite with 2 dbl, bunk beds and 1 sofa bed ... it was only $10 a night more for the family suite over a room with 2 double beds.

 

With 3 teenagers I don't think 2 double beds will be that comfortable.

 

If you are not aware you can become a member of Starwood Hotels for free and they own all of the sheraton, westin etc brands and always have specials. And this is where I found the rates mentioned above.

 

Have you looked into airfares yet? QANTAS has a sale today and I have now changed my travel dates and purchased the fares. We were originally leaving on 4 Dec but I pulled this back to 28 Nov to get the Brisbane - Orlando, New York to Brisbane return for $1677 each. Otherwise it was going to cost $2500 each - the $4000 saving on airfares will definately cover the extra nights accommodation and the timing for WDW and Universal is good as the parks will have lower crowd levels.

 

I have borrowed many books from the local city council library including one called "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" - a wealth of information. It gives tips on certain sites that have info about crowd levels in the Disney and Universal parks. No sure if i can mention them on here though!!!

 

There is so much to research, but we have plenty of time. The airfares in Dec/Jan are peak and are very expensive and the theme parks are at maximum crowds in the last 2 weeks of Dec and Jan as well. Hence us now going to WDW and Universal in the 1st week of Dec.

 

Cheers Aleisha

[Miamia65]

We have done a carribean cruise over christmas on the Mariner. The weather was beautiful.

Coco cay is a private island and a beach stay. Great as there is also a lot of stuff to do(extra cost though) the teenagers would love this. The girls and I did the parasail and the boys did kayaking and surfskiing.

 

Nassau, also did this on a different cruise and did the sting ray swim. Fantastic. The Atlantis resort is also here where you used to be able to go for the day. Please check this out..

 

With regards to Orlando and I hope it is OK to post this here as not cruise related, try a house rental. We went with our 2 teenagers and another family with their kids same age and booked 2 homes. Great BUT you need to drive to the parks which is easy to do.

 

This is where we stayed, our own pool etc and every thing else shared you can think of, shop, tennis court , huge pool.

 

http://www.windsorhillsrentals.com/

Karon

That house is awesome, unfortunately its not available on our dates !!! :-(

Aleisha

[simmo67]

We have done a carribean cruise over christmas on the Mariner. The weather was beautiful.

Coco cay is a private island and a beach stay. Great as there is also a lot of stuff to do(extra cost though) the teenagers would love this. The girls and I did the parasail and the boys did kayaking and surfskiing.

 

Nassau, also did this on a different cruise and did the sting ray swim. Fantastic. The Atlantis resort is also here where you used to be able to go for the day. Please check this out..

 

With regards to Orlando and I hope it is OK to post this here as not cruise related, try a house rental. We went with our 2 teenagers and another family with their kids same age and booked 2 homes. Great BUT you need to drive to the parks which is easy to do.

 

This is where we stayed, our own pool etc and every thing else shared you can think of, shop, tennis court , huge pool.

 

http://www.windsorhillsrentals.com/

 

Thanks Kaseyoz,

that is another great option...the house looks huge! What was the weather like in Orlando (I'm glad it was beautiful for your cruise). Could you swim in the pool at the house or was it too cold?

 

Thanks Miamia65,

I have joined Starwood as suggested...love the look of the Sheraton...the cheapest I could get it for is $300 incl taxes/resort fees but that would be over New Year so expect it to be more.

 

What a saving on your airfares! Lots of extra spending money.

 

Oh decisions decisions ....

[Miamia65]

Donna

What dates are you planning?

 

Have a look at the Walt Disney World Swan or Dolphin resort. These are classed as inside the WDW precinct but are managed by sheraton and westin (spg)... but if you are going over christmas and new year the rates may be high.

[simmo67]

Donna

What dates are you planning?

 

Have a look at the Walt Disney World Swan or Dolphin resort. These are classed as inside the WDW precinct but are managed by sheraton and westin (spg)... but if you are going over christmas and new year the rates may be high.

 

Hi Aleisha,

We are planning on going the worst time ever ie. 27/12 prob for about 3 weeks, but its the only time we can all get off together.

 

I think we will now go straight to Orlando and visit Universal studios & WDW then travel down to Frt Lauderdale where we are now thinking of doing the 8 day Indy of the Sea Eastern Caribbean (which visits more of the Southern ports like San Juan, St Kitts etc on 5th Jan & then Allure of the Seas from 12th Jan .Western...I now think it would be silly to go all that way and not get on Allure or Oasis. Then stay in Miami for a couple of days after.

 

How will you get from Orlando to Frt Lauderdale (I think it is about 3 hrs away)?

 

The Sheraton looks like it would be a great place to be on New Years Eve!

Donna

[kaseyoz]

The pool in the home we rented was heated but was actually too hot but the maintenace people turned it down. Yes we swam ok, even me who is an english swimmer and needs bath water temps.

 

There are many homes for rent in that complex all had 3 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms and every thing you needed inside.

[Miamia65]

Hi Aleisha,

We are planning on going the worst time ever ie. 27/12 prob for about 3 weeks, but its the only time we can all get off together.

 

I think we will now go straight to Orlando and visit Universal studios & WDW then travel down to Frt Lauderdale where we are now thinking of doing the 8 day Indy of the Sea Eastern Caribbean (which visits more of the Southern ports like San Juan, St Kitts etc on 5th Jan & then Allure of the Seas from 12th Jan .Western...I now think it would be silly to go all that way and not get on Allure or Oasis. Then stay in Miami for a couple of days after.

 

How will you get from Orlando to Frt Lauderdale (I think it is about 3 hrs away)?

 

The Sheraton looks like it would be a great place to be on New Years Eve!

Donna

Hi Donna

I am planning on driving from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale and believe its a 4 hour drive. Although today I was researching the Amtrak rail networks, so will let you know what I find.

 

We were initially going to leave on boxing day and do 2 cruises on Oasis in January but my TA talked me out of it because of the airfares.

 

I also started to research the crowd levels in WDW and Universal and soon raalised that the parks would be very crowded. We have flexibility as my kids are 19, 16 and 15 and all students.

 

Yes you should do Allure as well, see it all, thats my approach albeit staying on one ship.

 

I have a few days post cruise and before we fly to new york, so we may visir miami as well, south beach in particular but havent researched that area yet!

 

Happy planning!!!