Need Some Opinions

[ktpc2005]

I am a long time lurker but first time poster. This site is great and has given me a lot of information about cruising.

 

I have sailed on the Dawn with my family two years ago and it was an interesting experience (rained all but 2 days, had someone pass away 2 hours outside of NYC, 30 foot waves) but it was still a good vacation.

 

I am willing to try NCL again and I saw two cruises that my girlfriend is interested in. They go to about the same places but I was wondering if any one had a opinion on what might be better. We would be going during mid February when she has winter break from the school she is teaching at.

 

The two that she was interested in were

7 Day TexCaribbean on the Dream

Leaving from Houston going to Cozumel, Roatan, Belize City,Cancun.

 

7 Day Western Caribbean on the Sun

Leaving from New Orleans to Cozumel, Beize City, Roatan, Playa de Carmen.

 

Any opinions would be most helpful and aprreciated.

 

Thanks.:)

[jeannep]

We were on a cruise that went to Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and New Orleans. We really enjoyed all of those ports. I have not heard great things about Belize. We love the cruise ship and the ports are not the important things to us. Whichever you choose, I am sure you will have a great time.

 

Enjoy!

Jeanne

[zimmerjulie]

I think the Sun would be better, but I am not impartial:p . She is one of my favorite ships since our great Exotic Western Caribbean cruise in 2003. New Orleans can be a fun embarkation port, as well. If it were me, I'd take the Sun:) .

[newmexicoNita]

Julie, I share your thoughts: I am sure the Dream cruise would be nice and the price is most likely a bit lower, but after 16 cruises the Sun is my favorite or 2nd favorite ship. I try to find something negative, but just can't. NMNita

 

ps kptc, at least you have something to talk about when you re-live your Dawn days!!! LOL and I am glad you are able to at least think about NCL again. What happened on your ship are just the type of things that can ruin a cruise for some with their frustrations being taken out on the cruise line: others adjust and get on with it.

[Zeno]

Another vote for the Sun. We were on her last Dec and liked her very much.

She is not as new as the Dawn but is newer than the Dream. We did a similar itinerary (in our case Grand Cayman, Belize, Roatan and Cozumel). We enjoyed all the ports.

[shoreguy]

Sun - still one of my favorites. I have been on both. The Sun is much closer to the Dawn.

[Polish Falcon]

Houston is landlocked.

 

The ship sails from Galveston which is 40(?++) miles away.

 

I checked into this cruise(Houston) and decided that is was not for us.

 

If I have to fly into a cruise port, I like to get there a day early and then stay the night of disembarkation and fly home the next day. Experience is my teacher. Why...weather, terrorist false alarms, traffic jams, ship break downs, etc. etc.

 

For us, this means...

A hotel room the night before the cruise with transportation from the airport...

Transportation to the Pier from the hotel room the day of Sailing...

Transportation back to the hotel room after the cruise...

Trnsportation to the airport to flyback...

 

Given that Galveston is 40 ++ miles from the nearest airport ...

The Tranfers costs were almost equal the cost of the cruise......

 

I would suggest NOLA........

[Plant]

Polish Falcon,

 

If you check the NCL website you will see that the Dream does sail out of Houston next February, not Galveston. There aren't many ships that sail out of Houston, but some do! We've considered these cruises before because it would save an hour or two of driving through Houston to Galveston, but haven't been on one yet...

 

ktpc2005,

 

It's so refreshing to see someone who had an "interesting experience" and didn't let it ruin their cruise! We'll be sailing on the Sun in December and I've been researching the ship for months. Almost everything I've read about the Sun is positive! Also, several people whose opinions I respect from reading their many posts on this site and others (their initials are NMN and Z!), recommend the Sun, so I vote for the Sun!

 

Have a wonderful cruise, whatever you decide,

 

Plant

[ktpc2005]

Thanks for all your input and the speed of the responses. I have only been on two cruises on my life and not as experienced in the cruise industry. The Dawn experience was an interesting trip. The events that happened were nothing they could control so we tried to make the best of what we had.

[Polish Falcon]

:) How about that!

[ute_fan]

The Dream DOES sail out of the port of Houston. She is replacing the Sea, and we've been on that cruise twice. If you look carefully at a Houston map, the actual town that the Dream will be sailing out of is LaPorte, Texas. It's still about a 35-45 minutes drive from IAH, but it's not as far as Galveston.

 

I've never been on the Dream, but we sailed the Sun to Alaska last summer. I'd highly recommend the Sun, myself, unless for some reason the Houston flight and cruise costs were significantly less. Last time I looked, there wasn't much difference in the pricing between the 2 ships. There's a lot of negative posting going on right now about the Dream, but there always was about the Sea too, and we loved our cruises on the Sea. It's not the negative publicity that would affect my decision as much as the differences between the ships. The Dream is an older ship, and they seem to have a little bit more trouble with the freestyle cruising options, since they weren't built with it in mind. The Sun was designed for freestyle cruising, has a lot more restaurant choices (even though we never dined in anything but the 2 main dining rooms) and is a beautiful ship.

 

My other consideration would be the choice between Cancun and Playa del Carmen, which is the only port change between the 2 itineraries. We don't particularly like Cancun, but I did like PdC when we were there in Jan. 2004 on our way to Tulum.