Help deciding on next cruise!

[gryffin123]

We just got off of the Eclipse after a 14-day cruise which made 8 stops in the southern/eastern Caribbean (Aruba, Curacao, Grenada, St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St. Martin, St. John). This was our first cruise with Celebrity and we really enjoyed it.

 

While onboard, we booked the Equinox for an 11-day cruise in the western Caribbean for next year (Grand Cayman, Cartegena, Colon, Puerto Limon, Belize, Cozumel).

 

We enjoyed the water activities the most on our recent cruise (we snorkeled in all 8 ports), and I'm beginning to realize that the Equinox's western itinerary will only have snorkeling opportunities in 3 of the 6 ports. (We also want to avoid tour bus type excursions.)

 

I'm looking at the other options in our timeframe, and can do one of the following:

 

Back-to-back on either the Reflection or the Silhouette (San Juan, St. Martin, St. Thomas or St. Kitts, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Cozumel, Labadee)

 

10 eastern itinerary on the Equinox (St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados, Dominica, St. Martin)

 

Just a 7 day cruise- probably Western on either the Reflection or the Silhouette.

 

The factors we are considering:

 

1) We like to go to new places, so want to minimize repeating ports that we visited this past year.

2) Will a back-to-back feel "wasteful" or tedious because we retrace our ground to Ft. Lauderdale? (We did enjoy our sea days on our last cruise.)

3) After doing 14 days, we are concerned that 7 will be too short.

 

Any advice or recommendations?

[kelmac]

i would stick with the Western, as you can make a visit to the Panama Canal and check out the new locks. Did this in December and it was great. In addition, I like the snorkeling in the Western Caribbean a little better, although you aren't stopping in Roatan.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[Belgian fry]

Hi. I'd love to do the 14 day you've just done. In your place, if you're really looking for snorkelling, I'd switch to the 10 day Equinox. I've done it twice. In Dominica, make sure you go to Champagne. In Barbados, there is a good place with 3 wrecks

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I would not pick any of the them, I would not do Caribbean

Greek islands is the place to go :D

[CaribbeanBound]

I voted for the 10 eastern itinerary on the Equinox (St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados, Dominica, St. Martin). We've been to all of the ports you're looking at except Labordee. I've cataloged all of our excursions at each port. You might find it helpful in your decision process. http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/caribbean-secrets.html

[MicCanberra]

Out of these choices, I would do the B2B haven't been to any of these ports. Good luck choosing.:D

[debshomespun]

I voted for the B2B. Since you voiced your concern about 7 days not being enough, the 10 or 11 night cruise won't be enough either. If you loved the 14 nights on the Eclipse, you will enjoy a B2B. We have done several, and always enjoyed staying on the ship on our turnaround day, while all the others have to get off. By doing the B2B Eastern/Western, you can get the chance to see many different places int he course of your 14 nights.

 

We just got off RC Legend 21 nights and was a B2B (10 then 11 nights). On our turnaround day, we had about and hour we had to spend with getting our new cards and going through Immigration. Then, we spent the day by the pool in the lounge chairs. We did have a beautiful day in FLL for this I know the Eclipse is doing a little bit of a change for it's 14 night in 2015. Most of the ports are the same, but 1 or 2 are new ports (I know they will be stopping in Bonaire for a couple of their cruises).

[goodycruising]

If you are considering B2B I would recommend having the same cabin if possible. Packing and unpacking is a pain in my opinion. We didn't have a choice on our recent B2B as we booked one leg closer to sailing. We did that as we went on a 5 nighter and decided that the next cruise of 7 nights would also be way too short! We added 8 nights to make 15 and I think that was just nice.

 

The thing I found was for a cruise of 5 nights we really felt like we only had 4 full days, which is what you get. Getting on and getting off are not relaxing days. If you get on about lunch time the first day is ok, but last day is just sad!

 

They all sound nice, so I am sure you will enjoy whatever you choose.

Edited March 14, 2014 by goodycruising

[catugirl]

If you haven't done an Alaska cruise, and you don't mind a cool weather vacation, this is a wonderful experience. We did Alaska on RCCL, but I notice that Celebrity offers 7 to 14 day cruises to Alaska. The scenery is magnificent and took our breath away. If you haven't experienced the Panama Canal, that's also a fascinating experience. We did Panama Canal on Princess, but I see that Celebrity offers a really interesting 15 day Transcanal cruise.

[OCruisers]

Back-to-back on either the Reflection or the Silhouette (San Juan, St. Martin, St. Thomas or St. Kitts, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Cozumel, Labadee)

 

Gosh, I'd probably pick this one since you could snorkel on all of these ports.

My DH is sort of like yours ... tells me he doesn't care as long as he doesn't have to ride around on a tour bus. :D

LuLu

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