Looking for input on my cruise choices

[jdlowndes]

I need some input on these two choices of cruises, please:

7 Day Western Caribbean--

Cozumel

Belize

Isla Rotan

Costa Maya

 

8 Day Southern Caribbean--

St Maarten

St Kitts

San Juan

Grand Turk

 

Both cruises leave from/return to Port Canaveral and will be planned for Jan/Feb 2016.

 

I am unfamiliar with the average seas/weather in the Southern Caribbean that time of year, if someone would please shed some light on that.

 

Also, I have never cruised on either of these vessels, can you please share a little about either of these vessels, if you have sailed on them.

 

Thank you in advance, your input is greatly appreciated!!!!

[k2excursion]

It looks to me like the 7-day cruise is on the Valor, and the 8-day is on the Sunshine. While the 8-day cruise is a better itinerary, the Valor (for me) is a far superior ship. Sunshine used to be the Destiny, which had always been reported as a very crowded ship. When they converted it, they took away public space and added tons more rooms. Reports are that it's a very pretty ship, but that it's also very very crowded, and that the theater and comedy club are insanely tiny. Sunshine got rid of the live music for their stage shows, shortened the shows, got rid of the real props, and reduced the number of performers. Valor still has the good shows in their theater, so that's a huge advantage for the Valor, for me.

 

Sunshine does have the latest of the food spots, including the new burger place (as if anybody should bother with eating burgers on a cruise), the new burrito place, the Italian restaurant (free for lunch-charges for dinner), and the Asian place. Sunshine also has the ropes course and a great waterpark with multiple large slides, while Valor only has the 1 slide. Valor has 3 pools, while Sunshine only has 1 (plus the super tiny wading pool in the serenity area). Sunshine has a pretty serenity area.

 

Of those 8 ports, I really loved 7 of them. Belize is the one that I'm not crazy about, but there are some good excursions that can be taken there. I would recommend using the cruiseline's excursions for that port. The 4 ports on the Sunshine itinerary are all amazing!

 

Weather in January in the southern Caribbean is very nice. I was on a cruise at that time earlier this year. The Port Canaveral area was very chilly, as a huge arctic front had descended upon the whole country. But we didn't have to go too far south to hit the warm weather. Pretty much by the end of Day 1. And it stayed warm the rest of the trip. No problems for anyone swimming.

[LadySam1968]

We did the exotic western route with Belize in February. The weather in Belize at the end of February was 87 with 90% humidity. Roatan was also in the 802.

 

 

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[SNJCruisers]

Between the two, I would lean towards the Sunshine, mainly because it's 8 days and has more of the 2.0 upgrades compared to the Valor. But itinerary wise, I would choose the 8 day that visits Aruba, Bonaire and Grand Turk. (1/16/16 or 2/5/16) Aruba is an unbelievable island with fantastic weather and no pushy natives like some of the islands. Been there 3 times over the years and loved it each time, in fact I was there twice when the Sunshine was still the Destiny. Bonaire is a water lovers dream, with fantastic scuba diving, so if you like to snorkel or maybe even try snuba, that would be the place to do it. And finally Grand Turk is a great place to just relax on the beach near the dock or go swimming at Margaritaville. The Sunshine also only visits 3 ports, so the port charges are less and you get an extra sea day to check out everything that she has to offer.

[fuddrules]

Children or no children?

[Tapi]

Purely on itinerary, the "Southern" on the Sunshine. San Juan and St. Maarten would be at the top of my list any day! :)

 

As a side note, Carnival needs to learn some geography and stop mislabeling their itineraries. That is not a "Southern" itinerary, just like a cruise to Key West and the Bahamas is not an "Eastern Caribbean" itinerary.

 

 

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Edited November 21, 2014 by Tapi