Eclipse Southern Car vs Reflection Ult Caribbean

[gordylad]

Having never done any of these cruises any help appreciated to make me decide:

 

Reflection

 

F.Lauderdale

Key West

At Sea

Costa Maya

Roatan

At Sea

Puerto Limon

Colon

Cartagena Overnight

At Sea

George Town

Cozumel At Sea

F Lauderdale

 

Eclipse

 

Miami

At Sea

At Sea

Philipsburg

St Johns

Castries

Bridgetown

At Sea

Bonaire

Willemstad

Orenjestad Overnight

At Sea

At Sea

Miami

[ghstudio]

The reflection has a more interesting (to us) itinerary...in fact we've donevery similar itineraries on the constellation and I believe the eclipse. I prefer the eclipse over the reflection (just less people which translates to less lines) but most of the Caribbean islands are similar with a focus on water sports. The reflection cruise offers tropical boat rides on canals (costa rica), seeing the panama canal, and other interesting to tour/see sites and also offers water sport stops.

[jagoffee]

Eclipse is a 14day cruise, so I would pick the longer one.

[Alsmez]

We have done the same basic itinerary that Reflection is doing on Equinox - it was nice, but I have no desire to visit Colon again, ever. Cartagena was interesting enough but not something I'd care to do twice. Costa Maya and Puerto Limon were also not that interesting to me. The Eclipse itinerary interests me more, but that might be because I haven't been to the southern Caribbean (and we love St. Maarten, so that's a bonus).

 

If the ship is a factor, keep in mind that Reflection is newer and has more dining options (Lawn Club Grill), but also holds more passengers and could therefore feel more crowded. Eclipse has the Hot Glass Show if that holds any appeal (we went once on Equinox and thought it was the biggest waste of space imaginable). I would give the edge to Reflection there, personally, but others prefer Eclipse.

[swigso]

You don't say when the dates are but a stop on Key West

Will always be a plus, would most pro an.y stay in the ship

Apart from Key West

[edmonton2]

Cartagena was interesting enough but not something I'd care to do twice. Costa Maya and Puerto Limon were also not that interesting to me.

 

Just curious - what did you do in Cartagena? Did you do a ship excursion on on your own? I think our upcoming cruise has a similar itinerary, although we are no longer stopping in Costa Maya and will stay in Cartagena overnight, so we will be spending two days there!

[wallie5446]

I too was going to ask the dates, since I had not seen that they were moving the Reflection out of Miami and the alternating East/West 7 day.

 

We did the 11 night on the Equinox in 2014, which is what you show for the Reflection, and the 10 day this past Thanksgiving which is very close to your Eclipse route.

 

It would boil down to which has more stops at countries you have not visited before. Both are great routes.

[upwarduk]

I would choose Eclipse, but only because it visits Curaçao, which we missed in 2013 due to being too windy to dock.

It also overnights in Aruba, which I love, but only because I spent 4 weeks there in 2001/2002 when our son was working at the oil refinery.

I wouldn't want to go to Colon again as I felt uncomfortable there.

[Alsmez]

.

Just curious - what did you do in Cartagena? Did you do a ship excursion on on your own? I think our upcoming cruise has a similar itinerary, although we are no longer stopping in Costa Maya and will stay in Cartagena overnight, so we will be spending two days there!

 

We went to the fort on our own, but if you have an overnight there you will have more time and more options. We could have gone up to the monastery, but we didn't want to spend our whole time there driving. Here's my post about the experience:

 

We took a cab to the fort and then walked to the Old City from there. It was HOT. As for cabs, the cab line inside the cruise terminal is a TOTAL racket - they overcharge like crazy. I heard them asking for as much as $20pp to the fort, which is ridiculous. They quoted me $20 for two. I told them I wouldn't pay more than $8 for the two of us and they refused to bargain - they just ignored us, presumably hoping we'd get tired of waiting and accept their price. Luckily we ran into another couple who said they'd heard we should walk out of the port area for cheaper cabs (which I remembered having read here as well), so we did. Lo and behold, a cab for the four of us to the fort was only $10! Of course, the cabbie tried to take us on his own tour and up to the monastery, but we simply held firm, told him the price we had negotiated and where we wanted to go, and eventually we got there.

 

On the way home, we were approached by cabbies in the Old Town near the Clock Tower asking $10 back to the port. We walked away and out of the main tourist area and just flagged a cab, who quoted $5. Quite a scam, but you can certainly get around inexpensively if you stick to your guns.

[edmonton2]

We went to the fort on our own, but if you have an overnight there you will have more time and more options. We could have gone up to the monastery, but we didn't want to spend our whole time there driving. Here's my post about the experience:

 

We took a cab to the fort and then walked to the Old City from there. It was HOT. As for cabs, the cab line inside the cruise terminal is a TOTAL racket - they overcharge like crazy. I heard them asking for as much as $20pp to the fort, which is ridiculous. They quoted me $20 for two. I told them I wouldn't pay more than $8 for the two of us and they refused to bargain - they just ignored us, presumably hoping we'd get tired of waiting and accept their price. Luckily we ran into another couple who said they'd heard we should walk out of the port area for cheaper cabs (which I remembered having read here as well), so we did. Lo and behold, a cab for the four of us to the fort was only $10! Of course, the cabbie tried to take us on his own tour and up to the monastery, but we simply held firm, told him the price we had negotiated and where we wanted to go, and eventually we got there.

 

On the way home, we were approached by cabbies in the Old Town near the Clock Tower asking $10 back to the port. We walked away and out of the main tourist area and just flagged a cab, who quoted $5. Quite a scam, but you can certainly get around inexpensively if you stick to your guns.

 

Thank you so much for your advice! I think this is what we will do on the first day we are there - glad to know all the tips about the cabs.

 

And for the cruises, our first ever cruise was on the Eclipse with almost the same itinerary (except from Fort Lauderdale). We absolutely loved it - Bonaire was my favourite!

[cat maran]

It looks like the Itinerary is a newer one for the Reflection. In the past, the ULTIMATE was usually an 11 day cruise. It looks like yours is a 14 day with more ports in 2017-2018.

 

Do you love white sandy beaches, sunbathing, snorkeling, zip-lining and more sea days? Do the Southern Caribbean.

 

Prefer history, culture, land and/or walking tours, seeing the Panama Canal? Do the Ultimate.

 

Either cruise, either ship, you will have a great time!

[gordylad]

dates are nov 2017

 

just cant make our minds up..been on both ship like them both only been to st maarten, st kitts and labadee when visiting the caribbean so all ports would be new

[chamima]

We've been to all of these ports (except Key West).

Do you like beaches, snorkeling/diving or touring?

To me the Eclipse has the better water ports and the Reflection has better ports for touring.

For either cruise my advise would be to do a lot of research on the Ports of Call boards on here and BOOK PRIVATE TOURS!!!

[davekathy]

The Eclipse itinerary. We're doing almost the same itinerary on our 3 April 2016 Eclipse Cruise. We no longer are stopping at Bonaire. Doing an overnight in Curacao instead.

[hcat]

I'd pick Eclipse fact despite it will be leaving from Miami...generally easier for us to fly to Fll.

 

. ECLIPSE has really nice ports, esp a chance for Bonaire sometimes.hard to come by... it will be a less congested ship at pools, etc....we have not been fans of Ref..based on certain layout issues. Ex. , nightclub is on same deck as Solarium, and is truncated b/c they built suites, the Ref spa is awesome but is one deck up from solarium....

 

Also the circular aft bar on Ref is more for drinking, less conducive to music...altho on our recent cruise on EQ, there was no live music out back anyhow....so we never went there! Ref may be more of Miami type party ship even tho port is Fll....it does have many fans!

 

 

that said we are doing the Cartagena itin next yr on Equinox..mostly for Cartagena and Canal update...overnight in Cartagena is appealing compared to Aruba...also Gr Cayman is tender port and Coz one of our least favs...npbeen there manty times

 

Either way , bet you op will have agreat cruise

[stratixman]

Eclipse itinerary way better.

[awhfy]

Eclipse itinerary. We've done that 14 day 3 times (so far) our favorite itinerary. Western Carib is fine, but the other itinerary wins for us