Best southern cruise from San Juan?!

[VitD62]

First time cruisers here! Looking for an adult family cruise (25-55 years old) departing from San Juan. We want to see southern Caribbean on a nice ship with activities. We are young at heart and enjoy water slides golf games Etc.

 

We prefer not to depart from Florida as we are nervous about boredom on sea days as we've never been before.

The fewer sea days- the better!

 

Please help!

[Clarea]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Royal's Adventure of the Seas has an itinerary that has 5 ports, so only one sea day during the week long cruise.

[SuiteTraveler]

The "destination" cruise ships that have the water slides and so forth mostly sail from Florida. The ones with all the amenities that you see on TV are:

 

NCL:

Epic

Getaway

Breakaway

Escape

 

RCCL:

Quantum Class

Oasis Class

Freedom Class

 

Carnival:

Vista

Magic

Breeze

 

Older ships with fewer amenities tend to sail from San Juan as Southern Caribbean cruises are all about the ports. Some lines don't even sail from San Juan, such as Princess and HAL. Here are the ships sailing from San Juan:

 

RCCL:

Adventure of the Seas (2001 refurb 2014) This ship is getting water slides and has mini golf and rock wall climbing.

Jewel of the Seas (2004, refurb 2016) This ship does not have water slides.

 

Carnival:

Fascination (1994) This ship has a water slide.

 

NCL:

Gem (2007) This ship has a so-so water slide.

 

Celebrity:

Summit (2001, refurb 2016) No water slides, this is a more sophisticated type of cruise.

 

Azamara - small ship cruising

Quest (2000 refurb 2012) No water slide.

 

The newest ship is the Viking Star which was built in 2015, but it doesn't have waterslides or rock climbing or mini golf. It's a more sophisticated type of cruise and more expensive. Another luxury cruise is the SeaDream II from SeaDream Yacht Club - again a sophisticated type of cruise and Windstar - a sailing type of cruise - very adult.

[danp]

As a first time cruiser you have two cruises that you can pick on from RCCL.The seven day cruise which has five ports and one sea day which is the last day and heading back to PR. The other cruise is also seven day with four ports and two sea days. I would suggest that you look at the ports and see what you would like to see,then I suggest that you go to the library and get either the fordor or frommers book on the Caribbean and read up on the ports.If you just want to do beach days then do any.

[VitD62]

Thanks everyone!

I see the Adventure of the Seas will be getting some upgrades in November 2016.

 

So my question is, do you notice the age of the ship? Is it better to go with a newer ship? Or is it not worth the extra money? My feeling is, if there is only one day at sea will I really care if it is an older ship? As I plan to be touring land at each "pit stop".

[SuiteTraveler]

Thanks everyone!

I see the Adventure of the Seas will be getting some upgrades in November 2016.

 

So my question is, do you notice the age of the ship? Is it better to go with a newer ship? Or is it not worth the extra money? My feeling is, if there is only one day at sea will I really care if it is an older ship? As I plan to be touring land at each "pit stop".

 

Since it is your first cruise and IF the cruise is AFTER the dry dock for Adventure of the Seas, you probably will not notice about the ship being older. Once you have been cruising for a while, you become more critical about the appearance of the ship - things like broken/dated fixtures and tired cabins are more noticeable and when you know the difference in amenities on a mega ship as opposed to a smaller ship, that is noticeable, too. But with a first cruise, you are not going to notice what is not there as far as amenities go. BTW, you will soon discover that days at sea are the BEST days on a cruise ship - especially in the Caribbean! While each port is somewhat interesting, most of the Caribbean ports are more alike than different and become rather a snooze fest. The islands in the Southern Caribbean have a bit more diversity than some of the other islands, but still, they are not all that great.

[geoherb]

I'd recommend a ship from Florida even though you're anxious about sea days. Being in a different port each day really is tiring. Leaving from Florida will save most people a lot of money on airfare.

[MTdreaming]

We really enjoyed our Southern Caribbean out of San Juan.. I would recommend the Adventure of the Seas...enough activities on board. It will be a port intensive cruise, but we don't like a lot of sea days so thought it was great. I would also recommend staying on in San Juan or arriving an extra day or two early, Old San Juan is very interesting.

[bettyboop16]

We have cruised from San Juan several times. Enjoyed all of them. Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, & Carnival. Royal's Jewel of the Seas was a great cruise since it was a b2b. I like having a sea day at the end of a cruise...very relaxing :).

[navybankerteacher]

I'd recommend a ship from Florida even though you're anxious about sea days. Being in a different port each day really is tiring. Leaving from Florida will save most people a lot of money on airfare.

 

Spending a day in San Juan either pre- or post-cruise is a great addition to the cruise itself. Saving on air fare is not everything - and, in any case flying to San Juan from many US cities does not cost much more than to Mismi or Fort Lauderdale. If too many ports is tiring, it is easy enough to simply stay on board and enjoy having the ship largely to yourself.