First Time Caribbean - East or West Itinerary

[Jo42]

Looking at Celebrity Caribbean Itineraries for next August 2017. Which do you recommend for a first time Caribbean cruise - East or West?

 

Appreciate your advice. This will be a little 'extra' holiday for me and my 25 year old daughter for some 'us' time. Been on several X cruises in Europe and Alaska, but never been further south than Orlando!!

 

thanks

[ClaudiaB]

We do Caribbean cruises a lot because they're easy to get to - a 90 minute direct flight and we're in FLL. We take them more for the ship and the getaway than the ports since we've been many times. However, we do like to snorkel and there are gorgeous sites on many western ports (especially Bonaire) and my husband loves several of the golf courses (especially Sandy Lane in Barbados) and brings his clubs on every one.

 

We will ALWAYS do the eastern. Don't even like the western.

For us we love the ports there more more than western, and we just don't want to "do" Mexico.

We particularly love the southern ports of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao.

We have two eastern and southern Caribbean cruises coming up.

 

Love those "ABC" islands I just mentioned, plus Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, Dominica, Antigua, St. Maarten.

 

If you can do it, take the 14 night on Eclipse or the 10 or 11 day on Equinox. Those are the best.

[griffy116]

We've done both and love them equally. Look at the ports each one stops at and see what type of excursions interest you and your daughter. Are you beach people? More interested in shopping? History and culture are your thing? Adventurous excursions or water sports are what you are looking for? Culinary delights? There are so many different things to do that it's really up to you as to which ports have more to offer that the two of you would enjoy. There's really no wrong answer. Go to the ports of call section and look at each port and see what the most popular excursions are at each stop on both cruises and then decide.

[Duanerice1]

Agree, it depends on what you want. Look at the stops and see what each island offers. Shopping, snorkeling, etc. Each offers something a little different - kind of.

 

We too appreciate the ship as we've been to most of the islands a few times now. Living in S Florida makes it a little easier/cheaper for us.

 

All said and done, we like the Eastern tour better.

[vivi9909]

We did two Eastern Caribbean cruises and one Western Caribbean. We were happy with it but consider that some ports of call in the Western itineraries such as Carthagena, Panama and Belize were interesting to be seen once but would not go back.

We will however continue to go back to the Eastern and Southern destinations. Next one is on the Equinox in May 2017: fabulous prices and perks!

 

Definitively, for a first Caribbean cruise, Eastern (or Southern) Caribbean is the choice, especially if you like beautiful beaches and landscapes. On the other hand, if you are attracted by Mayan sites, tropical forest or Panama Canal, you might prefer the Western itineraries.

Edited August 21, 2016 by vivi9909

[Newbury newbie]

We did both the west and the east in a B2B last Easter. Flying to Miami from the UK, the longer your holiday the better the value. Assuming you can afford the time that is.

 

If I was pushed for one or the other I'd have to say East though. :)

[royalcruz]

It all depends on what you like to do. Here are some highlights of my favorites:

 

Eastern:

San Juan: nice city walking tours and fort tours

St. Thomas: swim with sea lions at Coral World, best jewelry shopping downtown

St. Maarten: Scoot Coupes island tour, walk to town and enjoy lunch on beach, Segway tour.

 

Western:

Labadee is a nice private island experience

Jamaica: the Falmouth port was only recently built and it is a really nice port to walk around, rainforest zipline and bobsled mountain coaster, climb Dunn's River Falls, river rafting on Martha Brae

Cozumel: nice shopping/dining around downtown, nice shopping and dining (Pancho's) at Puerta Maya (not where Celebrity docks but you can walk there easily), Paradise Beach is nice.

Key West: Hemingway House, Duval St lunch/shopping/bar hopping.

Edited August 21, 2016 by royalcruz

[Sandtrap328]

Both have great ports but for a first timer, I would recommend the Eastern. St. Thomas is the place to go for the Caribbean jewelry shopping experience. St. Maarten is a little bit Dutch and more French. Experience Orient Beach!

 

You may want to rethink going in August. Very HOT and crowded.

[Deeliteful]

I too have done both and enjoyed both.

My room mate put me off the Western Caribbean for ages but tried it a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it.

Of course it does depend on what you want to do but if it's just chillin' in the sun then do the Western itinerary and if you do Falmouth go to Red Stripe beach for a truly relaxing day. Yeh mon.

[aquanaut1]

Western

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[karena1]

Looking at Celebrity Caribbean Itineraries for next August 2017. Which do you recommend for a first time Caribbean cruise - East or West?

 

Appreciate your advice. This will be a little 'extra' holiday for me and my 25 year old daughter for some 'us' time. Been on several X cruises in Europe and Alaska, but never been further south than Orlando!!

 

thanks

 

 

We like them both, but will give the nod to Eastern. We are not fans of Jamaica and b/c we do a lot of cruise we are not fans of Nassau. Other than those 2, we like STT, SMX, San Juan, Grand Caymans, Labadee, CocoCay, Cozumel etc. So either is nice. For a first time I would probably say go Eastern.

[karena1]

I too have done both and enjoyed both.

My room mate put me off the Western Caribbean for ages but tried it a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it.

Of course it does depend on what you want to do but if it's just chillin' in the sun then do the Western itinerary and if you do Falmouth go to Red Stripe beach for a truly relaxing day. Yeh mon.

 

Did you do Red Stripe on your own or through the ship? Does not get good reviews so we ended up not going there when on Silhouette in Dec.

[SWFL Cruisers]

For me the Caribbean feeling is more on the Eastern than Western. Go East young man, Go east. Cheers!:D

[Banjo]

I prefer the snorkeling in the Western Caribbean. I find the reefs in Belize, Roatan & Costa Maya to be still pretty much intact.