East or West Caribbean?

[DeRon]

Going on the Regal in February. What are the better ports, especially due to hurricane?

 

East: Princess Cays, St Thomas, St Martin

West: Princess Cays, Falmouth Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

 

I am not a fan of Jamaica, and would most likely stay on the ship. So the # of ports would be the same for us either way. I guess the main question: are St Thomas and St Martin okay to visit yet? I’ve also been reading that they are having an extreme problem with seaweed.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

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Edited September 2, 2018 by DeRon

[moki'smommy]

Grand Cayman is one of my favorite ports, and as of our April trip is in fine shape. Cozumel, on the other hand it one of my least favorite, so I'd have to weigh out the combination.

 

We used to like Eastern better, but in fairness have done it so often that it is rather "been there, done that." I look for cruises that are doing other places like Tortola, St. Croix, etc.

 

My understanding is that St. Maarten and St. Thomas are basically up and running in the tourist areas, and can probably benefit greatly from the return of tourist dollars....haven't heard of awful seaweed.

[Thrak]

We visited St. Thomas in March and it was fine. I'd choose Eastern but it's a bummer you don't visit Barbados. I really want to get some of that fine Foursquare Rum. :cool:

[Colo Cruiser]

Going on the Regal in February. What are the better ports, especially due to hurricane?

 

East: Princess Cays, St Thomas, St Martin

West: Princess Cays, Falmouth Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

 

I am not a fan of Jamaica, and would most likely stay on the ship. So the # of ports would be the same for us either way. I guess the main question: are St Thomas and St Martin okay to visit yet? I’ve also been reading that they are having an extreme problem with seaweed.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

We just visited St Thomas/St Marten 2 weeks ago on the CB.

IMO it was fine in both ports. Never saw seaweed. :o

 

Water at Princess Cays was beautiful as always.

[Colo Cruiser]

We visited St. Thomas in March and it was fine. I'd choose Eastern but it's a bummer you don't visit Barbados. I really want to get some of that fine Foursquare Rum. :cool:

 

 

That would be the southern Carib.

[satxdiver]

Grand Cayman is a tender port and sometimes has to be missed due to rough seas and problems loading tenders. The ships set out in the open unprotected. It is a great port however.

 

We have been on a ship 3x to Jamaica and have yet to get off. We have stayed aboard in other ports because we have been there many times and the ship is like a ghost ship. However in Jamaica many do stay aboard or if they get off it is for shopping in the wharf area only. It took us by surprise the first time as we were anticipating a really quiet day.

 

Cozumel has the problem of anywhere between a few and 8 ships in port at the same time all on a small island. It can be very crowded. We have been faced with well over an hour to get a taxi so we gave up and went back to the ship. You may want to have a tour lined up if there are more than 2 ships in port.

 

We have been to St Thomas several times before but not since the devastation last fall. We will be there this fall and will see how well they have recovered.

 

We have been to St Martin quite a few times but not since last fall so I have no idea how well they have recovered.

[Thrak]

That would be the southern Carib.

 

D'Oh! Just did a 14 day Circle Caribbean in April. Our first Caribbean cruise. I'm easily confused. :p

[geoherb]

We took the eastern itinerary in February but did not get off the ship in St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We'd probably stay on the ship on a western cruise as well since we've been to those ports so many times before.

[deliver42]

We were in St Thomas and St Martin last December, and by then they were up and running in the port areas at least.

[skynight]

Going on the Regal in February. What are the better ports, especially due to hurricane?

 

East: Princess Cays, St Thomas, St Martin

West: Princess Cays, Falmouth Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

 

I am not a fan of Jamaica, and would most likely stay on the ship. So the # of ports would be the same for us either way. I guess the main question: are St Thomas and St Martin okay to visit yet? I’ve also been reading that they are having an extreme problem with seaweed.

 

Thoughts?

I think East is better. St. Thomas and St. Maarten are easy to just walk around, and easy to get tours. Remaining hurricane damage will not affect your visit.

Regarding West: Falmouth is a large mall. Other than the river rafting there is nothing close to Falmouth, all the popular sites are an hour away.

Grand Cayman is nice, great beaches, sting ray city, nice downtown.

Cozumel has some nice spots, but the only thing close to the pier is a pier side mall. Downtown is about 3 miles away, there are taxis. There are some nice tours in Cozumel, and also some nice beaches.

[Tak8]

I prefer the Eastern route. I go for the beaches and snorkeling. Always enjoyed Eastern more.

[curlybelle2]

Western is fine and still a nice cruise but we like Eastern and love Southern!

 

Kaye

[piescruises]

when I was in st.maarten on the oasis there was minimal damage still visible, so yes it's ok. I like st. maarten better than cozumel because it felt a little safer and a little more developed. I think east is better just a little nicer.

[flvol77]

We did the eastern Two weeks ago;

 

We use to love St Maarten, it’s a hole now, we saw people fighting over tourist, guards by the nicer stores, Celebrity advised us not to wear jewelry and to be careful, charged to use the bathrooms that were in terrible shape and nasty, it looked terrible and it was very sad to see as it was our favorite port.

 

We got off early, shopped in town and went back, we were hit up a dozen times about beach chairs, someone told we were going the wrong way back to the ship and I said nope not when you charge to use the bathrooms, he said oh well that just the way it is and I said and that is just the way it is when you lose tourists.

 

The people in the shops were friendly, but my wife didn’t wear any jewelry and she was completely left alone.

 

We also went to San Juan, and to St Thomas, interesting to see the difference, we met someone on the ship that her brother is ATF agent in PR. He told them to be careful, we walked around old San Juan, it looked like hell, we counted 17 police officers on the roads, I heard a lot of blaming and finger pointing, but I also live in Orlando and outside of PR and NYC it has the third largest population of PRicans and we see a lot of finger pointing, it’s sad, the storm only intensified the problems in PR and that is from people in the know and that work and conduct business there.

 

St Thomas was awesome, thankful for the tourist, thankful for the support, very different attitude and different feel.

 

We are going on the Regal in February, we have zero plans to do anything in St Maarten, they have built up the port area so you can shop there and the locals aren’t allowed in to bug you about the beach or a tour and we may get off and get some guava berry rum and go back to the ship and enjoy it.

 

I love Grand Cayman, another port where the locals are great and thankful for tourist and show their gratitude, I like Cozumel but it’s gone downhill recently and I don’t trust the area as much as I have in the past,

 

I wouldn’t get off in Jamaica, and if I did I would have a tour set up and I would either do it through the ship or someone I really trusted.

[voljeep]

I'd like to see a few more include Turk and Caicos...:cool:

 

St Croix ??

[Ep010835]

Great thread. We've never been to any of these places so it's gonna be a totally new experience.

 

It's really helpful to hear first hand the places to if not avoid completely, at least be on "high alert"!

[OCruisers]

Going on the Regal in February. What are the better ports, especially due to hurricane?

 

East: Princess Cays, St Thomas, St Martin

West: Princess Cays, Falmouth Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

 

I am not a fan of Jamaica, and would most likely stay on the ship. So the # of ports would be the same for us either way. I guess the main question: are St Thomas and St Martin okay to visit yet? I’ve also been reading that they are having an extreme problem with seaweed.

 

Thoughts?

 

We never know what the current 2018 Hurricane Season will bring. :rolleyes:

You are very "well sailed" so if I were you, I'd just book whichever I liked best in the past.

[nbsjcruiser]

Going on the Regal in February. What are the better ports, especially due to hurricane?

 

East: Princess Cays, St Thomas, St Martin

West: Princess Cays, Falmouth Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

 

I am not a fan of Jamaica, and would most likely stay on the ship. So the # of ports would be the same for us either way. I guess the main question: are St Thomas and St Martin okay to visit yet? I’ve also been reading that they are having an extreme problem with seaweed.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

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I much prefer Eastern. St Maarten is one of my favourite ports - so much to do right at the port. Lay on the beach, shop, food - all just a water taxi ride away. Lots of nice beaches in St Thomas too and plenty of shopping downtown and at the port.. Grand Cayman is one of the more expensive places for us - its pretty much a pricey beach day unless you take an excursion somewhere. Cozumel can be a nice day, lots to do but I'm always a little leery about Mexico. Anyway, Eastern for us, everytime.

[MrSchwump]

We’re doing the Western in February on the Regal. Mostly because we’ve done the Eastern itinerary the last 2 years.

Last February STT and SXM were in rough shape but we had no problems with roads or other tourist related needs.

I’m looking forward to Cozumel as it’s a great place to rent a car. You can go at your own pace and not be tied to someone else’s timetable.

I’ve not been to Jamaica and despite all the cautions that are spilling forth, I’m looking forward to it. We probably won’t do much there because spending and hour and a half to two hours on a bus isn’t my idea of vacation fun. I’ll at least look around.

I’m not that jazzed about Grand Cayman. The tenders are a pain and overall it seems very sterile. Not much local flavor. But it’ll be warmer than home so it still wins!