Help me choose a San Juan itinerary...vision of the seas vs freedom of the seas

[Jencruise12]

We have been a two cruises, both Disney (magic/fantasy). We are looking at royal Caribbean out of San Juan next March. I keep going back and forth on these two options. The vision of the seas itinerary seems great with only 1 sea day but it’s a smaller older ship...concerned it may be more run down. Freedom of the seas, less stops...bigger ship, newer refurb.  We love to be active. Always love our days in port. Kids are 8 and 11. Love the Disney kids club. Any advice? Points to consider? We have never been to any of these islands. Price is pretty much the same... we would do a  balcony. I know I’ll get tons of different opinions. I just can’t decide!

 

Freedom of the Seas 7 nights 

san juan

cruising

Aruba

Curacao

Bonaire

cruising

St. Maarten

san Jaun 

 

vison of the seas 7 nights

Juan, Puerto Rico

Day 2 ∙ At Sea

Day 3 ∙ Bridgetown, Barbados

Day 4 ∙ St. Georges, Grenada

Day 5 ∙ Roseau, Dominica

Day 6 ∙ Philipsburg, Netherlands Antilles

Day 7 ∙ St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

 8 ∙ San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

 

 

[Clarea]

I'd do Vision just because of Grenada.  Royal does not have many regular itineraries that include Grenada.

[PhoenixCruiser]

The first one to visit the ABCs!

[Coralc]

Day 6: Phillipsburg, Netherlands Antilles is also St. Maarten. I think Freedom has more stuff for kids to do, especially if they are used to Disney cruises. 

[cruiseguy1016]

I'd choose the Freedom. It's a bigger ship with more things for the kids to do. Make sure the kids enroll in the Adventure Ocean program, there will be lots of organized activities for them to do. As for the islands, I love them all on both itineraries, but I favor the ABCs over the ones offered on Vision.

[raymar63]

Freedom is totally kid friendly!

[Rewind]

Freedom for two reasons - 

 

The ship has more to do.  Flow rider, ice skating, etc etc; it just has more of everything.

With two sea days, you have more down time.  We've done five straight port days before and even though we are active, we felt like we pushed ourselves too hard.

 

Also, make sure you add a day or two at the beginning or end of your cruise.  San Juan itself is a great place to explore.

[The Fun Researcher]

Well, I've been to the islands that are on the Freedom's itinerary, and they are ALL fantastic.

 

Plus, the Freedom will be fresh out of drydock after being AMPED.  The Navigator is AWESOME after it's AMPED drydock last month.  We just returned Sunday from a 9 night itinerary that included the ABC's. 

 

Be careful though, I personally wouldn't book the first or second cruise after the drydock.   (The first cruise out of drydock is March 1st) The Navigator cancelled the first cruise out of drydock last minute because they ran behind on schedule.

 

When in March are you looking?  The two times that the Freedom goes to the ABC's is March 8th, which is only the second cruise out of drydock.  The next is March 22nd.

 

All that being said, I would go with the AMPED Freedom in a heartbeat.  Lots more for the kids, great itinerary, and just a fantastic ship overall.

Dan

[cruiser123!]

I'd say ABCs, but I'd trust Bob's opinion on Grenada.    I don't think you can go wrong w/ either.

[LBumb]

Freedom

[teacherman]

Having cruised several times to all of the mentioned islands and on both of these ships, I would say the Freedom for sure.

[precious89904600]

I vote for Freedom

[Dan83]

Following this, trying to choose between the two itineraries on Freedom next spring.  B2B would be wonderful, but can't get away for 2 weeks.  

[BobNoxious]

Freedom.  Better itinerary, Better ship.

[GalwayGirl03]

Freedom...totally...kids will have a blast!  We were just on Freedom in December and not one complaint of boredom! Never been on Vision but was on enchantment ( same class ship) and my 8 and 6 year old were bored ( but their  last cruise before that one was oasis so comparing enchantment to oasis is like apple to oranges!) That being said my kids still liked Enchantment b/c hey a cruise is a cruise and we didn't have any sea days so they didn't really get any down time on the ship...it was a quick 4 day cruise!

 

HTH 

[Jencruise12]

3 hours ago, Rewind said:

Freedom for two reasons - 

 

The ship has more to do.  Flow rider, ice skating, etc etc; it just has more of everything.

With two sea days, you have more down time.  We've done five straight port days before and even though we are active, we felt like we pushed ourselves too hard.

 

Also, make sure you add a day or two at the beginning or end of your cruise.  San Juan itself is a great place to explore.

Thanks so much everyone! We decided on the freedom. We are doing the March 22nd sailing, so hopefully that will be long enough after the dry dock to avoid any cancellations. 

[ShillyShally]

Freedom - Indy Amped was awesome and she's the sister ship so I expect the same great things!  Best ship for kids that age.

 

Also, as you said they love the kids club, a recent Vision cruiser said that ship's space was overloaded on a recent March cruise and they couldn't accommodate all the kids on board.  This may be less of an issue leaving from PR but still something to be aware of!

[ShillyShally]

19 minutes ago, Jencruise12 said:

Thanks so much everyone! We decided on the freedom. We are doing the March 22nd sailing, so hopefully that will be long enough after the dry dock to avoid any cancellations. 

Ah, just saw this!  You should be fine on the 22nd - have a great trip, fabulous itinerary, love the ABCs!!

[Desert Cruizers]

Daughter & I are booked on both the March 1st & 8th of 2020. Pricing has jumped dramatically though since i booked us. 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Freedom - no brainer for me.  Prefer that size ship and ABC islands is a great itinerary 

[ShillyShally]

29 minutes ago, Desert Cruizers said:

Daughter & I are booked on both the March 1st & 8th of 2020. Pricing has jumped dramatically though since i booked us. 

Fingers crossed the Freedom drydock goes as scheduled and not the way Navigator did!

[RG306]

You can’t go wrong with either itinerary. I loved the ABC islands. Grenada is amazing! With kids the freedom is probably more appealing. Our sailing was very crowded so the amenities were not used. Having been on it and with port intensive itineraries, I’d choose vision. Like I said there’s no bad choice here. 

[BillOh]

14 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

I'd do Vision just because of Grenada.  Royal does not have many regular itineraries that include Grenada.

I didn't think about that, I was in Grenada on Jewel when we did the ABCs, we saw Curacao's port being expanded to accomdate Freedom. 

[BillOh]

14 hours ago, Jencruise12 said:

We have been a two cruises, both Disney (magic/fantasy). We are looking at royal Caribbean out of San Juan next March. I keep going back and forth on these two options. The vision of the seas itinerary seems great with only 1 sea day but it’s a smaller older ship...concerned it may be more run down. Freedom of the seas, less stops...bigger ship, newer refurb.  We love to be active. Always love our days in port. Kids are 8 and 11. Love the Disney kids club. Any advice? Points to consider? We have never been to any of these islands. Price is pretty much the same... we would do a  balcony. I know I’ll get tons of different opinions. I just can’t decide!

 

F

 

Do you have kids?  If so, I would lean toward Freedom.  I love Freedom, but would do that Vision itinerary with no regrets, but that ship has less for kids. 

[BillOh]

14 hours ago, Jencruise12 said:

 

vison of the seas 7 nights

Juan, Puerto Rico

Day 2 ∙ At Sea

Day 3 ∙ Bridgetown, Barbados

Day 4 ∙ St. Georges, Grenada

Day 5 ∙ Roseau, Dominica

Day 6 ∙ Philipsburg, Netherlands Antilles

Day 7 ∙ St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

 8 ∙ San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

 

 

 

I just looked at this again, this was the itinerary I was supposed to be on with Jewel back in 2014, but Dominica was taken off the itinerant. I might take this one just for the new island to me.