What ports are best in Caribbean?

[JohnnCAZ]

I just got home from a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise on Carnival Pride and absolutely loved it. We are now interested in getting a group of our friends together and cruising the Caribbean. We heard Royal Caribbean is nicer than Carnival and still has a fun feel to it. We are all in our late 20's early 30's and looking for a great fun ship to have some fun. There are so many places in the Caribbean to choose from, how do you choose from Eastern, Western, or Southern? Any advice on what ship and itinerary?

[Arwenmark]

The question is Best for WHAT? Aruba has fantastic beaches. St. THomas has great shopping as does St. Maarten. Bonaire has some of the best diving in the world. St. Lucia has the Pitons and some beautiful scenary.

 

Really depends what you are looking for specifically

they are all fabulous, but also all have a lot of poverty interspersed with a Lot of wealth.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Your group needs to sit down and everyone write down what they are interested in doing in the Caribbean. Then start to look at the various ports that offers what most of your group is interested in. Then you can start looking at itineraries that have the ports you want.

[JohnnCAZ]

Most of the group love doing beach activities. Most of us want to just relax on the beach and do some water activities as far as snorkeling or scuba diving. Very minimal shopping.

[Cam6959]

I wanted the western Caribbean heard from too! Western Carib. in the Caymans and Couzemel also I heard Belize have fabulous snorkeling and diving. Western also has the ruins. I have heard it is a more diversified itinery with both fantastic beaches and snorkeling to the inland excursions to ruins. Good Luck! Enjoy whichever way you go!

[pudy68]

If relaxing on a beautiful beach is what you desire, then your cruise needs to bring you to COZUMEL! This was the best beach we've ever been to. It's called Paradise Beach and it's so peaceful and tranquil. I am including it in the next cruise I plan. We've got to go back!

 

If you're interested, we did this western itinerary on the RCCL Mariner of the Seas. What a great ship! Let's see, we went in the beginning of November so we could capitalize on "hurricane season" without too much concern for actually running into one! The weather was terrific! We brought our friends along for their first cruise, and they had a blast, too. Search the Ports of Call board for more info on Cozumel if this sounds good to you.

[love2cruiseseattle]

We have done the Western, Eastern, Southern and Mexican Riveria, our favorite has been the Southern. The down side is having to travel to San Juan, PR, we are from the state of Washington, so it is a long travel day. Once you are there though, it is so worth it. Our ports were:

Barbados

St. Lucia

Antigua

St. Marteen

St. Thomas

We were at each port for at least 8 hours which was plenty of time and all of the people on the islands have always been so nice and friendly and the water is breathtaking.

 

We are doing the 8 day Eastern Caribbean in late October this year and expect to have another great time.

 

One thing I can tell you is, last year we tried Princess and were not pleased at all. RCCL is a better choice and that is what a lot of the fellow passengers on Princess said also. Now this is just my opinion.

[raringtogo]

hi, can you please say why you weren't impressed with Princess.

[love2cruiseseattle]

hi, can you please say why you weren't impressed with Princess.

 

Sure and as I said this is just my opinion. We sailed on the Golden Princess and it is a beautiful ship, we loved all of the pools, but I was not impressed with the staff at all. I did not feel they try to make you feel welcome, we had previously cruised on RCCL and found the staff always friendly. On the Golden a lot of the staff seemed like they were ready for their vacations. I found the food average and the desserts were very disappointing. In the buffet area a lot of the food was not labeled so you were unsure of what you were getting.

[CaribbeanBound]

Here are two complete very detailed reviews on Caribbean ports.

Our Eastern Caribbean favorites:

St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Tortola (Virgin Gorda), San Juan

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/easterncaribbean.html

 

Our Western Caribbean favorites:

Belize, Grand Cayman

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/westerncaribbean.html

 

Easy to skip: Cozumel, Nassau

[raringtogo]

love2....thank you, much appreciate your opinion

 

CaribbeanBound - thank you so much for the link to the reviews- probably the best reviews I have ever read. They certainly detail everything you could or would need to know.

 

We have only cruised Princess previously but I am certainly now considering at least our next cruise on Celebrity. Co-incidentally, my cousin from UK was cruising with us last month (Diamond Princess Singapore to Sydney christmas cruise) and she repeatedly told us how much better Celebrity was in every way! (now I think I believe her:) )

[lv2crooz2]

Try a RCCL voyager class...you won't be sorry:D .

[terrytallent1]

I agree that your group has to focus on what is important. It sounds like you are beach and snorkle oriented. I can say Grand Cayman was great for snorkle. If you don't want to have a quiet beach in Cozumel then take the ferry to Playa del Carmen for all the glitz and glamor you would get at any European beach. Hard to believe anybody would say they had a bad beach day!