Carnival Southern Cruise Help

[barriechris]

Have never done a Southern Cruise but we are looking to book one for Nov 2023.  Have been to Princess Cays and Grand Turk but no where else on either cruise.  Can people give positives and negatives for ports as I’m a newbie for all of them.  Any help your be appreciated. 
Both are 8 day cruises.  

 

Carnival Magic
Start: Miami Princess Cays Grand Turk Aruba Curaçao End: Miami

 

Carnival Horizon

 

Start: Miami Bonaire Aruba La Romana Amber Cove End: Miami

 

 

[jsglow]

That's tough.  We LOVED Curacao but I've not yet been to Bonaire.  Aruba is 'okay' in our eyes. I personally like Grand Turk a lot and would rank it above Amber Cove but that wouldn't be a deal breaker.  Try to decide which of the 2 ABCs you would rather see and go with that one.

 

If the ship itself is a consideration, I'd personally prefer the Magic but others might disagree.

 

And of course the 2 price-tags would be relevant.  These are similar cruises so a big price would sway me. 

Edited June 30, 2022 by jsglow

[mdsgu]

I believe we have done all of those ports on various cruises.  Aruba is gorgeous.  Bonaire is a rocky little place that I would not go to again.  Curacao is quite nice, too.  My $0.02 -- take the Magic cruise.

[jsglow]

One more thought.  Have you considered (or already done) the Eastern 8 day to St. Maarten and St. Kitts?

[barriechris]

9 minutes ago, jsglow said:

One more thought.  Have you considered (or already done) the Eastern 8 day to St. Maarten and St. Kitts?

Yes have done St Maarten and loved it.  

[mz-s]

I would do the Horizon since you've never been to any of those stops at all.

[Oceansaway17]

I would vote for Magic given the ports.  and then next year do the Horizon as it is a new ship

[Bostwick girl]

My vote is for Magic.

 

[gardn198]

I did this cruise in Feb 2018 and doing it again in 2023! We LOVED it (But it was on the Sunshine - which I like more than the Horizon)

 

Aruba was great - definitely do the Jolly Pirates if you can!! So much fun. Curacao was beautiful, we tried to do the blue hole but the tide was too high. Grand turk was gorgeous water and you can just lay on the beach right where you get off, had amazing cheap massages there on the beach. We didn't go to princess cay.

[StephPS79]

I would take the Horizon over the Magic without a doubt, but I like the ports on the Magic better.  Aruba is one of my favorite ports ever, with Grand Turk pretty up there.  Really like Curacao, but the excursion I did there wasn't my favorite, mostly because I wanted to do some snorkeling, but spent a lot of time on a bus and the sun was setting by the time we got to the beach.

 

Amber Cove and La Romana have probably been my least favorite ports, but personally I prefer a nice pretty beach.

 

Excited to go to Bonaire in 2024, but haven't been there yet!

[Hoosierpop]

Like Horizon>Magic. But like the Magic ports a little more. 
 

I love Bonaire because I love snorkeling and it was the best snorkeling I’ve ever done. So I’d give the edge to Horizon.

[Tippyton]

Curacao has beautiful beaches.  Grand Turk has 1st class snorkeling.

[ChuckF]

I've always been a little unsure about La Romana.  Plus, prefer Magic over Horizon. 

[Elaine5715]

If you dive, Bonaire.  

[barriechris]

10 hours ago, ChuckF said:

I've always been a little unsure about La Romana.  Plus, prefer Magic over Horizon. 

Stayed on a sister ship Carnival Dream and loved it

[CruiserLucas]

We did the Horizon cruise last August and loved it. I think La Romana and Amber Cove are better than Princess Cays and Grand Turk. For either itinerary you’ll get Aruba at least - which is nice. It’s really a toss up between Bonaire or Curaçao for ports in my opinion. Ours was supposed to go to Bonaire but due to COVID it was replaced with Curaçao, which was fantastic. But I can’t compare it to Bonaire since I haven’t been yet.

Shipwise, I like Horizon. We had a bad experience on Dream, so hopefully her sister ship Magic is better if you choose it. 🙂

have fun on either one you choose!!!

[Pyrate13]

Loved Bonaire, Aruba was nice, not been to LaRomana. Amber Cove- meh. I'd still opt for Horizon.

[BoozinCroozin]

Personally, I would avoid itineraries to the DR. We did not like it. It was nice, but not somewhere we want to go again.

[barriechris]

5 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Personally, I would avoid itineraries to the DR. We did not like it. It was nice, but not somewhere we want to go again.

Any reason?

[BTromboneFrack]

We did one several years ago and LOVED it.   Aruba and Curacao were great.   We did the ostrich farm tour on Curacao and it was really neat.  

 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 6/30/2022 at 2:49 PM, barriechris said:

Have never done a Southern Cruise but we are looking to book one for Nov 2023.  Have been to Princess Cays and Grand Turk but no where else on either cruise.  Can people give positives and negatives for ports as I’m a newbie for all of them.  Any help your be appreciated. 
Both are 8 day cruises.  

 

Carnival Magic
Start: Miami Princess Cays Grand Turk Aruba Curaçao End: Miami

 

Carnival Horizon

 

Start: Miami Bonaire Aruba La Romana Amber Cove End: Miami

 

 

All you mentioned are excellent. 

[May1cruiser]

Magic.

Aruba- two islands in one. One side tropical beach - other side barren desert.

Curaco- stand in a fort on the waterfront, swinging bridge, kaleidoscope color buildings (there is a backstory)

 

Really like the dream class layout, vista class a little less, but just our opinion.

 

[evandbob]

On 7/1/2022 at 1:27 PM, BoozinCroozin said:

Personally, I would avoid itineraries to the DR. We did not like it. It was nice, but not somewhere we want to go again.

The AC port area is off Puerto Plata, on the Atlantic side of the island.  AC is a manufactured port built solely for the Cruise line.  This area has 2 star hotels, a beach in Puerto Plata that reminds me of Coney Island (ugh) and a nearby Ocean World compound.

 

But that is a limited view of the DR.  Take a land vacation to Punta Cana at any of the 4 or 5  star hotels there to appreciate what the DR has to offer.

[barriechris]

25 minutes ago, evandbob said:

The AC port area is off Puerto Plata, on the Atlantic side of the island.  AC is a manufactured port built solely for the Cruise line.  This area has 2 star hotels, a beach in Puerto Plata that reminds me of Coney Island (ugh) and a nearby Ocean World compound.

 

But that is a limited view of the DR.  Take a land vacation to Punta Cana at any of the 4 or 5  star hotels there to appreciate what the DR has to offer.

Yes just got back from Macao beach and was gorgeous.