Celebration Eastern vs southern Caribbean

[jimbo5544]

Bonaire is a very different interesting port as well.  Last time there we rented golf carts and toured the island...great time.

[jimbo5544]

7 minutes ago, Grisel1437 said:

Oh really!!? So Turks has a lot of rocky beaches? Not good then. And what is HMC? 

The ones right at the pier are rocky.  As I said look GREAT.  That said stroll down the beach to Jacks shack.  This island reeks of history also...

[StephPS79]

A little back on track, I would vote ABC, yes, because they are some of the most beautiful beaches and water, in my opinion.  Pretty much every port is going to have the same type of excursions.  There will almost always been a selection of catamaran, snorkel, beach day, swim with such and such animal, ATV, zipline, off-road type stuff.  

 

With that said, we do really like Grand Turk, but we usually do a particular excursion called Home Sweet Home or something like that, but that's basically a beach day.  That beach wasn't too rocky, but the surf can be a bit rough sometimes.  

 

I could give or take Amber Cove.  A plus is the port is really nice, so you can have a pool day without really having to buy an excursion.  Otherwise, they have a mix of the stuff mentioned above.  And Nassau is Nassau.

[Grisel1437]

26 minutes ago, StephPS79 said:

A little back on track, I would vote ABC, yes, because they are some of the most beautiful beaches and water, in my opinion.  Pretty much every port is going to have the same type of excursions.  There will almost always been a selection of catamaran, snorkel, beach day, swim with such and such animal, ATV, zipline, off-road type stuff.  

 

With that said, we do really like Grand Turk, but we usually do a particular excursion called Home Sweet Home or something like that, but that's basically a beach day.  That beach wasn't too rocky, but the surf can be a bit rough sometimes.  

 

I could give or take Amber Cove.  A plus is the port is really nice, so you can have a pool day without really having to buy an excursion.  Otherwise, they have a mix of the stuff mentioned above.  And Nassau is Nassau.

Thank you! That was really helpful! I started researching a little bit about excursions in ABC islands and it seems there is definitely a lot of activities to choose From so seems like ABC in the clear winner here. 

[SpainAlien]

We're doing the ABC itinerary in April on Horizon, we have booked an ATV for Aruba with cliff jumping, in Bonaire we are land sailing and then a semi private tour of North and South Bonaire, for Curacao we are doing a semi private tour to swim with the turtles then go to a nice beach.

Edited April 2 by SpainAlien

[RoperDK]

ABC is a clear winner for us.  Salt mines, flamingos, desert landscapes, amazing snorkeling, cool night life, tons of history.  So much more than another beach stop.  Amber Cove, Grand Turk, and Nassau are common.  Carnival goes there time after time.  Yawn.  The ABC itineraries are harder to find.  The only negative may be that there are more sea days.  That's a plus for us.  We love sea days.  

[mamiamjo]

2 hours ago, SpainAlien said:

We're doing the ABC itinerary in April on Horizon, we have booked an ATV for Aruba with cliff jumping, in Bonaire we are land sailing and then a semi private tour of North and South Bonaire, for Curacao we are doing a semi private tour to swim with the turtles then go to a nice beach.

May I ask who you booked the Bonaire and Curacao excursions with?

[SpainAlien]

5 hours ago, mamiamjo said:

May I ask who you booked the Bonaire and Curacao excursions with?

The land sailing is through Carnival but everything else is through Viator

[jeblack1]

Last year we did the A&C + La Romana and Amber Cove on the Horizon.

This year we are doing the ABC.

Have been to the DR 3 times and haven't been impressed either time.

 

Aruba - Lots to do and always great to rent an off road ATV and explore to eastern side of the island and great views from the lighthouse.  Can also drive the ATV's all over the island, so that is a plus.

Bonaire....looks promising...will let you know after June.

Curacao - great beaches with snorkeling with fish and turtles.  and lots of opportunities for cliff jumping (if they like adventure).

Also, these places all seem very safe (except for a widely publicized murder), so it is easy to get out on your own and not be stuck with cruise tours - Something I would not do in the DR.

 

[mdin]

ABC

[mlshum]

ABC sounds awesome and I hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

The waterfalls of Damajagua is pretty amazing but definitely not for the faint of heart.  The hike in is pretty easy and takes about 40 minutes.  Depending on the water levels, you might have differing numbers of waterfall jumps.  The first jump is about 12ft, if I remember correctly.  The highest jump we did was about 20 ft.  It was fun and terrifying!  Floating through the canyon was a lot of fun but the water is very murky and you can’t see the bottom.  It requires a good bid of climbing over rocks, some slick, and sliding down natural water slides.  If you’re interested, I did a Mardi Gras review and included lots of pictures from the excursion.

 

Whatever you decide, I hope you have an awesome cruise!

[pe4all]

Have done both itineraries many times.  ABC all the way!