Ultimate Caribbean - One shot - which itinerary?

[suziehmkr]

If you figured you would only get your spouse on a plane ONCE to the East Coast... which itinerary would you choose? I mean, which ports are MUST DO?

 

Yes - I am planning way in advance. And I am also hoping that it won't be our only trip to the Caribbean once I get him to fly to Hawaii... ;) BUT - if you only had ONE shot at it, what would you do?

[wrp96]

I would choose the longest cruise possible that you could, so would recommend a cruise like the 10 or 11 night Brilliance Panama Canal. Great ship, the 10 night hits Aruba and Grand Cayman in addition to the Panama Canal and Costa Rica, while the 11 night hits Labadee, Curacao, and Aruba.

 

If you can't do a long cruise, then look for one of the Southern Caribbean itineraries out of San Juan.

[Alexis]

If you figured you would only get your spouse on a plane ONCE to the East Coast... which itinerary would you choose? I mean, which ports are MUST DO?

 

Yes - I am planning way in advance. And I am also hoping that it won't be our only trip to the Caribbean once I get him to fly to Hawaii... ;) BUT - if you only had ONE shot at it, what would you do?

 

This one is the best. I did it in Dec. 2004 and it was so good we are repeating it next year. There are other dates for it also. ;)

 

The Empress 11 night Exotic Southern Caribbean, November 5, 2007.

05-Nov San Juan, Puerto Rico

06-Nov Philipsburg, St Maarten

07-Nov Basseterre, St. Kitts

08-Nov St. Johns, Antiqua

09-Nov Castries, St. Lucia

10-Nov Bridgetown, Barbados

11-Nov Cruising

12-Nov Margarita Island, Venezuela

13-Nov Willemstad, Curacao

14-Nov Oranjestad, Aruba

15-Nov Cruising

16-Nov San Juan, Puerto Rico

__________________

[suziehmkr]

Ohhhh - Loving the responses so far. Long cruises ARE possible, as long as they aren't much longer than 2 weeks... so a 10-14 itinerary is definitely an excellent suggestion. I will definitely be looking only at RCCL - so I need as many opinions as possible.

 

I was also thinking that this might be one of the few times that we would be able to sail on a Voyager class ship.... But I know that leaves out the Panama canal and would definitely choose itinerary over ship. I just don't want to leave out the must do ports, IF it is the only time we get over there.

 

Ohhhhhhh - I wish we could go tomorrow!

 

Alexis - that itinerary is VERY port intensive. Love the idea of squeezing in as many ports as possible. Did you ever feel like you were on the go too much to actually enjoy the cruising experience?

[Sue L]

What about something like this, which is a full canal transit leaving from Ft Lauderdale and ends up in San Diego. This way DH only has to fly one way

 

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cruiseDetails/itineraryAndPricing.do;jsessionid=0000Q_MldDSFZb9OR6Y_sPBp9ty:10ktmf1jr?packageCode=RD14C015&sailDate=1070414&date=20072&selectedCurrencyCode=&promoType=

 

 

 

Sue

[andnickali]

I would do the one-way Panama Canal in a heartbeat!!!!! The longer the cruise the better. Now, if I could only talk the schools into letting my kids go for that long----------I guess this one will have to wait a few years.

[cyscopup]

We agree with Alexis, the Empress cruise is awesome!!! We were on the same cruise in 2004 and we are doing it again in just a few weeks. This time we are doing back to back. We are also going to do the repositioning from west to east, but the thing with that is you really don't get to see alot of the different islands in the Carib. At least with the Empress you get to see many different islands.

 

Either way you will have a great time though!!

[cb at sea]

Having done the Panama Canal thing, I'd opt for a more port intensive itinerary! Find one that includes either Coco Cay or Labadee! (RCI's private beaches!) They are a MUST DO!!!!

On our 10 Panama Canal, we only had 4 ports--hubby got a bit bored, as he's not much of a "pool" person. 6 sea days got to him! I was fine with it, since for me, the ship is the reason I cruise! For other's it's the ports!

And, bear in mind, that most of the islands offer the same stuff--beaches, junky souveniers, practically the same excursions are available--(I mean, once you've been on 1 glass-bottom boat or booze cruise, you done 'em all!)

Pick the dates you can go, then find the best room you can afford on the best ship available! Then, have a great cruise!!!!!!

[lovemylab]

I love the itinerary for the Empress.

[Sue L]

Having done the Panama Canal thing, I'd opt for a more port intensive itinerary! Find one that includes either Coco Cay or Labadee! (RCI's private beaches!) They are a MUST DO!!!!

On our 10 Panama Canal, we only had 4 ports--hubby got a bit bored, as he's not much of a "pool" person. 6 sea days got to him! I was fine with it, since for me, the ship is the reason I cruise! For other's it's the ports!

And, bear in mind, that most of the islands offer the same stuff--beaches, junky souveniers, practically the same excursions are available--(I mean, once you've been on 1 glass-bottom boat or booze cruise, you done 'em all!)

Pick the dates you can go, then find the best room you can afford on the best ship available! Then, have a great cruise!!!!!!

 

 

The 11 day Panama itinerary DOES include Labadee as well as Aruba, Curacao, Costa Rice and Panama, it is round trip out of Miami. The 10 day itineray is different islands and no Labadee

[suziehmkr]

Wow - such great advice coming! I love it!

 

We had almost 10 full sea days on our RT Hawaii cruise and we were glad to see land after the first leg... DH more so, than I. I love it all - he was antsy to get off. But since I also love the cruising aspect, I wonder if you sacrafice too much of that for a port intensive cruise.

 

Believe me, we are soaking all of this information in. I know nothing about the caribbean - but will definitly pay attention to all you have to say. THANKS!!

[Sue L]

We have been on a couple of very port intensive cruises, like 5 ports in 7 days and they are very tiring, because you are on the go all the time.

 

 

This is the reason we love the 11 day panama itinerary we have a sea day, labadee, at sea, Aruba, Curacao, at sea, Panama, Costa Rica, at sea, at sea.

 

There are days to rest as well as not being at sea too long.

[Alexis]

We agree with Alexis, the Empress cruise is awesome!!! We were on the same cruise in 2004 and we are doing it again in just a few weeks. This time we are doing back to back. We are also going to do the repositioning from west to east, but the thing with that is you really don't get to see alot of the different islands in the Carib. At least with the Empress you get to see many different islands.

 

Either way you will have a great time though!!

 

Hi suziehmkr,

Alexis - that itinerary is VERY port intensive. Love the idea of squeezing in as many ports as possible. Did you ever feel like you were on the go too much to actually enjoy the cruising experience?

 

Yes, my husband and I met cyscopup on our Roll Call for the Meet and Mingle. We were on the Empress, Dec. 2004. We are all hooked on that ship. :D

I love this little ship for it's very port intensive itinerary because:

When you return to the ship, you don't need to go rock wall climbing or ice skating or any of those things the big ships have. You come back to the ship, relax a little, get dressed for dinner, you can go to the show, the casino, have a drink at a bar and still enjoy the beauty of the smaller ship. Maybe see a movie and so on. The crew is fantastic and they get to know you real fast because of it's size. The amount of ports is what we cruise for, not the sea days.

The hustle and bustle of the bigger ships is not missed at all on this cruise. You are not running around trying to see and do everything on the ship. With all the ports, it is still a more relaxing experience than sailing on the big ones.

Can you tell I LOVE that cruise?

 

Hi Autumn3,

I love the itinerary for the Empress.

The best cruise in my book.

[suziehmkr]

Alexis - yes I can tell! Empress sounds like a great ship for this sort of itinerary - thanks again - I love all of the suggestions!