Eastern Caribbean Recommendations Needed

[suds74]

My friends and I are intersted in an Eastern Caribbean cruise out of Florida in early 2008. We have it narrowed down to the following possibilities and I am looking to see if any of my fellow CC members have any recommendations :)

 

Caribbean Princess

Norwegian Dawn

Carnival Freedom

 

All four of us have been on at least two or more cruises, and three of the four have been on 4+ cruises.

 

I have personally cruised on the Carnival Conquest, Grand Princess, and Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas. The Grand Princess was my favorite so far because I liked the food the best :)

 

Any help is appreciated!

 

Bill S.

[katiebug the travel girl]

It really depends upon what you like to do as a group. When I travel with friends it's always a different agenda than when I am traveling with my dh. I like to cruise for the ports, thats what floats my boat. My friends... it's about everything else. Are you into nightlife, party atmosphere, or are you the first ones off and the last ones on? As a group you need to come up with some sort of idea what your priorities are, then start checking out those cruise lines that interest you. Read their boards. Each one has a very different following.

[newmexicoNita]

My friends and I are intersted in an Eastern Caribbean cruise out of Florida in early 2008. We have it narrowed down to the following possibilities and I am looking to see if any of my fellow CC members have any recommendations :)

 

Caribbean Princess

Norwegian Dawn

Carnival Freedom

 

All four of us have been on at least two or more cruises, and three of the four have been on 4+ cruises.

 

I have personally cruised on the Carnival Conquest, Grand Princess, and Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas. The Grand Princess was my favorite so far because I liked the food the best :)

 

Any help is appreciated!

 

Bill S.

I bet with your friends any one of the cruises would be a blast: my personal opinion: Carnival will offer a lot more partying: Princess with be much more subdued and NCL will fall right in the middle. If you want to experience freestyle dining and lots of restaurant choices with not having to worry about dressing up in the evenings, go for NCL. If you really do want to close the bars, it would be Carnival and if the quieter life is for you, but you want to choose dining at the times that are best for you, Princess would work. Just make sure if the personal choice dining is what you want, you advise your travel agent.

 

Nita

[suds74]

Thanks for the responses!

 

We are probably not much of the "partying crowd" but we definitely enjoy the food aspect of things! Our meals are always our favorite part of the day :) And I have been known to enjoy a good bottle of wine now and then.

 

We also like to have fun and explore at the ports, so I think all three cruises probably offer a fair amount of that, and I am pretty sure that the NCL cruise has four stops, and the others have three, but I could be mistaken. In the past we did the Black River Tour in Jamaica, tubing in Belize, swam with the stingrays in the Grand Caymans, rode the submarine in Cozumel, and explored lots of beaches and Mayan ruins throughout Mexico.

 

Also looking for a good, clean casino experience. One friend loves the cheap slots, and my fiance got her first taste of the slots when we were on a company cruise on Royal Caribbean earlier this year.

 

If anyone has any food related input I would love to hear it :)

 

Thanks,

Bill

[newmexicoNita]

Thanks for the responses!

 

We are probably not much of the "partying crowd" but we definitely enjoy the food aspect of things! Our meals are always our favorite part of the day :) And I have been known to enjoy a good bottle of wine now and then.

 

We also like to have fun and explore at the ports, so I think all three cruises probably offer a fair amount of that, and I am pretty sure that the NCL cruise has four stops, and the others have three, but I could be mistaken. In the past we did the Black River Tour in Jamaica, tubing in Belize, swam with the stingrays in the Grand Caymans, rode the submarine in Cozumel, and explored lots of beaches and Mayan ruins throughout Mexico.

 

Also looking for a good, clean casino experience. One friend loves the cheap slots, and my fiance got her first taste of the slots when we were on a company cruise on Royal Caribbean earlier this year.

 

If anyone has any food related input I would love to hear it :)

 

Thanks,

Bill

you will probably get more casino action on Carnival or NCL. The more you write the less I would think Princess would suit you this cruise. Normally NCL does offer a more port intensive cruise experience. For some this is the secret to good cruising, for others the sea days are more important.

 

As for food quality, as I mentioned food is so subjective: 1/3 here would rate Carnival at the top, 1/3 Princess and 1/3 NCl. The NCL advantage might be choices, but that certainly doesn't mean the food is better or as good as other lines.

 

Nita

[suds74]

Thanks to all for their suggestions and overall help :)

 

We ended up booking a 7-day Eastern Caribbean trip on Carnival Freedom. The price was right, and it allowed us to book a single cabin for our friend "TheHammer" since Carnival has the most generous single person cabin rates.

 

Looking forward to cruising this new ship!

 

Thanks again!

 

Bill