Best Caribbean Cruises?

lildropofsunshine

My FI and I want to go on a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon, and I'm wondering, what are the best ones? 

CMGragain

I wrote a sticky on cruises that is at the top of this board.

Cruise lines target different market segments.  What one person loves, another might find too noisy or too boring.  You should talk to a travel agent who specializes in cruises before making a decision.  Their services are free.  They are paid by the cruise line after you take your trip.

You should think about where you want to go.  The Caribbean is a large area with many different cultures, languages, and climates.  Aruba is a desert climate.  St. Lucia is more like Hawaii with jungle plants.  Martinique is French, and has volcanoes.  Jamaica has waterfalls.  Mexico has Mayan archeological ruins.  There is also the Panama Canal.  Most ships run between seven and ten days.

Talk to a good travel agent who knows cruise ships.  Be aware that all online travel sites are really just travel agencies without the extra service you get from a brick and mortar store.

What time of year are you planning to travel?

lildropofsunshine

I read the sticky

When I say Caribbean I mean like Aruba, Bahamas etc. I wouldn't count Mexico as Caribbean at all, but I get your point.

We'll probably want to do our honeymoon not long after the wedding, so August/September.

CMGragain

This is high hurricane season,  You might think about waiting a month or two for your big trip.  Do get trip insurance!

lildropofsunshine

Yeah, it is, but it's also cheaper to go then...so there are trade offs. As much as I would love to go in the winter since we live in NY where it's frigid in the winter, that would not only mean waiting months, but also fighting for time off from work (I'm going to be a nurse and the holidays are the worst time to try to get time off). But, in your opinion, what would be the best time to go?

MairePoppy

I have and would sail the Caribbean during hurricane season.In the event of a hurricane, the captain will most likely change your itinerary. If possible fly to your port a day or two in advance in case ther are  flight cancellations. Buy travel insurance. 

For hurricane season, book a southern Caribbean itinerary since they are less likely to take a direct hit from a hurricane - Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Barbados etc... 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/09/hurricane-season-hot-spots-_n_3728058.html

CMGragain

lildropofsunshine said:

Yeah, it is, but it's also cheaper to go then...so there are trade offs. As much as I would love to go in the winter since we live in NY where it's frigid in the winter, that would not only mean waiting months, but also fighting for time off from work (I'm going to be a nurse and the holidays are the worst time to try to get time off). But, in your opinion, what would be the best time to go?

I have sailed in the Caribbean several times.  October is a less expensive month.  It is sort of between seasons.  Hurricanes can still happen, but the Captain will be alert to this, and can sail to a different destination.
If you are talking about 2016, it is a little early to book a cruise.  The prices will come down about four to six months out from the cruise.  Your travel agent should be able to notify you if there is a special deal available.  Be ready to pounce if there is because they don't last long.here are some different ideas.  (This is my favorite cruise search site.  You have to sign up with them, but they won't bother you.

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=24383

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=24409

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=24398

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=24509

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=13398

There are many similar cruises from Carnival, but I cannot recommend them.  I know travel agents who refuse to book them.  One travel agent who booked a large group with them, and Carnival cancelled the booking two weeks before the cruise.  Many people do enjoy Carnival, especially younger couples and families with children.

Only a few cruise lines go into the Caribbean before late September/early October  They have their ships in Alaska and the Mediterranean for the summer months.  Alaska is wonderful for a honeymoon, but no beaches.  My daughter took a Princess Alaska cruise in early August for her honeymoon, and they loved it!  We have done three Alaska cruises.

lildropofsunshine

Thanks for the info

I do want to go to Alaska in the summer, but not on a cruise, or for my honeymoon.

We aren't getting married for another 2 years, but we're looking into everything now because we're both plan ahead, organized people.

dalm0m

Best will change depending on you & what you like.  Go to a board called www.cruisecritic.com & read.  Big huge generalizations are as follows:

Carnival:  party ships

RCL:  lots of on board bells & whistles, flow riders, zip lines, water slides, ice rinks etc.  Very active.  Lots of families

NCL;  some on board bells & whistles on newer ships; casual, freestyle you don't have to dress up

Disney;  the parks float  expensive, no casino

Celebrity;  few on board ice rinks etc.  elegant, sedate, you must dress up

Princess  the love boat, sedate, romantic, good food, amazing warm chocolate chip cookies by the pool in the afternoon, older demographic, limited kids programs; DH & I were bored most bars on board close around 10 p.m.

HAL -- much older demographic,  you must dress up, very sedat

Cunard:  the mother of all elegance, expensive, traditional, when they say Formal they mean it!

Serenity, Raddison, Crystal:  high end luxury, country club casual, sublime food, small ships, Very expensive

Each line has good points & bad points.  Carnival, RCL  NCL & Princess are more similar then different. 

Remember, the longer the voyage the few kids & the older the other passengers; 3-4 day cruises are all about Partying

lildropofsunshine

Wow -- thanks!!

We'll be 26 27 when we get married and my FI wants to do at least a 9 night cruise (which I am okay with). He also won't do Carnival, and now says he would prefer the Bahamas. We don't want anything too pricey, but are definitely willing to pay a bit more for this special trip together. Based on that, do you have any specific recommendations?

MairePoppy

I have sailed with Princess and Celebrity. 

My preference is Celebrity Solstice class ships. They are elegant and have an advantage with the sheltered Solarium pool, as well as 2 pools on the open Lido deck. Adults, only, in the Solarium and the rule is inforced. Soft music. Nice place to settle in with a book. They also have healthy food options in this area. On Royal Princess, all pools are out on the open decks. Most of the loungers are in the sun.

Food is subjective, but IMO, the food on Celebrity, both in the main dining room and buffet were much better. Princess wins in the dessert category, though.

Both lines offer various beverage packages if you want to make your vacation more like an all-inclusive. Celebrity just announced a new program where you may select the bev package or another option as a freebie.

Entertainment wise - Princess had more options, but their theaters (on Royal Princess) were crowded and their shows are shorter. Princess has Movies Under the Stars - a huge screen over the pool, where they show movies at night and serve popcorn, icecream (not great), pizza and burgers and the yummy, warm cookies. They had out blankets so you can wrap up in the lounge chairs if it's windy. We really enjoyed MUTS.

Celebrity has a middle age demographic, not many children on board. Princess crowd is slightly younger, not many children. The few children that I saw in the MDR were well behaved (both cruise lines).

Dress codes are the same on both lines. Casual during the daytime, country club casual at night, there are 2 formal nights on a week long cruise - anything from cocktail attire for women,you might see a few evening gowns,  men wear suits, sports coats, tuxes (not too many of those) 

Service - I haven't met a cabin steward I didn' like, yet. We've been very lucky to have attentive, helpful cabin stewards on both lines. Service in the MDR was friendlier and more efficient on Celebrity. We loved our servers on Celebrity. On Princess, the service was very proffesional, slow paced, classy and reserved.

We have no interest in the party ship, but you might like it, we've heard that people were disappointed with the nickel and diming and the food on Norweigan, we've heard good things about Royal Caribbean - but we have no interest in on board zip lines, ice skating rinks, wave riders etc...and think of that as a line that is more family oriented - lots of kids.

Pricing - both lines are about equal. Watch for deals after you book. If your cruise goes on sale after you book, but before final payment is due, call whoever did the booking. Princess adjust your fare to the same category sale price, Celebrity most likely will too, or they might offer an upgrade equal to the discount. This isn't automatic, you must call.

Figure out which 3 or 4 lines you're interested in and order brochures from them so you can get a feel for where you'll be comfortable.

lildropofsunshine

Sounds like Princess is a better fit for us then.

CMGragain

lildropofsunshine said:

Sounds like Princess is a better fit for us then.

Princess doesn't sail the Caribbean in the summer, though.  Their private island is in the Bahamas, and it is lovely.
We like Princess, but we are also older.

Denise40

We are taking a Princess cruise to the Mexican Riveria in November on Proncess

AprilH81

lildropofsunshine said:

Wow -- thanks!!

We'll be 26 27 when we get married and my FI wants to do at least a 9 night cruise (which I am okay with). He also won't do Carnival, and now says he would prefer the Bahamas. We don't want anything too pricey, but are definitely willing to pay a bit more for this special trip together. Based on that, do you have any specific recommendations?

Most cruise lines do the Bahamas in 3 and 4 night trips on their oldest, smallest ships. I've done two on Royal and had fun, but I would not do those for a honeymoon. Those ships take a beating with the constant turnover of passengers. They are well maintained, don't get me wrong, but it is a night and day difference between the older and newer ships. These shorter trips are also filled with the party crowd who are trying to pack as much drinking and dancing and gambling into the short amount of time they have on this ship. If that is what you are looking for that is fine, but nothing about the short cruises say "romantic" or "honeymoon". If a 7-night cruise is out of your budget or not what you want you can still do a cruise that is shorter. You can do 5-night trips to the Caribbean (Cozumel is a popular stop on these itineraries) that aren't as crazy as the Bahamas trips can get. If you want a 7-night cruise your options will be less during late summer and early fall because most ships are in other areas. Generally speaking you have three options: 1) Western Caribbean: Usually leaves from Florida, New Orleans or Galveston and visits Jamaica, Cayman Islands and one or more port in Mexico. Galveston also has an itinerary that does Belize, Honduras and Mexico. Generally Western ports are less developed and more natural with very active excursions. You can go zip lining, snorkeling, diving, climb waterfalls, etc. 2) Eastern Caribbean: Usually leaves from Florida and some ports along the Eastern coast and visits St. Thomas, St. Martin and a "private island" owned by the cruise line. These ports are more commercialized and touristy but are very beautiful. If you like shopping these ports offer lots of options. There are also good adventure excursions available but these islands offer some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. 3) Southern Caribbean: Leaves almost exclusively from San Juan, Puerto Rico, but some of the 10-day cruises from Florida also visit the southern islands. There are two routes that alternate weeks. Option 1: usually visits Aruba, Curacao and another island or two with several days at sea to enjoy the ship. Option 2: visits 6 islands in 7 days, the most popular stops are Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Thomas and usually a few other smaller islands. These islands are also a little less developed and offer a great mix of beautiful beaches and more adventurous activities. One of my all time favorite excursions is swimming with the sea turtles in Barbados.

dalm0m

lildropofsunshine said:

Wow -- thanks!!

We'll be 26 27 when we get married and my FI wants to do at least a 9 night cruise (which I am okay with). He also won't do Carnival, and now says he would prefer the Bahamas. We don't want anything too pricey, but are definitely willing to pay a bit more for this special trip together. Based on that, do you have any specific recommendations?

Yeah:  Don't go to the Bahamas.  As somebody else already pointed out only the 3-4 night voyages go there not the 9 nighter.  You may not want to subject yourselves to 9 days on a ship if you have never sailed.  Go on a traditional 7 day voyage & stay a bit extra before or after.

You are best served by flying to your port of departure city at least 24 hours before sailing.  Do not have a Saturday wedding & try to fly to your ship Sunday morning, the day most cruises leave.  There is too much risk something will go wrong. 

lildropofsunshine

Hmm...I guess I'll just have to convince him to go to the Caribbean then. Or maybe somewhere else, but that's where I really want to go. Where are the best week+ long cruises?

AprilH81

lildropofsunshine said:

Hmm...I guess I'll just have to convince him to go to the Caribbean then. Or maybe somewhere else, but that's where I really want to go. Where are the best week+ long cruises?

You've already been given recommendations... "Best" is highly subjective depending on what you are looking for. 

1) Western Caribbean: Usually leaves from Florida, New Orleans or Galveston and visits Jamaica, Cayman Islands and one or more port in Mexico. Galveston also has an itinerary that does Belize, Honduras and Mexico. Generally Western ports are less developed and more natural with very active excursions. You can go zip lining, snorkeling, diving, climb waterfalls, etc. 

2) Eastern Caribbean: Usually leaves from Florida and some ports along the Eastern coast and visits St. Thomas, St. Martin and a "private island" owned by the cruise line. These ports are more commercialized and touristy but are very beautiful. If you like shopping these ports offer lots of options. There are also good adventure excursions available but these islands offer some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. 

3) Southern Caribbean: Leaves almost exclusively from San Juan, Puerto Rico, but some of the 10-day cruises from Florida also visit the southern islands. There are two routes that alternate weeks. Option 1: usually visits Aruba, Curacao and another island or two with several days at sea to enjoy the ship. Option 2: visits 6 islands in 7 days, the most popular stops are Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Thomas and usually a few other smaller islands. These islands are also a little less developed and offer a great mix of beautiful beaches and more adventurous activities. One of my all time favorite excursions is swimming with the sea turtles in Barbados.

My favorite cruises have been the ones leaving out of San Juan and visiting a lot of islands.  I do a private excursion in each island but try to get 1 or two "slow" days mixed in there so I don't get worn out.  San Juan also is a great place to spend an extra day or two on either end of the trip to get a 9 or 10 day honeymoon.

August-October (really June-October) is going to be HOT and VERY HUMID.  Expect a lot of rain showers in the afternoon and of course that is peak hurricane season in the Caribbean so be sure to buy trip insurance that includes trip interruption/cancellation due to a natural disaster.  

MairePoppy

Try to find an eastern Caribbean itinerary that includes St. Maarten. You dock in Phillipsburg on the Dutch side and can manage this stop without booking an excursion. Buy a pass for the water taxi ($7) which you can use all day as many times as you like. Water taxi to the boardwalk, where there are a fabulous white powder beach, excellent duty free shopping, food, drink, you can rent a pair of chaise lounges and an umbrella for $10. 

lildropofsunshine

Thanks for more info.

I added to my question (week+ long) to make it known we're not looking at anything short -- just to clarify.

MairePoppy

If you're looking for a longer 10 or more day cruise or longer:

http://www.princess.com/find/searchResults.

We did the Southern Caribbean Medley in March, it was fabulous. 

P.S. When looking at Princess cruises, notice that some of the long cruises are 2 short cruises booked back to back, which means you return to home port (Fort Lauderdale or Miami) in the middle of the cruise to drop off/pick up passengers. 

dalm0m

Everybody has a different favorite.  For me the "best" are the Southern or exotic Caribbean cruises  that sail from San Juan but the costs to fly to San Juan make it a more expensive trip.  Our last cruise from there which include Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao was cheap ($350 pp) but the flight was about $600 each. 

Many people love the Western Caribbean.  We hate it so much we'd almost rather stay home.