Eastern Mariner, Adventure (non-Aruba), or other ideas?

[AugustHoneymoonCruiser]

Last July, I proposed to my fiance on the Adventure of the Seas (Aruba route). For our honeymoon in August, we were thinking of going back to the Adventure, but on the St. Lucia route. After looking at the itinerary, I see that there is only one sea day. That made me look further and found the Eastern Carib Mariner itinerary. There are 3 sea days.

 

My question is....how good is the Adventure St. Lucia route? What about the Eastern Mariner? Does anyone recommend another cruise after August 5th (the big day?)

 

Thanks......Adam, NJ

 

Pros/Cons are appreciated on both.....

[leighuf]

Hi & Congrats-

 

I took the Adventure OTS St Lucia route for my honeymoon. (I'm hoping to one day return and do the Aruba itinerary). Yes, there are 5 port days, which I actually liked because we enjoyed visiting the islands. We did tours in each of the 5 ports, too. It was a little exhausting because each tour was an active one. Next time, I would probably mix in a beach day so we could relax a bit more. After all the wedding festivities and all the high-running emotions, we were exhausted from wedding itself. We ended up going to bed by 12pm everynight, a few nights we were in bed right after dinner (late seating). But, the Adventure is such an amazing ship and we wished we had more time to explore it!

 

St. Lucia is AMAZING. It is my favorite caribbean island. It's breath-taking. Barbados was just alright, but I heard I visited the wrong side of the island. Antigua had the most amazing blue water! We went out to Bird Island for the day and the catamaran ride to and from the island was so picturesque!

 

I don't know where you are based (we lived in FL at the time so flying to San Juan was an extra expense as opposed to doing a cruise that left from FL) so factoring in a flight to FL or a flight to San Juan may be of issue to you. Also, are the ports of call important to you? The Mariner & the Adventure OTS obviously have different itineraries.

 

Best of luck

[cruisechik66]

We are doing the Adventure (St. Lucia Route) for our honeymoon on June 5th. I am in the same position as you because the other cruise I considered was the Mariner Eastern for the same reasons you are considering it. I was at first really worried about only having one sea day. We are leaving the morning after the wedding and will be really tired. We are just planning on alternating between excursions and "beach days" so we don't get too tired. If you can, I would do the Adventure. St. Lucia is supposed to be so georgous and would make a great memory of your honeymoon.

[2VaCruzers]

Just something to consider...while on Explorer last month, we were asking about the Aruba itinerary for summer of '06. The loyalty ambassador said that there's a chance that instead of Explorer going to europe to make room in Miami for Freedom, Adventure OTS might go (Explorer has the oceanic lab run by Univ. of Miami and I believe this was becoming an issue). EOS would then take the place of AOS in San Juan. From what I understand, EOS is due for refurbishing in Sept.

[Rich And Sylvia]

This is also a matter of personal preference. Do you prefer a port intensive itinerary or something like the Eastern Mariner with its 3 sea days?

As you can see on our countdown, we enjoy a hefty dose of sea days as part of the mix. In fact, we will not consider an itinerary that does not include a sea day as the last day aboard the ship - no yet anyway.

Have fun deciding.

[baabtx]

We travelled the St. Lucia route in '03 and it was nice to be able to visit so many different Caribbean Islands on one trip. That being said, I do agree with the earlier post about some port calls being exhaustive sue to active port stops! (as well as the first since I was hungover). We had to modify our intinerary due to Hurricane season in late August and ended up reversing the intinerary so St. Lucia was first, beautiful Island! Since there were so many stops and additional time, my wife used some port time to use the ships spa since rates are reduced during some port periods. It's all up to you, but sound like a great honeymoon! I'm looking forward to taking the Aruba leg of the Southern Caribbean in the future.

[AugustHoneymoonCruiser]

Thanks for the comments....since we are from NJ, we have to take a flight regardless of where we cruise. I guess it just comes down to us deciding on 3 sea days vs. 1.

 

Anyone been on both Mariner and Adventure? Is there a preference out there?

 

I know they are basically the same ship, but i hear of slight upgrades on Mariner. Is it enough to be a determining factor?

 

Adam

[ronaldfelder]

This is also a matter of personal preference. Do you prefer a port intensive itinerary or something like the Eastern Mariner with its 3 sea days?

As you can see on our countdown, we enjoy a hefty dose of sea days as part of the mix. In fact, we will not consider an itinerary that does not include a sea day as the last day aboard the ship - no yet anyway.

Have fun deciding.

 

 

If you do the eastern on navigtor you get two rather than three days at sea.

 

Ron

[AugustHoneymoonCruiser]

I booked the AOS St. Lucia (8/14)route today....I guess it came down to the route itself and a bit of sentimental value...that is where i proposed to my fiance in front of hundreds of people.......

 

Two questions:

We booked a room on the 9th floor, mid ship...any problems seen here?

 

and

 

we want to stay on the back end of the cruise in PR. Anyone recommend a "hot spot" for honeymooners to continue the fun of partying, bask in the sun on a great resort, and enjoy the ammenities the hotel has to offer?

Thanks...