Help Us Choose Our Southern Caribbean Cruise

[vily99]

We're wanting to cruise the week of Thanksgiving in the Southern Caribbean. We really enjoyed our RCI cruise last time, so we're wanting to stick with them if possible. I've found 2 cruises that look promising.

 

Jewel of the Seas - 11/23 - San Juan, Puerto Rico>Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas>St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands>St. John's, Antigua>Fort De France, Martinique>Castries, St. Lucia>Sea Day>San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

OR

 

Adventure of the Seas - 11/24 - San Juan, Puerto Rico>Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas>Basseterre, St. Kitts>Sea Day>Oranjestad, Aruba>Willemstad, Curacao>Sea Day>San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Our previous cruise was on Freedom & we know these ships won't have quite as many amenities, but that's okay with us. I'm 29, husband's 30, and we're looking for ports that we can mostly just relax in, maybe do a little tour here or there, and snorkeling at least once. Opinions?

[karena1]

We're wanting to cruise the week of Thanksgiving in the Southern Caribbean. We really enjoyed our RCI cruise last time, so we're wanting to stick with them if possible. I've found 2 cruises that look promising.

 

Jewel of the Seas - 11/23 - San Juan, Puerto Rico>Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas>St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands>St. John's, Antigua>Fort De France, Martinique>Castries, St. Lucia>Sea Day>San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

OR

 

Adventure of the Seas - 11/24 - San Juan, Puerto Rico>Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas>Basseterre, St. Kitts>Sea Day>Oranjestad, Aruba>Willemstad, Curacao>Sea Day>San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Our previous cruise was on Freedom & we know these ships won't have quite as many amenities, but that's okay with us. I'm 29, husband's 30, and we're looking for ports that we can mostly just relax in, maybe do a little tour here or there, and snorkeling at least once. Opinions?

 

Personally, if you want great ports, I would do Jewel hands down. Jewel is also a gorgeous ship, not has big as Adventure, but lots of glass and brass. For me the ports more than make up for the fact that it is a small ship

[sky0000547]

Adventure would be a lot more similar to Freedom than Jewel.

[Clarea]

Adventure would be my choice too. I prefer the itinerary with two sea days.

[cleob]

We're on Jewel in March with the same itinerary you listed. St. Lucia is my favorite island. That being said I've heard good things about Curaçao. No doubt you will enjoy either cruise.

[wassup4565]

Oh man, I just have to put in a plug for the itinerary with St Croix. We loved this place. I guess you could tour around, but we just got off the boat and walked to the left where we found a lovely beach. There were some laid-back beach shacks within easy walking distance, where you could rent water playthings, or order a nice drink and some conch fritters and WIFI your time away. To the right were about a dozen vendors who don't know the meaning of the term hard-sell. I'd go back to St Croix in a minute.

[bouhunter]

I would take the Jewel from those two - slightly better ports (IMHO) and 5 instead of 4. But of course it's all a personal choice. We'll be on that Jewel schedule in March! We did Adventure 3 years in a row, so we obviously like her too!

[bouhunter]

Oh man, I just have to put in a plug for the itinerary with St Croix. We loved this place. I guess you could tour around, but we just got off the boat and walked to the left where we found a lovely beach. There were some laid-back beach shacks within easy walking distance, where you could rent water playthings, or order a nice drink and some conch fritters and WIFI your time away. To the right were about a dozen vendors who don't know the meaning of the term hard-sell. I'd go back to St Croix in a minute.

 

We did the exact same thing last time in St. Croix. Nothing special compared to some excursions etc., but a decent beach and relaxing day without dealing with taxi's, shuttles, etc.:) We found a nice dive shop in town and finally bought some decent quality snorkels/masks that we now take on every cruise.

[Koohiichan]

Thanks for the info on St. Croix. Do you know the name of the beach? Did you get reliable WiFi? I am asking this for my daughter. Could you swim? We may just do this!

 

Thanks,

 

Koohiichan

 

Oh man, I just have to put in a plug for the itinerary with St Croix. We loved this place. I guess you could tour around, but we just got off the boat and walked to the left where we found a lovely beach. There were some laid-back beach shacks within easy walking distance, where you could rent water playthings, or order a nice drink and some conch fritters and WIFI your time away. To the right were about a dozen vendors who don't know the meaning of the term hard-sell. I'd go back to St Croix in a minute.

[bouhunter]

I don't know if the beach even has a name, you just walk to the left after you get off the ship. As I said previously it's nothing spectacular, but close and easy. Yes we swam there. Not sure about wifi in the the area.