Mardi Gras 7-nt Western Caribbean or Celebration 8-nt ABC?

[bigrednole]

I just received a few good casino offers. We cannot cruise until Summer 2023. The two cruises we are looking at are Mardi Gras 7-nights Western Caribbean or Celebration 8-night ABCs. We went Western Caribbean on NCL in April, but pretty much missed everything port wise. Roatan we didn't port, Belize was private, Costa Maya got cutoff by about 4 hours in port, and Cozumel had weather that blocked us from going to the good reefs and El Cielo. With that said, that is why we want to do Western again at some point. But, the Southern on Celebration gives 14-hours in Aruba, 14-hours in Bonaire, and I think it was 8 or 10 hours in Curacao. Price wise, the 8-nt is a little cheaper (~$100) but we have to fly in. But that could be the case with Port Canaveral as well. 

 

Which would you choose?

[cruisingguy007]

Eight days is better than seven. 

[bigrednole]

2 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

Eight days is better than seven. 

I like your thinking 🙂

 

[snowballs mom]

Eight days is better, for sure, and the Southern itinerary is my favorite.

 

 

[lazydayz]

Celebration would win for me.  Love the Southern Caribbean and eight nights are better than seven! 

[BabyJacks17]

8-night on an even newer Mega ship is my vote too!

[sunshower9]

An extra day, visiting the ABCs, even newer ship...Celebration all the way.

[lasekeye]

We chose our ABC islands cruise on the Celebration for a few reasons.

Not many sailings go to all 3 within the same trip….& a new ship!

[vwrestler171]

ABC islands win every time.  Every ship goes to the western Caribbean and 2-3 go to the ABC islands.

[Saint Greg]

8 days, newer ship, better route. Celebration for sure.

[x lindsay x]

If you're flying in it is so much easier to cruise out of Miami, the airport is like 10 minutes away from the cruise terminal. For Port Canaveral you'd have to fly into MCO and get over to PC which is about 45 minutes away. 

[tallnthensome]

ABC over any western itinerary ..... 

[carefree20]

14 hours ago, BabyJacks17 said:

8-night on an even newer Mega ship is my vote too!

Absolutely! That's the same reasoning I used to book Celebration in March '23 with an AWESOME casino offer. 8 nights + Aruba = Fantastic! LoL!!

[bar1068]

This is actually a question?!?!? The 8 night Celebration to the ABC's....3 ports...4 sea days....just did that cruise last month on Horizon....nothing to not like there!!

[d-train]

8 days is better than 7, and we have not done a southern itinerary,

Celebration would be our choice too!

[firefly333]

48 minutes ago, bar1068 said:

This is actually a question?!?!? The 8 night Celebration to the ABC's....3 ports...4 sea days....just did that cruise last month on Horizon....nothing to not like there!!

lol that was my thought when I read the title. And 8 day is a bit cheaper and newer ship with better ports

 

I guess it would depend somewhat on the flight info. So I clicked .. still not sure where op is flying from or the details. Flights now can carry risk. Go early.

[bigrednole]

19 hours ago, bar1068 said:

This is actually a question?!?!? The 8 night Celebration to the ABC's....3 ports...4 sea days....just did that cruise last month on Horizon....nothing to not like there!!

Actually it is. Our last cruise was Western. We pretty much were limited on the ports. Roatan, the main port we wanted to see, the captain didn't port while all others did. Belize we were pretty much stuck on NCL's island which was nice, but what we wanted to see we couldn't because of the time on the ferry. Costa Maya got cut back to only 4 hours. Cozumel had a wind shift and the main reefs to snorkel were shutdown. So, it was a big let down. 

 

We are planning our cruise for next Summer. Got a decent casino rate and trying to decide. The other factor was driving to Port Canaveral is easy at about 8-9 hours. Personally, I was initially leaning to the ABCs, but wanted to ask. I will be booking the ABC cruise this week. Driving to Miami is a bit too far at 12 hours. I would have to take 6-days off work for it. Driving down would be a little pain, but back would be worse. I would have to work the next day. Driving 12-hours, getting home about 8-9PM would make for a bad day. There are usually direct, non-stop flights into FLL or MIA from us. The hope is we have enough cc points to cover flights, but that shouldn't be an issue. 

[Joebucks]

Anytime you can do the destination itinerary (ABC), I would. Western isn't bad, but has the knack to sneak up on all kinds of deals. 

[SRQbeachgirl]

ABCs for 8-days, definitely. Every ship and it's dinghy does Western, but a chance to do the ABCs on a great ship is special. 

[bigrednole]

I just booked it this morning. ABCs here we come. Now, I have to decide when I will let the wife know. 

[mac21902]

We literally just booked Celebration last night for the ABC islands for June 2023 as a gift for my son graduating high school. We wanted one big celebration before he joins the air force so it's quite a few family members booked. We can't wait!

[bigrednole]

4 hours ago, mac21902 said:

We literally just booked Celebration last night for the ABC islands for June 2023 as a gift for my son graduating high school. We wanted one big celebration before he joins the air force so it's quite a few family members booked. We can't wait!

We will be on the same cruise since there is only 1 8-night cruise that month.