Trying to Decide between 2 Very Different Caribbean Cruises

[katmu]

Hello- I am in my early 50s and will be cruising solo.  I’m looking at Eastern and Southern Caribbean cruises in either late November or early December.  Both of these lines would be new to me, although I am booked on a HAL cruise for next May with my family.  I was looking at these 2 cruises for different reasons.

The Royal cruise is a hosted singles cruise.  I’m not particularly interested in dating but a cruise where I know there will be well-attended events for solos does appeal to me.  I’m not as excited about the big ship, potential for lots of kids on board, and it’s obviously 7 days vs. 11 days.  Price wise, the base fare of the 7 day on Symphony of the Seas is cheaper but once I add gratuities, internet, and the non-alcoholic drinks package, it really only saves about $200.  HAL includes a full drinks package, 1 specialty dining, 2 shore excursions and $300 OBC though as well.  The HAL itinerary appeals to me more, but I know HAL has cut back on some of their music onboard recently so that is a bit of a concern.  I’ve been reading the Midwest thread on the HAL board that’s showing the daily events on the Eurodam currently, and I think there are enough events that interest me to keep me busy.  I do want time to relax on the sea days as well.

I’m hoping to hear from people who have sailed on either of these ships on adults only cruises, or people who can give me experience with both lines.   I have been to Miami and Fort Lauderdale for previous cruises, but all of the ports on both of these cruises would be new to me.

 

Symphony of the Seas

 Day Port 

 Day 1 Miami, FL 4:00pm

 Day 2 CocoCay, Bahamas 7:00am 5:00pm

 Day 3 At Sea 

 Day 4 San Juan, Puerto Rico 10:30am 6:00pm

 Day 5 St. Maarten 8:00am 6:00pm

 Day 6At Sea 

 Day 7At Sea 

 Day 8 Miami, FL 6:00am

 

Eurodam

Day Port

Day 1 Fort Lauderdale, FL 3:00pm

Day 2 At Sea

Day 3 At Sea

Day 4 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 9:00am 6:00pm

Day 5 St. Kitts 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 6 Roseau, Dominica 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 7 St. Lucia 7:00am 5:00pm

Day 8 Antigua 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 9 St. Maarten 7:00am 3:00pm

Day 10 At Sea

Day 11 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 8:00am 3:00pm

Day 12 Fort Lauderdale, FL 7:00am

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

Eurodam is longer, and stops at Half Moon Cay. No brainer.

[Shmoo here]

25 minutes ago, katmu said:

Eurodam

Day Port

Day 1 Fort Lauderdale, FL 3:00pm

Day 2 At Sea

Day 3 At Sea

Day 4 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 9:00am 6:00pm

Day 5 St. Kitts 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 6 Roseau, Dominica 8:00am 5:00pm

Day 7 St. Lucia 7:00am 5:00pm

Day 8 Antigua 8:00am 6:00pm

Day 9 St. Maarten 7:00am 3:00pm

Day 10 At Sea

Day 11 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 8:00am 3:00pm

Day 12 Fort Lauderdale, FL 7:00am

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

 

Longer cruise, more ports.

[Essiesmom]

Longer cruise, better ports.  EM

[mom says]

Eurodam for sure!

[leaveitallbehind]

Agree with Eurodam. 

 

[aungrl]

Another vote for Eurodam.  As @Essiesmom says, not only more ports, but (much) better ones.

[auntmeg]

Eurodam. Much better ports.

[donaldsc]

9 hours ago, katmu said:

Hello- I am in my early 50s and will be cruising solo.  I’m looking at Eastern and Southern Caribbean cruises in either late November or early December.  Both of these lines would be new to me, although I am booked on a HAL cruise for next May with my family.  I was looking at these 2 cruises for different reasons.

The Royal cruise is a hosted singles cruise.  I’m not particularly interested in dating but a cruise where I know there will be well-attended events for solos does appeal to me.  I’m not as excited about the big ship, potential for lots of kids on board, and it’s obviously 7 days vs. 11 days.  Price wise, the base fare of the 7 day on Symphony of the Seas is cheaper but once I add gratuities, internet, and the non-alcoholic drinks package, it really only saves about $200.  HAL includes a full drinks package, 1 specialty dining, 2 shore excursions and $300 OBC though as well.  The HAL itinerary appeals to me more, but I know HAL has cut back on some of their music onboard recently so that is a bit of a concern.  I’ve been reading the Midwest thread on the HAL board that’s showing the daily events on the Eurodam currently, and I think there are enough events that interest me to keep me busy.  I do want time to relax on the sea days as well.

I’m hoping to hear from people who have sailed on either of these ships on adults only cruises, or people who can give me experience with both lines.   I have been to Miami and Fort Lauderdale for previous cruises, but all of the ports on both of these cruises would be new to me.

 

Symphony of the Seas

 Day Port 

 Day 1 Miami, FL 4:00pm

 Day 2 CocoCay, Bahamas 7:00am 5:00pm  A beach. Who cares.  A wasted day.

 Day 3 At Sea 

 Day 4 San Juan, Puerto Rico 10:30am 6:00pm  Puerto Rico is hardly exciting.

 Day 5 St. Maarten 8:00am 6:00pm  Nov 28, 2022 — Maarten is recovering at record speed, welcoming six ships and 15,000 passengers in one day.

 Day 6At Sea 

 Day 7At Sea 

 Day 8 Miami, FL 6:00am

 

 

 

 

 

All 3 ports for Symphony are worse, worser and worserest!!

 

DON

[AKJonesy]

ED.  Better ports, longer cruise. 

[katmu]

I’m waiting for my TA to complete the booking on the Eurodam.  For people who are saying the ports are better on the Eurodam, what is the opinion on St. Maarten? 

 

I’m most excited about St. Lucia and Antigua.  Half Moon Cay looks more my speed than Perfect Day as well.  I need to do more research on Dominica and St. Kitts.

[new_cruiser]

I enjoy St Maarten but I've only been on days when it isn't overwhelmed by having many big ships in port. A 7-day cruise leaving Florida on the weekend will stop at St Maarten mid week. There are a lot of those so it's too many people at once crowding the island with day trippers.

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, new_cruiser said:

I enjoy St Maarten but I've only been on days when it isn't overwhelmed by having many big ships in port. A 7-day cruise leaving Florida on the weekend will stop at St Maarten mid week. There are a lot of those so it's too many people at once crowding the island with day trippers.

Good point - but back on topic - Symphony’s 6,000+ passengers compared with Eurodam’s 2,000  means that port crowding should be considered —- in addition to the on-board differences.

 

On our annual three week stay at St. Maarten we have learned to shelter in place on busy cruise days.  I pity the poor cruising yahoos who think they are experiencing Caribbean islands when they travel like that.

Edited January 31 by navybankerteacher

[George C]

Way better entertainment on rccl but better ports and more days on Hal , would have to pick Hal.

[katmu]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

Good point - but back on topic - Symphony’s 6,000+ passengers compared with Eurodam’s 2,000  means that port crowding should be considered —- in addition to the on-board differences.

 

On our annual three week stay at St. Maarten we have learned to shelter in place on busy cruise days.  I pity the poor cruising yahoos who think they are experiencing Caribbean islands when they travel like that.

This does raise a good point about St. Maarten as I still have an issue there it seems.  On the day the Eurodam docks in St. Maarten, there are 2 additional bigger ships in port that day so there will be over 10,000 people arriving. Any suggestions for a busy day?  Eurodam arrives before the big RC ship so I may get off for a short bit and get back on the ship once things get busy.

 

The good news is that for the moment anyway, the other ports don’t look to be as crowded.  Even St. Thomas will have only a Crystal ship besides Eurodam on the day currently scheduled.  

[Aquahound]

Oof.  Longer cruise and Half Moon Cay certainly are appealing but I gotta be honest, after my last HAL cruise, which happened to be on Eurodam, I swore off anything older than Koningsdam.  Entertainment was nearly non-existent and main-stage evening entertainment was often a movie or a port lecture.  I'm not often bored on a cruise, but I was on Eurodam.  

 

I recommend Symphony.  I've cruised that ship class 4 times and I was blown away each time.  There is so much to do and the entertainment is phenomenal.