First time to the Caribbean - advice please

[Nylsor]

My DH is retiring on April 23 2010.:) I am planning a cruise to the Caribbean for him as my thanks for all his many years of very hard work. We have never visited this region before and I have several questions I am hoping some of you will be able to advise me on:

- Is late April / early May too late weatherwise to visit the Caribbean? if it is, when is the best time of year?

- I want to book a cruise of approx 14 days or more - I'm not sure about East / West or should I be looking for a cruise that covers both?

- We had a mini-suite on the Diamond which was great but we spent so little time in it that we felt it didn't justify the expense. Would a balcony cabin be good?

- Should we avoid a cruise that visits Jamaica? I've read a lot of poor reports about Montego Bay on this forum. We're not nervous travellers!

Any other advice would be most welcome

Ros

[jfv379]

My DH is retiring on April 23 2010.:) I am planning a cruise to the Caribbean for him as my thanks for all his many years of very hard work. We have never visited this region before and I have several questions I am hoping some of you will be able to advise me on:

 

- Is late April / early May too late weatherwise to visit the Caribbean? if it is, when is the best time of year? These times are great, have done most of our cruises in this time frame.

 

- I want to book a cruise of approx 14 days or more - I'm not sure about East / West or should I be looking for a cruise that covers both? Check and see if the Caribbean Princess is doing the Southern Caribbean out of San Juan. Last year we did B2B 14 day. This cruise is was port intensive, only two sea days.

 

- We had a mini-suite on the Diamond which was great but we spent so little time in it that we felt it didn't justify the expense. Would a balcony cabin be good? Balconies are great for the Caribbean, but only you can decide that.

 

- Should we avoid a cruise that visits Jamaica? I've read a lot of poor reports about Montego Bay on this forum. We're not nervous travellers!

Any other advice would be most welcome If you can do the BSB above it won't do Montego Bay. We have done many land based vacations in Jamaica and never had a problem. Over a dozen.

 

Ros

 

Hope this answers some questions or gives you some ideas. Either way enjoy your cruise and what a great retirement experience.

[-Lew-]

Is late April / early May too late weatherwise to visit the Caribbean? if it is, when is the best time of year?

The weather during that timeframe should be very nice.

 

I want to book a cruise of approx 14 days or more - I'm not sure about East / West or should I be looking for a cruise that covers both?

We prefer an Eastern or Southern itinerary. Mexico, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Central America don't interest us at all. Others most probably would disagree. It's a matter of personal taste. Investigate the ports of call to see what looks interesting.

 

We had a mini-suite on the Diamond which was great but we spent so little time in it that we felt it didn't justify the expense. Would a balcony cabin be good?

We've sailed in both mini-suites and regular cabins. Our preference is a regular balcony cabin on Caribe deck. The balconies on Caribe deck are quite large (~9'x9') and are partially covered.

 

Should we avoid a cruise that visits Jamaica? I've read a lot of poor reports about Montego Bay on this forum. We're not nervous travellers!

If the other ports of call on your itinerary look good, I wouldn't avoid the cruise. I'd just stay onboard while calling on Jamaica.

 

Lew

[JPRLHR]

My DH is retiring on April 23 2010.:) I am planning a cruise to the Caribbean for him as my thanks for all his many years of very hard work. We have never visited this region before and I have several questions I am hoping some of you will be able to advise me on:

- Is late April / early May too late weatherwise to visit the Caribbean? if it is, when is the best time of year? Late April early May fine.Temperatures themselves hardly change all year long so all you're really looking to do is to avoid hurricane season although the chances of having a problem then is still remote.

- I want to book a cruise of approx 14 days or more - I'm not sure about East / West or should I be looking for a cruise that covers both? Personally I'd do the Eastern Caribbean purely because there are far more islands within easy reach.

- We had a mini-suite on the Diamond which was great but we spent so little time in it that we felt it didn't justify the expense. Would a balcony cabin be good? A balcony cabin would be fine if you're happy with the comparative lack of space.

- Should we avoid a cruise that visits Jamaica? I've read a lot of poor reports about Montego Bay on this forum. We're not nervous travellers!

Despite all the over the top scare stories you've read, don't miss Jamaica if you get a chance. Just ensure you do an organised tour. Jamaica is probably the most beautiful island in the caribbean.

Any other advice would be most welcome

Ros

 

The only other thing I'd suggest is that you try and find a cruise that departs from Fort Lauderdale is it's easily accesible from London via Miami whereas San Juan is far less convenient and considerably more expensive to get to.

[rcacace]

My DH is retiring on April 23 2010.:) I am planning a cruise to the Caribbean for him as my thanks for all his many years of very hard work. We have never visited this region before and I have several questions I am hoping some of you will be able to advise me on:

- Is late April / early May too late weatherwise to visit the Caribbean? if it is, when is the best time of year? It's a great time & HOT for sure. Occasional showers but not something that would be any concern.

- I want to book a cruise of approx 14 days or more - I'm not sure about East / West or should I be looking for a cruise that covers both?

 

If you can find a ship that alternates east/west it would be great but I don't think there are ant Princess ships doing it lately. Sometimes you can find a deal on two different ships that include a hotel stay if the dates don't coincide.

- We had a mini-suite on the Diamond which was great but we spent so little time in it that we felt it didn't justify the expense. Would a balcony cabin be good? It's about the only itinerary where we do book a balcony because we can get max use of it.

 

- Should we avoid a cruise that visits Jamaica? I've read a lot of poor reports about Montego Bay on this forum. We're not nervous travellers!

It's hard to find a eastern trip that doesn't included a stop at Jamaica. As much as I would like to skip that port, it isn't as bad if you stay on the beaten path & travel with other people.

Any other advice would be most welcome

Ros

 

;) Have fun

[Colo Cruiser]

Don't forget you choices dwindle in early May as the ships start their trips to Alaska/Europe severly limiting your Caribbean choices. ;)

[Pam in CA]

The others have given you good advice. Instead of the mini-suite, you might want to consider a balcony cabin on Caribe deck. These are standard cabins but have a larger balcony that's half-covered, half-uncovered so you can either be in the sun or shade as you wish. The Caribe balconies are larger than mini-suite balconies. :)

 

I'm guessing that you probably want to go where it's warm, and anywhere in the Caribbean is warm to hot at that time of the year. Look at the itineraries and decide whether you want a more laid-back cruise with more sea days and fewer ports or one where you get to go to more ports with more to see. If it were me, I'd look at the Eastern and Southern itineraries. I was going to suggest a Panama Canal cruise but in checking the Princess website, the only one doing a round-trip from Ft. Lauderdale is before your husband's retirement. The ones later in the month on the Coral and Island go from Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles without too many stops in the Caribbean.

 

Here's a link to the search on Princess for Caribbean cruises in April 2010. :) http://www.princess.com/pb/searchResults.do?time=104&trade=C&ship=&duration=&port=FLL&date=0410&orderBy=&filterBy=&resType=C&pageOffset=

 

Here's a thought: do a 7-day Eastern on the Star Princess on 4/17 followed by a 7-day Western on the Crown Princess on 4/24. :)

[cb at sea]

April/May is our favorite time to cruise! It's warm, but not quite so humid, until you get further south--it's humid all the time there!

If you're doing a 14 nighter, then by all means, go everywhere! There's nothing wrong with Jamaica---just book something with a guide or stay on the ship if you feel uncomfortable.

Do get yourself a guidebook on the ports you'll visit, so you'll know what there is in each place!

[davekathy]

My DH is retiring on April 23 2010.:) I am planning a cruise to the Caribbean for him as my thanks for all his many years of very hard work. We have never visited this region before and I have several questions I am hoping some of you will be able to advise me on:

- Is late April / early May too late weatherwise to visit the Caribbean? if it is, when is the best time of year?

- I want to book a cruise of approx 14 days or more - I'm not sure about East / West or should I be looking for a cruise that covers both?

- We had a mini-suite on the Diamond which was great but we spent so little time in it that we felt it didn't justify the expense. Would a balcony cabin be good?

- Should we avoid a cruise that visits Jamaica? I've read a lot of poor reports about Montego Bay on this forum. We're not nervous travellers!

Any other advice would be most welcome

Ros

 

You may want to consider the 15 Day 14 Night Caribbean Collection Cruise on the Grand Princess. Great itinerary. Were doing it on 26 March 2010.

 

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