What do you think of these cruises?

Question

We want to leave on April 11 or 12 in 2009

Here are our choices we are going between right now:

http://www.carnival.com/CompareCruises.aspx

I have really been wanting to go to Ochos Rios Jamaica for our past two cruises but I always seems that a better iteniairy comes open for us.

I was set on one of the two that went there this time until I saw the one that leaves from Puerto Rico- The destinations sound amazing. Has anyone ever been on a cruise like this?

I also got to thinking that this will probably be my husband and I's last cruise without children. We are wanting to start trying for a baby on this cruise! Is the Jamacia cruise more kid friendly than this one would be?

I have enough sky miles to get one of our flights free. I found a flight that arrives in San Juan at 12;00pm and the ship does not leave until 10:00pm

What are your opinions? Which one would you take and why?

By the way My husband will be 28 and I will be 25 on this trip.

Answer 1

Do the Southern Carribean. You can spend an extra night pre or post in San Juan. I did the Southern Carribean with Princess in December and loved it! All of the places were gorgeous and much more interesting than the standard western or eastern carribean.  One person was correct about Jamaica-you think you want to go there until you actually do, it is known for super high crime, and pan handlers that will not take NO for an answer-they even have their kids come begging.... Also, the cabbine we used offered us every drug known to man--not that great of a place.... My suggestion --go to the Southern more to see, the beaches and shore excursions are awesome, and I had a BLAST!!! (btw I'm 29)

Answer 2

Personally, I'd go with the first one. If you didn't have the free airfare, I'd choose the second one since the airfare to PR might be more expensive. The reason I'd choose the first one is because I like the ports of call much more.

St. Thomas is great for shopping. In Dominica, I recommend the Rasta Man jungle hike. You hike through the rain forest to a great waterfall. It was the best excursion I've been on! You see a lot of great wildlife, including plants and animals. You also see the crying wall. It's basically a stone wall (natural) with water dripping/pouring from it. You stop at a rocky shore, where you can clean your hands in the clear water. (Your hands might be dirty from the hike.) On our tour, our tour guide gave us mangoes, which were very good. Then you get to the waterfall. You can choose to swim in the water bed, which is said to make you look and feel younger. If you're daring enough, you can climb to the next waterfall. None of us did it, so I can't comment on it. But I hear it's worth the extra effort!

Anyway, I hope you make the best decision. No matter which one you go on, I'm sure you'll have a blast.

Answer 3

we want to go on a cruise and its is everything we want iwas really excited about all the ports including jamaca, but when i told my mom about it she said that sounded like fun except for the jamaca part, my mom says it was terrible and if we went on that cruise we would have to stay on the boat, becasue jamaca was terrible and she felt really un safe it is sposeily really dangerous drug riddinn and NOT for kids so, if u really want to go to jamaca anyway dont take your kids, and if u do go on that one anyway i would highly recommend a guided tour with the boat, much safer, or just staying on the boat

Answer 4

Unfortunately the link doesn't work.  (I think it reads the search history from your computer, which is why it shows a blank page on mine.) Could you copy the options into your question?

That said, I really didn't like Ocho Rios when my husband and I went.  Wedding Cake Falls was beautiful, but people were really pushy - every 10 minutes someone asked us for money, and every 30 minutes someone tried to sell us drugs.

(BTW, two foolish boys on our cruise bought pot and were searched at the port and arrested.  Very sad.)

Answer 5

I've been to most of those ports and I'd definitely recommend going with option number 1.  St. Thomas is amazing!  It in itself is worth the cruise.  I always wanted to go to Jamaica too....until I went there.  It's not what you would expect.  The last few times I went ashore I was approached by locals to buy drugs almost immediately after stepping off the ship.  There's just no relaxation in Jamaica for tourists.  Someone is constantly trying to sell you something.  One time when we took our kids several women grabbed my daughter who has long hair and started braiding her hair for money.  It is very hard to separate yourself from them since they don't tend to take "no thank you" for an answer.  Now if a cruise that we take stops in Jamaica, we stay on the ship that day.  I know this probably isn't what you were wanting to hear but it is unfortunately the truth.  Good luck with your decision.

Answer 6

Well, I would choose number two, the Carnival Liberty going to three ports plus three days at sea.  Why?  Well, the Carnival Liberty is one of Carnival's newer ships.  It is also one of two Carnival ships currently sailing that has a large outdoor TV screen called the Seaside Theater.  The link below shows some photos of it ...

http://www.supercruise.net/super_cruise_...

In addition the ship spends three days at sea.  Days at sea are very relaxing.  

The cruise on the Victory (number one) is very port intensive - five ports and only one day at sea.  That can get a little tiring.  However, given that you don't have kids, you might want to save the relaxing cruise for the kids and take on the port intensive one now when you don't have to worry about the kids getting too tired to go on a shore excursion.

The five night cruise (number three) is good for a quick getaway.  It might be better as a first cruise with the kids to see if they like it.  

All three ships have a similar layout.  The Destiny was built in 1996 and was the first cruise ship to exceed 100,000 gross registered tons (GRT).  At the time is was the biggest ship (until the Grand Princess started sailing in 1998 - the Grand Princess is 109,000 GRT).  The Victory is very similar to the Destiny (just a little bigger and a slightly different deck layout).  The Victory was built in 2000.  The Liberty was built in 2005 and is about 9% bigger than the other two.  However, the deck layout on all three ships is very similar.

Answer 7

NUMBER 2: 7 days $759 per person

Ship: Carnival Liberty Departs: Miami, FL

Itinerary: Western Caribbean: Miami, FL ; Cozumel, Mexico ; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands ; Ocho Rios, Jamaica ; Miami, FL. I think you would love this ship. We went last May on this ship,but they were different ports. We had great cabin service. We have been on 3 Carnival Cruises. I would stay away from the Sensation, it is old and we traveled on the Fantasy, it was okay. The liberty was clean and had good food. They have a club which take reservation called Harry's Supper club great food. It cost 30 dollars per person but you get your moneys worth. I loved Cayman Island. Hope you have fun on which ever one you decide on.