Help w/vacation planning too :)

AshNicole331 · January 2011

DH & I have gone on a cruise the past 2 years in a row. We now LOVE to cruise and are making plans for this spring (hopefully...). We're debating between 2 different options:

Option 1) Incredible price, it's a steal. It's on Carnival, which I'm not totally thrilled about (I've heard mixed reviews about Carnival - Though we're in the freaking Caribbean, how could we not enjoy ourselves?) It has an amazing, jam-packed itinerary: St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten and only 1 day at sea.

Option 2) Costs close to $400 more...it's at the very top of our budget. It's on one of Royal Caribbean's awesome new ships: Flowrider, Ice Skating, Rock Climbing, etc. The ship is amazing. We would visit RC's private island (I believe it's in the Bahamas), St. Thomas, St. Maarten and we'd have 3 days total at sea. So we would be sacrificing a beautiful ship for less ports and we've already been to St. Maarten (I know, boo hoo, right? haha).

So...Should we go with the cheaper option on an older ship but with amazing ports or go with the more expensive option on an amazing ship but less ports. We're having a hard time deciding because the crappier ship wouldn't bother me as much since we won't be on the ship very often since we're visiting so many ports....but on the other hand I do enjoy days at sea and it would be nice to be on an amazing ship for those days.

What to do? Thoughts?

Mrs.N.H. · January 2011

That's a hard one. Me personally, I'm leaning toward less ports more time on the cruise because I enjoy days at sea and the food on RC is that much better than Carnival, plus I've been to all the ports in the Carnival one.

But on the other hand if you haven't been to the pots on the Carnival one go with that one...St. Lucia alone is worth it 'cause is so amazing and you should definitely go there, if not now, sometime in the future.

ladybugg82 · January 2011

I would go with the first option. Our honeymoon was on Carnival and it was not bad. The stops sound amazing for the first one too, which is always a bonus.

Than again, I have only been on 1 cruise so I cant really compare it to others.

Good luck!

[Deleted User] · January 2011

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alisonpilgrim610 · January 2011

Here's my 2cents...

I've been on 2 cruises, 1 with carnival & 1 with Royal. I'm not a fan of carnival. at all. I would never cruise with them again. The food was terrible, the ship we were on was out dated, their service was terrible.... yes, it's cheaper, but you get one you pay for.

This past thanksgiving we did a very port heavy itinerary with Royal & had the most amazing time! We did Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maarten, & St Croix with 1 day at sea. I thought I would have a hard time with only 1 day at sea-like it would be too busy & not enough down time-but, not at all! it was the perfect itinerary! With that being said, the only thing that would make me lean toward the carnival one would be b/c of the ports....

I think I would go with the Royal one just for the overall experience though. The food will be better with better choices; the ship, I'm sure will be nicer; & I don't know about this particular ship of theirs, but the one we were on had a TON of glass-so even when we were laying out on the deck we could see the ocean from our lounge chair! Carnival did not have this-high white walls & you couldn't see a thing when you were sitting down. I hated that!

I'll probably get flamed, but I wasn't the biggest fan of St. Lucia. I think it would have been better if we had stayed at a resort there for our 1st experience rather than cruising there. Our favorites were Barbados (we are already thinking of going back) & Antigua!

Ok, so my final answer is the Royal Cruise! Then save up to take another in a couple years to check out Barbados! or pick a different week & do the port heavy itinerary with Royal! Stick out tongue

MrsBlayne · January 2011

I just wanted to say... Boo hoo poor you! Sounds like you have a winner either way. I would personally lean toward the carnival one. Carnival was the only cruise I have ever done and the food was good, the ship was older but fine, overall I would do it again. Plus, I don't love sea days. But if you do the Royal one, the sea days would be on a sweet ship, so I think either way you can't go wrong.

Mrs.G_09 · January 2011

I vote the first option. We sailed on Carnival for our honeymoon and had no problems (well...except for a crew member committing suicide right before we were to set sail which delayed us a few hours). I'm one of those people who wants to get my money's worth out of a vacation. We had six stops on a 7 day cruise and no days at sea. In hindsight it would have been nice to have one day at sea to recoup and relax. We had been on a Carnival cruise before and weren't interested in the ship activities anyway, been there done that. I loved being able to visit 6 places I'd never been to before for such a reasonable price.

If we cruise again it will be with a different cruise line though. Nothing against Carnival but we just want a different scenery, KWIM? I really would like to sail on one of those fabulous Royal Caribbean ships. They look like so much fun! I would want something with more than two stops though.

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Help w/vacation planning too :)

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