2024 Southern Caribbean from San Juan

[BrokeMack]

We're looking at either of the 7-Night sailings in April 2024 and I'd appreciate input from those of you who've done these ports before.

One itinerary is Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, and St Maarten, with 2 sea days.

The other is St Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St Lucia, and Barbados, with 1 sea day.

In addition to port info I'd like your thoughts on the sea day situation. 4 ports and 2 sea days is less hectic, but the 5 sea day itinerary has the sea day last, which is nice for preparing to disembark, and we may not do excursions at every port anyway.

Opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[CaseyCruiser]

We're looking at either of the 7-Night sailings in April 2024 and I'd appreciate input from those of you who've done these ports before.

One itinerary is Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, and St Maarten, with 2 sea days.

The other is St Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St Lucia, and Barbados, with 1 sea day.

In addition to port info I'd like your thoughts on the sea day situation. 4 ports and 2 sea days is less hectic, but the 5 sea day itinerary has the sea day last, which is nice for preparing to disembark, and we may not do excursions at every port anyway.

Opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

We booked the Southern Caribbean with the one sea day. We have been to San Juan many times and miss it and only been to Antiqua. We loved Antiqua and loved the Southern Caribbean cruise. The last time we did this was January 2020, right before the sickness, and it was summer down there. Either way you can't go wrong. You will love this cruise.

 

[DVC Jackie]

My husband and I booked the 4/27/24 Southern Caribbean cruise. We have been to Antigua before ( loved it)- mainly looking forward to cruising on the Magic which will be the only Disney ship we haven’t been on. I don’t think you can lose with either itinerary.

 

[BrokeMack]

My husband and I booked the 4/27/24 Southern Caribbean cruise. We have been to Antigua before ( loved it)- mainly looking forward to cruising on the Magic which will be the only Disney ship we haven’t been on. I don’t think you can lose with either itinerary.

We'll see you on board. 99% sure we're going with that sailing (for the same reason--want to sail the Magic). Any recommendations for Antigua?

 

[xfiles3010]

We're looking at either of the 7-Night sailings in April 2024 and I'd appreciate input from those of you who've done these ports before.

One itinerary is Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, and St Maarten, with 2 sea days.

The other is St Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St Lucia, and Barbados, with 1 sea day.

In addition to port info I'd like your thoughts on the sea day situation. 4 ports and 2 sea days is less hectic, but the 5 sea day itinerary has the sea day last, which is nice for preparing to disembark, and we may not do excursions at every port anyway.

Opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

We are booked on this cruise as well.

 

[DVC Jackie]

We'll see you on board. 99% sure we're going with that sailing (for the same reason--want to sail the Magic). Any recommendations for Antigua?

Last time we were there (September 1992- honeymoon) we did an island tour. All of the Caribbean island tours are pretty similar… here’s a historic church, our fast food restaurants, etc… This time around we’re opting for a beach transfer on Antigua. We’ll be doing some different things on the other islands ( cooking classes and farm tours) . We want to experience more of the local culture rather than the touristy spots this time around with a couple of beach days thrown in.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

I would 100% choose the second 1. DH and I did a similar itinerary on RC for our honeymoon and we loved having the sea day the last day. We also absolutely loved st. Kitts, Dominica (I spent 2 weeks here in college on a research trip super unique ecosystem you can snorkel through hydrothermal vents that make it look like champagne bubbles, hike a rainforest trail, or take the tram), and Barbados was one of our favorite beach days followed by going to a rum cake factory. St Lucia is on my to do list for a land trip. I wish I could cruise the end of April would totally do this one.

 

[Cruzin’Sisters]

My husband and I booked the 4/27/24 Southern Caribbean cruise. We have been to Antigua before ( loved it)- mainly looking forward to cruising on the Magic which will be the only Disney ship we haven’t been on. I don’t think you can lose with either itinerary.

I just did as well. Can’t wait!

 

[Cruzin’Sisters]

We'll see you on board. 99% sure we're going with that sailing (for the same reason--want to sail the Magic). Any recommendations for Antigua?

On the same sailing as well. Looking for any suggestions!

 

[Cruzin’Sisters]

We are booked on this cruise as well.

Seems like we will all be there. Anxious to see what to plan for excursions. Any suggestions are welcome!
TIA

 

[soniam]

I am leaning toward #2. We have done Celebrity and DCL Southern Caribbean itineraries. We have done many of these as a combo between the two. We love Antigua. St Kitts, St Lucia, and Barbados were great. Dominica is still pretty new. We did the first DCL itinerary with it in July. The excursions booked up really fast. We are silver but ended up booking a private tour. The tour was really fun but pretty advanced/scary, Extreme Dominica repelling. I liked Dominica, but I don't know if they have added more excursions. The port is pretty meager though.

We have done the following ports: Dominica, St Maarten, St Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados
Have not done: Aruba & Curacao

 

[littleaussie]

I’ve sailed the southern caribbean twice. Love that itinerary! Personally, I would choose the second one because Barbados was my absolutely favorite excursion out of 4 disney cruises.

We do independent excursions so this is what I’ve done for the ports listed:

Aruba (twice) - once booked a van island tour right off the ship (good overview), the second time we booked TrikesAruba (I ride motorcycle) for a morning island tour (fun time!). After we got back, I used the local bus system to get to a beautiful beach (quite the adventure).

Curaçao - We booked a private full day tour with Around Curacao tours. It was a good island overview.

St Kitts) - we booked the Disney zip lining tour (as we couldn’t book it independently). It had some beautiful views of the ocean.

Antigua (twice) - first time we booked a day pass at a private beach resort that was not accessible to the general public and it was amazing. But I hear they closed down And sold, not sure who bought it. Second time, we booked Adventure Antigua Eco tour, it was a boat tour and the rock formations we climbed on were pretty neat.

St. Lucia (twice) - The first time we booked a land and sea tour with Joy’s adventure tours that was a lot of fun!!!! The island was very curvy so the boat tour to the other side of the island for the cool stuff was way better than a bus tour going to the same place. The second time, we booked an independent zip line tour and that was good as well.

Barbados - our favorite excursion ever was a catamaran tour with Silver Moon. We snorkeled with the sea turtles and jumped off the top of the cat and had a private lunch anchored off a private beach area where we swam to shore and saw a baby sea turtle come up out of the sand and head to the water. It really was the best day ever. . .

Good luck, whatever you choose, I’m sure you will have a lot of fun!

 

[goofy4prez]

We're looking at either of the 7-Night sailings in April 2024 and I'd appreciate input from those of you who've done these ports before.

One itinerary is Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, and St Maarten, with 2 sea days.

The other is St Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St Lucia, and Barbados, with 1 sea day.

In addition to port info I'd like your thoughts on the sea day situation. 4 ports and 2 sea days is less hectic, but the 5 sea day itinerary has the sea day last, which is nice for preparing to disembark, and we may not do excursions at every port anyway.

Opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

I myself prefer the second of the two. The ports have much more interest for me (But those 2 sea days are nice, however). For what it's worth, I almost booked this same cruise but opted for the Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy in April 2024 instead. The only reason why I did that is that I have a 10-night cruise with Regent Seven Seas this March and Antiqua, Dominica, and St. Lucia are all on the itinerary.

 

[disneygeek401]

Is there any insight here on if there will be any Southern itineraries in May of 2024? I notice that for the dates released thus far, there are 2 southerns in April, and this year (2023) there are two southerns in may.