Caribbean vs Mediterranean cruises?

[krisinparis]

This is kind of the way I look at it--for me the Caribbean cruises are more about being on the boat and having fun at the beach. There are lots of late nights and sleeping in the next morning. It will be very laid-back and relaxingl! A European cruise is more about sightseeing. You will spend long days on excursions and have lots of early mornings to meet up with your tours. It will be exciting, adventurous and exhausting! They both have their advantages, but they are very different vacations!

 

[Ofinn]

DH and I have a deal that starting in 2017, we'll do at least one WDW trip and one bigger trip (Europe, Hawaii, Asia, etc) per year. Kids'll definitely go to WDW and Hawaii with us, perhaps to the other places. So at this point, it doesn't really matter much to us that the kids won't remember the trips, since DH and I will and we enjoy spending time as a family (and the kids have enjoyed themselves on all the trips we've taken thus far).

So true about kids they may not remember it, but they always have fun.

 

[vinotinto]

We've currently considering a Med cruise, but the long drives from the industrial ports to the sightseeing is seriously giving me pause. How to cram everything into 6 hours? My DH and I have traveled a lot in Europe (never on a cruise), but this would be the first time with the kids, and easy is the name of the game.

For those of you that have taken the med cruises, how much are you paying for the sightseeing? It seemed like the prices that I saw were pretty high, but maybe I needed to look into private tours?

I think the islands in the Caribbean are perfect for a cruise. You have very little time between docking and activities. A lot is nature-oriented, but there are some islands where you can still see the colonial past (e.g., San Juan, Puerto Rico). We've visited a lot of pretty beaches, snorkeled/catamarans (so many - Barbados, St. Lucia), done volcanic mud baths (Dominica), swum with stingrays (in both Antigua and Cayman - preferred Antigua), etc.

 

[turtle27]

I did the med way back in 2007 (inaugural year, so they were still figuring things out). First, you have been to Europe so know that the streets/sidewalks are not smooth and many strollers, well, are no good at navigating them. The days are long. And I mean long. Off the ship early, back late. Lots of walking and in one port lots and lots of stairs. Anyone else get to do the stairs from the Sorrento to the ferry to Capri? That was fun watching the woman with the 4 inch heels navigate down. Rome was a full day and most of the kids ages 3-7 were asleep before the end of it with parents looking pretty miserable having to carry/miss out on things because the kids were not behaving after being our of their element for 6+ hours. At the time, and please, many of these excursions have changed and/or been tweaked, it did not seem like many of the tours were kid friendly. We went to the crypt in Palermo, Sicily with half a bus of kids. Heck, I remember asking a CM if they could make an adult only bus a few times and now DCL offers adult only excursions, no we did not mind the kids, but the parents of the kids sometimes lacked respect for the rest of our time.

Here is what I say, you know your kids. Sounds like y'all are pretty well traveled and that they are used to new/different/unfamiliar surroundings. I will also say that there is very little that your kids will remember from Europe at this age. My parents swear they took me places before I was 6 that I have very little memory of. I barely remember going to Disney World when I was 7.

The Caribbean beaches are beautiful, as is the water. However, some of the cities are dirtier than others. It is part of the economy of where you are visiting. I guess I would need to know what your BFF considers "dirty." Dirty, as in Paris was dirtier than London, imho. The Southern Caribbean is probably cleaner than the rest. Cozumel is not the cleanest town. But the beaches are pretty. And they have lots of places to get great margaritas. Grand Cayman seemed very very clean. Port days are shorter. More activities for children. But again, you know your kids and the excursions in the Med may have changed tremendously from when we went. Yes, we still want to go again, it was an amazing trip! But, I have other places to visit first now!

I would suggest private excursions for everywhere except possibly Rome, but I only say that because of the penchant to strike there, lol. Not sure if it has been as much of an issue lately. When we went, there had been strikes the previous months and more were being threatened, which would have meant roadways would come to a standstill. This way, you can control not only what you and your family does, but the timing. If you know your son is only good for 4 hours, then you can probably make it work this way. And as others have stated, you could leave the kids on the ship at some of the ports. Also, private excursions may get you off the ship and on your way faster. Sometimes, it felt like we waited so long to get to the bus to leave on the DCL excursions. And they were pricey. Worth it mostly, but pricey.

 

[turtle27]

As to cost of excursions, it depended. Back in 2007, we were paying upwards of 400 for some days, like Rome, but 200-300 at other ports. A few were cheaper. This year, we are doing Norway and Northern Baltic and I have finally convinced DM that private tours have it in their best interests to get us back to the ship on time, lol, so we are getting much better prices this way. Plus, smaller groups and hopefully better tour guides. With the DCL excursions, it ran the gambit from great guides to ones that seemed to want to be anywhere but with us. Also, the food on the excursions was a let down, again, my opinion, but I really wished we had gone private so that we would have had better food and not have had to stop at some of the per-arranged tourist stops.

 

[rwjx2kahaj]

On our Caribbean cruise, we did one day excursion snorkeling, one day swimming with dolphins and at the sea turtle farm, and one day exploring Mayan ruins. Our only real beach day was at Castaway Cay.

 

[Ofinn]

We've currently considering a Med cruise, but the long drives from the industrial ports to the sightseeing is seriously giving me pause. How to cram everything into 6 hours? My DH and I have traveled a lot in Europe (never on a cruise), but this would be the first time with the kids, and easy is the name of the game.

For those of you that have taken the med cruises, how much are you paying for the sightseeing? It seemed like the prices that I saw were pretty high, but maybe I needed to look into private tours?

I think the islands in the Caribbean are perfect for a cruise. You have very little time between docking and activities. A lot is nature-oriented, but there are some islands where you can still see the colonial past (e.g., San Juan, Puerto Rico). We've visited a lot of pretty beaches, snorkeled/catamarans (so many - Barbados, St. Lucia), done volcanic mud baths (Dominica), swum with stingrays (in both Antigua and Cayman - preferred Antigua), etc.

I feel the same about the Med cruises. The long flights, port intensive short cruise, and the jet lag when I get back to work makes me tired just thinking about it. I would love to do 10-12 night med cruise with 5 or 6 port days and 4or 5 sea days....now that would be perfect. The longer cruises are just so expensive on DCL I hate spending that much on one vacation. I have been looking on other lines for this Fall. Carnival and Royal have some brand new ships in the Med this Summer and Fall. I can't seem to find a cruise I like at price I like. Very frustrating! I'm just holding off to see what is being offered next Summer on DCL and Royal. I would also love to do the Norway/ Iceland cruise, but again DCL pricing... yikes.


We really enjoy our Caribbean cruises, but I think our upcoming cruise on the Wonder is the last for a while. If I do another one it would definitely be a Southern, that was by far my favorite. I'm looking forward to Alaska in May I think the kids will enjoy it.

As far as the Caribbean being dirty we have been all over the Caribbean and I have never seen dirty water or beaches. The towns and people that live there are poor, but the islands are beautiful. We just did the Hawaii cruise. I have been to Honolulu many times, and I think its a dump. Homeless camps every where. The water in the marinas looked like a sewage. I loved the rest of the islands in Hawaii.