Eastern Cruise or Western Cruise?

[hangrythrifter]

Eastern: Tortola, St. Thomas & Castaway ($500 more)
Western: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica & Castaway

 

[motherdaughtercruisers]

FWIW - At this point in our lives, we prefer the eastern and southern itineraries. However, we did have a wonderful experience on Jamaica using a Resort for a Day. During our western itinerary we also encountered major swells on the way to Cozumel which caused a good amount of passengers to have seasickness that night.

 

[KashasMom]

We love the Western (won't even consider an Eastern, although going to the Baths on Tortola was a fun day).

Cozumel: we love Chankanaab Beach Cozumel. We've been there twice. It's easy to book on your own. Grab a cab and go - plenty of cabs to get you back to the ship as well. First time we did the Royal Dolphin Swim and loved it. Second time we did a swim with a sea lion. Chankanaab is a great place to spend the day. After your encounter (and included with the entrance fee) is a sea lion show, a pool, great beach with chairs/huts/hammocks, and snorkeling. A casual lunch or a buffet lunch is available. You don't have to do any of the dolphin/sea lion encounters. You can just go to the beach and still use all the amenities mentioned above and see the sea lion show. It's really a great place to spend a full day. We've been twice and still haven't explored it all. https://www.dolphindiscovery.com/cozumel/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=mybusiness

We've also gone to Paradise Beach twice. LOVE their pool. Great beach and food. Not very crowded. Again we just took a taxi there and back.

One of favorite excursions ever was the Sea turtle release. It was an amazing day. I highly recommend it. (May only be offered certain times of year.)

In Falmouth we did the Heritage Walking tour and then had amazing jerk chicken in town. (I don't think this walking tour is offered anymore.) We've also gone tubing down the Rio Bueno twice which was a blast but I don't think DCL offers Rio Bueno.

We've been to Grand Cayman a few times. We've done an island tour, gone to the Turtle Farm, and gone to Seven Mile Beaach.

Western itinerary is our favorite - best excursions - but it's just as easy to walk around the port or grab a taxi to the beach. Lots of shopping in Cozumel and inside the gated port area in Falmouth. In Falmouth they have a trolley tour that lets you see a bit of the island. It's at the end of (inside) the gated area. You don't have to book - you can just get a ticket that day.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

I’ve done both (though at the time, it was Key West instead of Jamaica) and think the eastern has more natural beauty and isolated feel. I’d sail that again before the western. But having said that, all were beautiful and you can’t go wrong!

 

[sethschroeder]

How many times on DCL? If you haven't been on the Fantasy before then do the Eastern and get an extra day on the ship, better chance at Palo/Remy, and explore the ship more.

 

[tvguy]

We love the Western (won't even consider an Eastern, although going to the Baths on Tortola was a fun day).

We're just the opposite. Eastern only, no interest in any of the Western ports. My mom did 5 or 6 cruises with stops in Mexican ports, never got off the ship. She really loved enjoying the ship almost to herself and no interest in Mexico. She went because the prices were lower.

 

[holula]

I’ve done both twice on DCL. San Juan is my favourite port but otherwise I prefer the Western.

 

[bcwife76]

We've done both itineraries on the Fantasy and much prefer the Eastern. The ports are prettier and the extra sea day is nice. Having said that, when in Cozumel we did a private tour and it was one of the best excursions we've done in 9 cruises.

 

[Intr3pid]

Do them both. They have their own charms.

 

[KevinFL]

Eastern. Mexico my wife does not feel as safe getting off so that is a sea day for us and Jamaica have not loved. Grand Caymen was beautiful but when we went had to tender from ship to port so if you have little ones assess if they will be ok with this and not scared.
Eastern islands feel smaller and a bit more exotic to me and I love the views from the ship when sailing into the islands it feels like we are in more of an adventure.
One drawback on Eastern our last trip we did not arrive to Castaway until approx 10am possibly because of distance from St Thomas to Castaway in 1 sea day but it was not a big deal.
We are doing Eastern in November and Western in March so both are fun. But doing Western because that is the itinerary available during our kids spring break.

 

[jjgarv2106]

How many times on DCL? If you haven't been on the Fantasy before then do the Eastern and get an extra day on the ship, better chance at Palo/Remy, and explore the ship more.

THIS! This is what I was thinking. LOVE sea days!

 

[iamporch]

We've done both itineraries on the Fantasy and much prefer the Eastern. The ports are prettier and the extra sea day is nice. Having said that, when in Cozumel we did a private tour and it was one of the best excursions we've done in 9 cruises.

Can I ask what company you used for the private tour and what you did? I have been looking into something like this for our cruise in March. Thanks!

 

[bcwife76]

Can I ask what company you used for the private tour and what you did? I have been looking into something like this for our cruise in March. Thanks!

It was through Viator. We booked a private 5 hour sightseeing tour. I just looked and it's still on their website. We had a group of 9 (from 7yrs old to mid 40's) so it was very cost effective and everyone in our group loved it. It ended with a private beach club and the whole day was fantastic. Our driver was awesome. He was quite flexible, suggested some places to go, had a rough itinerary but if we liked one place we could stay longer and such. Besides tip, the only extra $ we laid out on top of the tour was the lunch and drinks at the beach club and they were very reasonably priced. Our driver was like "you guys I can extend this beach break since it's at the end" and we stayed almost another hour past our alloted time. We tipped him well, he was so fantastic.

 

[DisneyPrince22]

I prefer the ports on western. Didn’t find anything special at the eastern stops, but I did enjoy the extra sea day.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Eastern: Tortola, St. Thomas & Castaway ($500 more)
Western: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica & Castaway

We've done both. Enjoyed both.