Eastern or Western Itinerary?

[Anna Chassereau]

Hi everyone!

Ok I need advice...we're currently booked on the Western next December. My husband and I were watching a show tonight that was filmed in the Virgin Islands and he was saying how gorgeous he thought it looked. He was saying he might want to do the Eastern itinerary instead of the Western.

For those that have done either itinerary what did you think? If you've done both which one did you like more?

I'm really torn. Our son will be 6 at the time. Not sure if that needs to be factored in for port adventures...any advice would be awesome! Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi everyone!

Ok I need advice...we're currently booked on the Western next December. My husband and I were watching a show tonight that was filmed in the Virgin Islands and he was saying how gorgeous he thought it looked. He was saying he might want to do the Eastern itinerary instead of the Western.

For those that have done either itinerary what did you think? If you've done both which one did you like more?

I'm really torn. Our son will be 6 at the time. Not sure if that needs to be factored in for port adventures...any advice would be awesome! Thanks!

I've done both. They're both worthwhile. One has more sea days, the other more port days. It depends what you want in a cruise.

I'd go with whichever fits my schedule and budget best.

 

[amanda ek]

I liked the eastern more just bc I've been to Cozumel soooo many times and am not excited about it anymore. I think you should look at the excursions and use them to help you pick.

 

[YayDisney]

I liked the Western we just did, but I thought afterwards that at least one more sea day would have been great. Your son is still very small. You might consider how active he is and whether so many ports are what you want. You only get two sea days in the Western. Also, if this is the first time you will be on the ship, you might like the time to explore a little and the Eastern gives you that.

However, you can always just stay on the ship during one of the port days if what you really want is rest and/or time on the ship. . . .

The Virgin Islands are beautiful, but so are Cozumel, Jamaica and Cayman so it's all six of one half dozen the other. Unless there is something specific he wants to see, you really can't go wrong, so I would just go with whatever works best for your budget and schedule as Princess Shmoo suggested.

 

[mhconley]

We did one of each. I liked them both but preferred the extra sea day on the Eastern, plus we loved St. Maarten. I think the Eastern would be ideal for a first time cruiser as it gives you more time to explore the ship. Something I missed on our first, the Western. But you really cannot go wrong with either.

Martin

 

[Ofinn]

I would go with whichever has the best price.

 

[Levijean21]

Martin! What do you love about St Maarten? We are heading there in November and are wondering what to do!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

The US Virgin Islands really are breathtaking... it was my fav port. But I am good with any 7 night....We are doing Western next, but have visited each of the ports before on a land vacation so not overly thrilled about the destinations themselves. Right now it's still more about the Disney ship for us, really does not matter where we go If they start offering new ports or bring back St. Maarten or Hawaii we would jump all over that. We are considering Royal Caribbean next year because they still offer St.Maarten.

 

[SDJEL]

We've done both. The islands were all the same to me. My kids liked the eastern better because they loved all the features on the Fantasy that weren't on the smaller boat.

 

[mhconley]

Martin! What do you love about St Maarten? We are heading there in November and are wondering what to do!

We did a circumnavigation boat tour of the island with Soualiga Destinations and it was wonderful. Just a beautiful island.

Martin

 

[Tink3350]

We have done both and prefer the Eastern. I enjoyed the ports much more and we love 3 days at sea. It really gives you the opportunity to fit in a lot more activities on the ship.

 

[dektolia]

Hi everyone!

Ok I need advice...we're currently booked on the Western next December. My husband and I were watching a show tonight that was filmed in the Virgin Islands and he was saying how gorgeous he thought it looked. He was saying he might want to do the Eastern itinerary instead of the Western.

For those that have done either itinerary what did you think? If you've done both which one did you like more?

I'm really torn. Our son will be 6 at the time. Not sure if that needs to be factored in for port adventures...any advice would be awesome! Thanks!

I've done the Eastern on the Fantasy with kids ages 4 and 1 and have my first Western booked for February 2017. The ports on the Eastern were beautiful, but I didn't feel like there was much to do in St Thomas with small children. We walked to the butterfly garden but there were so many places for butterflies to hide (good for them, I know) that it didn't seem like there were many butterflies and I actually liked the butterfly gardens near home better. San Juan was great - there are 2 forts/national parks within walking distance of the ship. We just waked to one of them (with 1 stroller) and the kids were exhausted (ended up with the 4 year old in stroller and carrying the 1 year old), but it was beautiful and I'd like to go back to San Juan again (and St Thomas when kids are older). We did have one really really rough sea day on the Eastern and I was told that the Western was smoother (huge bonus for the Western if that's true). I've been to Mexico and Jamaica before, and cruising for me is more about escaping cold weather at home and relaxing on the boat. I don't feel like I really see much of a country on a cruise (at least not with kids 0&3 or 1&4), but I get an idea of where I'd like to go back.

I'd recommend looking at what you'd actually do in the ports with a 6 year old. Whether or not there's a possibility of another cruise in the future would also factor in for me. If so, I'd wait and do the a Eastern with older kids. I guess I have a lot of the same age restrictions with the Western cruise, but since I've vacationed in those countries before I'm okay spending some extra time on the boat when it's less crowded.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I've done the Eastern on the Fantasy with kids ages 4 and 1 and have my first Western booked for February 2017. The ports on the Eastern were beautiful, but I didn't feel like there was much to do in St Thomas with small children. We walked to the butterfly garden but there were so many places for butterflies to hide (good for them, I know) that it didn't seem like there were many butterflies and I actually liked the butterfly gardens near home better. San Juan was great - there are 2 forts/national parks within walking distance of the ship. We just waked to one of them (with 1 stroller) and the kids were exhausted (ended up with the 4 year old in stroller and carrying the 1 year old), but it was beautiful and I'd like to go back to San Juan again (and St Thomas when kids are older). We did have one really really rough sea day on the Eastern and I was told that the Western was smoother (huge bonus for the Western if that's true). I've been to Mexico and Jamaica before, and cruising for me is more about escaping cold weather at home and relaxing on the boat. I don't feel like I really see much of a country on a cruise (at least not with kids 0&3 or 1&4), but I get an idea of where I'd like to go back.

I'd recommend looking at what you'd actually do in the ports with a 6 year old. Whether or not there's a possibility of another cruise in the future would also factor in for me. If so, I'd wait and do the a Eastern with older kids. I guess I have a lot of the same age restrictions with the Western cruise, but since I've vacationed in those countries before I'm okay spending some extra time on the boat when it's less crowded.

DS was 6 when we were in St. Thomas USVI and we did an excursion that included the beach. It was shopping first (we planted our butts at a nice outdoor patio and had some snacks/drinks) and then the transportation took us to the beach for a few hour and came back to take us back to the pier. Oh and on the way to the beach we stopped at Paradise point. It was an awesome excursion and DS 6 loved it. He played for hours on the beach while we soaked up the views... there were tons of kids there from the Oasis of the Seas that he made friends with

Also... I'm not sure if this is true either, but we did have really rough sees on the EC cruise and one of the cast members did tell us it was more common on the EC than WC. Both sea days before we got to St. Thomas, the Aqua Duck was closed to high winds. I suppose if you get a storm the seas are rough anyways, but there wasn't a storm. It was just rough.

 

[Kaleea]

We looked at both but the eastern seemed to have less for the younger kids in the ports it visits. I can always choose to stay on the boat, but if I choose to get off, I want the opportunity to do something with my 3 yr old along with my 15 yr old.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We've done the Eastern on the Fantasy and will be doing it again in February. For us we want to cruise more so for the ship rather than the ports so love the extra sea day that the Eastern provides. We did basic sightseeing tours at the ports the first time since my DD was 4 and there were not a ton of options that interested us. Not sure what port adventures we'll do this time as we really love being on the ship. Need to look into that more.

 

[amanda ek]

The US Virgin Islands really are breathtaking... it was my fav port. But I am good with any 7 night....We are doing Western next, but have visited each of the ports before on a land vacation so not overly thrilled about the destinations themselves. Right now it's still more about the Disney ship for us, really does not matter where we go If they start offering new ports or bring back St. Maarten or Hawaii we would jump all over that. We are considering Royal Caribbean next year because they still offer St.Maarten.

We are stopping at SXM on a 7 night southern Royal Caribbean cruise out of San Juan March 2017. I'm excited about the ports and the price is 1/3 of what I paid for our 7 night eastern DCL.

 

[hanscarlet]

Eastern, having said that I have never done Western. We are looking to do Eastern again in 2018.

 

[Bree]

My family likes sea days more than port days and would choose the Eastern over the Western any day. I like the islands better on an Eastern itinerary as well. However, we are a slave to the school schedule so we are booked on a Western itinerary for their spring break.

 

[KORY]

I like the western yes the east has more sea days but I don't really get off in Mexico so I enjoy having a day with a half empty ship. I rode the aqua duck 10 times with no wait time. and its easy to find a table to eat at or a deck chair to sit in. they also have some meet and greets about an hour or 2 before all aboard time which is nice to do with little to no line.