Eastern or Western?

[Mommy Poppins]

We currently have reservations for the 3 night cruise in August which I am going to have to cancel. DH is currently deployed and was supposed to get leave in August. It now appears that DH will not be getting leave so will not be coming back to the status until next year. So, when I cancel I am going to rebook us for a cruise in either May or June and I would like to do the 7 night cruise instead. So, do you prefer the eastern or western? We have NEVER cruised before. It will be me, DH, DD-10, DS-7 and DS-4.

 

[tvguy]

We prefer the Eastern. We love sea days, and the Eastern has one more sea day, and we wanted a "Caribbean" cruise, and we don't consider ports in Florida or Mexico to be the Caribbean.

 

[Mommy Poppins]

good points - thanks for your input!

 

[Suzanne74]

I picked the Western for my future cruise but haven't been on either yet so I really don't have a good judgement yet.

I picked the Western because I have never been to Key West and can't imagine ever taken a vacation there - so that will be a nice stop for us to just look around and maybe go the aquarium. Grand Caymen was really beautiful from what I have heard, they were hit hard last year with a hurricane. I am hoping by Sept it will be doing better. We plan on doing the Stingray City excursion and have heard great things about it. I am very excited about Cozumel - I know many people that have been to Cozumel and love it. Never hear bad things about it. Lots to do. I also like the fact that the port stays are longer on Western, you can stay on the boat in the AM while it is empty and then go out in the late afternoon to look around/shop whatever.
Also, I have heard the pools are VERY crowded on "at sea" days and I rather have a choice whether I stay on the boat or not. The pools and boat are supposedly empty on port days so there is more to do and see without everyone around. Also Disney is not always able to dock on their Castaway Cay and I don't want to pay all that money for only 2 stops in 8 days/7nights.
I have also been to St John/St Thomas before for a wedding and haven't heard great things about St Maartin (not from here, but from friends who have cruised on other liners)

I am sure if I really like the Western, I will probably end up doing the Eastern sometime down the line anyway