Eastern vrs Western???

[feenie]

Hello
Which is better, the Eastern or Western Carribean??
The shore excersions look more fun on the Western, but I don't know if I wouldn't rather have the extra day at sea...
What do you think??

 

[Señor Ferrari]

I'd give the eastern a slight edge, for several reasons. First, I do like the extra day at sea. Second, I like that the Sunday is at sea, rather than in port. After the initial runaround of traveling, boarding, reserving, the sailaway party, and then closing down the clubs, it's nice to relax with a day at sea. It's hard to get up early on the first day and get off the ship. Once in Key West, it was all I could do to get up, eat, and make our 12:30 excursion (Fury Catamaran, which is really fun, by the way). Sure, I could take it easy the first night, but it's really hard to make myself do that. Also, like a lot of people say about Nassau, I can really take or leave Cozumel. It's really my least favorite DCL port.

Still, I've been on the western twice. It's a nice change of pace from the eastern, and I like the DCL atmosphere, so I'd do the western again without hesitation. But given a choice, I'd vote eastern.

 

[atigeg]

My preference is definitely the Western!!
I too love the days at sea, but I am swayed by the great ports of call on the Western. There is so much to do in Key West, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. It is much too hard to choose a shore excusion...we've done that itinerary twice, plus visited Cozumel on RCCL, and we STILL haven't done all that we'd like to (of course, we missed Grand Cayman on our recent Western due to the weather, so we used that as an excuse to re-book another one in May). St. Martin and St. Thomas were okay, but for me they are not nearly as good as the Western ports.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[prymsu]

I love the western ports too, but next time i go, i am going to go a route that has three full days at sea. Also eastern in my opinion has the better shopping deals. just my thoughts.

 

[ILUVALASKA]

We've done both twice and prefer the western ports of call much more. We are in our low 40's and have a 10 yr. old son , and we all enjoyed the western excursions much more. Didn't like St. Maarten.

 

[AnnMorin]

Worded perfectly.. I HATED stopping in a port my first day. (plus although it is a great spot for adults key west had little to offer us as a family.) I really loved the extra day at sea on the eastern and that is what we are doing this time for a second round. Grand Cayman is hard to beat but for the most part I really liked the eastern-seemed more tropical to me especially the two days it took to get there, watching the water change colors and the air get warmer....AS for shopping eastern can't be beat in my opinion, yup St. Martin is nothing to look at but I plan on heading to Anguilla this time.

 

[Bev J]

Eastern is good if you want to shop and western is better for excursions. We trade back and forth when we cruise, last trip was eastern so next is western and we have a fun crusie each time, but could pass on nausaua-yuck.

 

[sandygirl]

We have done the Eastern twice and the Western once. I agree that the Eastern seemed more tropical and exotic. I enjoyed the extra day at sea. The ports on the Eastern were easy to explore on our own.

I have no complaints with the Western, although weather prevented us from stopping at Grand Cayman so I can't judge that port, but I did get the overall feeling that the Western was a more "adult fun" atmosphere. Could have been me, but it just felt different from the Eastern. Maybe it was the Key West Duvall St thing or the emphasis on Carlos & Charlie's in Cozumel. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with any of that, it just seemed that there was more of a "party" atmosphere going on.

Having said all that...we are booked for the Western in Aug 04. I want to make it to Grand Cayman and I want to see the things I missed in Key West because our trolley broke down.

Whatever you do...have fun!