Eastern vs. Western...Opinions Please

[KeAlani's Mommy]

Hey Everyone!

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I couldnt find it on these boards (did they move the old ones or are they gone?)...but anyway...We're Back From Our Very First Disney Cruise...(Disney Magic - 11/27/04 - Eastern Carribean) We had a fabulous time! Trip Reports coming soon...but we absolutely loved it...and fell in love with the islands!

Here's The Dilemma: Before the cruise, I had to select my 2005 vacation time at work. I picked the same week cuz we always do a Disney Trip the week after Thanksgiving. We loved the cruise and decided to rebook on the ship, but my mother wanted to try Western next time (although she wouldn't mind doing Eastern all over again.) My vacation week is an Eastern Itinerary! So in hopes of changing it when I got back to work, we booked the Western (12/03/05) in place of Eastern (11/26/05).

Got back to work...and changing vacation will NOT be as easy as I thought...Is it worth it?

1. Should I attempt to change my vacation and do the Western?
(May involve losing some vacation time, but will be brand new experience).

2. Should I keep my vacation and do Eastern again?
(If we keep it, I'll have 3 days before to do the parks, but cruise will be same).

HELP?!?!

 

[KaitlinsMom]

I have not done the Eastern, so I do not feel right voting on the poll - But I will tell you why we chose the Western -

1. Less Days at Sea
2. Did not have to wake up early one day for the Immigration thing

Those were are our two biggest reasons that I can think of now -

 

[april riddle]

We just came home from the Eastern last saturday and really had a blast. Funny though I really enjoyed the sea days more than the port days and we have booked the same week as you next year and now I am wondering if I should change it and go Eastern again. We loved both St Marteen and St. Thomas and the early awake thing didn't really bother me too much. I highly recommed the Doubloon sail in St. Thomas - it was really alot of fun. I am going to be interested in the replies you receive.

 

[Masonpips]

I have done both and when it cam e time to book the 3rd we went by timeframe that worked and it gave us the Western again. I am excited to do it again, but would be as excited to do Eastern. I really can't decide so I'm not voting, but I would go with what is most convenient for you and your vacation schedule - either cruise is MAGICAL!!!

And for what it's worth, the week we are looking to re-book for next year is another Eastern so we'll be 2 and 2. If it were another Western I wouldn't care - either route beats being at work!

 

[jlawall]

We've done the Eastern, the Western twice and the 3 day. The eastern ports are wonderful, the extra day at sea is great, the only drawback I have is that the seas are alittle rougher at certain times of year going that far. When you sail, I'm not sure which would be better. Whatever you decide, have a blast....there's nothing like St. Thomas!

 

[scrapperjill]

I also have not done both the Western and Eastern...but we did book and go on the Western this past September...Althought we didn't end up doing the "Western" due to the hurricanes...we did sort of a modifyed Eastern to Jan Juan, Nassau and CC...but anyways...we booked the Western because there were less sea days and more days at port...but after doing the modifyed trip and having additional days at sea... I loved it. We had a blast on the ship and would have loved to spend even more time onboard. When we rebooked we went ahead and rebooked for the Western again...since we did not get to do the things we had planed...I'm sure I'll miss the additional sea days...but we will still have a blast.

Either way I think they are both good...but if youve done the Eastern a time or two...doing the Western may be a nice treat...see some new sites and all.

 

[DBBN]

We've sailed once on the Eastern, once on the Western and twice on the 3 day. We preferred the Western and voted as such primarily for the extra port of call. We like the Western so much that we're currently booked for two other DCL Western cruises. One of which is the double CC itinerary.

Have a great vacation whichever you choose.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

We have done both. They are both really fun. The ports on the western have some more adventurous stuff to them and eastern seems to be more relaxing. Really though both are really fun. We are going on 10 day in less then a week and it will be cool seeing some southern caribbean ports. Either one you pick you will have fun.

Matt

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Forgot to add, one negative thing about the western is less sea days. The less sea days there are, then the less time you have to enjoy the ship and do onboard activities. Belive it or not even though our upcoming cruise is 10 nights we only have 4 sea days,we go to 6 ports!

Matt

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

We have done the Western 3 times, and the Eastern 2 times, each time the itinerary was dictated by when we were able to go on vacation. We are going to try to do Eastern on our next cruise since we've done it once less, and since we live in Florida, I like the mountainous islands of the Eastern better; the ports on the Western are all flat like Florida. I like all the ports on both itineraries, but I think we like the ship the most, which is another plus for the Eastern since it has an extra sea day.

Your best option would be to go on the cruise you have booked, and then book your Eastern cruise while onboard!

 

[Robert and Kelley]

We have done both the Western and the Eastern. We prefer the Western route. It seems the seas are usually calmer on this route and there are more stops. We prefer the stops verses the sea days as you get more of the ships services to yourselves. I know they offer more programs on the sea days but its hard to beat having the goofy pool to just your family while everyone else is doing the tourist thing on Grand Cayman or Key West. We do usually get off in Cozumel and at Castaway Key.

 

[tvguy]

We have only done the Eastern on Disney, but after 7 cruises I find that the more sea days the better. Plus, we wanted a Caribbean cruise, and don't consider Mexican and Florida ports to be the Caribbean. We were originally booked on HAL only to discover for New Year's week ONLY, they changed to something similar to Disney's Western. We booked Disney based on the Eastern Itenerary, not the ship.

Anyone cruised into St. Thomas on other cruise lines since September 11th? The reason I ask is, I only hear complaints about getting up early in St. Thomas from Disney cruisers.....so it has me wondering if other lines have to do the same thing.
All 6 Caribbean cruises I have been on stopped in St. Thomas, and frankly, if it wasn't for the immigration thing, that would have been a day to sleep in, enjoy the ship, then wander off in the afternoon to see the sites. As it was, our Coral World excursion wasn't until 1 pm, and we did the tramway just before, then shopped afterwards.

 

[NJ Cruisers]

We've done the Eastern cruise 3 times in a row (Nov 03, Mar 04, Nov 04), have booked Eastern for Nov 05 and may do a Carnival Eastern next spring. Guess which one I voted for!!!

St Thomas is my favorite island!!! The early immigration day just gets you started nice and early for such a beautiful place.

I love the 3 days at sea. I'd pick St Thomas and St Maarten over the Western ports. I've done Western and Southern many times on other ships so I've experienced them. Western is better for snorkeling. Eastern is better for shopping and beaches. With my 5 year old, the Eastern is best for us - at least until he is old enough to swim with the stingrays on Cayman.

Diane

 

[TJGorman]

I love the eastern due to the extra sea day. If you decide to stay with the 11/26/005 cruise, I hope to see you then!

 

[QuiltTeddy]

Definately eastern was my vote. We've done both, but we enjoy the extra sea day. With the extra port on the western, we didn't feel like we really relaxed on that vacation (not to mention I ended up in in the infirmery getting steroids so I could breathe -- caught bronchitis which almost turned into pneumonia).

 

[LAMPSKIES]

We did the Eastern Nov. 03 and the Western Nov. 04. Although both were absolutly wonderful.....uh Magical we preferred the Eastern.....Grand Cayman is COMPLETELY DESTROYED!!!! Cozumel was nice.....My DDs preferred the Eastern also..........JMHO.......If they substitute another stop for GC I would consider it..........

 

[natdencro]

Have done both, and had 4 MAGICAL cruises. Scenically, the Eastern is far better, but it depends on what you want - shops or beauty! Nat

 

[lbgraves]

We did the Eastern 11/15/03 & just got back from the Western 12/4/04. While we did enjoy our cruise, the ports on the Western were disappointing to us. We didn't do any excursions on either cruise but like to walk the streets and enjoy the people while picking up a few souveniers. The prices for these were definitely better on the Eastern ports & we found the people to be very friendly and not pushy in the farmers markets. The islands were also beautiful from what we could see. Last week we didn't really get to enjoy KW because the kids were fussing about going back to the ship the entire time, GC was as has been said before a mess, and Cozumel is under construction. The main street along the water is torn up for over 8 blocks and the sidewalk in front of the shops is very narrow & also under repair which made walking with a stroller very frustrating.

I booked our next cruise a couple months ago on the Western 12/17/05 based on the fewer number of days the kids will miss from school due to the holidays. DH would also like to do the Eastern again but agrees so far to go with that week.

 

[soccercruiser87]

i loved the western...havent gone on an eastern though so i cant say how an eastern was but the western was a blast. Grand Cayman was so much fun and the sting ray excursion through captain marvins was the best. I had fun at Key West and Cozumel too, got to go to 3 different hard rock cafes