Eastern vs Western

[WestFamily]

Hi,
Please help:
Between the two East vs West Caribbean cruises what's the real difference in the ports? I feel like the we all have a consensus about places like Cozumel and Nassau but what's the thought on George Town and Falmouth as well as Tortola and St. Thomas/St. John? I was thinking I was going to do one of those cruises but now I realize I know little to nothing about the ports.

In a nutshell what have you liked or disliked about them? Which do you recommend?

The other thought would be hop on the Magic and do the Key West, Nassau, Castaway cruise because I know I want to go to Key West just to say we've been there and experienced it.

Background to the question: All of a sudden, I realize I’m not prepared to book either or of these cruises because I know nothing about the ports. It’s such a last-minute thought since I was planning on Alaska for our 2019 cruise. Should I just say no and do Alaska instead since we know what to expect (it would be our 2nd time there)?

 

[JWG]

In general, the Eastern ports are more "beachy" or "shoppy" - not that you can't do that on both, but having done both it just felt like the experiences in the eastern ports was far more dominated by beaches and shopping versus active or more adventurous excursions. We enjoyed our western itinerary (didn't do Jamaica, ours was Key West) more than our Eastern. We felt like Tortola and St. Thomas were essentially the same experience with St. Thomas just being more touristy.

It likely depends on what you like to do. I don't know when you're planning to book or how important the impact of Irma will be to your decision. Eastern ports seemingly were hit a bit harder.

We did Eastern in 2017 and are going back to Western in 2019.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I'd love to do a western, but my one week that I'm available is always an eastern.

We did Tortola and St. Thomas last year (who knows what next year will bring for Tortola ). Both were nice, but yeah, we did Dolphins in Tortola and snorkelling/swimming in St. Thomas. Oh yeah and shopping, I mean being ripped off on Tortola, too.

Maybe go to the DCL website and peruse the excursions on the islands and see if anything interests you.

 

[KashasMom]

We've been to St. Thomas more times than I can count. It's not one of my favorite ports (we're not shoppers). In August we did a snorkeling excursion to Trunk Bay on St. John. It was a lot of fun but once was enough. Overall, I'm just not a fan of the Eastern itineraries and won't book it again - okay to not go back.

On Tortola we've done everything from explore on our own to a beach day to taking an island tour to (finally) an excursion to the Baths. Again, glad we did it but wouldn't do it again - okay to not go back.

Many people are afraid to venture out of the cruise area in Falmouth but we've had some of our best excursions there. We did the (excellent) Heritage Walking Tour and went off on our own for great jerk chicken. The company that offers the tour also offers (a recommended) Culinary/Food Tour. We've also done a Rio Bueno tubing excursion that was a blast. We'll be back again next year and will do another tubing excursion.

We've had great excursions in Cozumel - Save a Sea Turtle, Dolphin Swim at Chankanaab National Park, and a day at Paradise Beach. Looking forward to a return visit next year.

It's been a long time since we've been to George Town but the Stingray excursion gets excellent reviews. We've mostly done Island Tours, went to the beach, did the Turtle Farm. Not one of my favorite islands - okay to not go back.