Southern Caribbean from San Juan

[disEAR]

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience sailing this route or stopping at these Ports of Call? I'm very intrigued and thinking about putting the down payment on this cruise!

Ship: Disney Magic
Sailing Nov. 7-14
Departs San Juan, Ports at St. John's Antigua, Castries, St. Lucia, Oranjestad, Aruba, Kralendijk, Bonaire, with two days at sea.

Any stories, positive or negative regarding this itinerary?

 

[Lauri]

We've done 3 southern Caribbean cruises--they're our favorite! It's great going to both Aruba and Bonaire--love the ABC islands. Antigua and St. Lucia were both nice, but for repeat islands, we love the ABC's. It is not like the rest of the Caribbean, but very nice, and Dutch.

 

[disEAR]

We've done 3 southern Caribbean cruises--they're our favorite! It's great going to both Aruba and Bonaire--love the ABC islands. Antigua and St. Lucia were both nice, but for repeat islands, we love the ABC's. It is not like the rest of the Caribbean, but very nice, and Dutch.

Wonderful to know!

 

[anricat]

Our absolute favorite! We LOVE the Southerns. We've been to all of those except Bonaire (which I hear is great). I've got two Southern trip reports in my signature if you want to check them out. We loved both of them very much. No negatives except that PR can be really expensive to fly into - nearly as much as flying internationally and there are really no directs except from Dallas and Miami to anticipate changing planes unless you're in one of those cities. (Though who knows anymore with the way Covid changes up airline schedules and pricing.)

 

[Marthasor]

I prefer Southern Caribbean itineraries over East and West (especially West - not a huge fan of the Mexican ports). If you like to snorkel, Bonaire is extraordinary. I would highly recommend a snorkeling excursion with Woodwind in Bonaire. I would definitely consider booking this itinerary!

 

[bethy]

I SO wish I could book this cruise!!! But . . . . two kids in college . . . ugh!

 

[wideeyedwonder]

We had a similar itinerary, and it was one of our all-time favorites! Loved San Juan, and luckily we added a few days before and a few days after, to explore San Juan and the rest of PR. We'd even go back to PR for a visit without the cruise.

 

[gatordoc]

Bonaire is our favorite Caribbean destination! As mentioned, the snorkeling is outstanding. I’d recommend trying to find an excursion that includes a “drift” along the reef - you start at one end and just drift with the current. The number and variety of fish is a amazing! Also keep an eye out for the various ethnic food stands in the little park by the port. We knew they must be good when we saw a lot of crew grabbing lunch there, and we were not disappointed.

 

[soniam]

We haven't done Southern with DCL. That's next summer. We did Southern out of San Juan on Celebrity. We loved San Juan, St Lucia, and Antigua. Our DCL next summer is out of Port Canaveral and doesn't do San Juan or the ABCs. Looks like a good cruise. I would do it.

 

[n2mm]

I would love to do this cruise too.

 

[mevelandry]

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience sailing this route or stopping at these Ports of Call? I'm very intrigued and thinking about putting the down payment on this cruise!

Ship: Disney Magic
Sailing Nov. 7-14
Departs San Juan, Ports at St. John's Antigua, Castries, St. Lucia, Oranjestad, Aruba, Kralendijk, Bonaire, with two days at sea.

Any stories, positive or negative regarding this itinerary?

Dream cruise. I have only heard good reviews about those ports.

 

[tlprice]

The Southern was one of our favorite cruises. We did all of these places except Bonaire. We had Curacao instead. It was one of the most relaxing cruises ever. We also met some really fabulous people on the ship. Somebody else mentioned expensive airfare, but I didn't find that. We did end up doing one way tickets each way which ended up being really inexpensive at the time (Jan. 2018). I wish we could have spent more time in PR, but it didn't work for our schedules at the time. We did love the time that we did have there though.

 

[TBLaube]

I went on a Southern Caribbean in 2016 and have been itching to get on another one. This one is perfect because the ports are all different than the ones we had except for Antigua (and I loved our beach day in Antigua). I can't recommend a Southern Caribbean enough. If you love beaches and the water, this is your itinerary!

 

[anricat]

If you love beaches and the water, this is your itinerary!

What's funny is that my family aren't beach people and that's the reason we love these itineraries! All these islands have so much to offer that isn't a beach. So really, there's something for everyone!

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We went to the southern Caribbean in January 2016 on the Wonder and loved it. Have another one planned for July 2022. It was very relaxing and the shore excursions were great, Our excursions were based around history, food, and rum. Nothing negative about this cruise. Enjoy every minute.

 

[ChicosWife]

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience sailing this route or stopping at these Ports of Call? I'm very intrigued and thinking about putting the down payment on this cruise!

Ship: Disney Magic
Sailing Nov. 7-14
Departs San Juan, Ports at St. John's Antigua, Castries, St. Lucia, Oranjestad, Aruba, Kralendijk, Bonaire, with two days at sea.

Any stories, positive or negative regarding this itinerary?

Nothing to add other than I would love to sail this itinerary!

 

[CaseyCruiser]

We did the Southern out of San Juan on the Wonder January 2020. San Juan is great and the Southern islands are my favorites. Epic cruise.

 

[FightingIrishman]

We did the Southern Caribbean on the Magic in the spring of 2017. We loved the small islands. Had to switch to Royal Caribbean in 2019 to go to the ABC islands. We would love to do either again.

 

[AquaDame]

We've done four of these so far and I would have definitely booked this one as well if we did not already have two cruises booked for 2022. We've mostly sailed in January as that is when DCL has done the majority of them (and my birthday is in January/its cold and wet where I live then) but our first ever was Oct 2016 on the Magic. If I recall it was much hotter than January - or maybe just more humid - but we still had a great time. St Lucia/Antigua we could take or leave at this point; most of our sailings have gone there as well as a couple more islands. We usually go on a snorkeling trip w/ lobster lunch in Antigua (one year they had a lot of moon jellies in the water which was nerve wracking and a little painful) and I enjoyed going to Nelson's dockyard on Antigua. We both prefer Barbados over either of them. We loooove the ABC islands though and I would book just to stop at them again. Both Bonaire and Aruba are more arid and have gorgeous cactus around - we rent a car and just go where ever. The snorkeling is supposed to be great in Bonaire but we haven't been impressed compared to other spots we've been. Curacao was also lovely though we've only been once so we just hit the typical highlights when we were there.

 

[Sconny]

We did the Southern out of San Juan on the Wonder January 2020. San Juan is great and the Southern islands are my favorites. Epic cruise.

That cruise got us hooked on the Southern cruises...saw 5 islands in 5 days I had not been to 4 before. Plus going to San Juan has become a favorite destination for pre and post cruise. We love the city and the people and have always enjoyed our stays. So when this cruise came out it was a no brainier for us. I have not been to Aruba or Bonaire, would have loved to see curacao on this trip but love Antigua and St Lucia also. So now just have to wait 14 months, luckily we have 3 cruises between now and then booked