Southern/Eastern Caribbean thoughts?

[maui2k5]

We are debating going on the 7 or 10 night cruises on the Fantasy this July (vs something else such as a beach trip) and wondered if you all had thoughts about the ports? The ports would be 10 night Bonaire/Aruba/St. John’s/St. Thomas/Castaway Cay or 7 night St. Maarten/Puerto Rico/Castaway Cay. We have done the western Caribbean and Bahamas, but never eastern on a cruise.

What are your thoughts? Would you recommend either if these itineraries?

 

[Mango7100]

We booked the 10 night Southern for 2024 going to St Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, Tortola, Castaway, and Lighthouse Point. I would definitely go for the 10 day Southern. You get the Southern ports as well as St a Thomas so still a little bit of an Eastern bit.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We've done both and both were fantastic. If you can swing the Southern, I highly recommend it.

 

[TXDCLfan]

We've done both and both were fantastic. If you can swing the Southern, I highly recommend it.

I will second this

 

[maui2k5]

Any excursions you recommend?

 

[Clarkson U]

We are debating going on the 7 or 10 night cruises on the Fantasy this July (vs something else such as a beach trip) and wondered if you all had thoughts about the ports? The ports would be 10 night Bonaire/Aruba/St. John’s/St. Thomas/Castaway Cay or 7 night St. Maarten/Puerto Rico/Castaway Cay. We have done the western Caribbean and Bahamas, but never eastern on a cruise.

What are your thoughts? Would you recommend either if these itineraries?

Did the 9 night on Fantasy last summer and I would highly recommend it so that would mean the 10 night this summer. It’s a great longer cruise to really get away and enjoy.

 

[MinnieInVA]

Any excursions you recommend?

I’m going on this Southern 10 night sailing, and if you’re considering it, bear in mind that a large number of the DCL excursion offerings are already sold out…and Silver Castaway Club cruisers haven’t even had their shot at booking excursions yet. You’ll probably want to start exploring excursions offered by outside vendors, if you’re comfortable with that (not everyone is).

 

[maui2k5]

I’m going on this Southern 10 night sailing, and if you’re considering it, bear in mind that a large number of the DCL excursion offerings are already sold out…and Silver Castaway Club cruisers haven’t even had their shot at booking excursions yet. You’ll probably want to start exploring excursions offered by outside vendors, if you’re comfortable with that (not everyone is).

Is there anything good still available on the 10 night from DCL? We are gold…

 

[MinnieInVA]

Is there anything good still available on the 10 night from DCL? We are gold…

Well, that depends…on your interests, etc. (I hate giving that answer). Aruba excursions are completely sold out - I ended up with an external vendor for a UTV tour, and it sounds like quite a few other DCL cruisers did the same thing. Bonaire is about 50% sold out, mostly city tours or kayak stuff is left. Antigua and St Thomas are a little better, not quite as sold out. If you have specific excursions in mind, I could check on them for you if that helps you make a decision (I’m Gold too).

 

[RedHead0186]

I did the St. Maarten/San Juan/CC itinerary last September. It was great! San Juan was gorgeous; I'd love to go back. St. Maarten was a little "meh" but that also might've been the excursion we did.

If that itinerary is in September again (it was last year) just beware it is in prime hurricane season. We ended up sailing between two hurricanes on that cruise (Fiona and Ian), and it was rough seas. We also didn't know if we would be able to disembark on time as Port Canaveral was closed. But we made all our scheduled ports and had great weather (I think a few of the jungle excursions in Puerto Rico were canceled as there was some storm damage, but anything in San Juan was fine).

With that said, if you can swing the Southern, I'd do that. It looks like a great itinerary, it's just so darn pricey!