West vs east cruise 7 night

[asgur5]

Which is the better option? Was looking at booking a disney treasure cruise.

The eastern ports look more spectacular but do you have enough time at the ports to truly enjoy them? One of the stops seems to be a full day but the other is only 8:30am to around 2pm. It doesnt seem long enough to do much other then eat and spend some time at the beach. And the other issue ive noticed is you get less time at castaway cay with the eastern cruise. Like a couple of hours less.

Western carribean has more stops and more time at castaway and more activities. But the stops dont look all that pretty from the limited photos Ive seen. Are they a bit meh like Nassau?

For those who have actually been which do you prefer and why? East or West.

We will be travelling with two kids age 7 and 11. So all ports stops will have to involve family friendly activities.

 

[CaseyCruiser]

I prefer the Eastern Caribbean. I do wish Disney would stop in San Juan instead of Tortola. St Thomas is amazing.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We prefer sea days so prefer the eastern itinerary as it offers an additional sea day.

 

[cvjw]

Yes, on the eastern you do get to castaway later. They leave St Thomas earlier because they need extra time to sail to castaway. We have done both many times. We prefer the eastern for the better ports and the extra sea day. On a western cruise, we never even leave the ship except for castaway.

 

[DisneyBelle_x]

Much prefer eastern, ports were better and the extra sea day is a huge plus for me

 

[Geomom]

From what people have said, the Eastern has better beaches, and the Western has more active port adventures. We're not beach people, so just the day at Castaway was enough for us. We did the 7nt Western Fantasy with Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and castaway in 2022. For port adventures we did the Mayan ruins/chocolate/beach break. (Small Mayan ruins on Cozumel vs the big pyramids, but I enjoyed it.). We did a half day historic site visit in Jamaica. (Dunns River Falls and ziplining are some things for the more adventurous in Jamaica.). For Grand Cayman, we did it on our own. Took the public bus to the Turtle Centre, then another bus to "Hell", and another back to town. A lot of people will go snorkeling or do stingray adventures in Grand Cayman.

 

[AnnaS]

Prefer Eastern - extra sea day.

 

[sponica]

We went with the Eastern itinerary because we prefer the extra sea day and we weren't that interested in the western ports.

 

[OhThePain]

One of the reasons we prefer the Western itinerary is because of the extra sea day on the Eastern. I'd rather have an extra port day where half the ship gets off making things quieter on board than an extra sea day with a full crowd. I've done Dunn's River Falls and rafting on the Martha Brae, so let everyone else do that in Jamaica while I hang out in the pool, watching Encanto with no one yelling or screaming or splashing and then go on the AquaMouse a few times with no line and then I'll enjoy my buffet lunch where I can sit anywhere I want. Also, my wife is prone to sea sickness, so the extra port day is a few extra hours she doesn't have to think about the sea conditions.

 

[ljhayes]

We prefer the eastern for all the reasons already mentioned but keep in mind that depending on time of year the seas can be rougher on an eastern.

 

[jwalk03]

I actually prefer the Western ports over the Eastern ports. I like Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Jamaica is just ok. I don't like the shorter port times on the Eastern one either.

But you can't go wrong with either.

 

[holula]

I prefer the Western ports, there is more to do in the Western ports that isn’t just a beach. I’ve been to all the ports enough times now that I’ll enjoy a sea day on the ship with way less people on the Western too. This isn’t a popular opinion though!

When San Juan was on the Eastern then Eastern would win. I wish Disney would mix it up more and offer different Easterns!

 

[tvguy]

One of the reasons we prefer the Western itinerary is because of the extra sea day on the Eastern. I'd rather have an extra port day where half the ship gets off making things quieter on board than an extra sea day with a full crowd. I've done Dunn's River Falls and rafting on the Martha Brae, so let everyone else do that in Jamaica while I hang out in the pool, watching Encanto with no one yelling or screaming or splashing and then go on the AquaMouse a few times with no line and then I'll enjoy my buffet lunch where I can sit anywhere I want. Also, my wife is prone to sea sickness, so the extra port day is a few extra hours she doesn't have to think about the sea conditions.

Valid points. I would add for some, the ship itself is in fact a destination.

 

[jwalk03]

I prefer the Western ports, there is more to do in the Western ports that isn’t just a beach. I’ve been to all the ports enough times now that I’ll enjoy a sea day on the ship with way less people on the Western too. This isn’t a popular opinion though!

When San Juan was on the Eastern then Eastern would win. I wish Disney would mix it up more and offer different Easterns!

More variety would certainly be a welcome addition! Hopefully as they continue to expand with more ships that means more variety is coming.

 

[holula]

More variety would certainly be a welcome addition! Hopefully as they continue to expand with more ships that means more variety is coming.

Based on what Disney is doing with the Destiny, I just see like 11 ships doing Bahamas itineraries

 

[starvenger]

Western Itinerary is pretty much the same for every cruise line, whereas it feels like Eastern itineraries get changed up a bit more.

 

[jwalk03]

Based on what Disney is doing with the Destiny, I just see like 11 ships doing Bahamas itineraries

Unfortunate truth! I would love it if they took one of the ships and had it do alternating 6-day and 8-day cruises. Would allow them to mix in more ports that are a bit further away on those 8-day ones.

 

[asgur5]

Is the extra sea day really all that great? On a 7 day trip it almost seems like a slight negative to me as you can stay on the ship on one of the western port days giving you the same amount of ship days as the eastern except on that port day you stay on the ship the ship is far less full giving you a day with lots of space in the pool areas. Sure its always nicer when the ship is moving but you will get plenty of that on either trip.

On a eastern trip it feels like you will never get any time where the ships are empty because the lack of port days. If i did eastern i would get off at all ports. Im assuming thats what most people do?

Are the nice beaches closer to port in the eastern trip vs the western trip?

 

[CamColt]

We've done both multiple times and I prefer the Western. In general all the ports are the same to me and we will sometimes stay on board at a port anyway (stayed on in Tortola on our last Eastern, stayed on in Jamaica on our last Western, etc...). The only port I really care about is Castaway Cay. With that said while part of the draw back for the Eastern is less time there, it is also the disaster of trying to get off the ship. We have had a mob scene in the stairwells, people pushing and shoving, etc... At least on our most recent Eastern they had an orderly line wrapped around the ship but even that took a bit of time. With an earlier arrival time on the Western, debarkation has never been an issue for us.

 

[tvguy]

Is the extra sea day really all that great? On a 7 day trip it almost seems like a slight negative to me as you can stay on the ship on one of the western port days giving you the same amount of ship days as the eastern except on that port day you stay on the ship the ship is far less full giving you a day with lots of space in the pool areas. Sure its always nicer when the ship is moving but you will get plenty of that on either trip.

On a eastern trip it feels like you will never get any time where the ships are empty because the lack of port days. If i did eastern i would get off at all ports. Im assuming thats what most people do?

Are the nice beaches closer to port in the eastern trip vs the western trip?

Well, for us, absolutely that great. While our last cruise was on Celebrity along the Pacific Coast out of Vancouver, 7 day cruise with two sea days, we very nearly booked a HAL cruise leaving the same day from Vancouver to Honolulu. So NO ports, 7 sea days. That would be heaven. But 7 days might be too many.