Eastern or Western Cruise?

[AshleeH]

We are planning on booking our next cruise when we're on the ship for our upcoming one. For those who have a wishlist or those who have been on both, which do you prefer out of these two?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are planning on booking our next cruise when we're on the ship for our upcoming one. For those who have a wishlist or those who have been on both, which do you prefer out of these two?

I've done both. And, honestly, I couldn't say I liked one over the other. I enjoyed both. I'd probably book based on cruise dates, cost and what category is available that I can afford.

Or go eeny, meeny, miney, mo.....

 

[scrappinginontario]

I chose Eastern for 2 main reasons:
1. We enjoy the sea days more than the Port days and the Eastern offers 3
2. We sail in Feb so I feel there is a better chance for warmer weather with the Eastern itinerary.

 

[Dug720]

Where is the Eastern you're looking at stopping?

If it's St. Maarten and San Juan I'd vote Western. St. Maarten was ok, but I hated San Juan (granted, I had the worst possible guide on the rainforest and waterfall hike - the girl guide was clearly going to be great just from watching her in the terminal but I got stuck with the guy who really should just go live in the woods by himself where he could look at a zillion examples of the same plant all day - even the "sweepers" who were with the tour company were getting exasperated and moved to the front to speed things along).

If Tortola and St. Thomas, it would be a toss up.

 

[kylaura]

I've liked the beaches better on the Eastern. It might just be the ones we went to also.

 

[dclpluto]

Look at the excursions on DCL website. Than decide what you like better.

 

[MickeyD]

I have done both. They both have their merits. I would have to agree with PrincessShmoo, go by dates, cost and category. I will say that I feel the Western tends to have calmer seas (in my experience). We usually cruise in Feb so that is a factor for me. A lot of people say they love the extra sea day, I guess that is nice, but I like to see the ports too, so I prefer having the extra port in the Western.

 

[AshleeH]

Where is the Eastern you're looking at stopping?

If it's St. Maarten and San Juan I'd vote Western. St. Maarten was ok, but I hated San Juan (granted, I had the worst possible guide on the rainforest and waterfall hike - the girl guide was clearly going to be great just from watching her in the terminal but I got stuck with the guy who really should just go live in the woods by himself where he could look at a zillion examples of the same plant all day - even the "sweepers" who were with the tour company were getting exasperated and moved to the front to speed things along).

If Tortola and St. Thomas, it would be a toss up.

I'm not sure - we don't sail until July and we would book for the following summer - those specific itineraries aren't out yet, but I'll avoid San Juan if I can help it ;-).

 

[AshleeH]

Well, as of now, the poll is split 50/50 - which I guess is a good thing that it's so split since people love both. We want to do both cruises in the future, so this helps to not cross one out entirely. I guess it will come down to which one is cheaper with better dates. Thanks, everyone!

 

[Dug720]

I'm not sure - we don't sail until July and we would book for the following summer - those specific itineraries aren't out yet, but I'll avoid San Juan if I can help it ;-).

I'm sure it is a lovely city. I did get to see family who was on the HAL ship that docked a few hours before we left - we hit Starbucks!.

Just avoid the rainforest and waterfall excursion!

 

[surran12]

I have done both and feel really enjoy both as well. I have a very slight preference for the Eastern Caribbean. I feel the Western offers slightly more active or adventuring type of excursions and the East has better beach excursions IMHO anyway and that is what I like to do more off on vacation. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

 

[AshleeH]

I have done both and feel really enjoy both as well. I have a very slight preference for the Eastern Caribbean. I feel the Western offers slightly more active or adventuring type of excursions and the East has better beach excursions IMHO anyway and that is what I like to do more off on vacation. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

That is a very good perspective, thank you! The ages my kids are now, I think that pushes the preference to Eastern right now and then do the Western when they're all old enough to really enjoy adventures.

 

[swimfin]

I picked Eastern because we love the extra sea day, Aristocats FULL DAY sailing charter out of Tortola and St John is super easy to do on your own! (Very safe traveling to do your own excursions thus lowering some of the cost.) Also, we feel it's easier to access the Western ports via the U.S. so you can explore those countries on your own in an easier fashion vs the BVI and USVI. I grew up in FL and I'm partial to the Eastern Islands.

 

[kiford]

We've done both, although some of the ports were slightly different. We've done the Western more times mostly because of the dates or the choice of ship. I liked having more sea days on the Eastern but the last Western cruise we did we stayed on board ship at Grand Cayman since we'd been there twice before and seen everything we were interested in so it was a bit like a sea day for us. We're not beach or water people so one Caribbean island is much like another in our opinion once you've done the unique tours so Caribbean cruises are not much about ports for us.

 

[OKW Lover]

We've done both. Multiple times. In general we prefer the eastern, but like to mix it up a bit with a western now and then. I voted for eastern in the poll but would happily do a western if the timing was better.

 

[Shanti]

Eastern because of the extra sea day. The Virgin Island ports are peaceful and safe.

 

[AshleeH]

Well, after all your help, my boys saw a video of the Marvel Days at Sea and are now hoping we'll go on one of those cruises if it's still offered in a year or two! So after all my research into the Caribbean, looks like I might be changing it up entirely (I like Marvel too, and it would be a lot of fun, so this is not a bad problem to have). I do have the Eastern Caribbean Cruise marked down to do in the very near future! And I'm sure Western will follow in the year or two after that.

Thank you so much for all of your help, everyone! If anyone has any insight into the Marvel cruises, feel free to let me know .

 

[squirk]

If anyone has any insight into the Marvel cruises, feel free to let me know .

I don't have insight into the Marvel cruises specifically, but I might suggest the following:

Track the history of the MDAS cruises, make an educated guess as to which future sailings are most likely to be MDAS cruises, and book the cruise before the MDAS is announced. There seems to be some lag between a sailing being announced (as just a regular sailing) and the addition of a special day at sea. Once the DAS is announced, the pricing change can be substantial.

 

[minniebeth]

With the extra sea days on the Eastern, do you all feel like there are enough varied activities on the sea days, or are they all pretty much the same?

 

[alavoi]

We've done two Westerns (both Disney) and two Easterns (one Disney, one Norwegian). We like Eastern better for these reasons:

1. Three sea days
2. St. Thomas (snorkeling at Turtle Cove is amazing)
3. Disney now stops at Tortola (they didn't on our first Disney Eastern, but Norwegian did and we loved it)
4. Beaches are better and water is warmer than on the Western itinerary (although Grand Cayman is beautiful, the water is chilly when we go in the late fall).