Want to plan a cruise for our 20th Anniversary, what are the best ports to visit?

Question

Will probable be leaving from Port Canaveral, Florida. Any advise? Anniversary is April 30th.

Answer 1

My first advice is to just go to the cruise line web sites and look at all of the cruises available so that you will have some idea of what all of the options are. Since you are primarily interest in cruising out of Port Canaveral your options for islands will be limited to those places where the cruise ships that depart from there will port. Here's the web site for Port Canaveral and you can use it to look at a summery of the cruises available and their destinations.

http://www.portcanaveral.org/index2.php

Using that port only you will have your choice of 3 cruise lines, Disney, Carnival and Royal Caribbean and your destination options will be the Bahamas, the Eastern Caribbean islands of St Maarten and St Thomas or the Western Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

If you want beach time and/or good shopping go Eastern Caribbean so that you can shop in St Thomas. If you want great beaches go Western Caribbean (there is also shopping but not like St Thomas). I think Grand Cayman's 7-mile beach is about the prettiest beach in the Western Caribbean and its as easy as a $5. cab/mini-bus ride to get to. In Jamaica you will want to do a river rafting trip or climb Dunn's River Falls. In Cozumel there are beach activities galore and also shopping.

Now, what you miss in limiting yourself to Port Canaveral is the opportunity to cruise to island destinations like Aruba, Curacao, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Antigua, St Lucia and other islands that constitute the Southern Caribbean. Cruises to the Southern Caribbean (and the Panama Canal/Costa Rica) typically leave from Ft Lauderdale , Miami, or San Juan.

One final point, in addition to shopping the web sites. If you pick a date for your cruise that is firm (in other words you want to be cruising on your anniversary date rather than a few days or weeks after) you may not be able to get the best price for your cruise. So my advice is be flexible on your date and look at several departure dates and pick the one which is the lowest price for the type cabin you want. And, I do recommend that you get a balcony cabin.

Answer 2

Wow - that's tough to answer without knowing what you're interested in!

Go to your library and check out some books on cruising and/or Caribbean ports of call. You can also go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Boards" and then "Ports of Call", to get an idea of what each port is like. They also have a guide to the various ports that's available, I think, on the home page. Also click on "Reviews" for reviews from both pros and past passengers, to get an idea of what the various ships/cruiselines are like.

That's a good time to go - school is still in session, it's not hurricane season yet, rates will be lower.

You've really got to do some research; even if you go to a travel agent, he/she will have many questions/choices for you and you need to have at least some idea of what you want.

Have fun with your research/planning!

Answer 3

Eastern and Southern Caribbean have many great ports of call but more important is the ship you are on - You'll be on it every night and at any port of call only one day. Base you're cruise on the ship first, then the itinerary.

Answer 4

I personally like the Western Carribean because I LOVE the Cayman islands-there is no panhandling and its not trashy--great beaches, but its a matter of preference. Google some stops like St. Martin, St. Thomas and Nassau--then Cayman Islands and Cozumel....

Answer 5

St. Croix and St. Maarteen have duty free shops. Also, anything that stops in the northern countries of South America are good. Virgin Islands and the Domincan Republic also have casinos for the night life.