<p>Ugh… work is hard all year long, even today / Friday when I wanted to take a day off. It’s easier to be gone in the winter, and a cruise is surely sounding good to me. I’ll be busy this week with work and college kid visits… but perhaps some cruise research too ;)</p>
<p>To get a sample point, I picked this Holland America Cruise, Eastern Carribean (Feb 2nd) - [Caribbean</a> Cruise - Cruises to Bahamas, Barbados, Grand Cayman | Holland America Line](<a href=“http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetailsPort.action?destCode=C&portCode=&shipCodeSearch=&durationCode=2&dateCode=2_2013&startDate=&endDate=&flexibleMonths=false&noOfFlexibleMonths=1&pageNumber=1&sourceName=&directionCode=&voyageCode=D315&cruiseDetailPortCode=SJU]Caribbean”>http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetailsPort.action?destCode=C&portCode=&shipCodeSearch=&durationCode=2&dateCode=2_2013&startDate=&endDate=&flexibleMonths=false&noOfFlexibleMonths=1&pageNumber=1&sourceName=&directionCode=&voyageCode=D315&cruiseDetailPortCode=SJU)</p>
<p>Day 0 Ft Lauderdale
Day1 at sea
Day2 Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos
Day3 San Juan, Puerto Rico
Day4 St Thomas
Day5 at sea
Day6 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
Day7 Ft Lauderdale </p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>HAL also stands for Holland Assisted Living. While service is good the pax tend to be a bit, ehem, old :). Having said this, the itinerary looks good esp Grand Turk and San Juan (my favorite spot in the area). St. Thomas is good for massive alcohol purchases (PM for details) and general sightseeing and the Bahamas port is meh at best if you’re not into swimming and the like.</p>
<p>Thanks, turbo! DH had been hearing good things about Holland, but I was wondering about the age factor.</p>
<p>My 85-year-old mom is a Mariner on HAL and has commented on the difficulty at elevators due to the walkers, wheelchairs, and scooters. She thinks one week is too short and only goes on 10 day or 2 week cruises so hasn’t gone on that particular itinerary. She’s been to just about every port in the Caribbean multiple times and mostly tells me how much nicer they used to be :rolleyes: .</p>
<p>I haven’t cruised a lot but did enjoy both Royal Caribbean cruises (7 days and 5 days) much more than the one Carnival cruise (3 days). My favorite ports were St. Martin and Grand Cayman because I loved their beaches. I think St. Thomas works out much better as a destination than a cruise stop but it’s hard to avoid on the one week cruises.</p>
<p>I popped into cruise critic and checked the roll call for your sample cruise - the Eurodam, right? Only a few people have posted on it so probably not a real computer-savvy crowd. And if you think some of the discussions here get lively, check some of the other CC’s “formal wear” threads. There’s a real gap between “we’re supposed to dress up and everyone knew the rules when they bought their tickets” vs. “I paid for this cruise and I’ll wear whatever I *** want where ever I *** want.”</p>
<p>Heard one guy quip “The average age on Holland America is deceased.”</p>
<p>Anyway, have only sailed Holland America once and enjoyed it but prefer Celebrity and Royal Caribbean.</p>
<p>Grand Turk, San Juan ,St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay (private island) are all nice.</p>
<p>I’ve grown to like Princess very much. While the ships are somewhat different looking, the interiors are really nice and I like the amenities. The people are a touch more mature than the Carnival crowd, but not approaching the Holland American crowd. My H and I like the variety of eating options and enjoyed not eating in the large dining room every night. We also liked that the buffet was staffed with people to help you find a table and that the tables were set with silver and napkins. Little touches that we enjoyed. Cruise prices are very good also on Princess. If you aren’t committed, take a look at Princess.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input. Based on comments I’ve read, I’ve ruled out Carnival for this trip. (It’s possible that I’d consider in the future if we ever do a family trip with the 20-something kids). My next point of research will be Princess.</p>
<p>I did use Cruise Critics roll call prior to our Western Med cruise. (LOL - last night I couldn’t remember how to get there. I’ll retry with a Princess choice tonight) Although we opted to use the NCL shore excursions, I’ll mention that the folks that banded together on roll call to book group tours together seemed to have good results.</p>
<p>I think you’d like Princess. We’ve been on Royal, Disney, Carnival and now that the kids no longer go we found Princess and it just felt right for us at this point in our lives. I’m thinking about trying NCl in fall of 2014 after we drop the last kiddo off at college but I’m waffling because we were so happy with Princess. I don’t know how they do it, but the embarkation and debarkation was a breeze…no long windy lines.</p>
<p>Royal Caribbean and Carnival do work well if/when the 20 somethings are along. For this, I would really spend some time also looking at Celebrity . It does very well in most polls of “mass market” lines.</p>
<p>We’ve done all our cruising with Princess and love them, but our last one in Alaska fell way too ‘decontented’ compared to previous years. Ditto on the comments about passenger age above…</p>
<p>I looked at this one fore Princess (Feb) - The reviews are mostly goo - looks tempting Darn…we’ve gotten hooked on having a balcony, but I see it can be almost 2x cost.
Fort Lauderdale → Princess Cays → St. Maarten → St. Thomas → Grand Turk → Fort Lauderdale </p>
<p>I will check Celebrity next.</p>
<p>We went to Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay last year on a cruise. BEAUTIFUL!</p>
<p>ML - I’m returning some Caribbean books to the library soon. I’ll read up on Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay first. </p>
<p>Yes, all the info is available on the web too. But it’s so fun to look at guidebooks.</p>
<p>I’ve done the cruise above with Princess sans Turks. </p>
<p>St. Marteen was about as depressing as it gets (we took a bus from one side to the other thru some rather rough spots). Nice beaches and scenery, bad shopping. </p>
<p>St. Thomas, we’ve been there a few times, some nice spots, great shopping (back then), and interesting excursions (Atlantis submarine, amazing beyond belief). Not a good shopping destination recently (none really in the area)</p>
<p>Princes Cays. Yikes. Just a beach eerily reminiscent of summer camp for the kids whose parents worked at the Elbonian Ministry of Social Welfare - read, just a pile of sand, with some annoying guy in a Stallag 17 spec watchtower screaming his lungs out in a bullhorn every time someone went near his precious coral reef whatevers (i.e. rocks). </p>
<p>My favorite spots in the Caribs: Puerto Rico (stayed for a week, loved the place), Grenada (if you’re a foodie it’s a must), and Bonaire. Maybe Aruba.</p>