Hello,

We are trying to plan a cruise to the caribbean but are unsure of whether we should go to western (inc Honderas, Cozumel, and Belize) or eastern (st. thomas, tortola, and great stirrup kay). Please advise! Thanks.

Honestly this sounds like a case of "will the grass be greener on the other side of the fence?" You can ask this question of 100 people and 5% will tell you to go to the Eastern Caribbean and 50% will tell you to go to the Western Caribbean. There's no right or wrong answer as one cruise itinerary is not necessarily better or worse than the other they are just different. Try doing a few google searches to find out the general "things to do and see" at each destination on the itineraries to determine which most appeals to you. Unless you have specific desires I doubt you'd be disappointed with either itinerary. It's YOUR trip, go where YOU want to go.

One consideration -- is shopping important to you? (I know that lots of people go on cruises for the duty-free shopping). If it is, then a cruise with St. Thomas as a port would be a priority. Otherwise they are both probably equally good.

can you give us some idea what you're hoping for. when do you plan to cruise?
st. thomas is a very busy island with good shopping. tortola is good sized with not much going on. the cay will be a small private island owned by cruise line - this will be a beach day & sometimes very crowded.
the western cruises are a bit more exoctic as the countries are more lush with rainforest experiences.
if you're cruising this winter it will be warmer on the western cruise.
a great site for cruise info is cruisecritic.com
they have ppl you go often & can give you info down to which stateroom is preferable & why or which excursions they've taken & how it worked out.

If you are doing a winter cruise from MIA or FLL, the eastern Caribbean cruise will likely be warmer once you get past eastern Cuba. Cozumel/Cancun sometimes gets winter cold fronts coming through, as does the ocean between Cancun/Cozumel and South Florida on the western cruise. A highlight of the stop in STT would be to take the ferry to St.John. The beaches on the north shore are some of the nicest anywhere, with excellent wade-in snorkeling.

Princess has a 7-day western Caribbean, stopping at Grand Cayman, Roatan (Honduras), and Cozumel. Grand Cayman has Stingray City, where you can play with very tame stingrays. Many people call it the highlight of their cruise.