We are trying to decide between the following 7-day cruises in January:
Crown Princess - ports: Barbados, St. Lucia, St. John's, Tortola, St. Thomas

Crown Princess - ports: St. Thomas, Basseterre, St. George's, Bonaire, Oranjestad

RCI Liberty of the Seas - ports: San Juan, St. Maarten, Labadee

The prices are all very close, and I have heard good things about both ships. I'd love to hear your thoughts & opinions on the ships, cruise lines and/or ports. This is our first cruise & all the options have been overwhelming. The Crown Princess stops at ports every day except one, while the RCI ship stops at only three. I can't decide if having a different stop each day would be too much. Thanks in advance!

I guess the question to you would be, what do u like to do? On Princess line, u will hit a port everyday. If your goal is to relax, then hitting all those ports could get tiring. Get on the ship, get off the ship, get back on. You get the picture. If u do a little research check out what shore excursions are available and see which ones appeal to you. It is nice to have a lazy day at sea, where u can do nothing, or you can do all the fun things that this cruise line has to offer. I personally prefer "at sea" days, so I can just hang out, and go at my own pace. Bottom line, see what your priorities will be, and do research on the islands, and see what has the most checkmarks in the plus column. have fun.
Cheers

We enjoyed snorkeling in Jamaica during our honeymoon & loved taking a sailboat out on our own. That's the only island we've been to, but we are definitely beach people, and love to see and try new things. I am not sure if we'd do an excursion every single day, and I wonder if we'd prefer more than one day "at sea." I've heard good things about RCI and Princess, and we've also been thinking about trying HAL. We don't have any kids, so we'd prefer a cruise that appeals more to couples. Since we haven't visited many places, it is hard to narrow down which cruise offers the best ports ...they all sound good!

I suggest you base your decision on why you are cruising... especially since you've never been on a cruise. Are you interested in doing a lot of sightseeing, doing water sports, just relaxing or a combination? The thing about having many ports is that you have more opportunities to see things, however, you never have to get off the ship if you prefer to do "nothing." You may want to read about the various ports and choose the itinerary that has the most interesting ports, in case you do decide you want to spend more time off the ship than on.

I have cruised several times, many times on Princess but I have never cruised RCI. I prefer smaller ships and I personally am not interested in things like ice skating rinks or golf on board, etc. and for me, the less of that, the better. I think the Crown is too big, (for me most ships are these days) BUT the Liberty of the Seas is bigger, or holds more pax. For that reason alone, I would opt for the ship with less people, even though the ship itself is already huge.

Bon voyage!

I much prefer the itinerary:

Crown Princess - ports: St. Thomas, Basseterre, St. George's, Bonaire, Oranjestad

You might want to go to cruisecritic.com and look up some port specific info on that cruise. Also, on princess.com you can look up the tentative excursions for each of those ports - I believe you can download the pdf file brochure.

As others have said, you don't have to get off the ship at every port. Ordinarily I prefer more sea days, but the cruise you mentioned above visits Aruba, St Kitts, St Thomas and Grenada - a better itinerary than the RCI ship, IN MY OPINION.

I've been on the Crown Princess. It was new last year and very, very nice. As far as size of the ship, I would recommend getting a midship cabin; otherwise it is really a long walk to get anywhere.

Please read this article about Crown Princes before making your decision:
http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/ove..._ship_injuries

I just came back from the Caribbean Princess cruise were I learned (hard way) that Princess have known problem with stabilizers on the entire ship class. Ship was shaking all the time! I felt motion for more then 30 h after I left the ship.

We cruised twice onboard RCI Explore of the Seas before. Loved it both times.

Thanks for sharing the link to the page operated by a maritime injury attorney. The Crown Princess listing incident has been attributed to human error rather than a stabilizer defect.

Travfirst, just wondering where you "learned (hard way) that Princess have known problem with stabilizers on the entire ship class". Did the Captain make an announcement to that effect? I haven't read anything about it.

Sorry you didn't enjoy the Caribbean Princess. I know how disappointing it is to plan for a trip and have it not live up to your expectations.

On my Crown Princess cruise (several months after the listing incident) I experienced none of the shaking that you reported on the Caribbean Princess.

Swaymock, On our 3rd night we dined with the gentlemen who served for over 20 years in US Navy. He shared this info.

The advise to me when choosing a cruise was look for port intensive cruises. Many of the ports you can do on your own and if you don't want to go ashore - stay on the ship and use the facilities while everyone else is off. The Liberty of the Seas is very limited - San Juan is a big and crowded city - interesting but not what I would choose for a cruise. St Maarten is lovely - great beaches great shopping- French and Dutch very European - go there all of the time, and am not familiar with Labadee. St Thomas is okay - good shopping and nice beaches - we go there all of the time too, not familiar with Basseterre or St George's Bonaire is known for diving and Oranjestad is a desert island ( versus volcano and coral ) very windy but interesting - did not care for the snorkeling. Barbados is supposed to be very interesting - have not been there, St Lucia is very remote but beautiful and very lush - rain forest area, St Johns is lovely -great beaches - mostly protected lands, not much town - very popular - go there all the time too, Tortola is British and has nice beaches, and St Thomas I already mentioned. If I was choosing - I would be torn between the top two - both have different types of island stops so there is a variety. Have not been on the Crown but have sailed on Princess and was pleased with the line. Check out Cruise Critc - seriously - I use it often for reference and it is very cruise and port intensive with informnation on the boards. Good luck!

Swaymock:

we are considering a cruise to Barbados and Virgin Islands with our two children, ages 6 and 10, on Crown Princess in December. We have travelled a lot but have never been on a cruise. Do you think children would enjoy the ship? We have read that it is very new and nice but we don't know much about their childrens' programs and other activities, in general. Also, which floor would you recommend for a cabin? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Gina,

My husband and I are a semi-retired couple (he is, I'm not!) so I can't address the children's program questions. I can tell you that you will find a lot of info on www.cruisecritic.com on the Princess message board.

It is really a large ship, so I would choose a cabin midship no matter which deck you are on. With 4 people I would not take an inside room as I find it too crowded. I'd get a balcony (at least one adult can sit on the balcony while the other gets the kids dressed, etc.). I'd also look into the price difference in a minisuite which is considerably larger than a standard cabin and sometimes not a lot more expensive.

The primary passenger decks are Aloha, Baja, Caribe and Dolphin. There are others, but I would consider those the better decks (i.e. the disco or buffet or swimming pool are not immediately above you). You can see floorplans and check availability on www.princess.com

Princess has both traditional dining (seatings at like 6:00 and 8:00) or a separate dining room for Anytime Dining, which is more like a restaurant --- you just show up and get in line for a table. Either way, both dining rooms serve the same food each night and observe the same "formal nights".

The ship will be decorated for Christmas anytime after Thanksgiving. If you are thinking of going around Christmas, the ship will fill up fast - I wouldn't wait too long to book.

I have sailed on Liberty but not on Crown Princess. You should definitely read ALL of the reviews you can on both before booking.

Both of these ships are far too large for my taste but, if you are choosing by itinerary, I prefer the Crown's to LOS. Sea days on large ships are generally quite crowded and it was beastly finding a chair anywhere near the pool on Liberty. If you are not into the sun, then perhaps it would be fine, especially with kids.

Know you have to tender in most ports and IME this can be a hassle.

The ice show on Liberty is AMAZING and I am not one that generally bothers with shows at all. Lots of nightlife options as well as awesome gym.

Food good not great and staff is typical RCI (efficient and friendly).

Good luck with your decision!

Gina 07: We have cruised with our children on several ships, you never know if kids will enjoy the childrens programs, my kids prefer the pool and the beaches, but would usually try the kids program about an hour a day.

I recommend a balcony room, it gives you a little more room to spread out.

The Virgin Islands and Barbados are great. Barbados has a pink sand beach semi close to the ports with sand that is soft as silk. Have a great trip!

Personally I would prefer the Crown cruise that begins in Barbados. Why? Nicer ports IMHO. As for that link about stabilizer issues I am reminded of a scene towards the very end of the movie "Philadelphia" inre to a joke about lawyers. I'll leave it at that. have fun. Larry

Larry, the Crown actually home ports in San Juan, with Barbados as a stop.

As for the "list" cruise, just glad it was not more serious!

Oh. Thanks K. Cheers, Larry I suppose a "listless" cruise is definitely the way to go. Sorry, thats bad