Fresh on the heels of a truly wonderful cruise, we’re looking at going again over Xmas and have settled on two options.
Option 1 is 7 nights on the new Carnival Mardi Gras which is the sister ship of the Celebration we just sailed and LOVED. It goes to Nassau, Amber Cove, Half Moon Cay, and Celebration Key.
Option 2 is 8 nights to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao)which I really want to do, but is on an older and smaller ship, the Horizon. We’re leaning this way, mainly to have a variety of ports and different ship experience.
I don’t know anything about the ships you’re looking at, but I would definitely consider that further south you are pretty much guaranteed warm weather while the Bahamas area can sometimes be cool over Christmas. On one of our December cruises it was barely above freezing when we were sailing out of Florida and Castaway Cay had had a few weeks of miserable weather prior to our departure. But further south in the Virgin Islands it was sunny and hot.
I agree with the previous post. On both my December cruise and January cruise it was a touch chilly a couple of days. Even in March last year we had a cool day in the Bahamas. We are pool/sundeck/beach/ocean people though. If you’re more interested in indoor activities and sightseeing, the temperature may not matter as much to you.
I’m usually all for the bigger newer ships, but in this case I think the itinerary trumps the ship. With the possible exception of Celebration Key (which I’ve not been to), the Mardi Gras itinerary is much less appealing.
I would cruise either of those ships. Yes, Mardi Gras is newer, but Horizon has a lot of the “newer” features and isn’t an old-old or small-small ship. I’ve done Elation and Valor which ARE old and small (and still great trips for shorter itineraries). Horizon is only a few steps “down” from Celebration and Mardi Gras.
I just put them side by side in ship comparison tool and the only activity I can see you are “missing” is Bolt (you’ve done).
And you get SkyRide and IMAX. Honestly - since you just did Celebration I would suggest Horizon for some
Variety.
This is my thinking. Plus the S. Caribbean itinerary is a shoe-in! Also, I know nothing about the ships but trust Qwerty’s assessment and that seems to seal/settle it!
So I can start my suggestion list.
For Aruba we looked at all kinds of excursions and then ultimately decided that we really just wanted the beach! So we got off the ship and took a cab to Eagle Beach. It was gorgeous. There were places to rental chairs and umbrellas and to get food and drinks. Lots of flat sand to walk on. And we snorkeled just off the beach. We spent most of the day there. And it was easy to grab a cab back.
The ship stayed in port until 11 pm so we did a sunset cruise in Aruba. It was a highlight of the trip!
We’re also there until 11, so a sunset cruise is interesting for sure. Aruba is our third stop, so I’m concerned we’ll want something other than a beach at that point but Eagle is on the list!
I’ve also looked at the national park and caves, as well as the trike tour.
