You're pretty much nailed it.
Princess' itinerary is the worst. Adventure's is the best - Southern
Caribbean sailings typically are full of great ports. Millie's is somewhere
in between.
As far as style... if you want to come home feeling energized after rock
climbing, disco'ing... RCI. If you want to come home feeling pampered, then
Celebrity. With Princess somewhere in between.
If you want better food, then it's Celebrity and Princess over Adventure.
And actually IMO (others will disagree), Celebrity and Princess are rather
similar in overall feel, food quality, service and elegance. Sure they have
signature differences. Personal Choice vs. conventional dining. The
AquaSpa with it's healthy choice items available all day is very nice - you
can go back for unlimited chilled soups - I love the strawberry chilled
soup. And the AquaSpa is a great place to hang out all week. To me... kind
of the difference between Princess and Celebrity... if Princess is an ice
cream sundae, then Celebrity is one with whipped cream and a cherry. At the
end of the week, you end up noticing a few extra niceties... and think
wow... that was nice. Like when a waiter comes over and carries a lady's or
child's tray from the buffet line to an empty table. Or their no
announcements policy (no annoying "meet us for bingo").
The other thing to consider is the ship. If you've never tried Celebrity...
I think they're a very nice cruise experience (my favorite in fact). But
the other thing that contributes to the cruise experience is the ship. And
nothing beats Voyager class ships from a ship standpoint... at least for a
Caribbean type experience. Might not be the best food or service, but those
ships are incredible. And the new Freedom class ships are even more
incredible. So from a ship standpoint, I'd have to go Adventure first, and
Millennium second. I loved the Ocean and Dawn Princess (Sun Class) but
didn't care for the Grand Princess class, of which Caribbean Princess is a
sister ship.
I didn't give you an answer... but may have filled in a few blanks. Good
luck... let us know what you picked.
--Tom
"Spike" wrote in message
news:fbedha0vl5@drn.newsguy.com...
> My wife and I and another couple (we're all in our late 40s) are looking
> to take
> a 7 day cruise leaving on April 13, 2008 (that date is the only date we
> can
> depart and is written in stone & can't be changed due to work vacations
> already
> been picked). We have narrowed it down to 3 cruises with Eastern/Southern
> Caribbean itineraries.
>
> The Celebrity Cruises choice is the Millenium which departs from Ft
> Lauderdale
> and stops at San Juan, Tortola (British Virgin Isl.), Casa de Campo
> (Dominican
> Republic) & Labadee (Haiti).
>
> The Royal Caribbean choice is the Adventure of the Seas which departs from
> San
> Juan and stops at Oranjested (Aruba), Willemstad (Curacao), Phillipsburg
> (St.
> Maartan) & Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas).
>
> The Princess choice is Caribbean Princess which departs from Ft Lauderdale
> and
> stops in St. Maartin, St. Thomas & Princess Cays (Bahamas).
>
> We previously cruised with this couple on Princess back in May 2003 and
> had an
> excellent time on a western Caribbean cruise. We were able to bring as
> much
> wine as we wanted on board (mostly port for after dinner back in the
> cabin), the
> food was great, great facilities, overall a great time. However out of
> the 3
> cruises this time Princess has the most boring choices of stops. My wife
> and I
> have been to both St Thomas and St Maartan before) & Princess Cays is
> probably
> a Princess proprietary island.
>
> The Royal Caribbean cruise seems to have the best amenities and
> interesting
> destinations but I have heard mixed reviews about their service and their
> cabins. Also they do not allow you to bring wine on board from what I've
> heard.
> We've never cruised RCI before but have been on Carnival many times (not
> since
> 1998).
>
> As far as Celebrity goes I know very little about them except they are
> more
> upscale than RCI or Princess. The destinations seem quite interesting but
> the
> ship amenities seem to be much more scaled back than the other 2 ships (I
> like
> to be able to get a slice of pizza at any time of the day).
>
> If anyone here could help steer 2 late 40ish couples who used to be big
> time
> party animals but who have slowed down somewhat with age and require a
> more
> restful vacation to one of these cruises we would be very grateful.
>
> TIA
> Spike
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