As I posted before I am planning to book a March cruise to the Southern Caribbean. So now, I am going to see what I can do to nail down an exact itinerary. When I look up March cruises that leave from Puerto Rico, I see that five ships fit my requirements. Here I am going to look at those five cruises and do my best to eliminate four of them.

Adventure of the seas

March 15th Adventure of the Seas

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When I look at this cruise the thing that sticks out the most in my mind is that it leaves on a Sunday.  By leaving Sunday instead of Saturday, I can fly down to Puerto Rico on Friday night so that I can spend two nights in San Juan.  I also love the fact that the Adventure of the Seas goes to Aruba and St. Maarten, which happen to be my two favorite Caribbean ports.  Lastly, this cruise is paced really well by having the first full day onboard being a day at sea with another one in the middle of the cruise.

Caribbean Princess

March 15th Caribbean Princess

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Princess Cruises may very well be my favorite cruise line.  I like how the first day on the ship is a day at sea, since it allows me to be acclimated to the ship.  The Caribbean Princess also gets points for having a Sunday departure date.  As far as ports go, I do place both Barbados and St. Lucia fairly high on my list of Caribbean ports of call.

Carnival Victory

March 15th Carnival Victory

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From the very beginning, I can see that this probably isn’t the cruise for me.  While it is nice that the Carnival Victory leaves on a Sunday that may be the extent of the good I see in this particular itinerary.  While some people may enjoy this type of cruise, in all reality there are just too many ports for my tastes.  When I look at the itinerary, I feel that I would need another vacation to recover from this vacation.

Celebrity Summit

March 14th Celebrity Summit

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This itinerary looks promising.  The Celebrity Summit goes to Aruba and St. Maarten and adds Grenada, which is a place I have never been.  While I would prefer a day at sea to get in vacation mode (especially since this cruise leaves a day earlier than the rest), at leas this cruise has a day at sea.  The only problem is I hate when the last day is a day at sea since I spend myself spending too much time waiting for my cruise to end.

Serenade of the Seas

March 14th Serenade of the Seas

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The Serenade of the Seas has a pretty nice itinerary with St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Barbados, but also has two strikes since it leaves on Saturday and has the day at sea on the last day.  It is really a shame since I really do like all of the islands on the itinerary.  If St. Thomas was a day at sea I would have been able to overlook the other shortcomings but since it isn’t I am going to have to pass.

Conclusion

By process of elimination, I end up with two itineraries that I value equally.  The Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises fit my style of cruising more than any of the others.  Strangely enough, the reason that these two rise to the head of the class had nothing to do with the actual cruise.  I just couldn’t resist the extra night in San Juan before the cruise starts.  First of all I like to fly down early in case anything goes wrong (bad weather or lost luggage) secondly in my opinion there are few places as romantic as Old San Juan at night. It is definitely a place I love exploring without the hassle of time constraints.

Ultimately I am going to choose Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas as the cruise I am taking in March. The reason I decided on the AoS over the Caribbean Princess is mainly because Aruba and Curacao aren’t as common as a lot of Caribbean ports, so to get them both on the same cruise is a real treat. Also, with ports such as Barbados and St. Lucia being more common there is a good chance that I will visit these other ports as part of another cruise later in the year.

Many people have differing opinions on what to consider when choosing a cruise. Some people are loyal to certain cruise lines; some believe that the ship itself is the destination. While I do enjoy big ships with all the newest bells and whistles and do have a favorite cruise line; my favorite thing about cruising is walking around the pool deck at night and all cruise lines have pros and cons. So, I guess you could say for a cruiser like myself it all comes down to one thing, the itinerary.

Although I can’t really explain the reason why, March seems like the perfect time to take a Southern Caribbean cruise. Although it will take some more research to nail down the exact ship I will be traveling on, in order to do a real Southern itinerary; it is necessary to leave from Puerto Rico. Ships that depart from Florida ports don’t usually travel to what I would consider the Southern part of the Caribbean.

The fact that I have to leave from Puerto Rico turns out to be a real blessing. It seems there are only five ships leaving from San Juan on seven-day cruises in March. Each of the ships leaves on either Saturday or Sunday and all are roughly the same price. The fact that my options are limited turns out to be a real blessing in disguise. It looks like I will be going on one of these ships:

• Adventure of the Seas
• Caribbean Princess
• Carnival Victory
• Celebrity Summit
• Serenade of the Seas

Later on, I will take a look at each itinerary. My hopes are that the ports each ship visits will differentiate them from each other enough that my choice will be made for me. If that doesn’t happen to be the case, I will look at things that are a little bit lower on my list of priorities.