Cruise out of Miami or San Juan

[Bubbles below]

We been on 3 dive cruises so far. It's not bad if you know what's you're getting into. We are thinking of doing the Eastern Caribbean the first week of Nov. The port of Miami has stops at San Juan, Amber Cove, St Thomas, and Grand Turks their port times varies and 2 sea days.
Out of San Juan are Barbados, St Thomas, St Lucia, St Kitts, and St Marteen and port times are either 7-5pm or 8-5pm and one sea day.
Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[noj3333]

I've been on several cruises and I prefer to go out of San Juan.

You can fly into San Juan, and catch a cab to Old San Juan (Maybe $25-$30). Stay in a hotel overnight in Old San Juan and walk to the cruise ship the day it leaves port. Old San Juan is a nice city, very old and European. The ports you’ll visit are often better when you leave from San Juan, and you have fewer days at sea. I’m a big fan of being on dry land as often as possible.

With Miami, you have to fly to Ft. Lauderdale (often) and take a taxi to the Miami Cruise Port. The taxi is about the same as in San Juan. The cruise port is fine, but often you spend a day cruising to the islands, and then a day cruising back from the islands to the port… those are wasted days IMO.

As far as diving, the San Juan cruise you listed has better diving then the Miami cruise… enjoy either way!

 

[2airishuman]

Hello Bubbles

We have cruised with departures from San Juan and Tampa/St. Pete's.

As noj3333 indicates upthread, the cruise itineraries themselves are generally better from San Juan due to its location and the relatively shorter distance to preferred island destinations, compared with the Florida ports.

The disadvantage is the shortage of suitable flights. The extent to which this is a problem will vary depending on where you're coming from. For us, it's Minneapolis, and the only flight is a once-a-day Sun Country route, plus some very poor (and expensive) multi-stop flights on other carriers. Our return flight was badly delayed, and there were no remotely practical options for re-booking it, and we ended up getting home well into the hours of the morning following our expected arrival.

 

[mmmbelows]

We been on 3 dive cruises so far. It's not bad if you know what's you're getting into. We are thinking of doing the Eastern Caribbean the first week of Nov. The port of Miami has stops at San Juan, Amber Cove, St Thomas, and Grand Turks their port times varies and 2 sea days.
Out of San Juan are Barbados, St Thomas, St Lucia, St Kitts, and St Marteen and port times are either 7-5pm or 8-5pm and one sea day.
Any input would be greatly appreciated!

My input would be I have no idea what you want to know. What do you want to know? I'm assuming you can do the math and the research to figure out the flights and which would be cheaper or more convenient. for you Are you looking for which ports have the best diving? I'd really have to say none of the above really, none of those destinations are particularly known for their diving. I'd assume it's also obvious the San Juan cruise offers more stops and less days at sea, which could be good or bad depending on what the cruiser likes. My choices for cruises are typically a decision based upon a stew pot of different ingredients- easy of flights, price of flights, price of the cruise, destinations whether been to them or not, destinations based upon what they are, cruise line etc...If you have a specific question it would be easier to address it.

 

[robint]

Southwest airlines flies to San Juan PR..... we are planning a cruise out of that port this year, not set on dates yet. From what I have seen, you could dive at every port if you want, but I expect we wouldn't do that. Southwest is basically free for us as my husband travels at least once a month for work and racks up the free miles.

We are booked for March doing the Amber Cove, St Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk itinerary out of Port Canaveral on the Carnival Magic. This will be our 6th cruise in 3 yrs. Husband is planning to dive at Grand Turk only this trip as he is still in recovery from a recent surgery. We have been doing cruises instead of land vacations for the past 3 years due to his surgeries (bad hip injury and knee). We did 2 dives in Grand Cayman on a cruise 2 years ago but that has been it for both of us.

Diving on a cruise has its pluses and minuses. If you want to do a cruise and dive a lot, do the PR cruise. Can't go wrong with that many ports. If you are going with a non-diving spouse, then it is a toss up. All depends on what you want to do other than dive. We are currently so active topside with activities that diving has taken a back seat on our bucket lists.

 

[yle]

I've done the San Juan cruise you describe, with those stops, three times in the past seven years. And I've done a Miami cruise that stops in GC, Coz, Belize and Roatan a couple times. My group has done these cruises explicitly as dive trips: we dive at every stop. The quality of the diving is pretty much the same on both trips, but I like the SJ cruise for the one extra stop. I second the advice above about getting to the cruise ship in SJ: the airport is a short taxi ride from the port and there are plenty of hotels along the way. Our standard plan was to arrive the day before, stay in a hotel near the cruise ship pier, spend the pre-cruise time exploring the city (very easy to do on foot, a lot of historical landmarks, and the Bacardi factory tour is a short ferry ride across the bay.)

The itinerary you describe from Miami... stopping in San Juan wouldn't offer any diving opportunity, so at best you'd be limited to three stops for diving.

If you go with the SJ cruise and would like advice on dive ops, just ask and I'll give you my two cents worth.

 

[YYJValerie]

I'm doing the Magic out of Port Canaveral... Amber Cove DR, St Thomas (Havensight), San Juan and Grand Turk. I know there is diving in Grand Turk -- what about the others? Would like to get in two dives on this trip -- what other port besides GT? And can anyone recommend dive operators at any of those ports?

 

[yle]

I'm doing the Magic out of Port Canaveral... Amber Cove DR, St Thomas (Havensight), San Juan and Grand Turk. I know there is diving in Grand Turk -- what about the others? Would like to get in two dives on this trip -- what other port besides GT? And can anyone recommend dive operators at any of those ports?

Never been to Amber Cove. There isn't much in San Juan; the good diving in PR is on the west coast or the southwest coast. St Thomas is worth a look. I've used Blue Island Divers every time I've stopped there (and we're going again this summer.) They run a small boat, around 6 divers, and pick up (and drop off) right at the cruise ship dock. You literally walk off the ship, walk down the dock, and their dive boat pulls up under the bow of your cruise ship. Their website is easy to find, just google their shop name.

 

[Ray and Pam]

Go to San Juan it doesn't cost much more. Get a cruise that goes to 6 islands 8am -5pm and the last day is a sea day so you can pack. Pick islands depending on what your likes are and get away from the port.
When you get back to San Juan and you get off the cruiseship and get to the luggage tent get a porter and they will take you to the front of the line and to a taxi in 10 minutes.
Then take Cape Air to Culebra, 30 minute beautiful flight worth the money, spend 2 to 3 days at Flamenco Bay to unwind. Life is good!

 

[yle]

Go to San Juan it doesn't cost much more. Get a cruise that goes to 6 islands 8am -5pm and the last day is a sea day so you can pack.

Ray, is there a specific cruise you've found that does this? Carnival used to do a "6 islands in 7 days", with no days at sea, but they changed that itinerary many years ago. Now that cruise has one day at sea (and not the last day), stops at 5 islands (St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts, St Maarten.)

If there is a current cruise that does 6 islands in a week, can you point us to it? Thanks!