I've been on a few cruises recently with my family and have mixed views on all of them. To me, it basically comes down to what you are looking for. There are many different cruise lines, all which offer different things. The lower end ones like Carnival will be horrid for a newly wed couple looking to relax but amazing for a group of people looking to get silly. The more expensive, the better they are going to be in many ways. There will be less abnoxious people, the staff will smile more often, food will be of restaurant quality, and you will be pampered more. However I have a personal limit that ends around Celebrity lines. Anything above that, holland america, krystal, and so on are fancy fancy and usually only have one or two kids aboard the entire ship of 2,000! Talk about boring, however to each his own.
And then there comes the fact that while one person might recomend a line to you, the cruise itself will differ from place to place that it goes, the size of the boat, and the time of year. The smaller the more personal, bigger will bring more excitement.
I wish you the best of luck!
Here are the two cruises you mentioned earlier:
Ship: Mariner of the Seas (Royal Carribean)
Depart: San Juan
Stops: St. Thomas USVI, Phillipsburg St. Maarten, St. Johns Antigua, Casties, St. Lucia, Bridgetown Barbados.
Ship: Explorer of the Seas (Royal Carribean)
Depart: Miami
Stops: Labadee Hispanola, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Georgetown Grand Caymen, Cozumel Mexico.
Id first look at the size. If nearly the same size (around 2,000+), I'd then begin to look at where they go. The first one is much more exotic in my mind, maybe in the way that it would be more for the experienced cruiser. I've been to St Thomas which is amazing, st lucia, and barbados, all of which were fun but again pretty exotic. Of the second one, you cant go wrong with jamacia, never been to hispanola, grand caymen was a little boring, however cozumel is a blast (up there with st thomas). To be honest, both look amazing. I'd go off of size for sure. If one is 3.,000 and the other is 1500 you're going to have to decide what you're looking for. If they are nearly identical, go off of location, what you plan on doing (guided tours, scuba, shopping.....) and then the dates they travel. And newer ships=better of course
I'm jealous. Have a great time. Feel free to email me with any questions. Check out this link to pictures that I took a few weeks back on my trip!
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...&threadid=5306
-tim