Star of the Seas - Eastern Caribbean: St. Thomas & Samaná

Samaná is the reason to pick this loop over the ship's other Eastern Caribbean week, and the reason posters mostly did not. Two sea days open the cruise because St. Thomas is the far end; Samaná, on the Dominican Republic's northeast corner, sits roughly on the way back, and the private island is the last stop before Port Canaveral rather than the first - the reverse of the order posters quoted when they listed Star's itineraries in late 2025, so check the sequence on the actual sailing date. The Samaná call replaces the St. Maarten day on the sibling loop, and how much it is worth depends on the calendar: the port's humpback season runs January to March, and outside those months the draw is the waterfall and national-park excursions inland. In the catalog this is the cheapest of Star's three seven-night itineraries, under both the St. Maarten version and the Western Caribbean one.

No poster in the archive had actually done the Samaná day on Star; what the threads hold is people choosing between this routing and its siblings, and this one never won. In a February 2026 thread that listed it among four Icon and Star options from Orlando, the most-upvoted reply named the St. Thomas, St. Maarten and CocoCay loop the best of the set and added that the two ships are near-identical, so the decision should come down to fare and travel logistics; another preferred St. Thomas and St. Maarten for feeling more like the Caribbean than the Mexican and Honduran stops. A December 2025 thread asking which of three Star itineraries to book was told either Eastern loop over the Western one, with no preference between the two Eastern ones beyond a note that St. Maarten has a zip line, and in a second February 2026 thread the top reply went the other way and picked Star's Western loop for its Cozumel and Roatán days. The one port-specific complaint is from a November 2025 poster booked on a February Star sailing who found the St. Thomas excursion list thin for children of six and seven - mostly snorkelling, beach days or drink-led tours - with the sole reply suggesting the Coral World aquarium. Threads from the ship's 2023 naming already framed the trade-off that applies here: for people drawn to this class the destination is the ship, and several said paying Icon-class fares to visit St. Thomas was the wrong reason to book.

Set against the rivals, the case is narrow. Wonder of the Seas sails St. Thomas and CocoCay from the same Port Canaveral pier for several hundred dollars less per person, Carnival Vista's eight-night is the cheapest route to St. Thomas in the group, Celebrity Apex - which pairs St. Thomas with a different Dominican port, Puerto Plata, plus St. Kitts - and Norwegian Escape are the next rung, and Icon of the Seas, Disney Fantasy and Disney Treasure cost more. A September 2025 thread on whether to pay a sizeable upcharge to move a family with children of two, four and seven from Symphony to Star on the same dates got a most-upvoted no - Symphony already has plenty for kids, and a CocoCay day alone does not justify it - and a lower-scored yes that valued the island day and the newer ship. This routing suits repeat Royal Caribbean cruisers who have done St. Maarten, want a nature-led Dominican day on the newest hull, and can book a January-to-March date; first-timers to the Eastern Caribbean who want the classic beach pair should take the sibling St. Maarten loop that posters preferred, and anyone choosing on ports alone is better served by Wonder or Apex.