Cruise Caribbean

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The more than 6,000 islands, islets, reefs and cays of the Caribbean Sea, sometimes referred to as the West Indies, stretch 3,200 kilometres between North and South America in the far western Atlantic Ocean. Year round good weather and the idyllic scenery of the archipelago have long made visiting the islands of the Caribbean a popular pursuit of travelers, whether to honeymoon or to enjoy a long anticipated trip celebrating a retirement and everything in between. The Caribbean is a vast area and is best considered by regional groupings: The Greater Antilles includes the larger islands and major population centers of the Caribbean on the islands of Cuba, Dominican Republic/Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles is further divided into 3 groupings: The Leeward Islands, which includes Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Saba, St-Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Windward Islands grouping consists of Barbados, Grenada, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. The ABC islands grouping of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao are at the extreme southern portion of the archipelago near coastal Venezuela. Participating in a cruise on the waters of the island chain is a favored way to visit the scenic Ports of Call or to relax while on-water between the destinations. A Caribbean Cruise covers a broad range of experiences and can be as short as a 3 or 4 night venture visiting just one or two of the islands or an extensive cruise lasting for weeks that includes many of the islands with plenty of land based adventures, including hiking, horseback riding, golfing and wildlife observation. Snorkeling, SCUBA diving and whale watching are also popular experiences available to cruisers. Vessels range from small, intimate yachts to the mega-ships that are floating resorts complete with multiple restaurants, casinos and sports facilities accommodating thousands of passengers. With a location just north of the equator, a year round temperate climate makes visiting the islands of the Caribbean pleasant almost any time. Hurricanes can occasionally be a challenge in the eastern Caribbean during the late summer to early fall in the northern hemisphere. One of the primary draws for cruises in the Caribbean is the area’s easy accessibility with point of embarkation for many of the trips in the Eastern United States. Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida are popular places to begin and end cruises along with other cities in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Your dream of a Caribbean Cruise is as close as adding it to your list today. You will need to spend some time studying the large number of options available including the ports to visit and the broad selection of ships. Start that planning process today in order to check this trip off within the time frame you desire.

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