The Caribbean & the Bahamas: the back story

About The Caribbean & the Bahamas: the back story

By the ULTIMATE the world’s cruise lines Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The Caribbean is the world’s winter cruising ground. Florida and Texas send the big ships out to the Bahamas and the islands; San Juan and Bridgetown start the southern voyages; and small ships slip into Gustavia and the anchorages of the British Virgin Islands.

The great home ports

Most Caribbean voyages begin in Florida. PortMiami calls itself the Cruise Capital of the World, and its figures bear it out: 8,564,225 cruise passengers in its latest fiscal year, the highest in its history. Up the coast, Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale has renovated Cruise Terminal 25 for Celebrity’s Edge-series ships and opened the Omni Fort Lauderdale Hotel, the only hotel on the port itself. Port Canaveral, beside the Kennedy Space Center, and Galveston on the Texas coast, almost 4 million passengers a year through its four terminals, complete the big four.

The Bahamas and the private islands

Short voyages from Florida head for Nassau, where the cruise port has been transformed by a $300 million redevelopment, with Fort Fincastle and the Queen’s Staircase a short walk away. Most big lines add a day on their own islands or beach clubs: Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day CocoCay, Norwegian’s Great Stirrup Cay and Holland America’s RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay among them. Each line’s own guide has the details.

Choose the Caribbean by the size of your ship: it decides which islands you will see.

San Juan and the southern islands

Old San Juan is both home port and port of call. San Juan Cruise Port, a partnership between Global Ports Holding and the Puerto Rico Ports Authority, divides its piers between the Old San Juan District, a walk from the forts, and the Panamerican piers across the bay, built for large homeport ships. Further south and east, Bridgetown welcomes about 800,000 cruise visitors a year, and Castries in St Lucia sends its cruise passengers ashore at Pointe Seraphine, within walking distance of the town.

Small ships, small harbours

The most beautiful corners of the Caribbean are for small ships. Gustavia, the capital of St Barts, is a harbour of yachts and narrow streets with traces of its Swedish past; in the British Virgin Islands, Jost Van Dyke’s beach bars and the granite boulders of The Baths on Virgin Gorda are classic calls for yacht-style and luxury ships. New yachts such as Orient Express Corinthian and Aman at Sea’s Amangati have chosen the Caribbean for their winter seasons.

When to go

The Caribbean season runs through the northern winter: in Castries, the main cruise season runs from October to April, when as many as five ships can call in a day. Summer brings warmer water, lower fares and the hurricane season, which every line plans around.

Our advice: for a first cruise, a week from Miami or Fort Lauderdale with a private-island day is hard to beat. For the islands themselves, sail south from San Juan or Bridgetown, or choose a small ship that can reach St Barts and the BVI; and arrive in your home port the day before.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The Caribbean & the Bahamas: the back story before you go.