Caribbean itineraries are getting repetitive. Is it because of the bigger ships?

[Belgian fry]

Looking for a Caribbean cruise in early 2025, but nothing really grabs my attention. There are lots of islands I haven't visited, but it seems Celebrity never goes there. Is it because the ships are too big? Are cruise lines banned from certain islands?

[1025cruise]

The most popular cruise is a 7 day out of Florida. Only so far they can go in 7 days.

[DCPIV]

Size certainly is part of it.  Only so many ports can accomodate these ships just on size.  The port also needs a certain sort of facility for cruise passenger travel (it ain't the same as freight).  There are some islands we've been to on smaller ships that larger ships do not go to (although it's changing a bit).

 

On a related note, you have some islands that don't want any tourists or, at least, don't want cruise ships.  

 

Pricing is another reason.  As mentioned above, the popular cruises go out of Florida.  It takes a couple days to get down to the southern islands, so that limits what you can do unless you extend the cruise beyond the also popular 7-night format.  While some to sail from Caribbean ports, the air fare to get there keeps a lot of folks away.

 

 

[TeeRick]

In general smaller ships can get into a wider variety of ports.  The smaller luxury lines have more interesting destinations.  For larger cruise ships, one example- it used to be that only M-Class ships could fully transit the Panama Canal.  Now with the new locks larger ships could fit - but still need to be modified to go under the Bridge of the Americas.

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Belgian fry said:

Looking for a Caribbean cruise in early 2025, but nothing really grabs my attention. There are lots of islands I haven't visited, but it seems Celebrity never goes there. Is it because the ships are too big? Are cruise lines banned from certain islands?

 

Which Caribbean islands (besides Cuba) are you interested in that Celebrity does not visit?

Edited February 23, 2023 by mahdnc

[baggal]

Celebrity is not known for varied and interesting itineraries. 

 

We were very recently on a 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Rotterdam.  With the exception of St. Marten and St. Thomas  which we had previously visited multiple times, all the other ports were new and interesting to us:  St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Martinique.  We took the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John for a day at the beach there.  And then finally, a stop at Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island (which Celebrity doesn't have).

 

My advise to you is to look at other cruise lines.

[DCPIV]

7 minutes ago, baggal said:

Celebrity is not known for varied and interesting itineraries. 

 

We were very recently on a 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Rotterdam.  With the exception of St. Marten and St. Thomas  which we had previously visited multiple times, all the other ports were new and interesting to us:  St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Martinique.  We took the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John for a day at the beach there.  And then finally, a stop at Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island (which Celebrity doesn't have).

 

My advise to you is to look at other cruise lines.

 

Well, that was an 11-day cruise.  We've been on longer Celebrity cruises out of Florida that have gone to Aruba, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and Puerta Plata (along with Martinique, Barbados, and St. Thomas, but those are hardly anything rare for a southern Caribbean cruise).  Other itineraries hit Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, and maybe some other spots, but those also are 11+ nighters.

 

By the way, Martinique can keep itself.  The only thing I find attractive about Martinique these days is the view from the ship.

[Turtles06]

15 minutes ago, baggal said:

Celebrity is not known for varied and interesting itineraries. 

 

We were very recently on a 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Rotterdam.  With the exception of St. Marten and St. Thomas  which we had previously visited multiple times, all the other ports were new and interesting to us:  St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Martinique.  We took the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John for a day at the beach there.  And then finally, a stop at Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island (which Celebrity doesn't have).

 

My advise to you is to look at other cruise lines.

Um, we visited St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and Barbados on the Celebrity Silhouette 14 months ago. 

[Belgian fry]

27 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Which Caribbean islands (besides Cuba) are you interested in that Celebrity does not visit?

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

[Belgian fry]

17 minutes ago, baggal said:

Celebrity is not known for varied and interesting itineraries. 

 

We were very recently on a 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Rotterdam.  With the exception of St. Marten and St. Thomas  which we had previously visited multiple times, all the other ports were new and interesting to us:  St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Martinique.  We took the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John for a day at the beach there.  And then finally, a stop at Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island (which Celebrity doesn't have).

 

My advise to you is to look at other cruise lines.

I must have done too many cruises as I've been to all of those before.

 

I've cruised HAL before, but have higher status with Celebrity. Maybe I need to switch lines, you're right

[NMTraveller]

Celebrity used to have longer itineraries,  but not anymore ...

 

Try a much smaller ship or different cruise line.

Edited February 23, 2023 by NMTraveller

[DCPIV]

14 minutes ago, Belgian fry said:

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

 

Antigua can take larger ships.  We were recently there on Equinox, but that was a longer cruise (10-night).  It used to be a very common Caribbean port.

 

We've also been to Grand Turk, Grenada, other Bahamas (Bridgetown), St. Vincent, and Dominica, but that was on a smaller ship (Silver Wind).  As far as I know, only small ships can go to St. Bart's.

 

Royal Caribbean and Princess sail to Trinidad.

 

I don't know who sails to Barbuda, but that's definitely a tender port.  There's another thing, tender ports are becoming less popular with the mass market cruise lines.

[DCPIV]

26 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Celebrity used to have longer itineraries,  but not anymore ...

 

Try a much smaller ship or different cruise line.

 

If you do a search, you'll see quite a few 10-12 night Caribbean itineraries. Perhaps it's not what it once was, but it's there.

 

I'm not trying to be some sort of cheerleader, but what you said is just wrong.

[soniam]

21 minutes ago, Belgian fry said:

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

 

We have been to Antigua on Celebrity. It was a 7 night out of Puerto Rico. I think Celebrity does Tortola (BVI); I know DCL does. You probably won't hit Trinidad & Tobago on a cruise, only 1, Tobago. I don't know of anyone that goes anywhere in the Bahamas except Nassau and private islands, ie Coco Cay (RCL), Castaway Cay (DCL), and Bimini (Virgin). HAL seems to go to Turks/Caicos, Bimini & Half Moon Cay (Bahamas), St Vincent/Grenadines, Trinidad/Tobago, Tortola (BVI), Grenada, and Antigua. I would look into them. I think Monserrat and St Barths don't do cruise ships.

[ymncruise]

31 minutes ago, Belgian fry said:

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

Last summer infinity & equinox had an itinerary that included some of these islands. Bimini, t&c & bvi. 

[mahdnc]

38 minutes ago, Belgian fry said:

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

 

38 minutes ago, Belgian fry said:

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

 

Thank you.  Yeah, many on your list are not visited (or rarely visited) by Celebrity except for Antigua.  The beloved 14 night Caribbean itineraries often called on Grenada but they have been discontinued since 2019.

Edited February 23, 2023 by mahdnc

[Jeremiah1212]

All of the ports indicated in this graphic should have at least one stop during the 24/25 season. 
 

Ship size, the preference to avoid tendering, lack of things to do on some of the more obscure islands, port congestion, etc. all have an impact on where you can visit. 
 

 

[Belgian fry]

40 minutes ago, DCPIV said:

 

If you do a search, you'll see quite a few 10-12 night Caribbean itineraries. Perhaps it's not what it once was, but it's there.

 

I'm not trying to be some sort of cheerleader, but what you said is just wrong.

I've done a search and I spent quite some time last week on the Equinox investigating. I really didn't find anything I wanted to book.

 

I wonder if Regent might be an alternative? Have been playing around on *****

[C4HCG]

1 hour ago, baggal said:

Celebrity is not known for varied and interesting itineraries. 

 

We were very recently on a 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Rotterdam.  With the exception of St. Marten and St. Thomas  which we had previously visited multiple times, all the other ports were new and interesting to us:  St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Martinique.  We took the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John for a day at the beach there.  And then finally, a stop at Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island (which Celebrity doesn't have).

 

My advise to you is to look at other cruise lines.

Confused! We have done all the islands you’ve listed on Equinox apart from Half Moon Cay which to be honest we’d have no interest in visiting, we like visiting islands to see their history, people, atmosphere, culture etc.

[DCPIV]

22 minutes ago, Belgian fry said:

I've done a search and I spent quite some time last week on the Equinox investigating. I really didn't find anything I wanted to book.

 

I wonder if Regent might be an alternative? Have been playing around on *****

 

Yes, it is.  It looks like Regent, Silversea, Seabourne, Windstar all are alternatives. 

 

Azamara also is when they have a ship down there.  We were aboard Onward for a very nice cruise in the southern Caribbean back in December.

[NutsAboutGolf]

30 minutes ago, DCPIV said:

 

Yes, it is.  It looks like Regent, Silversea, Seabourne, Windstar all are alternatives. 

 

Azamara also is when they have a ship down there.  We were aboard Onward for a very nice cruise in the southern Caribbean back in December.

 

Might be able to do a back to back with different itineraries on X cheaper than you can do one of those

[time4u2go]

2 hours ago, Belgian fry said:

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

From your list of 11, they go to the following 7:

 

Antigua: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/antigua

Bahamas (not Nassau): https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/grand-bahama

Bimini: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/bimini

BVI: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/british-virgin-islands

Grenada: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/grenada

Saint Vincent: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/st-vincent

Turks and Caicos: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/grand-turk-turks-and-caicos

 

Granted, I did not check dates of cruises that go to these places.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by time4u2go

[Hlitner]

There are many factors.  Many Caribbean islands do not even want cruise ships (especially large cruise ships).  The islands that do accept large ships have limited pier space and the cruise lines prefer to avoid tendering.  And, has been posted, since most cruises are 7 days, there are only a limited number of islands within range.  If you take a longer Caribbean cruise (such as 10 days +) there are ohter options such as Aruba, Curacao, of even ports in places like Costa Rica.  

 

Another option, for those that want to stick to short 7 day cruises, is to take cruises that embark from San Juan, St Maarten or Barbados.  Using those embarkation ports means that many more islands are within cruising range.

 

One other thing.  Try expanding your horizons to other cruise lines :).  Once you become more flexible, a lot of new options become available.

 

Hank

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 hours ago, Belgian fry said:

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

The more southern islands we have visited on Celebrity out of Puerto Rico.  Several on your list require smaller ships as said.

[Kelownadon]

Our first 2 Caribbean cruises were 14 night cruises on the Celebrity Eclipse. Too bad you don’t find those any more. Today you are lucky to find an 11 night cruise which we found and are doing in 2024. Our favourite Islands are Barbados, Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten. There probably are a few others but not too many as we are not beach people. I wouldn’t ever consider doing anything less than a 10 night Caribbean cruise as I would hate getting the feeling that the cruise is almost over two days after you start.