Last week I addressed a common grievance we hear about cruising in the Caribbean: “We’ve been everywhere a dozen times. Show me something new.”
If going to a new island (in this case Cuba, discussed in the last post) doesn’t work for you, then how about a new type of ship?
Most of the mass-market ships that people travel to the Caribbean on are over 100,000 tons, and carry 2000 – 6000 passengers. These floating resorts are great for those who value the climbing walls, bumper cars and zip lines.
However, if you’re a bit tired of sharing the magnificence of the coral Caribbean Islands with thousands of others, there are other options. These fall into two categories:
Luxury (Small-Ship) Cruising
These ships are significantly smaller versions of the mega-ships, with much higher quality food, service, and amenities. These ships are usually around 30,000 tons and carry between 400 and 1000 passengers.
Besides the quality upgrades, the big advantage to these ships is that their size enables them to visit ports of call the mega-ships are unable to get into. Even if these small ships do visit one of the mainstream ports, they do so on days where the mega-ships aren’t there, so you only have to share the port stop with the few on your ship, as opposed to 10,000 or more passengers if there are 3 or 4 mega-ships in port.
These small-ship lines will cost more than the megaships (about $300 – $500 per person, per day), but have many more inclusions (particularly beverages), which offsets at least part of that additional cost. Cruise lines to consider in this category: Azamara, Crystal, Oceania, Regent, Seabourn, Silversea, Viking Ocean.
I was able to see 184 departures across these lines for next fall/winter – so there are lots of options.
Yacht, Expedition and Sailing Ships
If you don’t really need Broadway shows and casinos, then there are even smaller ships to get you around the Caribbean. These ships hold between 50 and 150 passengers, and range from luxury yachts to true expedition vessels.
These cruises can range in price from $200 per person, per day to upward of $1000 per day depending on your choices.
Most of these lines cater to the adventure traveller, who likes to sail in a bit of comfort. The meals are usually of a quality higher than you’ll find on any of the mass-market lines, and the entertainment might be a guy playing guitar on deck during cocktail hour.
These ships are larger than a sailboat charter, but you do get a private cabin with a private toilet/shower. Most of them are considered luxury offerings, but on a much smaller scale ship than what is traditionally viewed as a cruise ship.
If you’ve ever wanted to jump off the ship you’re travelling on, to go snorkeling on a beautiful reef, then these are the cruises you should be looking at. These ships tend to stay far away from any of the big cruise ship ports, so likely all your ports of call will be brand new to you.
Cruise lines offering these type of experiences: Lindblad, Crystal, Ponant, SeaDream, Star Clippers, and Windstar.
For next season, I can see 75 Caribbean departures across these lines – so again, there are lots of choices.
So if you want to try something new in the Caribbean, hopefully this gives you some ideas. These cruises tend to sell for more than the mass-market variety, but when you look across all your inclusions the costs are much closer than they appear at first glance.
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I look forward to hearing from you.
Sue Bradley
Sue Bradley
