Nowadays it’s hard to find a cruise line that doesn’t take you to the sunny rays in the Caribbean, but this makes it even harder to choose which ship to go with.
You need to know which mega lines have just revealed new itineraries and which ships are coming to the region in 2018, 2019 and even 2020.
Disclaimer: you may just need to book a Caribbean cruise straight after this so have your bank card at the ready…
Princess
Princess will be offering summer Caribbean cruises from Florida in 2019, featuring seven-night Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean itineraries, although 14-night sailings are still available.
The summer season, from May until July 2019, will offer 17 cruise departures roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale, visiting seven countries across four unique itineraries.
The main highlights of the season will include access to UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, on every Western Caribbean cruise; more late-night says in St. Thomas and Cozumel; and calls to Princess Cays, the line’s private beach resort, on every seven-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary.
You can catch up on what it’s like to cruise with Princess with the popular ITV documentary, The Cruise, onboard Royal Princess. It returns tonight for a six-part series documenting how the crew work together to make a cruise around the Mediterranean memorable to guests.
Princess also just revealed that they are continuing their tradition of inviting underpriveleged children onboard Sapphire Princess. The children and their families receive a full tour of the ocean liner with games and activities to take part in.
Celebrity
Celebrity’s 2019/2020 Caribbean season will feature sailings to 25 destinations across 19 countries on six ships, including 245 extended port visits.
The brand’s next ship to launch, Celebrity Edge, will offer seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries once it launches in late 2018, calling at ports like Tortola, St. Maarten, Grand Cayman and Key West.
Celebrity Equinox will emerge from a multimillion-dollar renovation in 2019 to once again offer year-round Caribbean sailings, from Fort Lauderdale; ports will include Punta Cana, St. Thomas and Grand Cayman.
Another ship that will receive a refurb is Celebrity Summit, before heading out on 10 and 11-night Canada/New England and Bermuda sailings, as well as week-long Southern Caribbean departures from San Juan (including new itineraries to the ABC Islands).
Celebrity Infinity will sail short, four and five-night Caribbean cruises from Fort Lauderdale, with alternating visits to Cozumel and Nassau, in addition to Key West.
Celebrity Reflection will sail longer, 10 and 11-night cruises to destinations such as Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, Aruba, Curacao, Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico.
Celebrity Silhouette will offer 9 and 12-night Southern Caribbean cruises to Grand Cayman, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, or ports like St. Lucia, Grenada and Barbados. This liner will also undergo the fleetwide “Celebrity Revolution” upgrades in early 2020.
In October 2017, on the 29th anniversary of National Coming Out Day, Celebrity Cruises confirmed same-sex marriages onboard. The brand’s ships are mostly registered in Malta which legalized same-sex marriages in July last year.
Celebrity’s next ship, Celebrity Edge, has brought forward its launch date as it will be completed ahead of schedule. Edge will now make her official debut on a new 7-night Western Caribbean sailing departing from Ft. Lauderdale on 9th December 2018.
NCL
For the first time ever, Norwegian Breakaway will homeport in Miami, where it will join Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Bliss (launching April 2018) in the seasonal Caribbean cruises they will offer.
Norwegian Breakaway is due to sail a mix of Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises in the 2019 summer season whilst Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Bliss will also spend their 2018 – 2019 winters in the Caribbean, sailing from Miami.
Meanwhile, Norwegian Escape will re-position from Miami to New York and continue to offer select Caribbean routes.
The new seven-night Eastern Caribbean itineraries offered by Norwegian Breakaway will include stops in St. Thomas, Tortola, San Juan and Nassau.
And, the seven-night Western Caribbean itineraries will call at Roatan, Cozumel, Costa Maya and Norwegian Cruise Line Holding’s purpose-built island in Southern Belize, Harvest Caye.
Norwegian Bliss, the line’s new ship, is due to launch the biggest ever racetrack at sea; the Ferrari feature will measure almost 1,000 feet and guests can race eachother at speeds up to 30mph.
In July 2017, NCL deployed a second ship to Cuba with an all-inclusive ship; the Caribbean port of call is one under the risk of a new policy enforced by US President, Donald Trump, although cruise lines appear committed to sailing to the destination.
SeaDream
“The Caribbean has had a strong recovery underway since September. We are already calling on the Leeward Islands and posting images and updates on our Facebook page and to our blog,” according to SeaDream Yacht Club President, Bob Lepisto.
The line, which focuses on ‘yachting’ plans to call on destinations such as Virgin Gorda, St. Barts and Antigua in the early months of 2018.
Itinerary highlights will include a seven-night roundtrip sailing from San Juan on February 10th to Culebrita Island and Vieques Island, Puerto Rico; Saba; Gustavia, St. Barts (overnight); Sandy Ground, Anguilla; Soper’s Hole, Tortola; Norman Island (overnight) and White Bay, Jost van Dyke, B.V.I.
Passengers also have the option to book seven nights cruising from Barbados to St. Thomas or roundtrip from St. Thomas, both in March. A six-night cruise roundtrip from Antigua will depart on March 31st.
Have you cruised the Caribbean yet? Who have you sailed with? Are you planning on making the most out of being able to cruise to Cuba? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!
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