Virgin Islands

[Bob NC]

We have taken 9 Carnival cruises, have been to all the likely suspects in the Caribbean.

 

What line is there to choose to visit St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados?  Some islands off the regular Carnival rotation.

 

What ship lines are you choosing to visit these other islands?

[staceyglow]

There are Carnival cruise ships that go to St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and Barbados. 

 

I don't think any of the mass market cruise ships go to Nevis, but I have taken excursions out of St. Kitts that ferry you over there. 

[carol louise]

I would suggest researching cruises departing out of San Juan. Royal Caribbean is one line I know of that does it. Or any line that advertises Southern Caribbean itineraries. In addition to the islands you mention, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao are lovely.

 

My sister has booked a cruise on Carnival Magic for next year, specifically because the itinerary includes Curaçao.

[mets07]

Royal does these islands (other than Nevis - go there on excursion from St. Kitts if desired) ... from  New Jersey, Florida, and San Juan.  Other beautiful islands as mentioned include ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). Use "Find a Cruise" option on Royal webiste.

 

[Essiesmom]

Go to cruisetimetables.com and click on ‘cruises to’. Select those islands.  Then choose the times you want to cruise, and it will tell you who calls there, and their itineraries.  EM

Edited October 14, 2023 by Essiesmom

[Honolulu Blue]

14 hours ago, Bob NC said:

We have taken 9 Carnival cruises, have been to all the likely suspects in the Caribbean.

 

What line is there to choose to visit St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados?  Some islands off the regular Carnival rotation.

 

What ship lines are you choosing to visit these other islands?

I've been to all those islands (except Nevis) on Carnival and Celebrity.  My last cruise on Carnival took me to St. Kitts and Barbados:

 

 

 

All those islands, and others in the region, are great to visit, IMHO.  NONE of the ones you mentioned in your post are part of the Virgin Islands, BTW.  On the same Carnival Cruise, I DID get to one of the rarer V.I. stops - Tortola, part of the British Virgin Islands:

 

 

Enjoy your cruise, whenever and wherever you decide to go.  

[carol louise]

Another island with a different vibe is Trinidad. Multi cultural and colorful. 

[havanadaydreaming]

I dont think any cruise lines go to Nevis.  

 

I've been to all the others on Carnival and NCL.  (headed to Lucia, Barbados, St Thomas, St Maarten and Dominica two weeks from today on CCL) 

[lazydayz]

For more variety, we have started to take longer cruises.  We have two repositioning cruises booked for next year that offer new (to us) ports, including Barbados and St. Croix.

 

Check out the Pride repositioning cruise from Tampa to Baltimore, and the Venezia from NYC to Port Canaveral.  

[kew1031]

We have a Journeys cruise booked from Galveston that will take us to Key West, San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Croix in USVI, St. Kitts, Amber Cove, St. Maarten, and Ocho Rios(not the exact order). Getting to those places from Galveston takes a long time! There is also an 11or 12 day that goes south to Aruba and Curacao.

[dbrucern]

23 hours ago, Bob NC said:

We have taken 9 Carnival cruises, have been to all the likely suspects in the Caribbean.

 

What line is there to choose to visit St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados?  Some islands off the regular Carnival rotation.

 

What ship lines are you choosing to visit these other islands?

Carnival does but if you want all those islands on one cruise look for a journey cruise typically 10 days or more. We have been to all of them the Venezia is doing a 14 day out of Port Carnaval that is doing a few of those ports

[Itried4498]

On 10/13/2023 at 1:00 PM, Bob NC said:

We have taken 9 Carnival cruises, have been to all the likely suspects in the Caribbean.

 

What line is there to choose to visit St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados?  Some islands off the regular Carnival rotation.

 

What ship lines are you choosing to visit these other islands?

 

I recommend looking for a ship that begins and ends in San Juan.  Unfortunately, they're not as common as they use to be.  RCL has the largest selection; Disney, NCL, etc. have (literally) a few.  Princess and NCL have 14- (and even longer, including 21) day itineraries that hit many of these ports.  The downside is that most Southern Caribbean itineraries use older, smaller ships that aren't configured with all the bells and whistles.  

 

Princess' is introducing its newest ship late next year (which will introduce a new class) on some 14-day Carribean runs from Fort Lauderdale that include some of these ports  But they're also heavy on their private island, Cozumel, Jamaica, etc.  No surprise the industry makes most of its calls at the ports that deliver the most revenue :).

 

 

[jsglow]

I was just glancing at options. Carnival does those islands, but infrequently. Princess has some nice cruises out of FLL. Agree with those who recommend San Juan. So wish Carnival would put a ship back there. Nuther topic.

[SRQbeachgirl]

Celebrity has quite a few cruises that go to some of the lesser visited islands - St. Kitts, Barbados, Martinique, St. Lucia, Tortola...

 

Our upcoming 8-day on Celebrity will be visiting Tortola and we're going over to the Baths on Virgin Gorda, which has been on my bucket list for years---can't wait!

[JHU]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:00 PM, Bob NC said:

We have taken 9 Carnival cruises, have been to all the likely suspects in the Caribbean.

 

What line is there to choose to visit St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados?  Some islands off the regular Carnival rotation.

 

What ship lines are you choosing to visit these other islands?

I didn't find Nevis particularly interesting.

[purpleally]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:00 PM, Bob NC said:

We have taken 9 Carnival cruises, have been to all the likely suspects in the Caribbean.

 

What line is there to choose to visit St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados?  Some islands off the regular Carnival rotation.

 

What ship lines are you choosing to visit these other islands?

Seabourn, Celebrity. Have both scheduled in the next 18 months 

[shof515]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:00 PM, Bob NC said:

We have taken 9 Carnival cruises, have been to all the likely suspects in the Caribbean.

 

What line is there to choose to visit St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados?  Some islands off the regular Carnival rotation.

 

What ship lines are you choosing to visit these other islands?

 

i am doing the 12 day carnival journey cruise out of NYC in march that goes to those ports: St Kitts, St Lucia and Barbados

[staceyglow]

2 hours ago, JHU said:

I didn't find Nevis particularly interesting.

Apparently you didn't have any Killer Bees at Sunshine's Bar!  😄

[BlerkOne]

On 10/14/2023 at 8:52 AM, havanadaydreaming said:

I dont think any cruise lines go to Nevis.  

 

 

Windstar and Sea Dream are regulars.

[Viajera7]

On 10/14/2023 at 6:34 PM, Itried4498 said:

 

The downside is that most Southern Caribbean itineraries use older, smaller ships that aren't configured with all the bells and whistles.  

 

 

My next NCL cruise is the new ship, Viva  for the Christmas cruise and it has some of those islands: Barbados, St. Lucia, Tortola, Antigua, St. Maarten and St.Thomas out of San Juan. Before the Viva, the Epic was the NCL ship out of San Juan for the winter season. The last couple of years I did b2bs on the Epic and it had 2 different itineraries. If you did a b2b you would have different islands except for St. Lucia that was in both cruises. I remember that Curacao was there too. The Epic was old but big so it had many things to do.

[momof3cruisers]

On 10/14/2023 at 1:40 PM, kew1031 said:

We have a Journeys cruise booked from Galveston that will take us to Key West, San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Croix in USVI, St. Kitts, Amber Cove, St. Maarten, and Ocho Rios(not the exact order). Getting to those places from Galveston takes a long time! There is also an 11or 12 day that goes south to Aruba and Curacao.

How many days and may I ask the date? Thanks.

[red lobster]

I've done several with Royal and 1 with NCL, great itineraries and terrific islands. I've stayed at a Four Seasons resort in Nevis years ago, to me spend time on St Kitts rather than waste part of the day going back and forth to the island. The ships I've gone on were all large ships, with many activities. These were all 7 day cruises out of San Juan, and it would wonderful to do the back to back, but work just gets in the way.

[kew1031]

12 hours ago, momof3cruisers said:

How many days and may I ask the date? Thanks.

the Journeys cruise we're booked on is January 11, 2025. 14 days. On the Dream out of Galveston.

[chill6x6]

On 10/13/2023 at 3:00 PM, Bob NC said:

We have taken 9 Carnival cruises, have been to all the likely suspects in the Caribbean.

 

What line is there to choose to visit St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, Barbados?  Some islands off the regular Carnival rotation.

 

What ship lines are you choosing to visit these other islands?

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have cruises that visits those.  Celebrity has a great itinerary out of San Juan.  Royal has a couple of 8-day cruises that hit St Kitts(Love St Kitts, BTW).  Royal now has an itinerary out of San Juan that goes to Trinidad and Tobago which are new for me and I'm going coming up in March.  Royal also has a 9-day that hits some great ports but I can't go when it is offered.  Check Celebrity and Royal out.

[sunshower9]

I'm doing a 10 day on Celebrity Beyond in 2025 that visits St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, and St. Maarten.  It leaves from Ft. Lauderdale.  They have some other great itineraries as well.

 

I had booked an 8 day cruise on Carnival Vista for next year that originally visited St. Kitts, but they changed it to St. Thomas instead.  They seem to only be visiting St. Kitts on Journeys cruises now.  St. Kitts was one of the reasons why I booked that cruise, so it's disappointing but I'll survive lol.