The Caribbean is one of the special places, that once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

                                                                                          – Jacques Cousteau

During a family gathering in November of 2023, the four of us chatted about taking a family vacation together. Before we could throw out our adventurous ideas about possible destinations, we had to discuss when we could go, all together, based on our busy work schedules. We all agreed to make it one, big family Christmas present for the following year….but none of us really wanted to travel during Christmas, so we pushed it back to early 2025. Everyone kinda liked the idea of someplace warm, someplace tropical. The Caribbean seemed like a great location that “checked all our boxes”-sun, white sand beaches, warm water, snorkeling/swimming opportunities and good food and culture. But where? There’s a lot of beautiful islands to visit in the Caribbean. We chose to look at a cruise-a great way we could visit several of them on one trip. So, as the family trip planner, I started my research immediately!

After many months of searching, we chose to go with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL). A company with a pretty good reputation. In the end, most people (like us) who don’t cruise very often base it on two things, cost and cruise itineraries. NCL had cruises that fit our budgets and where we wanted to visit. We all agreed that we wanted to find a cruise that had minimal “days at sea.” We wanted a trip that could get us to as many islands as we could squeeze into the week we had together. We booked an Eastern Caribbean cruise, that started in San Juan Puerto Rico, and had Ports of Call in the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten/Saint Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas)-six different islands in seven days!

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Our starting point was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We arrived a day early with hopes of getting a chance to see some of the city. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough time to see many of the beautiful, historic sites. But we did manage to have a great dinner that included traditional mofongo, a dish made from deep-fried green plantain, mashed with garlic and butter and stuffed with meat such as pork, chicken, beef or seafood. It was very good! I was also able to slip out and do a little birding near our hotel.

After embarking, and going through the security checks, we were on our way, leaving San Juan at around 7:00 pm.

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If you choose a cruise with a busy itinerary of “island hopping” over several days, like we did, the advantage is that you “sail” overnight, and come into a new port every morning, so you don’t waste daylight hours traveling on the ship (at sea). The bummer about this (and most cruises for that matter), is that you only have 8-10 hrs. at that stop. It’s especially disappointing if there’s something you really want to see, or an activity you really want to do, that may take several hours, but you realize you may not have enough time to visit the site, or do the activity, and still get back in time before the ship leaves without you! And they will leave without you!

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Our first stop was Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. We chose to go with one of the ship’s excursions on our first day, to a very popular spot called the Baths on the island of Virgin Gorda. The Baths are big volcanic boulders that have lots of tight passages and tunnels in between them, that leads to a pretty little beach. However, we couldn’t really bring anything ashore with us since we had to swim/snorkel from the boat to get to these large rock formations. Then the real fun started! At this point, we had to hike on a very narrow path that meandered up and down between these rocks, including having to use ladders at certain points. This certainly wasn’t in the excursion description! I thought we signed up for snorkeling and swimming in and around these boulders, not a ½-mile hike sucking in my gut trying to squeeze in between them, while holding a pair of fins, mask and snorkel! After a brief swim and snorkel at the small, crowded beach, they hollered for us to get back on the boat. Although it was a pretty cool site, our first snorkeling adventure was pretty disappointing. But our next trip more than made up for it!

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We pulled into St. Johns, Antigua on day two early in the morning. It was sunny, but fairly windy. I had researched/booked a private trip for all of us, not associated with the ship. It was called Scooter Snorkeling. I had arranged for transportation with the company, and after a little mix-up with the time, we jumped into a van, with six others, including four German visitors. The bumpy, 40-minute ride brought us to Freeman’s Bay, at the southern end of the island. When I discovered this activity on the internet, and watched the video, I knew we had to try this. After a safety talk, they basically give you a 3’ long, torpedo-shaped underwater scooter, and snorkel equipment. These electric-powered little “submarines” pulled you through/under the water using three speeds. You could buzz along the surface and just look down, or you could be bold and allow them to take you down toward the bottom, if you could hold your breath, and your ear drums didn’t explode! It was a blast! We all agreed it was probably the most fun we’ve had in the water, and the most fun we had on the entire cruise! We saw a couple of Hawksbill Sea Turtles, a very cool Spotted Eagle Ray, a 2’ Barracuda and lots of colorful fish….as we buzzed through the ocean waves. We made our way to a rock formation called the Pillars of Hercules, where the guides snapped a couple family photos as we bobbed up and down in the rough water. It was tiring, but a really cool trip! We said we want to do it again, somewhere!

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Bridgetown, Barbados was our next port of call. Again, we decided to go with one of the ship’s snorkeling excursions to a nearby small wreck. I knew right away that it wasn’t quite what we were looking for when we pulled up in our boat, and there were (5) other crowded tour boats all anchored in the same spot, with a lot of people swimming around. Nevertheless, we threw our gear on, slipped into the water and joined all the other tourists in the water. Other than one very friendly Sting Ray, we didn’t see much. It was a short stop in Barbados, but we agreed that we should think about a return visit, to check out other parts of this island.

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One of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean is Saint Lucia. Day four landed us in their capital city, Castries, with its blend of French and British architecture. If you could imagine a tropical island that included white sand beaches, warm water, lush rainforests and towering volcanic mountains (called Pitons), Saint Lucia would be it! It has the most diverse landscape I’ve ever seen in the Caribbean, with people that were very warm and friendly. I had booked a private shuttle to the southern part of the island, to visit a beautiful beach called Sugar Beach, hidden deep in a private resort. My trip planning didn’t go quite as I had anticipated since the ride to the resort took over 2 hours-much more than the 50-minute commute I was told it would take. That meant another 2+ hours to get back, allowing us only about 1.5 hours at the beach. Our cruise ship was leaving port at 4:30 pm on this day, so it was a very nervous drive back, as we got stuck in traffic as the clock was ticking. Remember when I mentioned the cruise ship wouldn’t wait! But the short time we did have at the remote, beautiful Sugar Beach Resort was gorgeous! The beach sits right between two of the biggest Pitons on the island, called Grande Piton and Petit Piton. It was like you were put right into a postcard! The scenery was breathtaking, the war, calm water was crystal clear and the snorkeling was fantastic with lots of coral, and colorful fish. We found out while we were there that most people take water taxis down from Castries, which only takes about 50 minutes….hmmm, maybe that’s where I made my mistake. It was still an awesome visit to a beautiful beach. We wished we could have stayed all afternoon. And yes, we made it back to the ship with 10 minutes to spare!

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On day five our ship pulled into the port of Phillipsburg, on the unique island of Saint Maarten/St. Martin. The interesting fact about this single island is that it’s shared by two separate countries. The southern section of the island, where we docked, is Saint Maarten, Netherlands. The northern part is St. Martin, France. They like to refer to it as One Island-Two Nations-One People. Except for one historical monument, you would not notice crossing the borders at all, and you can get to anywhere on the island within one hour. Our destination on this day was Orient Beach, on the French side. Orient Beach was beautiful, with its soft white sand and turquoise blue water. It was really windy the day we visited, which is why it’s one of the top spots in the Caribbean for kitesurfing. There’s also a section of the beach where “clothing is optional.” We kept ours on! Today was a relaxing beach day under palm trees, where we played in the waves, and enjoyed a nice café lunch. I took an hour to check out the local birdlife and found (5) new lifers! I can understand why this island is one of the most popular destinations in the Caribbean.

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Our final stop on our Caribbean cruise was the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI)-a place we all agreed we definitely want to return to! Our ship docked in Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas. The USVI are as rich in history, as they are in beauty. The islands were the heart of the “Golden Age of Piracy” in the 1700’s and early 1800s, including home to William Teach, better known as the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, for over 13 years. Our entire family believes my brother, Jim, would have been a successful buccaneer or pirate if he lived during this time-especially here in the USVI. Brother Jim is a licensed sailboat captain (and scuba diver), and loves spending time on/in the water. A line in Jimmy Buffet’s song A Pirate Looks at Forty, describes him perfectly, “Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late.” We think he would have settled in nicely here in the USVI. During our visit, we chose to take one of the ship’s excursions that took us from the island of St. Thomas over to the island of St. John. Our destination was Trunk Bay in the Virgin Islands National Park, which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. It was an enjoyable 30-minute boat ride (narrated by a funny guide) from St. Thomas over to St. John, as we cruised through mesmerizing blue water and past sections of rugged coastline. At Trunk Bay we enjoyed swimming/snorkeling in the warm, calm water surrounded by tropical scenery. St. John was an awesome visit, much too short, but definitely an island we have on our radar to come back and explore more of!

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So, after 7 days, 7 ports of call, 6 different island nations and 2 U.S. territories, our family adventure came to an end. It was a fun, magical trip cruising through the tropical waters of the Caribbean, which we shared together, and created lots of wonderful memories.