Cruise lines cut Caribbean trips

While some lines are cutting the number of cruise ships they keep in the Caribbean, preferring to home-port them in Europe, others, like Celebrity, are changing their cruise offerings to find a balance that keeps veteran cruisers interested but appeals to first-time cruisers. Part of the reason is the crowding that now happens in Caribbean ports, where queuing to get ashore is often complicated by the time the ship needs to queue just to get a berth – cruise lines try to deal with this by adding new ports that are less crowded, such as Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Aruba.

Equally, shore excursions have become more imaginative to cater to the many repeat cruisers who have ‘been there, done that’ for all the standard trips like swimming with dolphins, snorkelling or visiting waterfalls. The new offerings include jungle survival tours, zip lining, bike trips and helicopter rides. There are even tours of the Bacardi rum factory in Puerto Rico on offer.