Best Time for Caribbean Cruises

General and popular routes

Caribbean cruises have been one of the most popular routes for many years and make it possible to combine a variety of the beautiful Caribbean islands. Demand is rising unabated:

As more and more German shipping companies introduce additional Caribbean cruises, especially during the cold seasons in Europe, and numerous airlines fly directly to their departure and destination destinations, the dream trips are also becoming increasingly affordable.

The Caribbean is a pool of shipping companies from the various target markets and therefore also unites ships of all sizes and concepts. Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruises, P&O Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line or Disney have dominated the English-speaking market for years, but are also increasingly booked by German guests.

But even the favourite ships of the Germans have long been offering Caribbean cruises, from AIDA and TUI Cruises to MSC Cruises and Costa to Hapag Lloyd, the entire range of shipping companies is available.

The home ports and routes are very different. Many tours start in Miami or Fort Lauderdale (Florida / USA), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Nassau (Bahamas) and Bridgetown on Barbados are increasingly chosen as starting ports.

Other popular Caribbean cruise ports include Ocho Rios and Montego Bay in Jamaica, Cozumel in Mexico, Fort de France in Martinique, Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, Havana in Cuba, St. George’s in Grenada, Castries in St. Lucia, Willemstad in Curaçao and Oranjestad in Aruba.

Climate in the Caribbean

The Caribbean islands have a tropical to subtropical climate, which is significantly influenced by the north-east trade wind. All islands have quite constant, high temperatures all year round. Nevertheless, there are numerous regional characteristics and differences in the Caribbean.

In general, it can be said that the summer months not only bring more wind, but are also significantly wetter than winter. This is particularly true of the islands of the Greater Antilles, which can be hit by tropical cyclones between June and early November (hurricane season).

The southern Lesser Antilles, which can be divided into the islands under the wind and the islands above the wind. Due to the Passat, the latter group repeatedly records damp clouds that can rain down on the mountains throughout the year.

The islands under the wind, on the other hand, are much more sparse, there is far less rain and the temperatures are somewhat higher all year round. Caribbean countries like the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao), Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago are all under the wind and outside the usual hurricane belt.