A Caribbean cruise was not the most obvious chapter of our world trip. We usually liked having our own route, changing plans and staying longer when a place surprised us. A ship follows a timetable, delivers several thousand people to the same port and leaves again whether you are ready or not.
Still, somewhere between Africa, Oceania and Asia, Bianca decided that a proper beach break had to happen. A cruise suddenly made sense: every morning a new island, no need to pack again and no chance of seeing the same beach twice. We booked a seven-night Royal Caribbean cruise from San Juan on Adventure of the Seas.
Why we chose a cruise from Puerto Rico
San Juan was the starting point because Bianca had always wanted to visit Puerto Rico. That allowed us to combine the ship with a few days around Old San Juan and a road trip across the island. It also gave the Caribbean section a clear beginning and end instead of making it feel like a holiday dropped randomly into the middle of our route.
We booked through the American Royal Caribbean website because that offer worked better for us and included onboard credit. The exact deal belongs firmly in 2018, but the lesson still makes sense: prices and extras can differ between regional versions of a booking site, so comparing the complete package can be worthwhile.
St Martin and the aircraft at Maho Beach
Our first big island moment was St Martin, one small island shared by two countries. The northern part is French Saint-Martin, while the southern part is Dutch Sint Maarten. We went straight for the sight that had made the island famous far beyond the Caribbean: Maho Beach.
The runway begins immediately behind the sand, so arriving aircraft pass absurdly low above the beach. It is one of those experiences that looks edited in photographs until you stand there and watch an aeroplane fill the sky above your head. The beach itself was almost secondary. Everybody faced the airport, waited for the next arrival and tried to time a photo without losing a hat.
St Kitts from the port to the green hills
St Kitts looked completely different as we approached. Green volcanic hills rose behind Basseterre, while the port put the usual cruise mixture of shops, taxis and people holding excursion signs directly in front of the ship.
We did not try to turn one port day into a complete island guide. We walked, looked around and let the stop be exactly what it was: a first impression. A church tower between palms, bright streets and the view back over the harbour stayed in our photographs. Sometimes that is all a cruise day can honestly promise.
Life aboard Adventure of the Seas
The ship was not merely transport between islands. Adventure of the Seas was a floating hotel, restaurant, theatre and small city, and we needed the first days to understand where everything was. There was always food available, always something happening and always somebody trying to convince us that the next activity was unmissable.
In the evenings we watched the shows, walked the decks and looked down at the water moving beneath us. The entertainment was far more elaborate than we had expected, complete with an ice show on a ship in the middle of the Caribbean. It was slightly ridiculous and genuinely impressive at the same time.
Food was included in the rhythm of the day rather than being a small detail. Breakfast before leaving the ship, something after returning, dinner and the dangerous knowledge that another snack was never far away. Tipping and onboard extras made the final cost less simple than the advertised cruise fare, so the booking price was never the complete story.
Antigua by catamaran
Antigua promotes itself as the island of 365 beaches, one for every day of the year. We had only one day, so testing the claim properly was impossible. A catamaran with a snorkelling stop was the closest we could get.
This was exactly the kind of Caribbean day we had pictured before the cruise: bright water, white sand and a boat waiting just offshore. We sailed along the coast, stopped to snorkel and spent the rest of the time enjoying the very difficult job of doing almost nothing.
Back near the port, music and dancing replaced the quiet beach. It was a quick, polished version of Antigua built around the cruise schedule, but after months of organising our own transport and accommodation, we did not mind letting somebody else handle the day.
St Lucia, mud baths and the Pitons
St Lucia delivered the most dramatic scenery of the cruise. We travelled towards Soufrière, where the volcanic landscape became impossible to miss. The day included the mud baths, a fast boat along the coast and the two Pitons rising sharply from the sea.
The mud bath was not elegant. Everybody covered themselves in dark volcanic mud, waited, rinsed off and hoped there was some scientific reason for feeling pleased about it. Elegant or not, it was memorable.
Seeing the Pitons from the water was the highlight. The peaks looked far more impressive from a small boat than they had in photographs, and the ride gave us a completely different view of the island. We also passed Marigot Bay, a sheltered, palm-covered inlet associated with the filming of Doctor Dolittle.
Barbados and one final beach day
Our final island stop was Barbados. We chose Carlisle Bay and ended the route exactly as planned: on pale sand beside clear water, with no complicated programme and no reason to hurry beyond the ship’s departure time.
By then, the islands had started to blur slightly. That is the weakness of seeing five places in one week. You collect beautiful first impressions but rarely enough time to understand what lies behind them. St Lucia stood out for the landscape, St Martin for Maho Beach and Antigua for the catamaran, while Barbados became the quiet final chapter.
What the cruise gave us and what it could not
The cruise made island-hopping incredibly easy. We unpacked once, slept while the ship moved and woke up somewhere new. For a short Caribbean break inside a long journey, that convenience was the whole point.
The trade-off was equally clear. Port hours decided the day, organised excursions showed only selected parts of each island and we left just as places became interesting. We would never pretend that one cruise stop means knowing a country.
But that was not what we had booked it for. We wanted seven days of sun, water and a route we did not have to plan ourselves. Adventure of the Seas gave us exactly that before we returned to Puerto Rico, picked up a car and started travelling our own way again.