Oceania Marina - Caribbean Celebration from Miami

Where this cruise calls, day by day

10 ports and 5 sea days over 14 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Miami, FL

   United StatesDepart

   PortMiami is the busiest cruise port on earth and behaves like it: a lettered row of terminals strung along Dodge Island - A for Royal Caribbean, B for Norwegian, C for MSC, D through F for the Carnival brands, V for Virgin. Traffic funnels in over the Port Boulevard causeway or through the tunnel under Government Cut, and on a Saturday with six ships turning around, both back up.

   • Ocean Drive and the Art Deco district in South Beach, 20 minutes across the causeway
   • Wynwood Walls and the warehouse murals around it
   • Calle Ocho in Little Havana - a cortadito and the domino tables at Maximo Gomez Park
   • Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, a 1916 bayfront villa in Coconut Grove

   Getting ashore

   Terminals A-G and V sit on Dodge Island, reached by the Port Boulevard causeway or the PortMiami Tunnel; Miami International is about 8 miles west, usually 20-30 minutes but longer on a heavy turnaround morning.

   Best months

   Nov-Apr (Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season and August ashore is punishing)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   George Town

   Cayman IslandsPort

   George Town has no cruise pier, and that shapes everything: every passenger from every ship arrives by tender at one of two small harbourfront landings. When winter northwesters blow up, calls are cancelled outright and the ship sails on. Ashore it is a tidy, expensive capital of banks and duty-free shops - the actual draw is offshore at the Stingray City sandbar and up the coast at Seven Mile Beach.

   • Standing waist-deep with the rays at the Stingray City sandbar
   • Seven Mile Beach
   • Cayman Turtle Centre in West Bay
   • Starfish Point and Rum Point on the north shore

   Getting ashore

   Tender port - 10-15 minutes to the George Town landings, with Seven Mile Beach another 10-15 minutes by taxi or public bus.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr is driest; Sep-Oct brings the most rain and hurricane risk, and winter swells can scrub the tender operation entirely

4. Day 4

   Montego Bay

   JamaicaPort

   The cruise terminal sits out in the Freeport industrial zone on a spit west of the city, so nothing is walkable and everyone leaves by taxi or coach. Montego Bay itself is Jamaica's tourist capital - the Hip Strip and Doctor's Cave Beach are ten minutes away and the plantation-era great houses are in the hills behind. It is also the nearest port to Negril, though that is 90 minutes each way.

   • Doctor's Cave Beach and the Hip Strip
   • Rose Hall Great House and its Annie Palmer legend
   • Bamboo rafting on the Martha Brae
   • Jerk chicken at Scotchies

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at the Montego Bay Cruise Terminal in Freeport; the Hip Strip is a 10-15 minute taxi and there is nothing at the pier itself.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr is driest; Aug-Oct is hurricane season

5. Day 5 · At sea

6. Day 6

   Oranjestad

   ArubaPort

   Aruba sits below the hurricane belt and gets under 20 inches of rain a year, which is why the leeward coast is one long resort beach and the interior is cactus and divi-divi trees permanently bent by the trade wind. The cruise terminal is in central Oranjestad, with Dutch-colonial pastel shopfronts starting at the gate and a free streetcar running the main street.

   • Eagle Beach and Palm Beach
   • Arikok National Park and the Natural Pool by 4x4
   • Baby Beach at the far southeast tip
   • The California Lighthouse and the dunes below it

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock in downtown Oranjestad - walk out of the terminal into town; Eagle Beach is a 10-minute taxi or bus ride.

   Best months

   Good all year; Jan-Apr is driest and busiest, Oct-Dec brings brief showers. Outside the hurricane belt

7. Day 7

   Willemstad

   CuracaoPort

   The arrival is the best part of the day. Ships either tie up at the Mega Pier just outside the harbour mouth or sail directly into St. Anna Bay past the Handelskade's row of ochre and mint waterfront houses. Willemstad is a UNESCO site and a genuinely Dutch city dropped into the tropics - floating market, a pontoon bridge that swings open for shipping, and the oldest synagogue still in use in the Americas.

   • The Queen Emma pontoon bridge and the Handelskade waterfront
   • Mikvé Israel-Emanuel synagogue and its sand floor
   • Kurá Hulanda museum's slavery collection
   • West-coast beaches like Cas Abao and Grote Knip

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock; the Mega Pier is a 10-15 minute walk into Otrobanda, while the inner-harbour berth puts you beside the pontoon bridge.

   Best months

   Year-round; Oct-Dec is wettest but the rain is brief. Outside the hurricane belt

8. Day 8

   Kralendijk

   BonairePort

   Bonaire's entire coastline is a protected marine park, and the island is organised around getting into it - shore diving is the default here, marked by numbered yellow stones along the coast road rather than dive boats. Ships dock in the middle of tiny Kralendijk, so town is a two-minute walk, but town is small. The point is the water, or the salt pans and flamingos down south.

   • Shore snorkelling and diving in Bonaire National Marine Park
   • Klein Bonaire by water taxi
   • The southern salt pans, slave huts and flamingo colony
   • Washington Slagbaai National Park

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock right in Kralendijk - you step off into town; any in-water activity requires a paid STINAPA nature tag.

   Best months

   Year-round; Oct-Jan is the wetter stretch. Outside the hurricane belt

9. Day 9 · At sea

10. Day 10

    Fort-de-France

    MartiniquePort

    Martinique is France — euros, French road signs, real bakeries, and prices to match. Fort-de-France is a proper city with Fort Saint-Louis on the point and the Bibliothèque Schoelcher, a Byzantine-looking iron building shipped over from the 1889 Paris exposition. The swimming beaches are across the bay, and the small ferry over is the cheapest good decision of the day.

    • Bibliothèque Schoelcher and the Saint-Louis Cathedral
    • Ferry across the bay to Pointe du Bout and Anse Mitan
    • Jardin de Balata
    • Habitation Clément rum estate

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock either at Pointe Simon in the city center or at the Tourelles terminal about 2km out, which needs a shuttle.

    Best months

    Dec-Apr (carême, the dry season); Jul-Nov is the wetter hivernage with hurricane risk

11. Day 11

    Basseterre

    St. Kitts and NevisPort

    The pier lands you at Port Zante in the middle of Basseterre, a working Caribbean capital rather than a mall. What sets St. Kitts apart is the scenic railway: a narrow-gauge line built to haul sugar cane, now running double-decker cars around the north of the island for about three hours. Expect firm sales pressure from photo vendors with vervet monkeys at the scenic overlooks.

    • St. Kitts Scenic Railway
    • Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park (UNESCO)
    • Timothy Hill overlook across the Narrows
    • South Friars Bay and Cockleshell Bay on the southeast peninsula

    Getting ashore

    Docked at Port Zante with Basseterre at the gate; the southeast peninsula beaches are 20-30 minutes by taxi and the Nevis ferry takes about 45 minutes.

    Best months

    Dec-Apr; Aug-Oct is hurricane season

12. Day 12

    Philipsburg

    St. MaartenPort

    A one-street town on Great Bay: Front Street for duty-free liquor and jewelry, Back Street behind it, and a boardwalk of bars on the sand. The island's real draw is elsewhere — Maho Beach at the end of the Princess Juliana runway, where arriving jets pass a few dozen feet overhead, and the French side at Marigot and Grand Case for lunch.

    • Maho Beach plane spotting
    • Great Bay boardwalk and Front Street
    • Orient Bay on the French side
    • Loterie Farm zip line and hiking on Pic Paradis

    Getting ashore

    Docked at the A.C. Wathey pier; town is a 20-25 minute walk around the bay or a few dollars each way by water taxi.

    Best months

    Dec-Apr; Sep-Oct is the hurricane peak, and damage from Irma in 2017 is still visible in places

13. Day 13 · At sea

14. Day 14 · At sea

15. Day 15

    Miami, FL

    United StatesArrive

    PortMiami is the busiest cruise port on earth and behaves like it: a lettered row of terminals strung along Dodge Island - A for Royal Caribbean, B for Norwegian, C for MSC, D through F for the Carnival brands, V for Virgin. Traffic funnels in over the Port Boulevard causeway or through the tunnel under Government Cut, and on a Saturday with six ships turning around, both back up.

    • Ocean Drive and the Art Deco district in South Beach, 20 minutes across the causeway
    • Wynwood Walls and the warehouse murals around it
    • Calle Ocho in Little Havana - a cortadito and the domino tables at Maximo Gomez Park
    • Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, a 1916 bayfront villa in Coconut Grove

    Getting ashore

    Terminals A-G and V sit on Dodge Island, reached by the Port Boulevard causeway or the PortMiami Tunnel; Miami International is about 8 miles west, usually 20-30 minutes but longer on a heavy turnaround morning.

    Best months

    Nov-Apr (Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season and August ashore is punishing)