Seven Seas Splendor - Caribbean Paradise

Where this cruise calls, day by day

6 ports and 5 sea days over 10 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 · At sea

4. Day 4

   San Juan

   Puerto RicoPort

   The piers sit directly under the walls of Old San Juan, which makes this one of the few Caribbean calls where you step off and are already somewhere worth being. Blue cobblestones, 16th-century Spanish fortifications, and a working city rather than a shopping arcade. It is also a major homeport, so a call often lands in the middle of turnaround traffic.

   • Castillo San Felipe del Morro on the headland
   • Castillo San Cristóbal and the city walls
   • Casa Bacardí distillery, reached by the Cataño ferry
   • El Yunque National Forest, about an hour east

   Getting ashore

   Most ships dock at Piers 1-4 in Old San Juan and you walk straight into the historic district; the largest ships use the Pan American piers on Isla Grande, a short shuttle or taxi ride out.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr is driest and busiest; Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season

5. Day 5 · At sea

6. Day 6

   Gustavia

   Saint BarthélemyPort

   St Barth has no cruise pier and no ambition to build one, so this is a tender call and in practice a small-ship one — the big ships do not come. Gustavia is a tidy French harbor town of red roofs and superyachts where the shops are Hermès and Cartier rather than duty-free liquor. It is expensive in a way that catches people out; a sandwich and a beer costs what a meal does elsewhere.

   • Shell Beach, walkable from the harbor
   • St Jean Beach, under the airport approach
   • Anse de Grande Saline and Gouverneur beaches
   • Fort Karl viewpoint and the Wall House museum

   Getting ashore

   Tender into Gustavia harbor, which puts you in the middle of town; Shell Beach is a 10-minute walk and the other beaches need a taxi or a rented Mini Moke.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr, with a very expensive holiday high season; September is when much of the island closes

7. Day 7

   Bridgetown

   BarbadosPort

   Barbados is bigger and more developed than most Eastern Caribbean calls and works less like a beach stop than a country with its own economy — a capital with a UNESCO-listed Georgian core, a calm west coast for swimming and a wild Atlantic east coast that surfs. It is also a major homeport, so calls frequently coincide with turnaround crowds.

   • Snorkeling with sea turtles and the wrecks in Carlisle Bay
   • Harrison's Cave tram tour
   • Bathsheba and the east coast
   • Mount Gay rum tour or St. Nicholas Abbey

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the deep-water port about a mile from Broad Street — walkable, but the route runs through a working port, so most people take the short taxi.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr dry season; Jun-Nov is wetter, though Barbados sits far enough east to be hit less often

8. Day 8

   St. George's

   GrenadaPort

   One of the better-looking harbors in the region — the Carenage curves around a drowned volcanic crater with pastel warehouses stacked up the hillside and Fort George looking down on it. Grenada still runs on nutmeg and cocoa rather than duty-free, so the excursions are working spice estates and chocolate makers. Grand Anse, two miles of sand, is ten minutes from the pier.

   • Grand Anse Beach
   • Fort George and the Carenage waterfront
   • A nutmeg processing station at Gouyave
   • Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Melville Street terminal in town, or tendered when the berths are full; Grand Anse is 10 minutes by taxi or a short water taxi from the Carenage.

   Best months

   Jan-Apr dry season; Jun-Nov is wetter, though Grenada is far enough south to be hit less often

9. Day 9 · At sea

10. Day 10 · At sea

11. Day 11

    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)