Valiant Lady - Caribbean & Lesser Antilles from San Juan

Where this cruise calls, day by day

7 ports and 1 sea day over 7 Nights.

1. Day 1

   San Juan

   Puerto RicoDepart

   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

2. Day 2

   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

3. Day 3

   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

4. Day 4

   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

5. Day 5

   Castries

   St. LuciaPort

   Castries burned down repeatedly and was rebuilt in concrete; almost nobody comes for the town. The island's draw is 90 minutes south at Soufrière — the two Pitons rising straight out of the water, a drive-in sulphur crater that genuinely stinks, and Diamond Falls. That drive is the day, and the road is winding enough to matter if you get carsick.

   • The Pitons and the town of Soufrière
   • Sulphur Springs drive-in volcano and mud baths
   • Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens
   • Marigot Bay

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at Pointe Seraphine across the harbor from town (small ferry or a 15-20 minute walk around) or at La Place Carenage on the town side.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr dry season; Jun-Nov is wetter with Aug-Oct hurricane risk

6. Day 6

   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

7. Day 7 · At sea

8. Day 8

   San Juan

   Puerto RicoArrive

   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