I already raved about my first cruise on Explora Journeys and now I want to provide more details and share some stories from some of the ports I visited and new airlines I flew to travel to our point of embarkation.
A Week In The Caribbean With My Son On Explora Journeys
I departed for this trip with my eyes wide shut. With no idea what I was getting into, I booked a 7-night cruise from Barbados to Miami…just to try something new and spend some time with my son. The mental image of a cruise ship in my mind was obese people eating in buffets followed by outbreaks of communicable disease…thankfully I could not have been more wrong.
What traveling on the Explora I showed me is that cruise ships can be luxurious, lovely, and well-suited for solo, romantic, and family travel. It was great to take my son along and I hope we can do another cruise together. I’d also like to take my wife Heidi on a cruise, just the two of us. I’d also like to take my whole family on a cruise…even my extended family… because a cruise ship is a great place for a floating family reunion. So many possibilities.
In this review, I will unpack every nook and cranny of the ship and make the case that even the savviest frequent flyer who enjoys premium cabins would certainly enjoy a cruise like this. I honestly cannot wait to return.
Our cruise called on six ports, including:
- Bridgetown, Barbados
- Castries, St. Lucia
- Deshaies, Guadeloupe (France)
- St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
- Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands (UK)
- Miami, USA
We had a lot of fun in each port…the shore excursions were a great part of this trip.
The 7-day cruise normally $3,600 per-person for a base room, but during “wave” seasons (January – March) it was bookable for $2,520 each. I thought that price was more than fair and it is a way I hope to visit other Caribbean, African, and Pacific island nations over the years in my quest to visit every country on Earth.
To get to Bridgetown, we flew on Porter to Toronto ($409) and then WestJet to Barbados ($620). After docking in Miami we flew home from Ft. Lauderdale in JetBlue Mint ($859).
A pricey week away? Sure. But worth every penny (though I wish I had flown Air Canada from Toronto instead…)
Here are the segments for this trip report:
- Porter Reserve E195-E2 Los Angeles – Toronto
- Cheap Hotel Near YYZ Airport: The Right Choice For Us
- Plaza Premium Lounge Toronto (YYZ)
- WestJet 737-700 Premium Class Toronto – Bridgetown
- Great Coffee In Bridgetown, Barbados
- We Got Taken For A Ride In St. Lucia…
- A Sunday Afternoon Stroll Through Deshaies, Guadeloupe
- Church And Merch In St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
- Great Coffee In Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
- Amazing: The Baths In Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
- Explora Journeys Explora I (Suite)
- What I Liked Most About My First Cruise
- What I Liked Least About My First Cruise
- Taxis And Ubers In Miami
- Cuban Lunch At Versailles, Miami
- Photo Essay: Little Havana, Miami
- Hyatt Regency Maimi
- JetBlue A321 Mint Ft Lauderdale – Los Angeles
I may even try to take a stab at cruise humor, Dave Barry-style. We’ll see…
Thanks for reading and let me know if there anything specific you would like me to highlight.
Sounded like a fun itinerary.
Porter is definitely underrated in my opinion. Having a couple of flights per day from NYC/BOS and flying into YTZ saves a lot of time and been taking them over DL the past year.
Not sure if getting off and wandering around a new place for a few hours counts as having visited that country, at least the way I record my country/state visits.
Well it counts for me.
That’s probably why despite all the traveling he has done and places he has visited, he still has a rather limited and myopic view of the world (“The mental image of a cruise ship in my mind was obese people eating in buffets followed by outbreaks of communicable disease”)…
I would dispute that voicing that Israel has a right to defend itself is myopic or shows a “limited” view of the world.
Do you think you have an intelligent and broad view of the world, Aaron?
“I would dispute that voicing that Israel has a right to defend itself is myopic or shows a “limited” view of the world.”
Well, considering how it is defending itself from the people it is occupying, yeah, that is a bit limited as a view. Though your assumption about the average cruise line passenger was a good enough example…
“Do you think you have an intelligent and broad view of the world, Aaron?”
I’d say more than you do. But then again my traveling to other countries does include more than searching out Mexican cuisine and if there are third waves coffee shops that make decent flat whites 😉
I have 18 hours in Delhi tomorrow. Does that count as my first visit to India,
Sure.
I can’t wait to read your attempt at Bill Bryson style travel prose.
As someone who has friends and relatives who love cruises but hasn’t taken one, I am quite interested in your review. I find interesting that you mention a comparison to flying in premium cabins (I realise Kyle keeps doing it, but his perspective is different). I think I won’t be alone in thinking that, while I feel fortunate that I can often afford to pay (money, miles, upg instruments etc) to travel in business class, I am less motivated to do it by a desire to enjoy the finer things in life and much more by the fear of being stuck in a Y middle seat for untold hours.