BVIs (photo by RR Koops)

The Caribbean has some of the best beaches I’ve ever seen in the world.  Yes, better than most of the beaches I’ve seen even in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.  For me, they have all the things that are perfect about beaches: a gently sloping entry, soft sand, clean and clear water, and good swimming and snorkelling.

As a former resident of Ottawa, the Caribbean is an easy place to get to for a holiday from the eastern parts of North America, and I’ve visited many of its islands.  Each is certainly different from the others, but not as different, say, as Malaysia from Indonesia.

Off St Lucia (photo by RR Koops)

A good way to see the islands and get your taste for which one catches your fancy is a cruise.  Now, before you roll your eyes and think of people queuing up for five buffets per day and even to get on and off the boat, let me tell you about Windstar Cruises, where you feel like a guest, not a customer.

Click here to read why Windstar was my top choice when my travel partner was too ill to travel any other way. Now that I travel most of the year, I’m considering Windstar’s ocean crossing cruises as an alternative to flying for some of my upcoming journeys (crossing the Atlantic from Lisbon to Barbados still ranks number one for my most relaxing holiday ever!).

I experienced Viking Cruises on a 2019 trip exploring the Caribbean. Now I’m torn between Viking and Windstar! Read about the Viking experience:

• Exploring the West Indies with Viking (PDF), in the summer 2019 issue of Canadian World Traveller (and the Issuu version: Exploring the West Indies with Viking).
• For Boutique Travel, Boutique ocean cruising aboard the Viking Sea.

I’ve not yet written about most of the destinations I’ve been to in the Caribbean, but feel free to ask a question if you’d like advice (also about Cozumel and the Riviera Maya, Mexico and Bocas del Toro, Panama, both in the Caribbean Sea).  So far I’ve been to:

At Melia’s Paradisus Varadero resort

• Antigua & Barbuda
• Barbados
• The British Virgin Islands
• Cuba
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Grenada
• Guadeloupe
• Jamaica (forthcoming story on Sandals and Jamaica’s great culinary scene)
• Puerto Rico
• Saint Barth’s
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Sint Maarten and Saint Martin: this Dutch-French island is number #43 on Fodor’s Go List 2019. Scroll down to read my piece on why you should visit St. Martin now.
• US Virgin Islands

And there are some Caribbean treats that you should consider bringing home, as described in my World Travel Buzz article Christmas Shopping Abroad: International Foodie Edition.