Smaller cruise ship
 

We are planning a Caribbean Cruise for 2010, maybe Sept/Oct time, we live in the UK and are looking for all sorts of help. We've been to Bermuda on a land based holiday, but really fancy a cruise. We've done the Med, but on a 3500 passenger ship and don't want such a big vessel again for lots of reasons. Can you cruise fanatic Fodorites suggest:

When to go-we've no young kids and prefer to avoid school holidays
Best smaller cruise lines and ships, maybe up to 500 passengers max
Best itinerary to consider, including excursions. (Safety of ports of call paramount)
Best embarkation port

Thanks a lot

Sept/Oct is hurricane season. A better time for weather and crowds is around mid May. The spring breakers are gone by then and its not so warm. I fancy personally a southern Caribbean route which embarks from San Juan. There is alot to do in SJ so if you choose to go there try staying some time pre or post embarkation. There is a rain forest, great beaches and a ton to see in Old San Juan. We were there last May and loved it and found the people to be very friendly. In fact PR in a recent poll had the 2nd most content citizenery. 1st was Denmark BTW. Like anywhere use precautions like avoiding dark and MT streets at night and so on. Consider a cruise that stops at say Barbados, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Lucia and St. Maarten for example. These, IMHO are very nice port stops, esp. St. Maarten. As for excursions thats pretty easy really. Just do some research to see what appeals to you most on each island. Then try www.cruisecritic.com and go the the ports board and look for a private tour guide. We did this and found great local tour guides. They each had a private van or mini-bus that accomodated up to say 7 or 8 passengers and gave a 1st class personally tailored tour. The price was around $35.00-45.00 USD pp and they provided a cooler with local beers, H20, soda and fruit.
As for the ship try Oceania. There ships are approx. 600 ft. long but hold around 600-700 passengers. A small ship these days is pretty pricey I'm afraid. You cn also try the luxury lines like Regent, Crystal and Seabourn. Also Princess has a few small ships that are the same in class as what Oceania has and the price would be less. These include the Tahatian and the Pacific Princess. see their website for what is in the Carib. for the time you want to go. I don't think they are there then but its worth a look.
Good luck. :-) Larry

If you are not into wearing a tux and gowns 2 or 3 nights out of 7-9 nights then stay away from Regent,Seaborn and Crystal though they are elegant ships with top notch food and unparalled service. If you want to wear resort casual, as they call it, then the Oceania Line is just a half-step below those but much more relaxing but excellent service and greart food. You do give up high end nightly entertainment on most of the ships under 1500 guests but they have professional musical combo's and a few different ones through-out your cruise and yes, you will save probably 15+% on the cost side.

Check out www.windstarcruises.com and www.starclippers.com

I agree about the big ships--too many people, and too hard to get on & off.

We've sailed twice with each line and love the casual resort attire and "eat when and with whom you want to" system.

Our favorite boat was the "Windsurf"(350 max. passengers)in the Southern Caribbean, but our favorite itinerary was the Virgins & St. Bart's which was on the "Windspirit"(150 passengers) and the "Star Flyer"(150 pass.)

The food and service was outstanding on all. A little more luxury on Windstar Lines, but better sailing experience on Star Clippers.

I also agree, Sept.& Oct. not good in the Caribbean, and most of the ships are in the Europe at that time anyway. We did Star Flyer in Sept. in the Med and it was lovely.

We also cruised on the Windstar Line but the WindSpirit. I would say that the food is somewhat better on the Oceania lines. Conte' Nast survey of 2008 readers also rated Oceania ships much higher on food and service but we very much enjoyed the Wind Spirit in the Virgin Islands in 2006.

check out Oceania sailings, we've done 3 twice in regular veranda cabins and once (TA) in a Visita Suite. No formal nites, no smoking in cabins/veranda, few kids, great food, friendly/efficient staff. Had a blast all 3 times.

Thanks for the responses so far, keep 'em coming. By the way, Stankase, I agree about the tux and gowns. It's so hard to match a gown that fits me to the tux.

By the way, if Sept or Oct is hurricane season, what about November to March, avoiding the holidays? What's the best time during this period?

IMO, November is good. If you do Dec., Jan., or the beginning of Feb. stick to the lower Caribbean. Late Feb. and March is perfect most of the time. We've been going to the Caribbean sometime between Feb.27th and April 10th for 20 years and always had good weather. But, of course, weather is unpredictable so noone can guarantee it will be good.

This year we left Feb. 28th for Turks & Caicos for 10 days and it was very, very windy(1st time that happened).

Hmmm. I would say go after New Years and B4 the spring break rush in March so the month of Feb. should be good or mid Jan. as well.

I agree just go South of the Bahamas after mid-Nov. A quite time happens to be the 3 weeks after New Years week and if it's the Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Barbados, Curacao, etc the weather will be 80-85 degrees highs and 70 lows.