Hopping a cruise ship to get from one Caribbean island to another!

[BEM]

My wife and I are thinking about our Caribbean dive vacation in Feb- Mar 2010 and the logistics of travelling to two islands. We would like to spend a couple of weeks in Dominica and then a few in Bonaire. We could take American Eagle and fly: Dominica San Juan Bonaire for about $750 each person, one way. But the AE flight from SJU to BON, in our experience, is a pain and we donÃÕ want to risk a cancelled flight (one year we were the only AE plane to get off the ground), and lost or delayed bags . Not only that, the flights from Dominica seem to leave late and making connections can be tricky. Soooooo ?.

Princess Cruise lines travels between the islands and they may be able to accommodate us. The catch is that weÃÅ have to pay for a full 7 day cruise (about $1150 each.) But weÃÅ see Grenada, have our equipment with us and hopefully, have a nice leisurely two day trip. Getting on at the departure port, spending a couple of weeks on Dominica and then hopping on the next ship isn't allowed (I can understand this). One independent travel agent told us that the cruise lines won't do this type of thing as it is a security risk. Although the airlines seem to do it. I guess we need a ferry, not a cruise ship.

Has anyone done this and does anyone know of any travel agent that can arrange such an itinerary? Or, does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Damselfish]

I have no idea if such a thing is possible on a cruise ship. My idea would be if you want to do 2 (or more) islands on a trip, which I can totally see, pick islands that are relatively easy to travel between. What you've got there are 2 islands neither one of which is known for being the easiest to get to, so the pair is likely to be a pain.

One example would be sticking to the ABCs, perhaps do Bonaire and Curacao. Another obvious easy pair would be Grand and Little Cayman. Another might be doing something in St Vincent and the Grenadines, there is ferry service between a number of the islands and since you have the time that would be great fun to check out a few, certainly St Vincent and Bequia for starters and I know they both have good diving. Do Belize, you can visit several areas of the country and it will be like different trips. Visit a couple places in Mexico. If you really want to do a trip that includes Dominca, assuming you are getting there through San Juan maybe your other island should be Puerto Rico, perhaps head to the western end where the good diving is supposed to be. Or maybe do the CEII liveaboard which runs between St Maarten and St. Kitts alternating weeks, then you can spend some time on each island too (though if the goal is lots of diving, St. Maarten isn't known for it's diving and I'd guess the days the liveaboard does St Kitts will cover that.) Barbados is pretty easy to get to and sort of a regional airline hub like San Juan - maybe do Barbados then someplace(s) easy to get to from there.

 

[James Bond boat entry]

I would send seperate e-mails to the dive shops in Dominica and ask if they know of any freighters, fishing boats, liveaboards, sail boats ect going in your direction, also, ask for the Harbour Masters' phone number and/or e-mail address, he should have info about boat traffic. Even if you can get a ride to a closer island, maybe airfare would be reasonable.

 

[carmster66]

On the same line as the previous post about picking islands that are near each other... Dominica is connected to St. Lucia, Guadaloupe and Martinique via ferry. However you need to watch travel days as it does not stop at each island every day.