It’s always an exciting time of year when we find out what new ports cruise ships will be hitting in the coming cruise season. Royal Caribbean International just released their cruise schedules for its Bahamas, and Southern, and short Caribbean program for 2015-2016.
Cruise ships Independence of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas, Jewel of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas, and Majesty of the Seas will be sailing on an exciting variety of itineraries our of Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Adventure of the Seas will travel to the Southern Caribbean on 7 night itineraries from May to October 2015 out of San Juan. The itineraries on this summer program will shift from Sunday to Saturday departure dates. Cruisers will be able to choose any one of 7 night itineraries. One will have ports of call in St Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados. Another itinerary will visit all the same ports except it will replace St. Kitts with St. Croix. And the third will call on St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba, and Curacao.
From November 2015 to April 2016 Adventure of the Seas will go back and forth from 2 different itineraries. The one will include calls to St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Dominica, and Barbados and the other 7 night round trip itinerary will sail to St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Lucia, and Grenada.
Adventure of the Seas is a Voyager class ship, at 137,00 tons, 3,100 passengers, and 15 decks. The ship first debuted in 2001 and has all kinds of activities for the active cruiser. Guests can enjoy the rock climbing walls, ice skating rink, mini-golf course, full-size sports court, and a beautiful Promenade.
Jewel of the Seas will be joining Adventure of the Seas in San Juan in the winter of 2015-2016 while offering 2 alternating itineraries. Seven night cruises on the Jewel will sail from San Juan to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba, and Curacao, or at Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Croix.
Jewel of the Seas is a Radiance Class ship at 90,000 tons and was debuted in 2004. It can carry just over 2,000 passengers and despite its small size is a beautiful ship with many of the amenities of other Royal Caribbean ships like the rock climbing wall and solarium pool.
In the winter of 2015-2016 Independence of the Seas will be sailing on round trip itineraries from Fort Lauderdale at Port Everglades. The 4 and 5 night short Western Caribbean itineraries will include visits to Cozumel, Belize, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Labadee, which is Royal Caribbean’s private islands right off of Haiti. Independence of the Seas is a Freedom Class ship at 154,000 tons, 3,600 passengers, and was first debuted in 2008. But in 2013 Royal Caribbean did a $7 million upgrade on the ship and it got a new cupcake shop, restaurant, and nursery, as well as better Wi-Fi bow to stern and a poolside movie screen.
Enchantment of the Seas will alternate between 3 and 4 night Bahamas itineraries out of Port Canaveral. The ship will sail to Nassau, The Bahamas, and Cococay, which is Royal Caribbean’s private island. Enchantment of the Seas is an 82,000 ton ship that was cut in half and extended in 2005. It’s a unique ship that blends it’s original character from 1997 with the new upgrades 9 years ago.
Majesty of the Seas will continue to sail out of Miami on 3 and 4 night sailings. With calls to Nassau and CocoCay on 3 night itineraries and calls to an additional port at Key West on 4 night sailings, this older ship still has plenty of charm left.
Plan on going on any of these itineraries? Let us know with a comment below.
Royal Caribbean International has a fleet of 21 ships and will soon be 22 with the introduction of the ground breaking Quantum of the Seas.
Please come on up the East Coast to Jacksonville and Charleston!
I’m with you there Kim. I would love some more options out of Charleston.