The 2015 – 2016 Caribbean season is almost underway as the cruise ships begin their seasonal return to Port Everglades and PortMiami. Traditionally, lines such as Holland America, Regent Seven Seas, Oceania, MSC Cruises and others don’t sail from these ports during the spring/summer months (aka hurricane season). Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and a few others maintain a smaller presence at the ports, but the season really kicks in around November.
I’m currently working on my ship schedule for the upcoming season and I’m excited about several things that are coming to the South Florida ports this winter.
First is the return of the MSC Divina out of PortMiami. As the first MSC cruise ship to homeport in the United States, the cruise line used Divina to “test the waters” by doing a series of Caribbean sailings during the season and then moving her to the Mediterranean during the spring/summer. In May, MSC announced that the Divina would be returning to PortMiami in 2015 and would be sailing year round.
I sailed on Divina in December 2014 and as my review pointed out, there were several things onboard that were decidedly different than what we normally find on “Americanized” ships. Instead of lavish broadway production shows, evening entertainment featured acrobatics and opera singers. A 100% non-smoking casino kept many people away from hitting the slots after dinner. Food, which I didn’t have many complaints about, received sour notes from some cruisers and language barriers existed with announcements being made in several different ones and a varying degree of crew member’s proficiency in English.
After announcing that the company is building a new ship, MSC Seaside, that will also be based out of Miami, news broke that when the Divina returns, she will be back with some notable changes including a new Captain, hotel director and cruise director. The Divina will replace the mostly European crew with a more familiar-to-cruisers Filipino crew. Food is rumored to be getting a few tweaks and and entertainment is getting an upgrade as well.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ship, Norwegian Escape will make her Caribbean debut in November out of PortMiami. Sister to Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway, the Escape will transport 4,200 passengers on seven-day Eastern Caribbean adventures while the Getaway will offer seven-day Western itineraries.
I almost don’t want to admit this, but I’ve never “cruised like a Norwegian,” so I’m adding the Norwegian Escape to my list of ships to sail on this season.
While not based out of a south Florida port, I’m also adding Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Anthem of the Seas to the list as well. You may recall that I spent eight days on sister ship, and first of the Quantum-class cruise ships, Quantum of the Seas last November. After being impressively impressed with Quantum, I’m itching to see the tweaks that have been made to sister Anthem when she arrives at her homeport of Bayonne, New Jersey this fall.
There’s a few things to be excited about this Caribbean season, but the 2016-2017 is what I’m really looking forward to as three very unique ships will be making their debut:
- Holland America Line will be introducing their newest, largest and most innovative ship – the ms Koningsdam – in April 2016 and will arrive in Fort Lauderdale in November 2016.
- Carnival Cruise Line will bring their newest vessel, the Carnival Vista, to PortMiami in November 2016 as well.
- Royal Caribbean’s newest Oasis-class ship, Harmony of the Seas, will sail into Fort Lauderdale for the 2016/2017 season and will replace Oasis of the Seas as she moves a bit north to Port Canaveral.
Stay tuned over the next few weeks as I announce what ships I’ll be on and who knows, maybe I’ll run into you on one of my journeys!