Cruisers who sail the Caribbean early in the year often find themselves heading straight into the heart of the wild celebrations of Carnival, complete with elaborate costumes, colorful parades, heavenly feasting, thrumming music, and unrestrained dancing. In most places, people celebrate Carnival in February. For this reason, some cruisers plan their early year trips to enjoy these party days while in their itinerary’s ports of call.
If you cannot cruise in February, though, it is still possible to enjoy of Carnival at other times of year. Many Caribbean islands celebrate Carnival or very similar celebrations in different months. Thus, there is a Carnival-type celebration somewhere in the Caribbean almost every week of the year. This makes it easy for travelers to arrange to be in port during the big party.
Islands that celebrate Carnival during the traditional period in February include such destinations as Curacao, Martinique, Aruba, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago. Several other islands schedule their big party season later in the spring. Around the end of March or early April, Jamaica celebrates Bacchanal. St. Thomas and Cayman Islands have their parties toward the end of April or the beginning of May, while Barbuda’s is in June.
Summertime Carnivals are also very popular throughout the Caribbean. July through September sees partying on islands such as Barbados, St. Vincent, Antigua, Belize, St. John, and several others. During autumn, the Carnival season slows down significantly, but picks up again in December and around New Year in places like The Bahamas, St. Croix, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
In most of these places, Carnival is the biggest event of the year, with the party usually lasting several
weeks. Therefore, a cruiser actually has a good chance of taking in the local Carnival at least one port of call. In fact, with a little advance planning, a real party devotee can enjoy several Carnivals on a single cruise.
