Royal Caribbean is remaining committed to having Barbados as a homeport as Rhapsody of the Seas will offer Caribbean cruises from the island for the 2022-23 winter season. This follows the announcement of Grandeur of the Seas that will begin sailings from Barbados in December 2021.
Rhapsody of the Seas Sailings from Barbados
The Royal Caribbean cruise ship will be offering cruises out of Bridgetown, Barbados, and this will be a second winter season out of the island for the cruise line. So the vessel will sail 7- and 14-night cruises in the Southern Caribbean from November 2022 through April 2023, and those bookings opened on April 29, 2021.
Here are the cruise itineraries Rhapsody of the Seas will offer:
- 7-night Southern Caribbean Island Hop: Visiting Scarborough, Tobago; Port of Spain, Trinidad; St. George’s, Grenada; Kingstown, St. Vincent; Roseau, Dominica; and Castries, St. Lucia
- 7-night Southern Caribbean Adventure: Visiting St. George’s; Kralendijk, Bonaire; Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; and Port of Spain.
- 8-night Southern Caribbean Holiday: Visiting Scarborough, Port of Spain, Castries; Fort-de-France, Martinique; Roseau, St George’s, and Kingstown.
- 14-night Ultimate Caribbean: Visiting St. George’s, Kralendijk, Willemstad (overnight), Cartagena, Colon, Puerto Limon, Oranjestad (overnight), and Port of Spain.
The longer 14-night cruises will feature two overnights, one in Willemstad in Curacao and another in Oranjestad, Aruba. There will even be late-night calls to the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao across the offerings.
A Shift to Alternative Homeports
Recently, Royal Caribbean has announced several new homeport offerings outside the United States. It comes as U.S. operations remain on hold as cruise lines keep trying to work out issues with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Also Read: Royal Caribbean to Begin Cruises from the Bahamas in June
Grandeur of the Seas will start sailings out of Barbados for the first winter season in December 2021. This will be a good way for Royal Caribbean to see how operations and logistics work out that will result in an even better experience for Rhapsody of the Seas.
The newest ship in the fleet, Odyssey of the Seas, has already arrived at her new homeport in Israel for the start of cruises in just a few weeks for vaccinated guests. Vision of the Seas will homeport in Bermuda starting in June 2021, and Adventure of the Seas will be sailing out of the Bahamas from June 2021. There will also be new options from the UK and Cyprus.
