I had already visited a number of Caribbean countries, as well as Honduras, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Germany prior to making the decision that I want to visit all countries in the Caribbean before venturing back to Europe or elsewhere. So, how will we island-hop around the Caribbean?

It is, of course, no secret that My Cruising Family loves to cruise. However, we do enjoy other modes of travel too. In fact, our most recent family vacation was not our typical cruise, but rather, it was a land-vacation that, by the grace of God, and with intentional planning, we managed to turn into an island-hopping experience. With catamarans, speedboats, and ferries to many neighboring islands, St. Maarten/St. Martin is perfect for those who desire a land vacation, but also want to explore other islands.

Cruising may seem like the most obvious answer to those who want to island-hop, but

Antigua, Caribbean, Cruise, Cruise Tour, Cruisetour, Excursion, Excursions, Family, Family Cruise, Family Time, Family Travel, Family Vacation, Globetrotter, Globetrotting, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Island Hopping, Island-Hopping, Islands, Land Vacation, Martinique, MSC Cruise, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Air, Royal Caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Shore Excursion, Shore Excursions, St. Lucia, SXM, Tour, Travel, Tours, Travel Planning, Tropical Cruise, Vacation, Vacation Planning, St. Barts, St. Barth, St. Barthelemy, AnguillaPeta-Gaye DanielJuly 19, 2018St. Maarten, St. Martin, SXM, SXM strong, Simpson Bay, Simpson Bay Resort, Simpson Bay Resort and Marina, Simpson Bay Resort & Marina, AquaMania Adventures, AquaMania, Anguilla, St. Barthelemy, St. Barth, St. Barts, Ferry, Island Hop, Island Hopping, WanderlustComment

Our Stay At Canella Beach Hotel

It has been about two months since our family experienced an amazing 14-day Caribbean cruise from Guadeloupe. As you may already know if you’ve been planning a trip between New York and Guadeloupe, finding flights can be challenging, depending on the time of year that you are seeking to travel. We are thankful for Norwegian Air that flies non-stop between JFK (New York, USA) and PTP (Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe), seasonally. Our flight to Guadeloupe this March was within Norwegian Air’s PTP season. However, it was a bit more of a challenge to find return flights to New York because we returned after the season ended. Thanks to Air Antilles and JetBlue, it worked out very well for us. I have an entire blog post to assist in planning flights to and from Guadeloupe, here. Norwegian Air flights from New York to Guadeloupe will generally arrive in PTP after 6 PM, which means that, if you’re planning to sail from Guadeloupe, you may want to fly in a day in advance, and that will then require a pre-cruise hotel stay.

We flew into Guadeloupe on Saturday, March 17, 2018, and our ship, the MSC Fantasia, set sail from Guadeloupe on Sunday, March 18, 2018. So, for one night prior to our cruise, we stayed at Canella Beach Hotel. We arrived at Canella Beach Hotel within about 20 minutes of leaving the airport. The front desk staff greeted us warmly, and spoke English quite well, which made check-in very easy. For our family of five, our pre-cruise stay at Canella Beach Hotel, Duplex 322 and 323, was comfortable and convenient.

CRUISE REVIEWS: OUR FAMILY'S MSC FANTASIA CRUISE

This was my second MSC cruise and my seventh overall cruise. However this was the 1st time that we had booked a 14-day cruise! Yes, FOURTEEN DAYS! My mom, my husband, my 7-year-old son, my 3-year-old son, and I sailed together on the MSC Fantasia, from March 18, 2018 to April 1, 2018, roundtrip from Guadeloupe to Antigua & Barbuda, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts & Nevis, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and Grenada, with multiple stops in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St. Kitts & Nevis. We had two Fantastica balcony staterooms on Deck 10, right next to each other: 10208 and 10210. We loved our clean and spacious staterooms! We booked this cruise for the amazing itinerary! I was a bit disappointed when a portion of the itinerary changed – the initial itinerary included Tortola, British Virgin Islands; Dominica; and St. Maarten/St. Martin. After the damage caused by the 2017 hurricane season, those three ports were removed from the itinerary, and, instead, an extra stop in St. Kitts was added, as well as a stop in La Romana, Dominican Republic. We made the best of it! Truly, the itinerary was still FABULOUS! We had a wonderful time! The crew and staff that we dealt with the most, which were our room steward, wait staff and other dining room staff, and the photo team were consistently pleasant and really made this voyage GREAT!

All-Inclusive, Caribbean, Caribbean Cruise, Cruise, Cruise Activities, Cruise Reviews, Cruise Tour, Cruisetour, Cruising, Cruising With A Child, Cruising With Children, Excursion, Excursions, Family, Family Cruise, Family Cruise Line, Family Cruising, Family Time, Family Travel, Family Vacation, Globetrotting, Guadeloupe, Globetrotter, Island Hopping, Island-Hopping, Islands, MSC, MSC Cruise, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Air, Onboard Activities, Pointe-a-Pitre, Shore Excursion, Shore Excursions, Tour, Tours, Travel, Tropical Cruise, Vacation, Vacation Planning, Martinique, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad, St. Vincent, SVG, The Grenadines, Bequia, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, Martinique Cruise, Guadeloupe Cruise, Trinidad Cruise, St. Vincent Cruise, Catamaran, Grenada CruisePeta-Gaye DanielApril 14, 2018Bequia By Sailing Catamaran, Bequia By Catamaran, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Vincent, Bequia, The Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, Maracas Bay, Maracas Beach, Maracas Beach Trip, Creole Bus Sensation, Grenada Cruise, Cruise to Grenada, Cruise to Trinidad, Cruise to Guadeloupe, Cruise to Martinique, Cruise from Guadeloupe, Cruise from Martinique, Cruise from Barbados, Cruise to Barbados, Cruise to St. Kitts, Cruise to Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Kitts and Nevis, Nevis, Discover Nevis and Beach, Relax on Bayahibe Beach, Be Live Canoa, Dominican Republic, Cruise to La Romana, Cruise to Dominican Republic, Family Cruise, Family Cruising, Cruising With Children, Cruising With a Toddler, 14 Day Cruise, 14-Day Cruise, 2 Week Cruise, 2-Week Cruise, Caribbean Cruise, 14-Day Caribbean Cruise, 14 Day Caribbean Cruise, 2-Week Caribbean Cruise, 2 Week Caribbean Cruise, Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe Tourism, how to get to Guadeloupe, Martinique, Martinique Cruise, Barbados Cruise, Barbados, Trinidad Cruise, Cruise to Trinidad and Tobago, Cruise to the Grenadines, Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesComment

Why I Unplug During Family Vacations

As I write this, I am some tens of thousands of feet in the air, on the way to Guadeloupe for My Cruising Family’s Spring Break 2018 cruise. I will schedule this to automatically post on the My Cruising Family blog, and we will be enjoying a fun-filled, yet relaxing, family vacation.

On prior vacations, I did not even take my laptop because of my deep-rooted, genuine, desire to unplug, breathe in the fresh Caribbean air, and have not a care in the world, except to admire God’s handiwork and connect even more as a family.

Getting To and From Guadeloupe

Our family is looking forward to cruising from Guadeloupe on our most port-intensive cruise yet, so I was quite concerned when I realized that the round-trip cost that I was finding for flights between New York City (NYC) and Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP) was over $2000 per person! That doesn’t include checked bags, and we are traveling as a family of five!

Caribbean, Caribbean Cruise, Cruise, Cruising, Diverse, Diversity, Family Cruise, Family Cruise Line, Family Cruising, Family Travel, Family Vacation, Globetrotter, Globetrotting, Island Hopping, Island-Hopping, Islands, Land Vacation, MSC, MSC Cruise, MSC Cruises, Travel, Tours, Tour, Shore Excursions, Shore Excursion, Tropical Cruise, Vacation, Vacation Planning, Flights, Pointe-a-Pitre, PTP, JFK Airport, SXM, Air Antilles, Norwegian Air, JetBlue, Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe Cruise, Kids Sail Free, Martinique Cruise, Martinique, Travel PlanningPeta-Gaye DanielSeptember 16, 2017Pointe-a-Pitre, PTP, Guadeloupe, JFK Airport, Norwegian Air, Air Antilles, JetBlue, Spring Break, Airline, Airlines, Flight search, Guadeloupe flights, SXM, Martinique, MSC Cruises, Costa Cruises, Guadeloupe Tourism, Caribbean, Tropical Vacation, Family Cruise, Family Vacation, Family Travel, Black Family Cruise, Black Family Travel, Black Family Vacation, African-American Family Travel, African-American Family Cruise, African-American Family Vacation, Trinidad Cruise, Grenada Cruise, Dominica Cruise, Martinique Cruise, Barbados Cruise, St. Lucia Cruise, Cruise to Guadeloupe, Cruise to St. Lucia, Cruise to Barbados, Cruise to Trinidad, Cruise to Tobago, Cruise to Trinidad and Tobago, Cruise to Grenada, Cruise to Dominica, Cruise to Martinique, Cruise from Martinique, Cruise from Guadeloupe, Fly to Guadeloupe, Fly to Martinique, cheap flights, how to get to Guadeloupe, Southern Caribbean Cruise, Southern Caribbean, MSC, MSC cruises, MSC Fantasia, MSC PoesiaComment

As Featured In