After a long, cold winter filled with snow and gray skies, I decided it was time to get away.
In early March, I boarded Odyssey of the Seas out of Cape Liberty on what turned out to be one of the more unusual itineraries I’ve been on. It was a 14-night sailing, with four days at sea followed by seven Southern Caribbean ports in a row — something you don’t see very often, especially from New Jersey.
The route itself was what drew me in. Most winter sailings from this area tend to repeat the same loop — Florida, CocoCay, Nassau — but this one pushed much farther south, with stops in St. Maarten, Antigua, Martinique, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and San Juan.
What made the trip stand out wasn’t just the destinations, but the pacing. After several days of open ocean — at times rough, with the ship rolling and the wind howling — I’d wake up each morning to a completely different island. No repetition, no filler ports. Just a steady progression through the Caribbean.
I’ve now put together a video from the trip, capturing the sailing from departure in cold, gray New Jersey to the final return to New York Harbor two weeks later.
You can watch it here: