Caribbean - K304B Arvia departing 18 Feb 2023

Barbados is the most British of the Caribbean islands, where cricket is the national passion and afternoon tea a tradition. Yet the flawless skies, lilting rhythms of both speech and calypso and the endless beaches all provide vivid reminders that you are a long way from home. Enjoy a stroll around Bridgetown, the capital which boasts impressive colonial architecture and take a snap of what used to be known as Trafalgar Square.

The largest island in the Dutch Antilles, Curaçao is home to more than 50 nationalities. Willemstad is full of 17th, 18th and 19th century Dutch and Spanish Colonial architecture. The two sides of the city are divided by Santa Anna Bay, a narrow channel flanked by pastel-tinted, gabled houses and spanned by the spectacular swing-aside Queen Emma pontoon bridge. On one side you will find the 18th century Fort Amsterdam and Breederstraat, gateway to Willemstads main shopping and restaurant district where you can buy everything from Delft pottery to Italian silk ties, Japanese electrical goods, Indonesian batik clothing, locally-made black coral jewellery and, of course, the sapphire-blue liqueur to which Curaçao has given its name.

La Romana boasts the graceful resort of Casa de Campo, the ambitious project of designer Oscar de la Renta, which offers you Olympic scale swimming, Wimbledon standard tennis and Epicurean restaurants. Or you can spend the day swimming and relaxing on charming Catalina Island.

If you have ever dreamt of the classic Caribbean island, chances are it looked a lot like St. Kitts. You will recognise that mixture of deserted beaches, sleepy villages, lush rainforest greenery and sugarcane fields and maybe even the mini-mountain range with a dormant volcano in its midst.

With over 365 beaches, there is a slice of white sand heaven for every day of the year – even a leap year – on the idyllic Caribbean holiday island Antigua. Antigua played host to Admiral Horatio Nelson’s fleet in the late 1700’s. Nelson’s Dockyard now bustles with crew and guests from yachts and cruise ships sailing these waters for pleasure rather than for King and Country. The main port, St John’s, is also the capital and a vibrant hub for shopping as well as being within easy range of some of the best beaches – at Fort James, Deep Bay, Galley Bay and Hawksbill. Almost perfect weather conditions and low humidity, due to the warm prevailing trade winds, allows Antigua to boast of being the sunniest of the Eastern Caribbean islands with the lowest annual rainfall. It is also the largest of the English-speaking Leeward Islands although it is only 14 miles long and 11 miles wide. Still, with a population of less than 70,000, this means there are lots of wide open spaces – especially on those gorgeous beaches.