About the cruise

On your way to the soft sandy beaches, endless swathes of blue cloudless sky and sparkling aquamarine waters of the Caribbean, Ventura calls into Tenerife in the Canaries. Discover the bizarre stony desert of the Caldera de las Cañadas, Spain’s highest mountain – Mount Teide, and great expanses of pine forest and the fertile valleys.Your first Caribbean island is one of the loveliest, St. Lucia.

Drive through the volcano in Soufrière, visit Dr. Doolittle’s luscious Marigot Bay, or enjoy a spicy Creole style lunch in the shadow of the soaring Les Pitons. Antigua boasts of being the sunniest of the eastern Caribbean islands, perfect for languishing on a beach. And with over 365 to choose from, there is said to be a different beach for every day of the year. The restored Nelson’s Dockyard is wonderful and the shopping in St. John’s fantastic.St. Maarten is half Dutch and half French.

In Philipsburg, the Dutch capital, you can buy souvenirs in a traditionally gabled Dutch shop. In Marigot on the French side, you can shop for baguettes. Next, explore the luxuriant rain forests, waterfall-filled jungles and banana plantations of Dominica. Take an aerial tram ride across the Breakfast River Gorge and look down over five waterfalls from an 84-metre-long suspension bridge.

From one idyllic island to the next, Barbados beckons, offering calypso rhythms, great cuisine and an array of magnificent beaches. From here, you fly back to the UK overnight.