Royal Caribbean, MSC to Operate Interport Itineraries in Caribbean

Two cruise lines, MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean International, separately will offer interporting options in the Caribbean during the winter 2012-13 season.

Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, which will sail seven-night Southern Caribbean cruises, will embark and disembark passengers in San Juan and Guadeloupe.

“The ship will alternate two seven-night Southern Caribbean itineraries, sailing roundtrip from San Juan every Saturday. On one itinerary, guests will call at St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Antigua, and St. Croix. On the other itinerary, guests will call at Tortola, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and Barbados,” explained a spokesman.

“On both itineraries, the Brilliance of the Seas will call at Guadeloupe on Wednesday, where the ship will offer interporting. Of course, guests who embark at Guadeloupe or Puerto Rico must sail roundtrip for the full seven nights,” he said, adding that the San Juan embarkation will be more convenient for passengers from the U.S. and Canada while the Guadeloupe embarkation would be beneficial for South American vacationers.

MSC Cruises, which hinted a few months ago that it might try interporting in the Caribbean, will allow passengers to embark and disembark the 1,560-passenger Lirica in Martinique and Guadeloupe, according to reports.

The option is geared to the line’s French customers, and departures are slated to be packaged with air on France-based Corsair Airlines. Details of those packages were not immediately available. Several European cruise lines, including MSC, frequently offer interporting on Europe cruises.