Caribbean Cruising - Thomas Cook Publishing

Traveller Guides Caribbean Cruising, 5th: Popular, compact guides for discovering the very best of country, regional and city destinations by Thomas Cook Publishing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'The traveller guides are informative and concise, and are aimed at mainstream travelers wanting to discover something a little different on their trip.  These indispensable guides offer the perfect blend of culture, history, practical information, mapping, photography and listings.

TIME-TRAVEL with a trek into the primordial forest of Dominica's Morne Trois Pitons National Park, skirting volcanoes and fumaroles, and brave a dip at the foor of the spectatcular Middleham Falls.

STRUT to the rhythms of steel bands and soca at Trinidad's carnival, amidst a sea of glittering dancers, devils, bird-men and butterfly-women.

FEAST on a traditional St Lucian breakfast of saltfish and bakes, served up with fluffy dumplings and a steaming cup of chocolate tea, the nutmeg-laced local cocoa.


DIVE beneath the waves for an extravaganza of darting electric-blue kissing fish and black-and-yellow seargeant majors, a spectacle to rival the carnivals above the surface.'




I bought this book before we cruised. I bought it online and was unable to see the destinations it covers, to be honest most are covered. However we found that during one of our cruises there was little information on certain destinations. Saying this we thought it was a good introduction to the Caribbean and if you have not visited the region before this is a nice guide to have.

We liked the layout of the book, it begins with brief history of the Caribbean, the culture and festivals etc. Then it splits into the destination guide. These are very brief, however the Caribbean is a place made up of many, many islands and for them all to be covered in this guide it would need to be huge.

All countries covered in the guide include background information, your arrival from the port, a map, and any local interests. Towards the back of the guide there is a helpful section on When to go, this gives you information on hurricanes and the general weather. There is also essential information which we found very useful at the back.

Finally there is a directory at the back which includes places to eat and the prices of these, these too are useful, however we rarely ate off the ship as we would spend a whole day exploring and just have a big breakfast before we got off.

If you want a guide which gives you in depth info on the country then this is not the guide book for you, however if you want a snap shot with many countries in to help you learn a little of the country you are visiting this is great. It is compact and can fit in your bag with you.

I am a fan of Thomas Cook Traveller books as I feel they give you a good general overall picture of a place, it is broken down into small sections and is easy to follow.