MSC Opera: 7-Night Pacific Coast from La Romana

Most cruise passengers arriving at La Romana are headed somewhere else - Casa de Campo, the Caribbean's most exclusive resort complex, or Altos de Chavon, a replica Mediterranean village perched on a cliff above the Chavon River. Cruise ships dock at the Central Romana port, about a 10-minute drive from the Casa de Campo resort area.

Barbados cruise port is in Bridgetown, the capital of the easternmost Caribbean island. Bridgetown Port (Deep Water Harbour) sits just outside the city's UNESCO-listed historic center, with modern terminal facilities including 21 duty-free shops, restaurants, car rental agencies, and a tourism office.

Martinique gives you something most Caribbean ports can't: an actual piece of France in the tropics. This is a French overseas department, so the bakeries are real, the wine is good, and the Creole cuisine draws from both metropolitan French technique and Caribbean soul.

Pointe-a-Pitre is the economic capital of Guadeloupe, a French overseas department in the Lesser Antilles that gives you Caribbean beaches with French culture, cuisine, and infrastructure. The archipelago consists of two main islands shaped like a butterfly: Grande-Terre (flat, with beaches and sugar cane) and Basse-Terre (mountainous, with rainforest and a live volcano).

Tortola is the largest of the British Virgin Islands, a mountainous, lush Caribbean island where Road Town serves as the capital of this British Overseas Territory. The cruise port at Road Town Pier Park handles two large ships simultaneously (up to 180,000 GT).