Winter sale is on for the Caribbean

IT’S no secret that Caribbean cruises have plummeted in popularity. The result? Super winter deals

I think the drop-off may have to do with the glut of giant ships dumping thousands of passengers on islands that are too small to hold so many tourists. You know what I mean if you have recently cruised to Charlotte Amalie in the U.S. Virgin Islands and seen how a once-quaint island port has been turned into a giant shopping mall for cruise passengers.

The cruise lines have responded to a paucity of bookings by reducing their prices for Caribbean sailings. I have never seen such discounting.

If you go to the website of a typical cruise broker, such as www.vacationstogo.com, you’ll find scores of cruise departures to the Caribbean at bargain basement prices. Many inside-cabin prices have been cut by as much as 50%, and more.

One line, the excellent MSC Cruises of Italy, is offering savings of 60%, resulting in prices of about $100 a day per person (plus government fees and taxes) -- on balcony suites, no less -- on the MSC Lirica.

These prices are for select departures in November, January, February, March and April, sailing for 11 nights from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., deep into the Caribbean and, on occasion, into the Panama Canal. (See www.msccruises.com; bookings must be made by Oct. 30.)

The industry also has responded by jump-starting its season of cruises in the Mediterranean, thus providing a winter alternative to the Caribbean.

Costa Cruises and MSC Cruises are offering sailings that set off on Mediterranean voyages from Italian cities as early as Feb. 6. Parts of the Mediterranean can be chilly at that time of year, but attractions in the ports of that storied sea are a powerful lure. So, Americans now have a major February-March alternative to sailing in the cruise ship-filled Caribbean.

Still another alternative to an all-Caribbean cruise is the relatively new “grand voyages” offered by several lines in March, on itineraries as long as 50 days.

One such far-ranging sailing leaves from Fort Lauderdale, crosses the southern Atlantic to Dakar, Senegal, on the African coast, then goes up that coastline to the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean all the way to Greece and Turkey. It returns on another Mediterranean itinerary through the Straits of Gibraltar, crossing the Atlantic to Bermuda and then on to New York. Holland America’s Prinsendam will depart on that itinerary March 12; desirable oceanfront cabins will be $260 a day.

All in all, the cruise lines are inventing all sorts of options for vacationers who are tired of the standard, seven-day Caribbean sailing. But if you’re a new cruiser and eager to see the Caribbean, you should know that prices will be especially low in the coming months.

For the full picture of those bargains, consult such sites as www.cruisesonly.com, (800) 278-4737; www.cruisewizard.com, (800) 547-4790; www.cruisebrothers.com, (800) 827-7779; and www.vacationstogo.com, (800) 338-4962.