Ports of Call: Profiles of popular cruise destinations

Often overshadowed by its big neighbor, Buenos Aires, across the Rio de la Plata River in Argentina, Montevideo, Uruguay is a stop on many South American cruise itineraries.

An often visited port on Southern Caribbean and Panama Canal itineraries, Cartagena, Colombia has been able to reverse a reputation of narco-terrorism in its Andean regions and in recent years has experienced a surge in safety, credited to tough measures by President Alvaro Uribe after his election in 2002 and by his successors in recent years.

The word “Rio” instantly evokes exotic panoramas of mountains, bays, sexy beaches, samba music, joy and laughter -- not to mention a certain “girl from Ipanema.”

Often called “the Paris of the South,” Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina is a cosmopolitan city offering wonderful architecture, rich cultural offerings and delectable cuisine.

Trinidad and Tobago, the most southerly islands of the Caribbean chain, are occasional stops on Southern Caribbean cruise itineraries and sometimes also visited by cruise ships setting a course for the Amazon and other parts of South America from South Florida ports.

Often called the “Nature Island,” Dominica, a 29-mile by 16-mile independent nation, in the Windward Islands, is less frequented than others, like Barbados and St.

When it comes to cruise destinations, Bermuda is definitely in the “pink.”

The largest of the trio of U.S. Virgin Islands (the other two being St. Thomas and St. John), St.

Located in the southern half of the 236-mile Caribbean coastline of the Yucatan Peninsula in Quintana Roo, Mexico, approximately 100 miles south of Playa del Carmen and near the border with Belize, Costa Maya suffered extensive damages from Hurricane Dean, a category five storm that made landfall here in 2007, but the area has recovered and rebuilt.

Most people, when they think of Panama, come up with Panama hats (although these well-known hats are really made in Ecuador) and, of course, they associate the country with the Panama Canal, a modern-day marvel connecting the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean on Panama’s narrow isthmus (the Canal was constructed in the early 20th century by the U.S, and turned over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999).

Often likened to a Noah’s Ark due to its rich fauna, including 1,250 species of butterflies and multitudes of bird species, Costa Rica is sort of a poster child for eco-tourism.

A Central American country, located between Mexico and Guatemala, Belize has a variety of Caribbean islands including St.George’s Caye (the site of the 1798 battle during which the British defeated the Spanish and laid claim to Belize), Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker both of which lie within the Belize Barrier Reef -- the largest tropical reef in our hemisphere, famous for the Great Blue Hole, which beckons divers from around the world.

St. John, the smallest and least densely populated of the three main U.S.

Key West, Florida’s “Last Key” is a popular port of call on Western Caribbean cruise itineraries.

A French isle, less visited than Martinique, Guadeloupe is sometimes called “the butterfly island” due to its shape that loosely resembles that beautiful insect --the two “wings” of the butterfly are Grand-Terre (on the eastern side with rolling hills and sugar plantations) and Basse-Terre (on the western side dotted with banana plantations and mountainous landscapes that are dominated by the 4,104-foot peak of still-active, La Soufriere Volcano).

A cruise passenger who wants to “spice” up his life can certainly do so --literally--during his ship’s call to Grenada.

The British Virgin Islands, in the northeastern Caribbean, beckon cruise passengers with their unspoiled coves and hidden bays.

Unspoiled St.

Chic St. Barthelemy could be said to be the island of many names: in addition to St.

If when you think of the Caribbean, you conjure up beaches and more beaches, Antigua may be the island for you.

Part of the Netherlands Antilles, Curacao is the”C” of the”ABC” Dutch Caribbean islands (the other two are Aruba and Bonaire).

Due to its proximity to Florida --only 50 miles east of Palm Beach -- Grand Bahama Island is a popular destination for many Floridians for a quick, grab-your-beach-towel-and-go fun day getaway by cruise ship.

A popular stop on Western Caribbean cruise itineraries, Roatan, 30 miles off the coast of Honduras, is the largest and most developed of the Bay Islands, a region comprised of three primary islands and more than 60 isles and keys in the Caribbean Sea.

One of the loveliest islands of the Caribbean, St.

In the Carib language of her first inhabitants, her name means “island of flowers.”

Cozumel, the island that the Mayans considered their Eden from where they believed they came to populate the continent, like bees from a hive, is located near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

A popular stop on Western Caribbean cruise itineraries, Grand Cayman is best known as a paradise for divers as the clarity of its waters afford visibility of up to 200 feet.

Nassau, the capital of the 700-island chain of the Bahamas, is a popular port of call on Caribbean and Bahamas cruise itineraries departing from Florida ports.

The capital of Puerto Rico, the city of San Juan Bautista, is like a big pirate trunk filled to the brim with treasures for cruise passengers.

Often referred to as the Caribbean island with a “split personality,” St. Maarten/St.

Arguably the Caribbean’s most popular cruise ship port--visitors can count nine or 10 ships in port on any given day--St.

Grand Turk, one of a chain of more than 40 islands in the Turks & Caicos, offers cruise passengers a tropical, laid-back ambience, excellent diving and fishing, colonial architecture, miles of beaches and a recently inaugurated pier and cruise ship terminal.

Jamaica, situated south of Cuba and west of Haiti, has all the natural attributes most people associate with a Caribbean island.

It was an idea pioneered by NCL several decades ago: offer cruise passengers a beach day on a private island (Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas’ Berry Islands).

A blend of Caribbean and British cultures, Barbados is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, having achieved independence in 1966.

Aruba, the westernmost of the so-called Dutch “ABC islands:” Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, is less than 20 miles from the coast of Venezuela.