Developing local embarkation ports around North America, cruise lines have made it easier for cruise travelers to make it from home to the ship. Flying or driving from home to the embarkation port takes costs less and takes less time too. One little hiccup in the plan: we may find ourselves sailing to the same places over and over again.  Getting cruise bored?  Well, if bouncing back and forth between Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries, that can happen.  Five different thoughts on the topic:

1. Actually, There Is A New Place In The Caribbean- Say hello to Cuba. It’s not often that ‘new’ islands spring up in the ocean, although Hawaii seems to be trying. If you are a U.S. citizen and have not sailed in the last couple of years, odds are you have never been there.  These are generally shorter sailings, like four- or five- days, but you could sail from Port Canaveral and could easily spend a few days at some of the Central Florida attractions or just come into town a few days early and stay at a resort.
2. A Different Starting Place-  A round-trip sailing from San Juan (as opposed to a continental United States embarkation port) is often called an Island Hopper.  That’s because you don’t spend a lot of time at sea because you are flying rather than cruising to and from the embarkation port.
3. A Longer Sailing- If 7-day Caribbean sailings have been the best fit for you in the past, maybe a longer sailing will be better.  Commonly found sailing from the Northeast United States (like New York or Baltimore) 9+ day sailings are common.  I remember the first longer-than-seven-days cruise we were on. That sailing of Carnival Victory was 8 days, only because it sailed round trip Florida to the Southern Caribbean and back.  Two days each way were spent at sea.  That one extra day made a huge difference.
4. A Longer Sailing To Different Places- If Cozumel, Grand Cayman, St Thomas and/or St Maarten or any other popular Caribbean ports have left you cruise bored, try a longer sailing to different places.
5. A Different Focus- If a Caribbean cruise means sun and fun at the beach, great, there are plenty of them in the Caribbean.  You’ll get that lovely experience, weather permitting.  But what if it rains? Sun may be out of the picture but fun surely is not. If there is one or more ports on an itinerary that you do not get off the ship for, it might be time for a change of focus, like on history or just sampling the local fare.