The big news about cruise options this spring and summer is that more lines are basing their best ships in Florida ports and keeping them here year-round, including the Carnival Breeze.

Jamaica-based travel company Leisure for Pleasure Holidays and Tours Ltd has encouraged more Jamaicans to visit Cuba on its weekly cruises as it presented the first prize in a competition staged in association with the Jamaica Observer to a Kingston woman.

Cruise passenger visits to the USVI grew by 4.9 percent last year, with a total of 1,998,579 cruise passengers. That was among the largest improvements of any Caribbean destination with complete annual reporting from 2013.

Royal Caribbean International said the Independence of the Seas will spend its first summer in the Caribbean in 2015, returning from deployment in Europe. The ship will sail alternating seven-day eastern and western Caribbean itineraries from Fort Lauderdale.