The Caribbean currently attracts more passengers than any other region in the world. According to Wild and Dearing (2005), recent growth patterns in the Caribbean emerged because North American passengers were seeking cruises that offered certain characteristics, and one of these was the need to remain close to home. The three years since 9/11 consolidated the Caribbean's position as the number one cruise region, and while growth may have slowed since then, the position still reflects an upward trend.

Calculating passenger figures that affect cruise destinations can be accomplished in a number of ways. For example, potential passenger throughput (PPT) takes the number of cruises and multiplies the total number of passengers for each vessel to create a quick reference number; the passenger per night (PN) calculates total numbers of nights spent in individual ports. As would be expected in terms of scale of operations, vessels operated by brands owned by Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise company, dominate in this region, with 54% of all passenger nights (PN) compared with 33% for Royal Caribbean (Wild and Dearing, 2005). According to the data produced by Wild and Dearing, the western Caribbean is expected to attract larger numbers of passengers during 2005 (estimated at 2.75 million) than the eastern and southern Caribbean (an estimated 2.2 million).

Burton (1995) describes the Caribbean (see Figure 4.2) as a "4000 km arc which sweeps eastward from Florida to the Venezuelan coast." The islands are diverse in physical character and...