Grande Caribe

The 1997-built MV Grande Caribe cruise ship is a USA-flagged passenger vessel (constructed in Warren, Rhode Island, USA) with a maximum capacity of 118 guests. She is owned and operated by the US travel company Blount Small Ship Adventures and was specifically designed for coastal and river cruising.

Like her sistership Grande Mariner, Grande Caribe features a retractable pilothouse (navigation bridge), allowing her to pass under low bridges. With a shallow draft of just 2 m (6 ft), she can operate on canals, rivers, and near-shore cruising expeditions.

For Blount Small Ship Adventures, these vessels operated cruises on the Great Lakes, along New England’s coast, in the Mid-Atlantic USA (Chesapeake Bay), the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW, stretching along the USA’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Texas), the Hudson River, and in the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

The vessel (IMO number 8978631) is USA-flagged (MMSI 369023000).

In 2025, Blount Small Ship Adventures chartered Grande Caribe to Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), where she now serves as a floating hotel (providing crew accommodations) at NCL’s private Bahamian island, Great Stirrup Cay.

Decks and cabins

Grande Caribe staterooms range in size from 70 to 95 ft² (7-9 m²). They are offered in two main types: inside and outside. The most affordable are interior cabins with a double bed, while outside (oceanview) staterooms feature either portholes or opening windows.

Some cabins open to the central corridor, while others open directly onto the Promenade Deck (outdoor deck space).

The vessel has 4 decks and is fully air-conditioned.

Shipboard facilities

The ship features an underwater camera, an aft swimming platform (for watersports equipment), a bow ramp (for beach landings), an observation lounge (single-seating capacity), and a dining room restaurant (single-seating capacity, open-seating arrangement, serving all meals). Cuisine is traditional American fare, with special dishes reflecting the ports of call. Dietary needs can be accommodated upon request.

The open-air Sun Deck has shaded seating with four-seat tables and deckchairs. A stair lift connects the dining room with the upper decks, assisting passengers with limited mobility.

Blount’s small ship cruising concept emphasizes sightseeing, socializing, and—depending on the itinerary—leisure activities such as sunbathing, snorkeling, swimming, and glass-bottom boating. Evening entertainment usually includes themed lectures, reading, movies, videos, or card games. In select ports, guest entertainers and music bands board for live performances.

Itineraries

The vessel’s flat-bottomed hull can cause uncomfortable motion in rough waters, which is why most Grande Caribe itineraries focus on protected waters such as the Great Lakes, inland waterways, and harbors (primarily in summer and fall).

Homeports for departures include Boston MA, Chicago IL, New York City, Rockland ME, and Warren RI.

Blount cruise deals

Blount Small Ship Adventures’ Grande Caribe cruise fares are inclusive of:

• shipboard accommodations and all meals
• open-bar cocktail hour and two formal dinners (Captain’s Welcome and Farewell)
• 24-hour complimentary beverages (tea, coffee, juices, mixers, soft drinks, mineral water) and snacks
• onboard enrichment program (activity workshops, themed lectures, video presentations, music parties)
• complimentary beer and wine with lunch and dinner
• shore excursions (available at extra cost, bookable onboard or as pre-purchased packages)

Passengers are permitted to bring their own bottled alcohol (wine and spirits) onboard—an unusual policy, particularly on smaller cruise ships.

Note: You can explore CruiseMapper’s list of all river cruise ships and riverboats in the “itinerary” section of our River Cruises hub. All companies and their fleets are listed there.