Gadling

Nothing ruins a place faster than a mammoth cruise ship docking at its port--unless, of course, you happen to be on that cruise ship.

If you're landlubber who has traveled halfway around the world to enjoy the peace and quiet of a tropical island only to have your paradise overrun by 15,000 cruise ship passengers, you know what I'm talking about. It is Hell.

So how do you avoid this crush? Is there a resource that will tell you which islands are off the cruise ship circuit but still wonderful enough to visit?

Writer David Swanson has taken on this challenge in his recent article, The Caribbean: Cruise-Ship Free.

He kicks off with the woeful example of beautiful Tortola in the British Virgin Islands--an island of 22,000 people that sees 500,000 cruise ship passengers annually. Ugh!

Swanson then keys us in on eight Caribbean islands that he promises are cruise ship free; Anguilla, Bonaire, Montserrat, Nevis, Provodenciales (Turks and Caicos), Saba, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago.

Take a moment to read through the descriptions of what each of these islands has to offer (above-and-beyond them being cruise-ship free), then pick your favorite and disappear.

Filed under: St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago