U.S. Vice President Joe Biden flew to St. Croix this week with his family to celebrate the New Year.

Biden, who regularly visits St. Croix, will be staying on the island through Jan. 2.

It will likely be his last visit to the U.S. Virgin Islands as a sitting Vice President, with incoming President Donald J. Trump set to be sworn in on Jan. 20.

The visit caused traffic congestion unusual for the island after landing with his wife Dr. Jill Biden at St. Croix’s Henry E. Rohlsen Airport.

Biden, who has been active in the Caribbean region as VP, including chairing a major Caribbean energy summit earlier this year, also visited St. Croix last year at this time, similarly staying through Jan. 2.

— Caribbean Journal Staff

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The world’s largest cruise ship has arrived in the Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean’s new Harmony of the Seas megaship arrived Wednesday at the Port of Old San Juan.

The new megaship can carry almost 6,300 passengers (and 2,400 crew members).

Harmony will be making 24 trips to Puerto Rico between December and April 2018; Puerto Rico has been receiving mega ships since 2014 following the expansion of its Pier 3.

Puerto Rico is projecting a total of 1.7 million cruise passengers in 2017-18.

— Caribbean Journal Staff

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It’s famous, this place, for its conch, and rightly so: Da Conch Shack draws pilgrims from across the world to taste its freshly-grabbed conch from the waters off Providenciales. (We like the cracked conch best).

But there’s another reason to come to this corner of Providenciales — rum.

Just to the side of the famous restaurant is a terrific little rum bar, with some notable inclusions like Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva, Mount Gay XO, El Dorado 15 and even a limited edition Rhum Clement VSOP, among others.

It’s the kind of selection that’s not easy to find in this part of the region — and that makes it all the more welcome.

And then there’s Jan’s Infamous Rum Punch which, well, you’ll just have to try for yourself.

Nothing washes conch down better.

— CJ

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Delta Airlines has expanded its Caribbean network for the peak holiday season, the company announced this week.

The expansion focuses on the peak holiday period through the first half of January; Delta serves 26 destinations in the wider Caribbean region and includes a 15 percent increase in seat capacity.

“We are constantly reworking our capacity to best respond to our customers’ travel needs,” said Jose Pepe Zapata, Delta’s General Manager-Central America and the Caribbean. “But it’s not just about offering more seats—our customers expect punctual flights to and from their destinations and a worry-free travel experience from the very beginning of their journey. That’s why we strive to offer industry-leading reliability and better service during every stage of travel.”

The heart of the expansion is the addition of a second daily flight between New York-JFK and Nassau, Bahamas, along with an extra daily flight between Atlanta and Montego Bay, Jamaica (from four to five daily flights).

The increased capacity also includes a larger Boeing 767-400 for Atlanta Aruba flights, replacing the smaller Boeing 757-200.

Heading to Nassau? You may want to check out the Graycliff hotel and restaurant (book here) or try a stay at the Bahamas’ leading hotel, the One & Only Ocean Club (book here).

Heading to Montego Bay? Your best bets this season are the one of our favorite hotels in all of the Caribbean, Round Hill (book here) along with Jamaica’s grand resort, Half Moon (book here).

If you’re heading to Aruba, try a stay at the adults-only Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort (above, book here) or the Aruba Marriott.

— CJ

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Experiencing a 96% reduction in the number of new zika cases since the peak in October 2016, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) is optimistic heading into 2017. Over the past ten weeks, there has been a markedly steady decline of reported new zika…

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