Southern Caribbean · Cruise port guide
Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
A butterfly-shaped French department in two halves — a limestone beach island and a rainforest volcano island — joined by a bridge.
Port basics
Getting ashore
Ships dock
Berth to town
The market and old town are a 5 to 10 minute walk from the berth.
Time in port
Typically 7–9 hours
Cruise season
Calls concentrate November to April
Currency
Euro — Guadeloupe is part of France and the European Union
Language
French is official; Guadeloupean Creole is widely spoken. English is limited outside tourist businesses.
Time zone
Atlantic Standard Time (UTC−4), no daylight saving
Nearest airport
Pointe-à-Pitre Le Raizet (PTP) — About 4 km north of the city
These are the patterns Guadeloupe normally operates on. Berth assignments, tender arrangements and time in port vary by ship, line and day, and we confirm the specifics for your sailing once we know the dates.
About Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is shaped like a butterfly, and its two wings are geologically unrelated. Grande-Terre, to the east, is flat limestone with the white beaches and the resorts. Basse-Terre, to the west, is a young volcanic island with rainforest, waterfalls and La Soufrière, an active volcano rising to 1,467 metres. A narrow channel and a bridge separate them.
Mémorial ACTe in Pointe-à-Pitre is the most significant museum on any Caribbean cruise itinerary. Opened in 2015 on the site of a former sugar factory, it documents slavery and the transatlantic slave trade across the whole region, and it is a serious institution rather than a tourist stop. It is a short walk from the berth.
Like Martinique, Guadeloupe is legally part of France and the European Union, with the euro and a French administration. English is not widely spoken outside tourist businesses, which for some groups is the point and for others is friction worth planning around.
Îles des Saintes, a small archipelago off the south coast reached by ferry, is the excursion locals recommend: a single sheltered bay, a village of red-roofed houses and a Napoleonic fort on the hill. The ferry timing makes it a tight but feasible port call.
Going ashore in Guadeloupe
Within reach on foot
- Mémorial ACTe, the Caribbean centre on slavery and the slave trade
- Marché Saint-Antoine, the covered spice market
- Place de la Victoire and the waterfront
- The Schœlcher Museum
What the port is known for
- La Soufrière volcano and the Basse-Terre rainforest
- Carbet Falls, a three-tier waterfall in the national park
- Sainte-Anne and Saint-François beaches on Grande-Terre
- Îles des Saintes, an archipelago off the south coast, by ferry
How ships berth here
Ships berth at the Quai des Croisières in central Pointe-à-Pitre, walking distance from the markets and the Mémorial ACTe museum.
Access and mobility
The berth and central Pointe-à-Pitre are flat, and Mémorial ACTe is a modern accessible building. Basse-Terre’s waterfalls and volcano involve forest trails and steps.
Weather and when ships call
Warm and humid, 26–31°C. The dry season runs December to April. Basse-Terre’s rainforest is far wetter than Grande-Terre’s beaches. Hurricane season June to November.
Cruise season
Calls concentrate November to April
Typical itinerary length
Guadeloupe usually appears on 7–10 nights Southern Caribbean itineraries. Sails year-round, busiest November – April.
Ports often paired with Guadeloupe
Itineraries that call here usually call at these too, so it is worth reading them together when you are comparing weeks.
Dominica
The Nature Island — rainforest, hot springs and a boiling lake, with a pier in the middle of a small, weathered capital.
Antigua
An island that claims a beach for every day of the year, with a docked capital and Nelson’s Dockyard, a working Georgian naval yard, on the south coast.
Martinique
A French department in the Caribbean — euros, baguettes and road signs from metropolitan France, under a volcano that destroyed a city in 1902.
St. Kitts
A green volcanic island with a walk-off pier at the capital, a UNESCO hilltop fortress and a scenic railway built for the sugar trade.
Explore further
Bringing a group to Guadeloupe?
We hold five cabins or more together as a single block, quote it once, and let each household book and pay separately. Tell us roughly when and how many.