Christmas Caribbean CME Cruise

Prepare for the best January 1st of your life—with an update on the science of happiness and twenty-one New Year's resolution-strengthening tools—on a 7-night Caribbean cruise on a brand new, high-end ship. You're home December 27, armed for the New Year. 

December 20-27, 2026

Earlybird tuition $1,695 CAD (tax-free)

Happiness Science & New Year's Resolutions Lab

Overview

CBT Canada is pleased to present a Christmas Caribbean CME Cruise from December 20–27, 2026 aboard Celebrity Xcel—the newest ship in the Celebrity fleet. Launched just thirteen months before our sailing, Xcel is the latest in Celebrity's acclaimed Edge Series: a floating resort with fourteen restaurants, a cantilevered Magic Carpet platform that glides up the side of the ship, a rooftop garden suspended above the ocean, and a spa that rivals the best on land. If you've never sailed Celebrity, this is the ship that will ruin you for every other cruise line. If you have—you already know.

Ports include the French-Dutch island of St. Maarten, the Danish-colonial charm of St. Thomas, and the adventure capital of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. Christmas Day is spent in port—no cooking required.

Staterooms are priced per couple (two guests), with all taxes, a drinks package, WiFi, and refundable deposit included:

• Concierge Veranda — from $7,986 CAD
• Infinite Veranda — $7,630 CAD
• Oceanview — from $6,482 CAD
• Deluxe Inside — $5,884 CAD

Space is limited. The ship offers exclusive amenities for our group, including private meeting rooms, invitation-only cocktail parties, and special dining arrangements. For our group to enjoy these benefits, all bookings must be made with Arlene at vacation@cbt.ca or phone (877.466.8228 x 333). Book now for the best cabin selection—and your companion cruises free! 

See below for CME, itinerary, and ship details…

The CME

The CME pairs two of our most popular workshop modules, certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada for 6.0 Mainpro+ credits:

Happiness Science 
Evidence-Based Guidance for the Universal Human Quest 

Each year, over 1,000 academic papers are published in the compelling field of positive psychology. Happiness Science translates the best of that literature into a fast-paced, clinically relevant exploration of what actually makes people happier.

We begin by debunking the leading misconceptions about happiness, many of which are very widespread and very pernicious. We then explore over a dozen happiness-critical topics: the surprising science of awe, the evidence on gratitude (and why most people do it wrong), why experiences beat possessions (except when they don't), the underrated literature on humour, RCT-backed "fun prescriptions", the art of savouring (e.g., this cruise!), and the ten evidence-based factors that distinguish people who thrive under adversity from those who don't. Each topic is grounded in recent meta-analyses and designed for immediate use with patients, with family, and with yourself.

The New Year's Resolutions Lab

Twenty-One Evidence-Based Tools to Make Habits Stick

Eighty percent of New Year's resolutions fail by Valentine's Day, largely because the strategies most people use—SMART goals, accountability buddies, willpower—perform little better than placebo.

CBT has produced an arsenal of high-potency, peer-reviewed behaviour-change tools, many of which outperform unaided willpower by an order of magnitude in head-to-head trials. In this rapid-fire session, we dissect 21 of the most underused techniques—from the Ulysses Pact to the Zeigarnik Effect, from the Regret Lottery to the Dostoyevsky Effect, from the Cortés Commitment to Ironic Process Theory. Each one is practical, memorable, and ready for your next patient conversation—or, perhaps more to the point, for your own New Year's resolution. 

The timing is superb: you'll spend Christmas week learning happiness-boosting and resolution-keeping tools, then arrive home December 27—armed for the New Year.

Cruise itinerary

Port details

Day 1.   All aboard Celebrity Xcel for a 4:00PM departure. The afternoon is yours to settle in and explore one of the newest ships afloat. Join the casual departure reception if you're feeling social, or simply watch the shoreline fade from a quiet corner of the deck. As the ship glides out to open water, you'll feel the shift from everyday practice pressures to something wonderfully different: Caribbean evenings, sea air, and the rare luxury of uninterrupted conversations—or blissful solitude, if you prefer. Your Caribbean Christmas has begun. 

Day 2. At sea, with CME 9:30AM–11:45AM. Your first morning aboard begins with the opening CBT Canada session—a relaxed start to three days of practical, clinically focused teaching. After class, the ship is yours to discover. Celebrity Xcel rewards the curious: the rooftop garden, the cantilevered Magic Carpet platform, fourteen restaurants, and corners you won't find until Day 5. The festive CBT Canada Welcome Party begins at 5:00PM. All registrants and all their guests (of all ages!) are encouraged to attend. It's the best way to put faces to names and set the tone for the week ahead.

Day 3. At sea, with CME 9:30AM–11:45AM. After the morning session, the rest of the day is yours. The spa rivals anything on land—book early if you want the oceanview treatment room. Explore the pool deck, settle into the library with something you've been meaning to read since residency, or simply find a quiet corner and do absolutely nothing. Sea days are when the best conversations happen—with colleagues over coffee, with your spouse over a long lunch, or with yourself over a sunset.

Day 7.   At sea, with CME from 9:30AM to 11:45AM. The final session wraps up the clinical material—and by now the group has the easy familiarity of colleagues who've shared a week of sun, good food, and honest conversation. The afternoon is yours for last-chance indulgences: one more swim, one more espresso on the deck, one more lap of the ship you've come to know by heart. The CBT Canada Farewell Party begins at 5:00PM. All registrants and all their guests (of all ages!) are welcome. Dress up or don't—it's been that kind of week.

Day 8.   Disembarkation rejuvenated. Seven nights of holiday warmth and collegiality have done their magic—you're heading home refreshed, with a deeper understanding of what actually makes people happier and 21 behaviour-change tools ready to deploy on New Year's Day. The Caribbean has recharged you; the CME has rearmed you.

The ship

Introducing Celebrity Xcel, the newest and largest ship in the Celebrity Cruises fleet—and the crowning achievement of the acclaimed Edge Series that redefined modern cruising. Launched in November 2025, she'll be just thirteen months old when we sail—you will smell the new ship smell.

The triple-deck Grand Plaza anchors the interior, with a showpiece chandelier, the legendary Martini Bar, and live music that draws you in every evening. From there, the ship unfolds in every direction. The cantilevered Magic Carpet—a platform that glides up the exterior of the ship—offers open-air dining and cocktails suspended above the ocean. The Rooftop Garden, expanded from earlier Edge ships, now features Bora, a new al fresco Mediterranean restaurant where brunch comes with ocean views and Bloody Marys, and dinner feels like an evening on the Greek coast.

The Celebrity Xcel dining is extraordinary. Her thirty-two culinary venues include Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud (the Michelin-starred chef's first restaurant at sea), the destination-inspired Mosaic (whose menu changes with each port), and four distinct main dining rooms—all complimentary. The spa is Celebrity's largest afloat: over 30,000 square feet, with a salt room, Turkish bath, infrared sauna, and a new outdoor Vitamin D deck for post-treatment lounging in the sun.

After dark, the Celebrity Xcel comes alive. The Theatre hosts the fleet's largest cast—singers, dancers, and parkour artists performing against kinetic lighting and a massive LED backdrop. Around the corner, a hidden 1920s speakeasy called IYKYK ("If You Know, You Know") is tucked behind a photobooth entrance; phones are confiscated at the door, and you're given exactly one hour "before the cops arrive." The three-deck Bazaar replaces the Eden lounge from earlier ships with destination-themed festivals, live entertainment, and local artisan markets that bring each port aboard before you've even arrived.

For families, Camp at Sea offers supervised programming for ages 3–17. For couples, the Retreat—an exclusive suite-class enclave with its own sundeck, pool, restaurant, and lounge—delivers a ship-within-a-ship experience. For everyone: the pool deck transforms nightly into the Shine the Night party under the stars.

Celebrity Xcel isn't just new. It's the ship the rest of the industry is trying to catch.

Meet your instructor 

About CBT Canada

CBT Canada won the National CME Program Award from the CFPC for providing "exceptional learning experiences", and was the first organization authorized by the CFPC to provide three-credits-per-hour CME. One accreditation reviewer wrote, "Two words: superlative & exemplary".

CBT Canada has given over 100 workshops in collaboration with medical schools, including Dal, McGill, McMaster, Memorial, Queen's, UofA, UBC, UofC, Université de Montréal, UofS, the University of Toronto, and Western.

Over 10,000 physicians have been trained by CBT Canada over the past 30 years. Alumni include national and provincial CFPC presidents, department chairs, residency program directors—and even a few doctors who are comfortable juggling drills & saws. Read their endorsements.

The Procrastinator's Penalty