The original Caribbean was introduced in 1983 as Duple's upmarket / high-floor coach and was available on 12 metre long mid-engined DAF, Dennis, Leyland and Volvo chassis.

At the time Duple was attempting to develop its own integral coach designs and a one-off rear-engined semi-integral Caribbean was built on Neoplan running gear as a prototype.

The bonded-glazed Calypso was similar in appearance to the Caribbean, but was closer in height to the Laser.

The main difference was a revised front with twin headlamps and plastic grille, shared with the contemporary Laser 2 (which gained bonded glazing at this time, becoming closer in appearance to the Caribbean II).

[3] At the end of 1985 the new Duple 320 and 340 were launched as replacements for the Laser and Caribbean ranges respectively.