Eastern / Western Caribbean: Most Picturesque Ports?

We're getting married this summer on the Escape and have five hours of photography that we need to inform NCL how we want divided up. Since the photography is only performed on the ship and not off of it at any destinations, we need to pick two to four ports which would make the most sense to have in the background while taking pictures on the ship. If anyone has any advice on the most picturesque ports to pick, I'd love to hear it!

These are the ports we'll be at:

St. Maarten

St. Thomas

Tortola

Nassau

Roatan Bay

Belize City

Cozumel

-Keith

We're getting married this summer on the Escape and have five hours of photography that we need to inform NCL how we want divided up. Since the photography is only performed on the ship and not off of it at any destinations, we need to pick two to four ports which would make the most sense to have in the background while taking pictures on the ship. If anyone has any advice on the most picturesque ports to pick, I'd love to hear it!

 

These are the ports we'll be at:

 

St. Maarten

St. Thomas

Tortola

Nassau

 

Roatan Bay

Belize City

Cozumel

 

-Keith

We have not been on the Western Car. We have been to St. Maarten and St. Thomas. St. Thomas is the best. St. Maarten is more commercialized.

Our favorite is St. Lucia.

We're getting married this summer on the Escape and have five hours of photography that we need to inform NCL how we want divided up. Since the photography is only performed on the ship and not off of it at any destinations, we need to pick two to four ports which would make the most sense to have in the background while taking pictures on the ship. If anyone has any advice on the most picturesque ports to pick, I'd love to hear it!

 

These are the ports we'll be at:

 

St. Maarten

St. Thomas

Tortola

Nassau

 

Roatan Bay

Belize City

Cozumel

 

-Keith

STT and Tortola have a nice bay with mountain (hills) in the background. SXM has a beach with a commercial strip behind it. Nassau, although a dump, has the towering Atlantis resort. Both Belize and Coz are flat and dumpy, unless you want a pic of Carlos and Charlies. The best for background scenery IMO, especially if you anchor and tender is Roatan.

Of those ports I would say St. Thomas. It's quite pretty with the green hills and boats bobbing in the bay.

The others are mainly commercial and non-descript at the port. Nassau with the Atlantis in the back could be pretty depending on where your ship docks and if another ship would be cluttering the view.

* I've never been to Roatan on NCL so I'm not completely sure the view there. On Carnival at Mahogany Bay it would not be an ideal view.

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Thanks for the replies, it's very helpful!

I purchased a DSLR and plan on bringing a tripod or one of the family with us to take some pictures off the ship to hopefully fill in the gaps to get some nice off-the-ship pics too. I know you have to be very cautious off the ships since there are professional thieves just waiting to swipe your belongings. Are there any ports we should avoid bringing the camera for that reason? Or are they all equally 'unsafe'?

Belize is a tender port - always - so forget this port. Land isn't close enough for scenic shots.

The Tortola/St. Thomas area, especially during sailaway from Tortola. There will be countless islands in all directions for nearly an hour, and it's truly breathtaking. I'm not a good photographer, but these photos are taken from all sides of the ship. You are truly sailing right through the middle. This will give you an idea.

Lrgpizza, thanks for the pics. It's like a preview of my next cruise!

Overall I would have to vote for the Eastern. Tortola and the islands around it are just beautiful. Coxen Hole and Honduras was nice

Thanks for the replies, it's very helpful!

I purchased a DSLR and plan on bringing a tripod or one of the family with us to take some pictures off the ship to hopefully fill in the gaps to get some nice off-the-ship pics too. I know you have to be very cautious off the ships since there are professional thieves just waiting to swipe your belongings. Are there any ports we should avoid bringing the camera for that reason? Or are they all equally 'unsafe'?

Also for pictures taken from the ship don't expect much of anything to show upp in the background, for the most part all you will see will be colors because the lens will be focused on you and the depth of field will be shallow so anything in the background is going to be blurred.

Don't worry about your camera at any of these ports unless you leave it alone. None of these places are known as high theft areas unless you leave items unattended. As far as "unsafe" none of these locals would full into that definition.

I agree that the scenery around Tortola is amazing. I love all those little islands. I sat on my balcony as we were sailing away and it was amazing to see how small some of them were. I was imagining whether some of them were uninhabited, or whether a hermit had claimed it, etc.

I brought a decent Canon into the ports on the Eastern Escape route. Wore it around my neck at all times, even in Nassau, and never felt unsafe. Obviously, use common sense. I would take pictures of the family and sometimes a local would approach and offer to take the picture so I could be in it. If it was someone clearly attached to the establishment we were in or walking by, I would often say yes. If it was a random local, I would always politely decline.