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What's The Best Cruise Port Terminal, What's The Worst?


cjdixon4
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Although I love the city of Miami and really liked sailing on Majesty, their cruise port was terrible. At least it was the last time that I was there. It was tight, crowded, and the employees were the rudest ever. Of course that was MY experience a few years back, and maybe things have changed since then.

Port of Galveston (even though the city itself is a seaside gem) runs a close second to me. SOOOO disorganized...LOL :rolleyes:

My favorite however, is Port Everglades hands down, especially since it's newer, cleaner, and more spacious. How about you...what's the best and worst for you and why?

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Best - Port Everglades, great set up and operation. Easy to get to and from the airport.

 

Worst - Royal's port in San Juan. It makes no sense that it is set up the way it is and each time I went there, you stand for hours.

Edited by Plum Happy
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I cant really give an answer as I have only ported out of two RC homeports. Tampa and Port Canaveral. They were both really good. I DO have to say that the new Terminal 1 at Port Canaveral is absolutely wonderful in all aspects though. What a nice experience. I have no worst yet :)

Edited by ryano
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Worst we've experienced was Bayonne, NJ (before the remodel)...long lines in traffic to get in, then long lines in a tent, followed by a crowded bus ride Even post-remodel there's still (from what I understand) one road in and one so no traffic improvement. Best so far - Ft. Lauderdale. It's a quick taxi ride from airport and terminal is nice.

Edited by 1ParticularHbr
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Best - Port Everglades, great set up and operation. Easy to get to and from the airport.

 

Worst - Royal's port in San Juan. It makes no sense that it is set up the way it is and each time I went there, you stand for hours.

 

Plum-

Hubby and I just sailed out of San Juan on Adventure last month. I forgot about that terminal. Talk about disorganized! Especially after you disembark to pick up your luggage. The baggage porters arguing with each other over who gets whose bags. It was crazy, to saythe least. OK, add San Juan to my least favorite cruise terminal list. But i will probably end up cruising from there again, 'cause I love the itineraries out of Puerto Rico. Sigh...

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We must be one of the few that didn't have problems with Galveston. Of course, we drove in so that may have contributed a bit. We pulled right up, dropped the luggage, parked the car and walked back to the check in. Check In process only took about 15 minutes and then getting on board was another 10-15 due to people not listening to the warning about taking the elevator if they needed it.

 

Disembark-wasn't bad either. we did self disembark. worst part was the people hounding us if we bought alcohol while we were out.

Edited by Theredofshaw
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And I must be the one who gives Port Canaveral a thumbs down. Their computers went down and they had 100's of people standing outside in the heat with no shade and no water for a good 2 hours. Couple that with some really mean port workers who yelled at people trying to find bathrooms and it wins my Worst.

 

Galveston is a good port for driving cruisers but I do allow that it is a tough one for those that fly.

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Best Cruise Port Terminal? Terminal 18 at Port Everglades. Newest, cleanest, biggest, most efficient. Not even close.

 

Unfortunately, it's about the ONLY thing good about cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale. Sail away is nowhere near as scenic as Miami, and far more industrial ugly than Port Canaveral. The city is the most boring vanilla generic ho hum city you can sail out of. Far too many chain restaurants and really nothing distinct. Give me Miami or Tampa any day of Ft. Yawnderdale...

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... Their computers went down and they had 100's of people standing outside in the heat with no shade and no water for a good 2 hours....

Just for the sake of accountability, the computers in a terminal building belong to the ship. They are networked to servers inside the ship, and are the responsibility of the ship's IT people.

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Baltimore is probably the best/easiest we've ever sailed into/out of. PC is second. Bayonne was never that bad. You just had to arrive before the rush. We're looking forward to the new Bayonne port next year.

Edited by BND
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Best by far was Baltimore; we drove up and they took the luggage out of the trunk. Breezed thru security and on board in less than 20 minutes. So far no really bad experience anywhere.

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Best - Barcelona: always efficient, both embarking and disembarking

 

Worst - Port Everglades Dock 24: we've disembarked here 3 times and always a shambles with long lines and lack of organisation

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Well here in Australia

 

The ones outside of Sydney are pretty ordinary.

 

Sydney has two

 

OPT great location other than traffic in George Street and since the renovations pretty good as a terminal.

 

White Bay the new Terminal is great. but what a crap location with no infrastructure to support it.

Edited by GUT2407
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Port Everglades is my favorite and the terminal that houses the Oasis class ships. Although a couple of years ago, the Legend cruised out of there as well. So happy when we found out that was what the Legend was using.

 

Done Galveston many times since we're from Texas. Have heard the many complaints about Galveston and have done my fair share.

 

Since we know the drill, it helps. Typically, there are several international cruisers and that seems to clog up the works to get out of there.

 

Also took a Disney cruise from the same terminal that Royal uses in Galveston. Disney seemed confused a bit. People were stacked up everywhere for check in. I think the fact that Disney announces each family as they board causes a backlog of people. Never had the clog when getting on with Royal.

 

Also did a Panama Canal cruise on Disney that ended up at Galveston. Disney wasn't offering transfers to Hobby, so being on the Disney cruise board and roll call, a fellow roll caller set up a bus. That day was crazy once we disembarked. An employee was barking orders trying to get passengers to move. That was the worst I've ever seen at Galveston.

 

Overall, I pretty much forget what getting on is like. I've had a week to cruise and forget! :) And usually we're focused on catching a plane or driving home, so I still don't recall the disembarkation experience too much. ;)

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We have sailed out of Boston, Newark, Port Canaveral, Port Everglades, Miami, San Juan and New Orleans. Of them all, San Juan is probably the most difficult we have experienced. I know that Newark would have been an absolute nightmare if we had been doing the driving; it was a harrowing experience with a knowledgeable shuttle driver. :eek: Port Canaveral and Terminal 1 are absolutely wonderful. :D

 

While we don't really care that much for the boarding/debarkation experience in New Orleans, we really do enjoy sailing out of that port. We usually have a day pre or post cruise to enjoy some sights and we love the cruise down river.:)

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