Favorite and Least Favorable Ports

[Friscorays]

My husband and I had heard so many bad things about Jamaica that when our cruise on Century a number of years ago stopped in Ochos Rios, we had originally planned to stay on the ship. Then one of our table mates told me that I should see Dunn River Falls because it is beautiful so, we took the ship's shore excursion to those falls and were glad that we did.

 

I guess another thing to learn is that there is no substitute for personal experience!

[FinelyCruising]

Would it be fair to say that one of the lessons to be learned from this thread is to avoid Jamaica? I've never been and from all the times it appears on the worst list here, this seems to be a very good thing.

 

Jamaica has some fun opportunities, particularly Dunn's River Falls as has been pointed out and its really a must do if you are able to maneuver physically. You could fall down laughing on this one.

 

Once you have done that, unless you want to do it again, and we have 2x, Ocho Rios is not a port stop that leaves you feeling good. The locals are the most annoying people on the face of the earth when it comes to tourists, with the Labadee Market a close second, and it is unsettling at best.

[usha]

Favs~ a tie between Aruba & Hilo, Hawaii:D

Least Favs~ a tie between Ocho Rios & Nassau:rolleyes:

[Qmadam]

Every port is my favorite. We hardly get off the ship and port days on the ship are great!!!

[richsea]

It's a shame that the very aggressive vendors/cab drivers give Jamaica a bad reputation, because Jamaica is a beautiful island & I have heard from many people who have visited Jamaica that if you can only get past the tourist centers, the ordinary people of Jamaica are among the most friendly & welcoming in the Caribbean.

 

And yes I agree, if you do get off the ship, you must do Dunn's River Falls, if only just once! It's loads of fun. When we went, there was a guy who would take your camera & take a picture of you climbing the falls. He would have about 20 cameras hung around his neck, yet always knew who's camera was who's at the end. Sure enough, our camera had our picture. Don't know how he did it!

[Bridge Maven]

It's a shame that the very aggressive vendors/cab drivers give Jamaica a bad reputation, because Jamaica is a beautiful island & I have heard from many people who have visited Jamaica that if you can only get past the tourist centers, the ordinary people of Jamaica are among the most friendly & welcoming in the Caribbean.

 

And yes I agree, if you do get off the ship, you must do Dunn's River Falls, if only just once! It's loads of fun. When we went, there was a guy who would take your camera & take a picture of you climbing the falls. He would have about 20 cameras hung around his neck, yet always knew who's camera was who's at the end. Sure enough, our camera had our picture. Don't know how he did it!

 

I agree with you. On one of our cruises we took a rather unique shore excursion in Montego Bay, Jamaica, through Celebrity where we went to a pre school and a working farm and spent time at each place interacting with people who lived in Jamaica. It was a wonderful experience to talk with everyday people and get a feeling of what their life was like in Jamaica.

[TRacanoUK]

Least favorite(s) would have to be Klaipeda, Lithuania (although the Soviet era missile silo we saw there was kind of cool) and Mazatlan, Mexico.

 

I have too many "favorite" ports . . .

[the_dylaness]

I spent a few minutes thinking about my answers, started writing, and then erased them.

 

I think my favorite stops have not necessarily been defined by how much I actually liked the port itself but rather how much I liked what I did there and the memories I created. I've had some of the greatest times in St. Thomas and Juneau, neither of which I'd consider great from a port standpoint, but the activities (private sailboat charter and "level 3 glacier x-trek" with ice climbing respectively) leave me with very fond memories of being in those places. I also had a great day in Costa Maya (pre hurricane) even though the port was over commercialized and not so great.

 

Many of the ports we stopped in in New Zealand were beautiful, some I have great memories of and some are a little fuzzier or maybe the activities didn't pan out quite as expected so although the ports were great my experience was so so.

[BrendaJ]

Favourites - scenery: Dubrovnik, Santorini, Venice, Le Havre (Paris and Mont St. Michel), Villefranche, all Italian ports, Zeebrugge

 

Favourites - excursions: Maui (Lanai Wild Dolphin and Snorkel Adventure), St. John's (Signal Hill hike), Cayo Levantado (Whale Watching)

 

Favourites - welcoming locals: St. John's (NFLD), Cobh (Ireland), Arica (Chile), Ponce (Puerto Rico)

 

Funny, but I remember after my first couple of Caribbean cruises in the early 80's, I was thrilled with the Caribbean. I remember talking to a woman at work who said she was sick of the Caribbean islands and that they don't even get off the ships anymore. At the time, I thought she was nuts. Now, I'm kind of in the same boat. ;) We've gone on Caribbean cruises the last few years just to get away from the winter, but frankly, all the islands are starting to look the same. To me they mostly seem overly commercial and sanitized (St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Aruba), or desperately poor (Grenada, Labadee, Ocho Rios). Although that is an unfair generalization based on the immediate port area, I have lost most of my desire to visit many of the islands. They all have their "historic fort", botanical garden, waterfall, etc. and they all run together in my mind, at least those places where I took an island tour. A few favourites still do stand out in my mind - Tobago, St. Bart's, Barbados, but for the most part, I'd pick any cruise in Europe over a Caribbean cruise. We do like to get some sunshine in the winter and for that reason, we'll probably cruise the Caribbean just for the weather and wonderful ship experience, but I'm getting to the point that I may choose to stay on board at certain ports. I would really love to experience some of the Caribbean islands by visiting and speaking with locals and hearing about their way of life and their views of the world, but that seems a tough thing to arrange, particularly in a place innudated by cruise passengers.

 

Oh well, I can't complain too much - being able to cruise anywhere at all is something to be truly thankful for.

[Cruiser Susie]

We have been so blessed to have been to so many places in the last few years... Cruising is a wonderful way to get a taste of many different places you might otherwise never be able to go.

 

Thanks for the idea of the way to sort this, Brenda!

Favorite ports (scenery)... Skagway, Alaska, Juneau, Alaska, Villefranche (Having a drink on the balcony at the Chateau Eze, oh, my, the view...) Santorini, Dubrovnik, the Amalfi coast (port of Naples, Italy), and the Azores... lush, green, gorgeous... Orient Beach in St. Maarten, with the most gorgeous shade of turquoise water to be found anywhere; the beach at Cane Garden Bay in Tortola with the other Virgin Islands in the distance... any of the ports in Hawaii...

 

Favorite ports (activity) Barbados (Silver Moon is my all time favorite and it can't be beat); Barcelona and the whole experience there; Dominica and the whale watching (we saw a school of 300+ Frasier dolphins... spectacular!), the Amalfi coast tour excursion in Naples... absolutely amazing; the ship excursion of Rome, including the Vatican, breathtaking; the tour at Pearl Harbor; the tour to the Panama Canal; the tour of Santorini which left time for Oia in the afternoon; swimming with the dolphins in Cozumel... and the snorkeling in Kona, Hawaii, crystal clear waters with so many schools of different kinds of fish...

 

Least favorite ports... Acapulco, St. Lucia, and Mazatlan... just not our thing.

 

But, having said that, after a brutal winter here in Chicago, I am ALWAYS grateful to be able to escape to somewhere warm, sunny, colorful and bright; my winter deprived eyes and skin absolutely revel in the tropical colors and humidity. And with winter soon to be here, I hope we are able to get away again... on another cruise, our favorite way to travel!

[BrendaJ]

But, having said that, after a brutal winter here in Chicago, I am ALWAYS grateful to be able to escape to somewhere warm, sunny, colorful and bright; my winter deprived eyes and skin absolutely revel in the tropical colors and humidity. And with winter soon to be here, I hope we are able to get away again... on another cruise, our favorite way to travel!

 

Well, Sue, if you and Larry haven't had enough of us after our TA in November, we're trying HAL on January 24 on the Eurodam, just to get a bit of sunshine.

 

We're planning to attend my niece's wedding in England in June - I'm going to have to pull some vacation time out of thin air . . . :D

[Pallyjake]

Favorites: Bora Bora, St John USVI

 

UGGGH: Casa D Campo, Ocho Rios

[Arubamoose]

Yes - there are MOOSES in Aruba!!! These mooses will be there in a few weeks! I hate going there as a port stop because we can only spend a few hours instead of a few weeks.

 

So many have put down Dominica - that was one of my favorite ports. We hired a taxi for the day and our driver took us all over. My daughter mentioned that she was studying environmental science and he would stop to show/play/eat :eek: the local flora. We hiked to the falls and saw breathtaking scenery.

 

It is a shame - Jamaica is such a lovely island - but those who deal with the tourists really need to take a course in diplomacy and tact. My most frustrating memory was rafting down the Martha Brae and the boat tender just went on and on about how poor he was and how his children were starving and life was so hard. Tried to badger us into purchasing crappy trinkets that I didn't want and into giving him a generous tip. Totally ruined the excursion. I was ready to give him a decent tip at the end because I felt guilty - when he pulls out his cell phone (a much more expensive model than I had!) and proceeded to talk about picking up his car from the shop (again a much more expensive model than I had!). My wallet snapped shut. Next time I will stay on board. I've been there numerous times for AI land vacations. I won't miss anything. It is a shame.

 

I know that Bermuda is not in the Caribbean....but if it's warm and has beaches and has palm trees....!!!

[CruiseDad-NYC]

I know these are subjective (and my favorites are colored in part because we now travel with children and strollers):

 

Favorites:

Labadee (like the convenience, the view of the cove, and the clear water)

St. Martin (loved being able to walk to the beach from the ship with the stroller)

St. John USVI (loved it so much after visiting it on the Galaxy back in 2000, that we rented a villa there in 2002)

Cozumel (great snorkeling)

Old San Juan (we went with no expectations at all and found it very charming)

 

Least favorite:

Ocho Rios (my wife and I went there separately before we knew each other and separately vowed never to get off the ship there again)

Antigua (did not like the town and did not care for the beach)

[FinelyCruising]

Antigua (did not like the town and did not care for the beach)

 

We have been there 2x. The first time we were bummed. The second time the BEST snorkeling we ever did. Its such a lightly utilized port on X cruises and I'd love to go back and snorkel there again. We were at Long Beach (I think? Maybe it was Long Bay or Long Bay Beach), and the up hill ride to get there was filled with the amazing scents of the landscape and flowers.

 

I agree the town is less than eventful.

[Cote d'or]

Antigua (did not like the town and did not care for the beach)

We have been there 2x. The first time we were bummed. The second time the BEST snorkeling we ever did. Its such a lightly utilized port on X cruises and I'd love to go back and snorkel there again. We were at Long Beach (I think? Maybe it was Long Bay or Long Bay Beach), and the up hill ride to get there was filled with the amazing scents of the landscape and flowers.

 

I agree the town is less than eventful.

 

We like it because of Prickly Pear Island. Small but beautiful private Island, run by one marvelous family.