I will never, EVER cruise again to....

[glrounds]

I don't like the word NEVER either, but my vote would easily go to Ocho Rios . . . didn't like any part of that and would probably stay on the ship if for some reason the ship was diverted there again.:(

Not crazy about Montego Bay either.:rolleyes:

[dominichunter]

I believe it's called "instant gratification", Linda. Why save your money and not cruise AT ALL one year (or two) to have ONE cruise to the Med.

 

Here's my take on Med cruises....JUST SAY NO!!!!!! We did a Med cruise about 15 years ago and will NEVER do another one! The reason? If you've been to Europe, you know the reason, but for those that haven't.....for example, just randomly choosing ONE city on a stop, lets say, Rome. We did a city tour thingy that included most of Rome and the Vatican City. We had exactly 15 minutes in the Sistine Chapel. FIFTEEN MINUTES. IN. THE. SISTINE. CHAPEL. About 2 hours in the entire St. Peter's Cathedral. We weren't even allowed off the bus at the Forum, "just look through the windows, ladies and gentlemen..."

 

Can you say, oh hell no????!!!! There is SO much history and so much to see and do in most European cities that we decided after that fiasco of a cruise, that from now on, we would fly to Europe, home base in a city and take their oh-so-amazing train system to the different areas we wanted to see. That way, if I want to spend 4 hours in the Sistine Chapel taking it all in, I can. If I want to spend an entire day going through the museums in Munich, I can. It would be like sending someone to NYC for 8 hours and expecting them to come away with something. Can't be done.

 

That being said, over the last year or so when the Euro exchange rate got stupid, we decided that our money was better served in cruising, and did 3 last year. Two this year. We already have plans for a land vaca in Europe next year with the Euro now back at sane levels.

 

It may not be that folks aren't interested in the rest of the world, Linda. It's just their personal opinion that they'd rather take a cruise (or two) each year, rather than not take a trip somewhere, save that money for a year or two, and then cruise the Med. Remember, Med cruises always come with insane airfares attached, especially now. While I spoke of the now sane Euro above, airfare to our cities of choice is running $800+. At $1600 R/T for DH and me, I could do THREE cruises out of Mobile on the Elation, lol! And that would just cover the airfare, no Med cruise price attached to that!

Excellent point

[habby]

I wish it was possible for Carnival to do deep south like to Barbados out of Miami and spend 2 days there and maybe hit a quick island on the way back,.

Oh, now that would be my dream cruise - more time on Barbados!

[dancemom3]

Carnival should pay people to get off at Calica-not sure if they still go there. Its a mining pit-nothing else. Carnival should be embarrassed to even travel there.

I guess we had a pretty clear understanding that Calica is basically a place to dock the ship, but we did a great excursion through Carnival from this port. Lots of poverty, yes, but also great Mayan history, swimming in ceyotes in caves, and time on a beautiful beach.

[cruiserbryce]

in the end I can think of a lot of worse things to do than cruise to thos ports...although I cant see myself going back to Acapulco in the near future...too congested and too big to really enjoy

[linda_22003]

Guess I was a little offended because it felt implied that the Carribean is somehow not as good as a Med cruise, just felt condescending you know?

Prolly just me.

Cheers anyway, Carole

 

Not intended to be condescending. The point of my question was why people go to the same place over and over and over rather than discovering new ones. My question would be the same if people were going to the Greek Islands every year, ad infinitum.

[dan40]

Not intended to be condescending. The point of my question was why people go to the same place over and over and over rather than discovering new ones. My question would be the same if people were going to the Greek Islands every year, ad infinitum.

 

I'd guess that on average, people spend about 4 hours exploring outside the immediate port area per visit. So in a dozen cruise visits, one spends the equivalent of 6 days visiting one country.

[MrPete]

Not intended to be condescending. The point of my question was why people go to the same place over and over and over rather than discovering new ones. My question would be the same if people were going to the Greek Islands every year, ad infinitum.

 

I like to go to Bermuda every year. I still have scratched the surface as to what the place offers.

[gtalum]

I haven't yet visited a place that I wouldn't willingly visit again. So I didn't vote. :)

[gtalum]

Not intended to be condescending. The point of my question was why people go to the same place over and over and over rather than discovering new ones. My question would be the same if people were going to the Greek Islands every year, ad infinitum.

 

When you travel, you generally get only the barest taste of the places you visit unless you actually move there for quite some time. In my experience, even repeat visits to the most mundane of places will yield new and different experiences if you put even the smallest amount of effort into it.

[halos]

I haven't yet visited a place that I wouldn't willingly visit again. So I didn't vote. :)

:eek:

I can't get over that some of these places even HAVE votes!

Cozumel?

St Thomas?????????

 

you gotta be kidding me!

 

When you travel, you generally get only the barest taste of the places you visit unless you actually move there for quite some time. In my experience, even repeat visits to the most mundane of places will yield new and different experiences if you put even the smallest amount of effort into it.

 

 

 

again, I agree with you one million percent!

[cruzeluver]

When you travel, you generally get only the barest taste of the places you visit unless you actually move there for quite some time. In my experience, even repeat visits to the most mundane of places will yield new and different experiences if you put even the smallest amount of effort into it.

 

Beautifully put. There is no way to experience everything a place has to offer in one 8 hour stop. We have been to Cozumel five times, but we still manage, with a little effort on our part, to find new things to discover. Same with St. Thomas, Belize and St. Martin.

[viaggi_per_mare]

for me never is a strong word, but i really do not care for belize. Was there last september and did the xunantunich tour. We are going back on the valor in april and dh and ds want to do cave tubing, so i'll go. Don't want to spoil their fun. We were not told to stay away from trees nor were our guides armed....is this recent?

 

.

Belize

 

We were there at Xunantunich ruins in April of 2008 and an entire army caravan followed us into the the site (on the raft ferry) and were patrolling the woods while we were there. They left when we did. We also saw guards armed with weapons outside of banks in the small towns we passed through on our 2 hour trip to the site.

 

.....having to tender as well is the final issue....it's a sea day for us!

We were just there last month on the Dream and we stayed on the ship as did quite a few others.

[Vanessa L]

:eek:

I can't get over that some of these places even HAVE votes!

Cozumel?

St Thomas?????????

 

you gotta be kidding me!

 

 

 

Well halos, it just shows that there are different strokes for different folks. I personally would be happy if no ships called on Jamaica, it's a hell hole. But some people like it. Some people like Nassau. Personally, if the cruise lines stopped calling on Cozumel, I'd just fly down there for a few days, I like it so well. But it did get some "never again" votes. Here's to diversity ;):D

[camorelli]

Right now I avoid choosing intineraries with Ocho Rios on them. But I wouldn't count out a ship that goes there if that ship/time worked best for us, I'd just stay on the ship probably.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Just being on a ship is fine with me

[hazeleyez3]

Ocho Rios. The first time we went we did a shore excursion that took us around the island for scenery - not just a beach day. We were less than impressed and didn't have any desire to re-visit.

 

A couple asked if we wanted to join them on a cruise this past January so we said sure. Ocho Rios was one of the ports. While we got off in port for awhile we spent most of the time on the ship.

 

I voted Cozumel, but only because the poll wouldn't take more than one choice. There were about four I would have chosen.

 

I don't understand why people go to the Caribbean over and over and over and over. We did the western Carib two years ago, and we may do the eastern portion at some point, but why so many times???

 

There's the Black Sea - Istanbul, Yalta, Odessa...

There's the Baltic - Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Stockholm....

There's the Mediterranean - too many ports to list!

 

Why do the Caribbean and nothing else?!?!!?!? Apparently, I'd really like to know! :D

 

We have done the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, and Mexico. We also try not to visit the same Caribbean ports over and over again - I think Grand Cayman and Jamaica are the only ones we have repeated.

 

In our eyes, there are just some places we won't cruise to (at least not at this point)

 

The Alaskan cruise was wonderful and the glacier viewing was spectacular; however, we only went via cruise because it was a family celebration. We will definately be going back for a land vacation.

 

Hawaii is a place I would say should be visited (at least once) by land. I had already taken a 10 day land vacation some years back so I didn't mind taking a cruise for our honeymoon. We also added a few days before and after.

 

We are going to Italy in 2012 for our 5 yr anniversary. Most likely 2 weeks - Venice, Rome, and maybe a day or 2 in Florence.

 

Next year its Germany and Austria- 5 days in Munich and 5 days in Salzburg.

 

I have no doubt that a Med cruise is wonderful but, at least for now, spending 12 hours in a city is not a way to experience and enjoy it.:)

[Cruising Mom O'4]

Ensenada

 

I remembered from childhood that the "Love Boat" stopped in Ensenada and I hoped for something a little exotic. The wine tour was alright, but the city was right on par with a Texas/Mexico border town.

[tracyanns]

I would say Freeport and Port Canaveral...with Key West being not far, why not switch some up a bit...:confused:

 

And for Freeport, once you have been there a few time, there is nothing else to do there.:cool:

 

On the other hand, I could go to Nassau everyday...I LOVE the waterpark at Atlantis and drinking at Senior Frogs:D

[srm54]

My least favorite port to go to.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I would say Freeport and Port Canaveral...with Key West being not far, why not switch some up a bit...:confused:

 

And for Freeport, once you have been there a few time, there is nothing else to do there.:cool:

 

On the other hand, I could go to Nassau everyday...I LOVE the waterpark at Atlantis and drinking at Senior Frogs:D

 

any ideas where they might switch it up to?

 

Bill

[IBsaved]

Absolutely no desire to ever go back to any place in Mexico.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Absolutely no desire to ever go back to any place in Mexico.

 

While I don't care for the Mexican ports in the Mexican Riviera I could go to Cozumel and Costa Maya every cruise.:)

 

Bill

[mousey]

As I sit here daydreaming about a future Caribbean cruise, I can't help to get a bit discouraged about many of these itineraries because they include certain ports which I don't ever want to visit again, whether it's because I've visited them one too many times, or one time was more than enough.

 

Don't get me wrong! I'll take a Caribbean cruise any day over sitting at work, but sometimes I wish that Carnival would mix things up a bit and maybe come up with some itineraries that didn't include the same ports over and over.

 

So what Caribbean port makes you cringe when you see it as part of an itinerary? What makes you dislike it?

 

I know that there are many more to choose from, but these ports seem to the biggest "repeat offenders"!

 

Thanks for your input!

 

I've truly never been to a port that I would hate to repeat. We prefer to try new ports every cruise, but I would never not take a cruise because of any port stop that I've been on.

 

Never been to a port I didn't like but I will offer that even though I'd give it another chance, my least favorite port ever was Acapulco, Mexico. It would be impossible to name my favorite port because I love so many of the ones we've been to.:D

[sjn911]

Thanks for this info, we have actually been looking at HAL for the Alaskan cruise tours. We just want to be able to spend more time in this beautiful state without feeling rushed "back to the ship or be left behind" lol

We feel the same as for Europe, ok I feel the same with Europe, my husband doesn't much care to go to Europe at all. But I really want to see Greece and Italy.

But for now we are soooooooo happy to get out of the cold and do some snorkling and shopping in the Carib. We love being on island time!!!

We both have busy, demanding jobs and the Carib is just laid back as can be.

Guess I was a little offended because it felt implied that the Carribean is somehow not as good as a Med cruise, just felt condescending you know?

Prolly just me.

Cheers anyway, Carole

 

I know what you mean..and any chance to get out of terminal winter or just too small town same ole same ole is a treat for me too. I'm starting to feel that "judgement" energy around just a few folks as I talk to them about the next one being Mexican Riviera vs Caribbean or Bermuda etc....I know it is not like so many more upscale/preferred (to me too) cruises, lines, and places but a newer ship that has some nice things (Splendor)..affordable port windowed 1A for a solo...all added up to a happy deal. I have deferred taking care of myself regularly with getaways and want to balance more buget with higher desired bit nicer land/cruise combos too. Take more time smelling the roses getting there have to do more rewards then save forever for so far off I decided. Any port will be new to me even if I have been there..my experience too old and minimal to be fresh..and all the research here can make something special out of anywhere. I really get your thooughts.

 

 

Have fun dreaming and planning the Carribean and the Europe ones...nothing like picking a few places in Italy and Greece to be a preferred hub and doing day trips for that spot..I had the opportinity to do

a little like that during studies in France form Nice for the Riviera. Taught me that I will want to mix the land with sea way!! It is so great to to get to know a little village somewhere..See your coffee people every day etc.

 

I truly want to do Alaska..but being in MT., getting to Glacier, Yellowstone, and lake in nw MT more easily..sets me more in line w/ warm and easier to travel to too..I gothcha and am like you...fun dreaming with you..sjn911..Sarah:):)