pseudo-ports

[Stock Cop]

Someone mentioned earlier that the Dominican Republic stop is a pseudo-port.

My thoughts exactly!!!.

 

You can add to that list in my opinion: Roatan,Honduras

Grand Turk

Costa Maya

 

these are starters for a much broader list. What a waste of time these stops are.

 

I think we go out to sea and they change the name on the port sign!!!!

 

Carnival "built" these ports so they can go cheap on docking fees, but somehow we still pay port fees for these holes.

 

We can all "thank" Carnival for building piers at these places.

 

Don't go off, this is just my opinion. You don't have to agree !!!

 

Rich :cool:

[hermang]

Someone mentioned earlier that the Dominican Republic stop is a pseudo-port.

My thoughts exactly!!!.

 

You can add to that list in my opinion: Roatan,Honduras

Grand Turk

Costa Maya

 

these are starters for a much broader list. What a waste of time these stops are.

 

I think we go out to sea and they change the name on the port sign!!!!

 

Carnival "built" these ports so they can go cheap on docking fees, but somehow we still pay port fees for these holes.

 

We can all "thank" Carnival for building piers at these places.

 

Don't go off, this is just my opinion. You don't have to agree !!!

 

Rich :cool:

I , and I may be in the minority, enjoyed Casa de Crapo. Only wish I got to the Cigar Factory - tour sold out. La Marina and Altos de Chavon weren't bad either but if I did it again I would do Altos first. Lot of walking which after La Marina left me exhausted. Food and Beer wasn't bad either. Never went to the others - but I'd rather do Casa again than Martinique

[greeneg]

FYI, Rich, Roatan is one of the very best snorkle off the beaches ports in the Caribbean. Beautiful Beaches, reef is very close in. You can literally walk into the water a few feet and go....lots of fish and lobster. Some of the latter may appear on a toasted roll with a very cold beer.......

[Sky Sweet]

Someone mentioned earlier that the Dominican Republic stop is a pseudo-port.

My thoughts exactly!!!.

 

You can add to that list in my opinion: Roatan,Honduras

Grand Turk

Costa Maya

 

these are starters for a much broader list. What a waste of time these stops are.

 

I think we go out to sea and they change the name on the port sign!!!!

 

Carnival "built" these ports so they can go cheap on docking fees, but somehow we still pay port fees for these holes.

 

We can all "thank" Carnival for building piers at these places.

 

Don't go off, this is just my opinion. You don't have to agree !!!

 

Rich :cool:

 

 

I would not include Costa Maya in that group because it provides access to the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins, which is one the best shore excursions I ever experienced on a Caribbean Cruise.

[leoandhugh]

and Carnival did not build those ports and piers for cheap docking fees.

As the corporate umbrella of so many cruise lines, all of them building bigger and bigger ships, Carnival realized that the infrastructure of many of the existing ports was not able to handle the passenger load dumped daily by several megaships in one port. the alternative was to build up places like Belize, Roatan, Costa Maya, Grand Turk etc and spread the load around. The reality is too many passengers on too many ships on too many small Caribbean islands - many of which have been ruined by the massive encroachment of the cruise industry, but to the fiscal delight of the governments of those islands. Every week at this time of the year there a 2 or 3 days each week when 6 or 7 ships anchor off Grand Cayman - which doesn't even have a cruise pier - and literally thousands are tendered ashore. It gets so bad at times the tenders wait 1/2 hour or more just to be able to tie up at what pier space there is. Gran Turk is going to be the next willing sacrifice:(

[BILLP1]

Always good to here that it was done for me...

 

Thanks Carnival for thinking of me...

[Stock Cop]

Good to hear other opinions.

You know the many Cruise ships that grace the Caribbean in the winter/

spring months have to have some place to go. They can't just steam around in circles for seven days (or 10, 11 etc) burning up that precious fuel.

 

I believe the corp bean counters had a hand in finding these new locations.

Like someone said, Grand Caynan and Cozumel can have as many as 10 ships in port on any given day. Multiply by 3000 pax each ship and it is a wonder anyone can even move on some of those ports.

 

Rich

 

 

:cool:

[Tarheelbelle]

I agree with much of what you say. Another port I would add to the list: St. Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala. I agree with greeneg that Roatan does have redeeming qualities. I would much rather go there than Grand Cayman.

[stock Cop, I see that you were on the Seawind Crown the month after I was in 1996. In my opinion, though the ship wasn't that great, the itinerary was super!]

[Vic The Parrot]

I liked Grand turk ... been there twice.

 

My time ashore was limited to the JB Margaritaville, and the beach in front of the dock area. Both did the trick for me, but liked the beach alot better.

 

I say give it another chance. Next time I get there, I plan on going further into the 'innards' of that island. You'll get a full report when I get back. ;)

[Stock Cop]

The Seawind Crown was one of my favorite cruises. The iten was, as ypu said, SUPER. That ship had steam turbines and they sang me to sleep every night,

That was the exact same steam turbine system that we had on the destroyer I

sailed on in the mid-60's. Great memories of the Crown--she has since been scrapped. There is quite alot about the ship on the internet---do a Google search--you will be amazed at the pictures of her before going to the ship-breakers.

 

Rich

:cool:

[woodofpine]

Roatan was one of the western hemispheres premier dive destinations for decades before the cruise lines got there...

 

Costa Maya is a terrific jumping off point to see undeveloped Yucatan...

 

If you just want to sit in port perusing clones of Charlotte Amalie, Phillipsburg, or the lines' private islands (or are they 'pseudo islands') maybe one should stick to the Lauderdale-St. Thomas-St. Maarten-Lauderdale shuttles (yawn).

[DC2OC]

We loved Roatan.Beautiful beaches.You could walk into the water and see the fish at your feet.The negative was too many REMAX signs..............Frank

[caviargal]

I thought Costa Maya was awful. We are not fans of excursions so did not opt for the ruins. As far as beaches, etc, I would stay on the ship next time before bothering to get off. While I know that some prefer excursions in port, I prefer to walk around, hit the beach and then have a nice lunch before returning to the ship. Perhaps I missed it, but Costa Maya did not have anything to offer in that regard.

 

IMO, the cruise lines got incentives of some sort to create these ports. There is another in Alaska that is the same way, though the name escapes me.

[Sky Sweet]

Just a thought....is a port created just for the cruise lines much different than the concept of a land based town that only allows resorts for tourists, such as Ixtapa?

[Stock Cop]

I thought Costa Maya was awful. We are not fans of excursions so did not opt for the ruins. As far as beaches, etc, I would stay on the ship next time before bothering to get off. While I know that some prefer excursions in port, I prefer to walk around, hit the beach and then have a nice lunch before returning to the ship. Perhaps I missed it, but Costa Maya did not have anything to offer in that regard.

 

 

 

 

I agree. The "little village" Carnival built in Costa Maya is owned by Carnival (per one of the shop operators there) Carnival takes a good-sized bite of their sales.

 

DID YOU NOTICE THE PRICES??? JUST THE SAME AS ONBOARD.

NO CHEAPO MEXICAN TRINKETS THERE. NOR CHEAP BEER!!!

 

Rich :cool:

[Baltic Express]

I thought Costa Maya was awful. We are not fans of excursions so did not opt for the ruins. As far as beaches, etc, I would stay on the ship next time before bothering to get off. While I know that some prefer excursions in port, I prefer to walk around, hit the beach and then have a nice lunch before returning to the ship. Perhaps I missed it, but Costa Maya did not have anything to offer in that regard.

 

I think you did miss it as do most others who stop here and don't go beyond the cruise ship controlled shopping area. A short 5 minute ride away is the fishing village of Majahual. It is one long stretch of beach with restaurants and bars all along it serving incredibly good mexican food and local seafood. We have been there several times now and simply get off the boat, take the $3.00 shuttle, and then totally relax for the balance of the day. The last time there I found a nice hammock in the shade on the beach, ate the freshest lobster and shrimp cerviche and drank $1.00 Coronas all day. They have setups for beach massages and many street vendors with their local wares. All in all a very inexpensive day at the beach. Very few children were there so a great place to get in some of that quiet time.

 

For the more adventurous you can rent a jeep and drive down the coast road from Majahual to Xcalak which is an even more remote fishing village. Scuba is huge in Xcalak with trips just offshore to reefs identical to nearby Ambergris Cay (Belize). You might encounter perhaps a couple dozen tourists at the very most in Xcalak. The diving is spectacular since it is not a site that is overrun with divers - you truly are in the wild here and visibility is much better than Cozumel which is excellent in its own right.

[leoandhugh]

as an example of what I had previously cited as a horredous overcrowding of Caribbean ports today(1/10), the following ships are in St Thomas - Costa Magica, Disney Magic, Century, HALs Vista ships Zuiderdam and Noordam, and RCIs Mariner OTS and Radiance OTS. and Grand Cayman has six ships - all of them having to tender all those passengers ashore for a nice "quiet day at the beach" UGH:(

[caviargal]

I think you did miss it as do most others who stop here and don't go beyond the cruise ship controlled shopping area. A short 5 minute ride away is the fishing village of Majahual. It is one long stretch of beach with restaurants and bars all along it serving incredibly good mexican food and local seafood. We have been there several times now and simply get off the boat, take the $3.00 shuttle, and then totally relax for the balance of the day. The last time there I found a nice hammock in the shade on the beach, ate the freshest lobster and shrimp cerviche and drank $1.00 Coronas all day. They have setups for beach massages and many street vendors with their local wares. All in all a very inexpensive day at the beach. Very few children were there so a great place to get in some of that quiet time.

 

 

We did take the shuttle and ended up at Tequila Beach for $25 per person. Carried our own beach chairs, which were old and cracked. Bathrooms were not clean and drinks were nasty. Sounds like we did not choose the right place but the day was rainy and original plans to rent a golf cart were curtailed by the muddy conditions of the roads due to weather.

 

While I love the ceviche in Cozumel at many of the beachside sports, this place offered nachos and the like, not food I choose to eat.

 

All in all, not a place I would return to.

[Baltic Express]

We did take the shuttle and ended up at Tequila Beach for $25 per person.

 

Sorry about your luck - you were about 500 yards from the real village.

 

Somehow you must have got on the wrong shuttle or bought tickets from the wrong people. How unfortunate for you as Majahual is really much better than any of the roadside places on Cozumel (in my opinion).

 

Each time we have gone to Majahual it was in an open bus which was actually a platform on the back of a pick-up truck. Sits maybe 15 to 20 people maximum. When we got on that we also saw all sorts of people getting on a large tour bus which had a little cardboard sign in the front window that said Tequila Beach. We passed it on the way to Majahual and were not impressed with what we saw.

 

If you go back - give it another try. I think you will enjoy it.

[Parrot Mom]

Having been a fan an visitor to the D.R. to many resorts and actually going back for the 5th time to a particular resort near Casa de Campo..I would much rather be on a ship that stops in the D.R. or be in Nassau or St. Thomas or even Hamilton in Bermuda where thousands and I mean thousands of cruisers are getting off the cruise ships looking for bargains, camera, beaches, jewelry, china.....I guess at 70+ I'm more adventerous than the rest of you.. At that port if you can go to Kandella at night.. in a beautiful open air ampitheatre it's great.. a Las Vegas type show..There is a lovely resort called Casa del Mar that offers for a price a half or whole day there.. In La Romana there is a lovely supermarket where you can buy Santo Domingo coffee beans for a song..and vanilla.. I can remember 20 years ago stopping at the San Blas Islands...it was a treat..the only thing it's missing is a Sheraton... We have never been to the other ports you mention...

[wvufan]

We love going to places that have been dissed by others.

 

We have found that if we ask the locals what they do or where they go for fun, we are always rewarded with a great day. For example, when we went to Casa de Campo, we got a taxi driver to take us and another couple to a beach-three hours of beach time in addition to driving time-for $80 total. It was a "locals" beach next to a resort, and we had a wonderful day. Only tricky part was the driver didn't speak English, but I grew up in PR so no problem.

 

Another time we went to Puerto Limon and, despite a lot of comments on the port of call board to the effect that many folks "wouldn't even get off the ship in that dirty little banana shipping town", I arranged ahead of time for 14 of us from the roll call to go in a couple vehicles to beaches, parks, etc. and had a super meal of local food at a restaurant overlooking the harbor.

 

It is always rewarding to find out the secret treasures of the places we visit.

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl