Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Favorite/Least Favorite Ports

DG2004

By DG2004,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

Recommended Posts

misguidedangel

misguidedangel

Posted
Posted

My least favourite are San Juan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel

 

Most fave--#1 by far Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, Belize, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios.

 

I will be in Grand Cayman three times in less than a year and I love it each and every time I go..I've been there four times out of the five cruises I have done. The first time was in 1991 when it was not as developed as it is now..

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The_Answer_Is_42

The_Answer_Is_42

Posted
Posted

Most favourite: Toss up between Grand Cayman, St. Thomas and Sint Maarten.

 

Least favourite: Ocho Rios/Montego Bay (I'm not in love with Jamaica outside the resorts at any rate), San Juan (although, it's mainly because there isn't a whole lot to do with the time we were in port both times, which was 8 hours... total), and Sint Maarten.

 

I put Sint Maarten on twice because, well... First time we went, we got sucked into doing one of the high-pressure time-share presentations, and when DW and myself flatly refused to buy in, they stuffed me (6'2" and north of 300 pounds) DW (who is a petite and beautiful tulip :) ) and 6 other adults into a van with a failing transmission, 2 movable windows (one of which was the windshield) and a driver who must have skipped both the "Hygene is Important!" lecture and the seminar entitled "Drugs are bad, mmmkay?"

 

I put it on the favourite list because other than that, and on the second time it was a fun place to go and just relax. It's pretty laissez faire, and very nice. The French side was also very cool, we arranged a tour and our tour guide was great. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sam73

sam73

Posted
Posted

My favorite in the caribbean- Cozumel

My favorite in Mediterranean- Venice and Florence

 

 

My least favorite in the Caribbean- Grand Cayman and Nassau

My least favorite in The Mediterranean- Barcelona

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MDSue

MDSue

Posted
Posted

I havn't been to a stop I didn't like yet, but that's what so great about this forum. By time I depart I have read up on every port, looked at pictures and read about what people like and don't like. For example, I really didn't like the port of Belize and I think this is definitely an island to do an excursion. I loved going on a river cruise there and seeing the ruins and am anxious to go snorkeling there next year. Costa Maya on the other hand was a great place to stay close to port and visit Majahual.

Other favs: Antigua, St Lucia, St. Maarten

Not entirely crazy about: Cozumel, but loved my visit to Passion Island there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BooBooMonkey

BooBooMonkey

Posted
Posted

It is so hard to choose! We've been to Nassau 3x, Freeport once, KW twice, Coz twice, GC twice (in addition to having honeymooned there), and most recently St. Martin, Tortola, and San Juan.

 

If I could choose where to go back to, it would be Tortola--beautiful place! I could live without Nassau again--been there, done that. We've had very bad luck with weather on our last 3 cruises (NOT hurricaine season either!). So, it is difficult to know how things would have been different on most of our port days if the weather had cooperated.

 

Two of our best excursions have actually been in Nassau. The first was an excursion to Rose Island (just DH and me), and the other was a last-minute taxi tour after the water-based tour with the kids we had scheduled through Carnival was cancelled due to bad weather. In Grand Cayman, the snorkeling and stingrays tour we booked online before leaving was great (no kids on that one either...need to do that with them next time)! I didn't mention Cozumel above, but we did Nachi Cocom beach there once, and it was the best beach day ever! Guess what? no kids :o

 

Uh oh...seems to be a pattern...leave kids with grandparents and your rose-colored glasses will be even rosier! In all honesty, it just worked out that way. The taxi tour in Nassau was with kids, and we really enjoyed our driver and the fact that he took us off the beaten path in addition to the usual Atlantis and beach. The last cruise which included St. Martin and Tortola just was disappointing b/c the seas were too rough to do any of the cool things we'd had planned with the kids. :mad: Absolutely beautiful islands though.

 

Also, I think port times have a lot to do with it! San Juan was, as others mentioned, from like 5PM to 10PM...not enough time and not the right time of day. Same thing with KW a couple of times. Last time it was like 7AM to 2PM...really? These people don't even get out of bed until at least noon! :p

 

Anyhow, ports are what you make of them. I do a lot of research ahead of time, and hope mother nature doesn't steal my thunder. Have to be prepared but flexible at the same time.

 

Boo

Link to comment
Share on other sites
photojunkieEMT

photojunkieEMT

Posted
Posted

Favorite: St Thomas, what a beautiful island. People very friendly. I went parasailing for the first (but, certainly not the last) time there in September.

 

Not so favorite: Tortola, not much to do. I felt like I was in a Carribean Ghetto by just walking off the ship.

 

I thought Old San Juan was beautiful. I love history so walking through Old San Juan was great to us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cruzeluver

cruzeluver

Posted
Posted

fpslim-

 

I would not attempt to answer for the posters who do not care for Acapulco, but in general, the biggest "negative" I hear about Acapulco is about the agressive vendors that stand right outside the port facilities. They are a pain, but if you are persistent they will back off. Once we got away form the port area we fell in love with the city. Beaches were fabulous, the cliff divers are a must-see, great nightlife if you are there in the evening and overall we found the people to be welcoming.

 

I'd go back in a red-hot minute!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mrsfuzzmo

mrsfuzzmo

Posted
Posted
Would either of you care to elaborate why you disliked Acapulco? I'm going in Feb and have been really looking forward to it...

 

I'll elaborate on Acapulco. While I wasn't there on a cruise (so I didn't list it), I was there on a weeks vacation and it was awful. The resort we stayed in was nice, but the water was murky, brown and had tons of sewage and crap in it all week, so we couldn't swim all week. In the city itself, it's a big dirty city. Nothing quaint about this place. One high rise after another lined with busy streets and tons of traffic. I was expecting something like I experienced in Puerto Vallarta or Cabo. Not like that at all. Think of the Southside of Chicago on the ocean filled with crud.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...