Ports to Avoid

Jean O'Boyle wrote On 9/12/2009 4:47 PM:
"Tom K" wrote in message
...

I've been to a lot of them too and would also go back...

--Tom

"kerry ambler" kerryamblerNO wrote in message
...

tom, other than the two ports in alaska, i have been to all of the
listed ports. i loved them all and would go back again. forbes is
smoking crack.


I've been to everyone of those ports and would also go back again. I think
it really depends on how many ships are in port that determines how
enjoyable the experience there is. I can't understand why Ocho Rios was
not on that list, because if I were to list a port that I would try to
avoid, it would be that one.

--Jean



What I found most interesting were the comments at the end of the full
article.

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Charles wrote On 9/13/2009 1:15 PM:
In article , Rosalie B.
wrote:


The question was what ports should people avoid. My opinion is that
there is nothing to do in Aruba, so I wouldn't go there by choice.
Once was OK, Twice was plenty enough. I'm sure I could find something
to do there if we went again, but it wouldn't be my pick.


Yes, the question was about what ports people should avoid. It was not
what ports Rosalie should avoid. You said there was nothing to there
but is plenty for people to do there.


The article was written with an anti-cruise slant. The implication
being that cruise ships masses are overrunning ports making for a
population packed experience at smaller ports. This is an old argument,
cruise "sheeple" vs All Inclusive vs Individuals who do their own
independently planned vacations.

If viewed from another perspective, these ports should be avoided due to
being overly developed by All Inclusive Resorts. The very same thing
can be said about AI excursions ruining things.

If a place is popular, it doesn't really matter where you go. No place
will be as it is portrayed in the brochures with secluded beaches,
uncrowded points of interest and such. If you were to heed the advice
in this article, virtually none of the places developed for American
tourists should be visited. Even if you found someplace that's off the
beaten track, there would be the complaint that it's not developed for
American tourism yet.

The bottom line for me is that a vacation destination or destinations on
a cruise is what you make of it.

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Brian M. Kochera
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Susette wrote On 9/15/2009 12:50 PM:
On Sep 13, 11:02�pm, Charles wrote:

In article , Rosalie B.

wrote:

hat's not true. �I love the BVI and St. John. �I also like Barbados,
Bermuda (all the Bs), and St. Kitts and Antigua, Cozumel, Grand Turk,
Grand Cayman, Dominica and Costa Rica and Belize although the last two
are countries and not islands. �Even the DR isn't too bad and I like
the Bahamas, just not from a cruise ship. I'm ambivalent about St.
Lucia and Curacao. �I'd like to go to Grenada and St. Croix.

Since you like diving and snorkeling I would suggest another B,
Bonaire. The snorkeling is marvelous and I heard from the divers that
it was great for diving.

--
Charles


Do you remember a girl named aurora who went with us on the Crown with
her parents ( hippie type parents) they had a friend whom lived in
Bonaire, Well she is studying marine Biology and is in Bionaire for
several months studying at the Institute there through her college in
Florida Eckert- she has to do 2 dives a day in Bonaire and measure
corla reefs and count sfish and stuff, the photos are amazing....
Bonaire is a BIggie for Diving alot of divers but not many resorts
But pretty and peaceful and home to the beat birds FLAMINGOS


home to the beat birds FLAMINGOS
Like cool, man. Beat birds in Bonaire, beat me daddy-o eight to the
bar...crazy man. I hear Ginsberg and Kerouac made the scene there. (Cue
bongo drums)

FLAMINGOS!

FLAMINGOS!

FLAMINGOS!

Like yeah, daddy-o!

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Brian M. Kochera
"The poor dog is the firmest of friends, the first to welcome the foremost to defend" - Lord Byron

View My Web Pages: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951
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"Brian K" wrote in message

The bottom line for me is that a vacation destination or
destinations on a cruise is what you make of it.


Brian, let me toss in an "amen" to that statement. It's who
you're with, the food aboard the ship, who you're with, the
comfort of the cabin, who you're with and who you're with that
makes so much of a difference. Unless a cruise is to a place I've
never been before, my shore experience is usually limited to
walking around near the ship, looking at tee shirts (not buying)
and perhaps locating a bar to get a (typically overpriced) drink.
We've done enough Caribbean, Alaskan, Mexican Riviera cruises that
after being in a port one time, I could care less whether there
are 100,000 fellow cruisers crowding the dock or whether it's just
me, since I don't want to repeat a bus ride to a straw market
again.

I'm certainly not jaded, and am thinking about a Christmas cruise
even, but the destination means a lot less to me than convenience
of getting there and the price. . . and who I'll be traveling
with. grin
---
Nonny

Government is the great fiction
through which everybody endeavors
to live at the expense of everybody else.

[Default] Thus spake "kerry ambler" kerryamblerNO :

tom, other than the two ports in alaska, i have been to all of the listed
ports. i loved them all and would go back again. forbes is smoking crack.

While I don't think the people who read it are FOS snobs, the people
who write Forbes are. I've found that they tend to turn their
collective noses up at anything that runs less than $300/night.



"Tom K" wrote in message
...
It's a bit of an old article (2008), but somewhat interesting none the
less. It's a listing of Ports - to - Avoid, per Forbes Traveler.

The primary point is that with 6-8 mega ships and an extra 20,000 people
in each port... well you get the idea.

http://www.forbestraveler.com/cruise...hisSpeed=25000

Here's their list of ports to avoid. There is a write up on each one.

Seward, Alaska

This will make Dennis happy. Of course, for most, this isn't an
excursion port, it's an origination/destination port.

Venice, Italy

I would think that a city the size of Venice could easily absorb that
many people.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Kusadasi, Turkey
Capri, Italy
Cozumel, Mexico
Georgetown, Grand Cayman
St. Thomas, USVI
Nassau, Bahamas

I normally just tell people to stay on the ship. Almost everyone who
has been there before either goes somewhere else or does stay onboard.

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten
Ketchikan, Alaska

Ditto on Dennis.

Mykonos and Santorini, Greece
Dubrovnik, Croatia

Not a big populaiton, but a huge area, from what I've read.

Rhodes, Greece



--

- dillon I am not invalid

"Iran wants nukes? North Korea wants nukes?
I'm sure we can give them some. Or the Navy."

- former B52 wing commander

Rosalie B. wrote:
Charles wrote:

Since you like diving and snorkeling I would suggest another B,
Bonaire. The snorkeling is marvelous and I heard from the divers that
it was great for diving.

Yes I'd like to go there, although I understand there is a significant
theft problem there. *

Been there twice (never while cruising). The shore diving (&
snorkeling) is nice, but there is a persitantly "meaningful" degree of
petty theft of rental cars along the beaches which effectively
prohibits you from leaving anything more behind in your rental than a
T shirt, towel and pair of flip-flops, unless you're going to leave a
companion behind to (literally) watch the car.

FWIW, in reading the subject article, I think that the main point that
they were trying to get across was how the destination port is changed
by the visitors outnumbering the locals and so forth. I think that we
can all agree that some places become quite different experiences
after all the day tourists leave, and/or when it is the off-season and
visitors are few in number.

For example, the Charles Bridge in downtown Prague (was just there) is
a classical crowded tourist trap during the day...but at roughly 7am,
which is before the vendors have arrived to set up, it is empty &
quiet...same spot, different hours = two completely different
experiences. And YMMV as to which you personally may prefer.


-hh