Carnival Cancels Nassau Excursions

[Kwynot]

My DB is a musician on the Fascination & goes the Nassau each & every trip. He complains about the port overall, but has not said anything about the port being cancelled or rescheduled to another port.

 

The Fascination is going into dry dock right after New Years. Is she startig a new itinerary afterwards? He won't be on her any more, but I'm curious because I enjoyed Nassau last December when I was there.

[jamo951]

I'm not sure if it's just me or if others can relate, but I live south of Chicago, and when I go to the city, I keep well aware of my surroundings. I look for anything suspicious, and if I see something that looks like things may go bad, I try to keep my distance. I am very familiar with the City of Chicago, and know that the crime rates are higher than other areas that I frequent. Now if I am visiting a place that I am not very familiar with, I keep an eye out for anything that seems suspicious. If I was put in the situation that the others were, I'm not sure how I would respond, but I don't think it could be worse than what can happen to me at home!

 

I feel bad for the people that were robbed recently, and I hope things get cleaned up in Nassau.

[salty dingo]

Nassau is the only port I've been to where I was really uncomfortable. Even in Colon, Panama which is the most poverty stricken place I've ever seen, the people were at least friendly.

I got back from a cruise to Colon, Paname very recently, and I had no feelings of being unsafe. It was a typical latin american port to me. I don't know why it gets such a bad rap.

[rednose83]

I've never had anything happen to me in Nassau but on our July cruise someone in a car stopped and got out and hit someone on a motorcycle on the head (in the middle of the road). This was right in front of where the gates open for cruise guests to walk in/out of Festival Place. The police didn't do anything about it and the assailant just got back in the car and drove off. We were like 10 feet away. Our last trip there in August- we stayed on the ship.

[vacruizer]

I got back from a cruise to Colon, Paname very recently, and I had no feelings of being unsafe. It was a typical latin american port to me. I don't know why it gets such a bad rap.

 

Panama is actually one of my favorite places. I think the poverty is why many people are leery. It's one thing to see "Save the Children" commericals on TV - actually seeing children foraging through trash in a gutter in front of a run down tenement building scares a lot of people, though. I did talk to one of our tour guides for a while about the difference between the obvious wealth of Panama City vs. the poverty of Colon. She said Colon has a terrible crime problem and that most tour guides live elsewhere and commute in on the train only the days ships are in port. While I personally wouldn't wander around Colon by myself (just like I wouldn't wander around parts of LA or Miami by myself) the people I met still seemed friendly and welcoming unlike anyone I came across in Nassau.

[Fauna]

I've been to Nassau five times over 15 years and have noticed a general decline in the experience. Less friendly people, some downright rude shop attendants agressive folks at the port selling tours.

 

That said, one of my all time favorite cruise experiences was in Nassau. The Junkanoo parade had been postponed because of bad weather the day before so was held the night we were in Port. DS and I left the rest of the family behind and went to watch. Being ignorant of the situtation we found a spot to stand next to the reviewing stand and engaged a lovely lady in conversation who was seated in the front row of the stands.

 

When the cop came to evict us (tickets were required and we had none) the lovely lady in the stands advised the officer that we would be leaving before midnight and should be allowed to stay. I wish I knew who she was or how she was connected, but the cops just shook her hand and we were left alone the rest of the night.

 

The parade itself was amazing. Nothing motorized allowed so the huge floats were human powered. The music was "off the hook" (my son's term) and the costumes were works of arts. We got to see four different "crews" strut their stuff before racing back to the ship. We must have taken a hundred pictures between us and ran out the memory cards on two cameras.