How many ships/people were on your busiest port call?

[emeraldcity]

Hurricane in the Eastern Caribbean forced every ship into a Western route. We were on Disney Magic, and counted 14 ships in Cozumel the day we were there.

 

You've got me beat. We saw 9 ships in Cozumel (besides ours) the year after Hurricane Wilma made the piers unusable. Everybody had to tender.

 

We stayed on board because it sounded WAY more appealing than dealing with tender lines for a port that's not very high on my list anyway.

[lovelife]

On my February Allure sailing seven ships are scheduled for Cozumel. That's a possible 26,000 + pax. Good day to stay on board and enjoy the things that are usually crowded! :)

[vrogers]

I agree with CruizenK Santorini was absolute horrendous, only 2 ways down stairs which are 1250 odd steps or cable car. Wait for cable car was over 1.5 hour wait!!! Our ship was leaving at 2pm so we had no choice but to walk, I can tell you trying to avoid donkeys and donkey doo, in 100def heat is not fun!! I heard fights broke out in the cable car queue!! :(

[KeywestK]

We were in St Maarten on X Eclipse, and there were 6 or 7 other ships in port that day, for a total port load of approx. 16,000 people or more. The good news was I knew that in advance (a fellow roll call member had researched the different ports for other ships) and gave us a head's up. I immediately booked a tour with an independent tour operator, because we didn't want the headache of fighting for taxis with so many people in port. We ended up having a great day. It's a great idea to research what other ships will be in port to help you determine how to spend your day.

[rodenboy]

I thought that four ships in Nassau was problematic, especially when trying to get back on the ship when the heavens opened and got soaked through to the bone! I feel sorry for those there when there were more ships there!

[4x4bob]

On departure day at Barcellona there was 8 ships in harbor. We had arrived 5 days early and reserved a cab to transport us from the Hotel to the ship.

 

On departure day Other guests of that hotel were shocked when the desk clerk told them that there was no cabs to be had that day. The best they could do was put their name on a waiting list, sit in the dining room, and hope a cab driver stops by to pick up some extra passengers.

 

One "gentleman" tried to steal our cab when it arrived. He handed his luggage to the cab driver. When we told the driver it was not our luggage he grabbed the suitcases and tossed them out into the street.

 

At one point while driving to the port the traffic jam was so bad the cab driver pulled up onto the side walk to by pass other vehicles. After crossing the bridge into the port area our driver told us he had to let us out a little distance from the ship because if he goes any further he will get stuck in traffic and will not be able to get out.

 

Bob

[wwcruisers]

A couple of years ago, we docked in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, on Equinox. We were one of seven ships in port, that day -- including RC's mega-ship, Oasis. Even though we got up early to take a cab to the French side of the island, lots of other folks had the same idea. By 10:00 am, Orient beach was packed! Later in the day, we took a water taxi into town, to do a little last-minute shopping -- not the best idea. By 4:00 pm, it looked like a hurricane had hit the town -- leaving only empty shelves and cranky store-keepers behind! :eek:

[Krazy Kruizers]

9 ships in St Maarten -- we were one of the ones that had to tender.

8 ships in Cozumel -- 2 of us had to tender -- of course we were one of the ships tendering.

7 ships in St Thomas -- 2 of us had to tender and guess what -- we tendered.

[Pyrate13]

Once in Coz we counted 13 ships. Multiple ships were tendering passengers. Another time in St Thomas we were docked at Crown Bay and I didn't count how many ships were in port but like Coz, several were not at the piers and were tendering.

[AKman2495]

The most ships we've seen were 6 in St. Thomas, but they arrival/departure times were staggered and it didn't feel super crowded.

 

The most crowded was Belize with 4 ships. The pier was a madhouse and I have no idea how we made i through to get to our tour! Getting back was a little easier, but not by much.

[julesbeara]

While on Jewel in December 2014, six ships in St Maarten. It was not good. Crazy crowded everywhere and very difficult to get around..

[Haoie]

5 in Grand Cayman, all large ships, in 2012 - so that's about 12000 or so extra tourist in town? Yikes! At least they didn't all tender at the same place/.

[Trainer]

There were six ships in Venice on our first port day. When you add in the regular day trippers, it was really packed. Fortunately a couple of the ships were the smaller ones.

The second day wasn't so bad as we only had three ships in port. Venice is small anyway and a popular destination for Europeans and Americans who are not on cruises.

[preschool teacher]

Seven, can't remember if it st.thomas or cozumel

[jocap]

We had seven ships one time in Venice. Santorini port does become cluttered, but the port authorities stagger arrival and departure times. There's often a long queue for the cable cars, and it can be hot and annoying....but everyone gets there in the end. :cool:

[iancal]

This is exactly the reason why we are moving away from cruises in favour of more independent land trips. Even when doing land trips, we compare our tentative itinerary against the ships in port information in certain cities.

 

We have no interest in being in places like Dubrovnik when there are five or six ships in port. It ruins the day for us. We do the same on cruises...check to see how many ships are in port in ports where we know that we want to do some touring.

[kelkel2]

We have been in Cozumel with 6 ships and in Grand Cayman with 4. Cozumel was crowded, but it didn't feel that bad, I feel like Cozumel can really handle the crowds well. Everyone seems to disperse and go their separate ways.

But Grand Cayman with 4 ships was not fun. We were on the Carnival Liberty, the Carnival Magic was in there was a very large Celebrity in and a NCL that was large too. Our ship got moved to a different dock, which was no problem, but downtown was so crowded. Some of the shops were so packed with people it made it miserable to just shop. I think not only the amount of ships, but definitely the size of the ships matters too. I would not want to do Grand Cayman again with that many people. We just went shopping that day, no excursions, but I can't imagine how busy the excursions probably were.

[kitty9]

There were nine ships in Grand Cayman on a couple of cruises we were on. That was too crowded.

[jocap]

We're on a long cruise to the Caribbean from the UK, and back next winter.

The ship was due to be in St Maarten along with another 5 ships in February, making 21,520 passengers- more people than other days.

The whole schedule has now been altered, and we will be the only ship there on our call. That's quite a relief! :rolleyes:

[zqvol]

Been in St. Thomas with 8 ships. No idea how many people but it was not that big a deal. best part about it was we got to tender right into Yacht Haven Grande

[Keith1010]

We've had seven ships in the Caymans.

 

Keith