Whats your favorite Caribbean ports to just stay on the ship?

[Johnamac123]

Costa Maya and Belize. Not much to do outside of a tour or cave tubing. Great day to enjoy the pool deck.

[Tampaskier]

Am slightly puzzled why people repeated sail the same itinerary (more or less). Is there no interest in seeing new places? I realize that there are individuals who just like to cruise for the sheer relaxation....someone cooks for you...another picks up after you, and there is always something to do at night. I like to think of a cruise as an extremely comfortable way to go new places and explore different parts of the world. I guess it takes all of us to make it work out :)

 

 

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[KansasK]

Labadie - always super hot for walking around and we are not beach people. We stay on the ship and look at Labadie from there.

 

Falmouth - we don't want to travel across Jamaica to get to the Ocho Rios sites. We do get off and walk around/shop at the shopping area just off the ship, but mostly stay on the ship.

[LizzyDragon]

Am slightly puzzled why people repeated sail the same itinerary (more or less). Is there no interest in seeing new places?

 

For me, I'm doing one repeat cruise this year on Disney, and I'm doing it because of the people that I'm going with. I value spending time with them over seeing someplace new. That being said, I do prefer going to new places whenever possible. But I'm also realizing that I've started to exhaust my options out of Port Canaveral and need to start sailing out of other ports to get more variety in destinations.

[Siora7777]

Freeport.

[Sungold]

Nassau for sure.

 

 

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[JamesEM]

Nassau and all Jamaican ports.

[Clarea]

I'm confused, the Caribbean is a sea so the islands in that sea are often called Caribbean islands. Some folks say that Eleuthera is the border between Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. So Nassau could be considered a Caribbean Island..

My understanding is that New Providence (Nassau island) is completely in the Atlantic.

 

In the north, the Caribbean is boardered by the islands of Cuba, Hispanola, and Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, San Juan is on the Atlantic side, Ponce is on the Caribbean side.

[grandmarnnurse]

Belize followed by Falmouth.

 

Generally get off at the other ports unless it isn't a sunny day then we just relax onboard.

 

I have heard that Belize was not a good port, but now my upcoming cruise is schedule at Harvest Caye in Belize, and I'm excited about that. I heard it is beautiful, and a great beach day. As for Falmouth--I totally agree! I would never get off in that port again!! Horrible!!

[OntarioTraveller]

We haven't been on as many cruises as most of you but we go for the beaches as we live in cold Canada!

We have done island tours and find all the islands look much the same as do the jewellery stores.....

We will skip St. Kitts this time on our Feb. cruise, but may walk around the port area for a while.

[MikeNJ1109]

Definitely Stay on the ship = St. Thomas, San Juan, Nassau, Jamaica, Haiti.

Definitely Go ashore = St. Maartin, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Dominica, St. Kitts, Barbados

 

Michael

[BND]

Am slightly puzzled why people repeated sail the same itinerary (more or less). Is there no interest in seeing new places? I realize that there are individuals who just like to cruise for the sheer relaxation....someone cooks for you...another picks up after you, and there is always something to do at night. I like to think of a cruise as an extremely comfortable way to go new places and explore different parts of the world. I guess it takes all of us to make it work out :)

 

 

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We cruise because we love to cruise and enjoy sea days. We usually get off in port even if it's just for a few minutes to walk around, but there are a few we will stay onboard, having been there before and not particularly impressed. We will or have stayed onboard in Belize, Falmouth (after a quick walkaround), Samana, DR (fortunately I don't think they go there anymore) and at least once-Nassau. Although honestly, we like Nassau. We've been there many times, including staying 5 nights at the Atlantis a few years ago. We've never had any issues there and we usually walk around town. We've been to some ports many times (in particular St Maarten, St Thomas, Nassau, Labadee). Until you've stayed onboard in port and had the ship almost empty, you don't know what you're missing. Our Oct Oasis b2b goes to Labadee on each leg and we're probably only going to go ashore for one of them. We love the beach, but it's just more people than we would like.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Nassau and all Jamaican ports.

Agree.

[BillOh]

What ports to you just skip and stay on the ship?

San Juan is one of the ones I skip since its more of a city and no close beaches ( another reason is I have done it so often)

I also can be tempted at most places that we need to tender ( only if I have been there many times)

 

Just like a almost empty ship, with plenty of chairs around the pool and no crowd at the bar

 

( have done about 50 Caribbean cruises)

 

Interesting topic, I haven't read any replies yet and I haven't done Alaska or the Med yet, but sticking to the Caribbean, I am going to guess the most replies will mention Nassau. Maybe I am biased as I've been to Nassau 7 times. 3 of those times was on an Oasis class ship where we were barely in port 5 hours. That said, my last time in Nassau I went diving with Stuart Cove's and I would do that again and again!. The one time I was on Majesty in 2013 we were in port more than 12 hours, we had a nice day at a decuded price at Atlantis, which is normally too expensive and RC needs more not Atlantis excursions.

 

You mention San Juan, I have only been to San Juan once as a port of call and there again we were only were there a about 5 hours. Off to read your replies.

[poncho1973]

As Nassau is a stop on Eastern Caribbean itineraries, whether it is in the Caribbean or not, I believe it is proper to include it. Likewise, I think Key West COULD be included if someone dislikes it.

 

Our only two are Nassau and Falmouth. Unless we have something VERY specific to do in Falmouth, it goes on the NAH list. We really dislike Nassau and have been there a ton of times. We only get off the ship there if someone new is with us, but we almost always cruise alone for peace and relaxation, so no.

 

 

We like to go to new places and do new things, but we live in Florida and like bargain relaxation. Thus we hit a few ports too often, simply because we enjoy cruising itself. Unfortunately, Royal doesn't really mix up the ports very often.

 

Ultimately, that will lead us to try other brands... if for nothing more than hitting some alternative ports. Now that we've hit diamond, we're going to try Celebrity for the Elite level match and likely the Black Card match of MSC. I've also thought it would be nice to try NCL... at least the Breakaway Plus ship (soon to be ships) level. I know we get no match there, but it looks like a good ship. They also go to a few ports that Royal doesn't.

[trev71]

Nassau is the worst.

 

Also if I ever went back id skip costa maya boring port

[sellwingri]

I love Jamaica and Belize so it's a matter of taste of what you want to see and do.

 

Last time and next time I visit St Thomas, I'll stay on the ship. Also not a fan of San Juan. I've been to Cozumel so many times that I can't imagine there's anything else to do but I always find something.

[time4u2go]

I'm confused, the Caribbean is a sea so the islands in that sea are often called Caribbean islands. Some folks say that Eleuthera is the border between Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. So Nassau could be considered a Caribbean Island..

 

Cuba and the island of Haiti/Dominican Republic are generally considered the northern "border" of the Caribbean.

[George C]

I love Jamaica and Belize so it's a matter of taste of what you want to see and do.

 

Last time and next time I visit St Thomas, I'll stay on the ship. Also not a fan of San Juan. I've been to Cozumel so many times that I can't imagine there's anything else to do but I always find something.

 

I am also a Jamaica fan but perferred Ocho Rios, I like Belize but dislike tenders

[island lady]

Dominica and St Lucia. Once you have done the Island Tour, no point.

 

 

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I actually just booked Jewel this morning because they go to Dominica.

We loved doing the culinary tour up in the rain forest the last time, and

are looking forward to it again. :)

[island lady]

Nassau is the worst.

 

Also if I ever went back id skip costa maya boring port

 

Have you ever tried grabbing a taxi (about 5 miles away, 3.00

a person) to Mahahual? Makes the Costa Maya port stop one

of our favorites! :)

[island lady]

Will probably stay on in Belize next time (long tender, not my favorite country).

 

Could easily stay on the ship at Labadee...(been there way too many times :rolleyes:)

but we always get off the ship anyway just to get some exercise in the morning,

walk the perimeter, then back to the ship for an uncrowded lunch! :)

Edited December 22, 2016 by island lady

[2chiefs]

Am slightly puzzled why people repeated sail the same itinerary (more or less). Is there no interest in seeing new places? I realize that there are individuals who just like to cruise for the sheer relaxation....someone cooks for you...another picks up after you, and there is always something to do at night. I like to think of a cruise as an extremely comfortable way to go new places and explore different parts of the world. I guess it takes all of us to make it work out :)

 

 

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I think you answered your own question. For us, it's both. We like to visit new places, and do. But we also repeat itineraries exactly for the reasons you stated.

 

We stay on the ship a lot for repeated itineraries. If docked, we might walk off and do a little shopping and then back on to enjoy the ship. For places we haven't been, we will always explore and take excursions etc...

Edited December 22, 2016 by 2chiefs

[BillOh]

Belize is definitely my top choice

 

 

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How many times have you been? I've only been there once, and after the long tender ride, my excursion was canceled. I do want to go back at least once for the scuba diving.

[BillOh]

St. Thomas

Belize

Haiti

San Juan

Soon to be Cozumel seen it tooooooooooo many times.

 

I'm getting that way with Cozumel. On trip number 5 I discovered Nachi Cocum and could go back there. Also I've been following on facebook the group that runs ARUBA TRIKES. I'm doing that excursion in Aruba next spring and might consider it for Cozumel as they are moving into Cozumel soon.