No More Disney Ports

[whitford]

Is it really possible to find the Old predisneyification of ports. I prefer to support to natives not some Corp. Please suggest the quiet ports.

[tinkr2]

Sure, go on one of the smallupscales that goes to the less traveled ports. The big ships can not get in their .harbours.

[NantahalaCruiser]

On 1/23/2019 at 1:26 PM, whitford said:

Is it really possible to find the Old predisneyification of ports. I prefer to support to natives not some Corp. Please suggest the quiet ports.

Not sure why you think Disney has anything to do with it. Anyway, I'm guessing that you are only thinking about Caribbean ports - where the masses of 5000 passenger ships have totally changed many of the islands.

 

Why not consider ports in other areas of the world - where the daily passengers visiting can represent less than a percent of the local population.

[Pyrate13]

6 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

Not sure why you think Disney has anything to do with it.  

 I was wondering the same thing.

[Midwestern Cruiser]

Funny...I thought the OP was asking about ports that aren't really towns....the privately owned islands or the ones with ports like resorts: Half Moon Cay, Costa Maya, Grand Turk, Amber Cove...

That said, in the Caribbean, St Kitts, Antigua, St Maarten, Dominica are all pretty quiet.

[thinfool]

On 1/23/2019 at 1:26 PM, whitford said:

Is it really possible to find the Old predisneyification of ports. I prefer to support to natives not some Corp. Please suggest the quiet ports.

Welcome to CC.

To answer...well, not really, until the time that you are ready to sail itineraries that are not in the Caribbean.  

Our personal solution is to grab a taxi and leave the 'Disney' or shopping mall areas and find less developed areas.

[leaveitallbehind]

On 1/23/2019 at 1:26 PM, whitford said:

Is it really possible to find the Old predisneyification of ports. I prefer to support to natives not some Corp. Please suggest the quiet ports.

 

No offense, but I think your perception may be a bit shortsighted.  Although over the years many of the areas immediately surrounding the piers have been developed and offer a number of larger corporate restaurant chains and retailers, all of these businesses are staffed by the local residents and many of the businesses are small, locally owned establishments.   The vast majority of these islands are supported to a very large degree by tourism and spending by the visitors arriving on cruise ships.  This development is to attract and support the cruise ships, without which most of these islands would remain economically disadvantaged.

 

So although the landscape may have changed, the contribution to the local economy as a result of this development has increased substantially over the years. You are indeed "supporting the natives" when you visit any of these ports - and in a far greater degree than you would be individually in the "quiet ports". 

 

And as mentioned by thinfool, you only need to venture outside of the immediate pier area to enjoy the island for what it is.  And while some are more commercial than others - which was likely the case long before cruise lines began to call - they retain most of their original culture.

Edited February 7, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[6rugrats]

3 hours ago, MidwesternCruiser2 said:

Funny...I thought the OP was asking about ports that aren't really towns....the privately owned islands or the ones with ports like resorts: Half Moon Cay, Costa Maya, Grand Turk, Amber Cove...

That said, in the Caribbean, St Kitts, Antigua, St Maarten, Dominica are all pretty quiet.

St. Maarten quiet?  I'd agree with the rest of your list, but not that one.

[FlyerTalker]

18 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

St. Maarten quiet?  I'd agree with the rest of your list, but not that one.

 

Completely depends on the day of the week.  Have been there on ships that are NOT doing the one-week loops, and found we're the only ship in port.

 

OTOH, if you're on a "If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium" type itinerary....

[dolittle]

All are giving good advice . Costa Maya is very Disney like .saw a little of it then took a cab to Maihaul very nice and real nice people too.

 

[slidergirl]

I understood what the OP was saying right away.  The sanitized areas built especially for tourists.  Costa Maya, the "private islands"...   Kind of like something so that a person can say they visited someplace without actually visiting.  Tourists can spend their time close to the ship in a safe, secure, clean place.  I also prefer to not do those places.  I'll get out of there to someplace else.  Sure, locals work in those places.  But, I want to experience the actual local culture, architecture and food and I just don't get that out of a manufactured location.

[zqvol]

On 1/23/2019 at 1:26 PM, whitford said:

Is it really possible to find the Old predisneyification of ports. I prefer to support to natives not some Corp. Please suggest the quiet ports.

 

Unless it is one of the man made monstrosities you can find that in every port if you just get off the beaten path.

[calliopecruiser]

7 hours ago, slidergirl said:

I understood what the OP was saying right away.  The sanitized areas built especially for tourists.

 

As did I.....disney wasn't capitalized on purpose. 

 

Yes, there are lots of ports like that, all over the world......but I don't know if that includes the Caribbean.  (I haven't done a Caribbean cruise in 30 years.)   The ports I'm thinking about aren't quiet, but they aren't tourist-planned disneyfied places either.  Ports that are close to the town/city itself, at most with a short shuttle or cab first.  Cartagena was a port like that (although they did also have a strange, small built up port area with a walk-through aviary and a small zoo that you walked through on your way to the cabs). 

[cruising cockroach]

Disneyesque may be a better term.  Isn't there some such stop in Haiti or the Dominican Republic near the Haiti border?

 

As others said, small ship cruises, or repo cruises where stops made are usually off the regular cruise ship circuit.

[Underwatr]

16 hours ago, MidwesternCruiser2 said:

St Maarten

Not sure I agree that St Maarten is quiet.

[leaveitallbehind]

10 hours ago, cruising cockroach said:

Disneyesque may be a better term.  Isn't there some such stop in Haiti or the Dominican Republic near the Haiti border?

 

As others said, small ship cruises, or repo cruises where stops made are usually off the regular cruise ship circuit.

 

There are cruise lines that stop at both.  The ones that stop in Haiti are RCI and Celebrity, and the port of call is RCI's private destination - Labadee.

Edited February 8, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[Aquahound]

On 2/6/2019 at 10:24 PM, NantahalaCruiser said:

Not sure why you think Disney has anything to do with it.

 

I'm pretty sure its just a metaphor.  

[Underwatr]

Having visited Amber Cove and Half Moon Cay (both Carnival-owned ports) they reminded me of the all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana. Not "Disney" per se, but self-contained, packaged, and designed to discourage any thought of venturing beyond the gates of the resort aside from on a packaged tour. I guess that describes Disney resorts also...

[leaveitallbehind]

2 hours ago, Underwatr said:

Having visited Amber Cove and Half Moon Cay (both Carnival-owned ports) they reminded me of the all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana. Not "Disney" per se, but self-contained, packaged, and designed to discourage any thought of venturing beyond the gates of the resort aside from on a packaged tour. I guess that describes Disney resorts also...

 

Similarly RCI's CocoCay has become an amusement park - although as a barren island when they started with it, it never really had its own culture.  And with Labadee, although it is part of Haiti, the only real local culture you will encounter is with its straw market as it is fully isolated and self contained - and developed.

Edited February 8, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[Capt_BJ]

small port not yet 'disneyfied' .... EASY ..... visit Cuba.

 

or

 

as mentioned smaller ships can get to places larger ships can't ... look at some smaller ships and Norway cruises .... but be careful because sometimes these small ships overwhelm a port cuz 6 arrive on the same day.  Ditto river cruises where A vessel may have only 150 pass' but if 8 arrive the same day .....