ports of call -- not the best part of my first cruise

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Lorenzoid

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I just don't log dives
My wife and I recently took our first cruise. We never thought we'd be interested in cruising, but it was a friend's wedding, and it seemed like the right opportunity to give it a try. We briefly considered doing a dive in our ports of call in Grand Cayman and/or Cozumel, but decided not to. It was an easy decision because the obvious shore excursion to choose was whatever the rest of the wedding party was doing. And a party it was. We did Stingray City on Grand Cayman, a bit of snorkeling on Paradise Reef in Coz, and a whole lot of drinking.

So, having now experienced what it's like to call on a port and do a so-called shore excursion, I cannot imagine trying to squeeze in a dive of any quality. The whole thing felt seriously rushed--a race against the clock. We had brought snorkeling gear, and even that turned out to be a waste of space--all for 20 or 30 minutes in the water. And it's not like we had never been to Cozumel before--just not on a cruise ship. I would have been seriously annoyed if I had lugged my dive gear along just for a dive or two on Paradise Reef. It seems clear that cruise ship people are not going to be able to do the best dives a place has to offer. Our decision to separate cruising and diving turned out to be right for us.

Calling on ports was actually our LEAST favorite aspect of our cruise. In contrast, we loved the days at sea. The days at sea are relaxed, and everything you need is right there--the whole point of a "floating resort" as I see it. But the days in port we felt hurried and more stressed. If we ever take another cruise--and I suspect we may not--we would choose one that maximizes the days at sea and minimizes the days in port. If we want to see a place or experience some activity, we will just make a separate non-cruise trip there and do things on our own schedule.
 
I have learned to stash as much beer as possible in my room for port days. Then I sit up on the pool deck reading a book. Really makes the pool staff mad, but it isn't like they can kick you off. I hate port calls.
 
I hate the "sea days" and have a blast in the ports. I've never had a bad dive from a cruise ship. Sure, they're not the same as staying at a resort and diving but we always manage to have a good time and meet new people. I guess it's all in your attitude. Like I said, I hate sea days because I'm bored out my mind. I tend to wander the ship and manage to explore places that I have no business exploring.
 
When we did our trip on the Paul Gauguin in the South Pacific, we had ample time for the dives we did. I think it depends on the cruise you take, and the itinerary of the ship. On the other hand, I didn't like the couple of shore excursions we did very much. They felt very touristy.
 
Yes, the PG is certainly set up to accommodate diving. I really enjoyed the at sea days.


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It's all what trips your trigger, how you plan and especially the itenerary which means where you go and how long you have at port of call. Some cruises you might only have a 4 hour port of call others it can be 12 hours.

On our last cruise the ports were all great and the times were wonderful since we had 8:00am to 5:00pm every day which is plenty of time to do whatever you want.

We rarely if ever book anything through the cruise ship or even with any vendor on an island that caters to cruise ships, instead we research and book with what we feel is the best offerings that suit us the best.

On our last cruise - On one island we booked a private kayak naturalist tour, on another we hired a private guide for hiking into lesser known places on that island, on another we rented a jeep and explored a few different lesser traveled beaches and snorkeled at our leisure, on another we hiked into the rainforest and swam in waterfalls totally remote and alone, in the last stop we rappelled waterfalls and swam through limestone caves.

We don't dive off of cruise ships anymore as it's well known that dive operators treat all divers by the lowest common denominator, take them to the sites they can do the least damage to.

The nice thing is everybody is different and there are so many different cruises that there is something for everyone.
 
I get really bored on sea days specially if I blow through my casino money rather quickly :)
Cruising to a country is a cheap way to scout the place to see if you want to visit there.
I agree with Mike, researching for things to do off the beaten path is the way to go.

Sea days are a way to cut down on cruise cost, but if I wanted to lounge around reading a book I'd stay home and go to the beach or pool. Not my cup of tea. My wife, on the other hand, couldn't care less about the ports!
 
I have been on many cruises and find the best part to just relax on the ship. The main ships I have been on is the radiance class ships of RCCL such as Enchantment and Grandeur. I tell people all the time when they go on smaller ships there will be less activities then a bigger one such as Liberty of the Seas or Oasis or Quantum coming the November which will have bumper cars on board. . I like to try to get a dive in these ports as I have been to most so often that if I did not have anything to do I would stay on the ship and just relax. I made the mistake of doing a snorkel trip with the ship this year because my dive got cancelled due to lack of participation and I was bored out of my mind snorkeling. The only interesting time was when i saw a barracuda in the reef bellow us and someone went down with a water proof camera trying to get a real close pic and I was waiting to see the cuda turn and attack him.
 
Cruising to a country is a cheap way to scout the place to see if you want to visit there.

That's what we sure did when we first started traveling. Cruise are such a good way to see a lot of places quickly.

The best cruise I've even been on was Easy Cruise. No frills cruise, they sold them direct and was a supply and demand system to price them, the sooner you booked the cheaper they were, as they sold rooms the prices kept going up until they were sold out. We booked early for a 8 day cruise and as I recall it was about $250 a person. The boat was tiny and no frills, painted bright orange, when we would dock at the cruise ship piers everybody off the big boats would walk by pointing and asking what the heck that little boat was.

But the cool thing was we went to so many small islands that the big cruise ships can't get into and they would dock at 5:00 in the morning and not leave until 1:00 or 2:00 am in the morning, so you could explore all you wanted and have a sunset dinner every night on a new beach. Was a great time, will never forget it and never be able to repeat it.

images
 
Oh, I guess I should have mentioned this was a low-end Carnival cruise. I'm sure there are cruises that allow more time for shore excursions. Our ship would dock at 8:00 and leave at 4:00. But so much time got eaten up in the process of disembarking, finding our tour operator, etc.--there was a lot of standing around, which I can't stand.


. . .
Sea days are a way to cut down on cruise cost, but if I wanted to lounge around reading a book I'd stay home and go to the beach or pool. . . .

Ah, there's the thing: At home, I have difficulty "doing nothing." I always feel like there's something else I should be doing. I kind of liked being "trapped" on the ship. The high cost of Internet communication and resulting low expectation by my employer that I could maintain contact was a bonus. I really could disconnect and not feel guilty. Reading a book--what a novelty!
 

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