IslandExplorer

...so the cost of say up to $100 is very much worth...

This is very, very hard to swallow if you've already spent thousands of euros on flights and for the cruise itself.

Every single port I've been to has had cheap options waiting just outside the gate. Is this port really and truly the only port that doesn't??

I'm still trying to cope with the utter "betrayal" and "greed" of the cruise line (Celebrity, in my case) in choosing to dock at an industrial port in the middle of nowhere but pretending that this is near Saigon. It is a corporate scam, nothing less. We're very tempted to punish them by just staying on the ship, consuming at least $100 each of "free" stuff while we're there!!

Just came across my tour notes on Phu My.

 

Free Shuttle to gate, then Free shuttle to Ba Ria (30 mins.). (We spent the day there instead of taking a taxi to Vung Tau, as planned.)

Was the shuttle organized by the port or by the cruise ship? (I'm worried that this shuttle won't be available when we dock. Our cruise line has nothing online about this shuttle.)

What was Ba Ria like?

Annoying!

This forum is a chore to visit because 75% of the posts are roll calls. There's no meat.

There's a highlighted sticky at the top asking us not to post roll call threads. What are these posters not understanding? It's quite clear.

The roll call part is right at the top. It's impossible to miss.

It literally says:

S t o p! DO NOT POST ROLL CALL THREADS ON THIS PAGE

This is two posts above yours.

How much clearer can they try to make it? I really don't understand why you would just ignore this.

I came to this board to comment on how expensive Atlantis has become. First thing I see is this thread. So I'm not the only one.

This current cruise is leaving from a port we don't have to fly to, but it is still ridiculously expensive. Like twice what we normally spend when we go on vacation.

We've enjoyed quite a few Atlantis and RSVP cruises, but they are about to lose yet another gay couple as clients.

This is not the place for roll calls. There is a prominent warning about that at the top of the page:

"Sticky: S t o p! DO NOT POST ROLL CALL THREADS ON THIS PAGE"

This is posted at the top of the page:

"Sticky: S t o p! DO NOT POST ROLL CALL THREADS ON THIS PAGE"

How could you have missed this??

I really do not understand how you could miss the sticky at the top of this page:

"Sticky: S t o p! DO NOT POST ROLL CALL THREADS ON THIS PAGE"

And yet that is exactly what you have done...

Yes, our ship is going to be in Nassau from 7 am to 2 pm. That is it. Being realistic about it, we'll probably have from 8 am to 13:30 pm. 5.5 hours. Essentially, just the morning in Nassau, which from all accounts is a crowded, dirty city filled with other cruise passengers.

What I want to do is to go to an isolated beach to go snorkeling. I've researched various options carefully. Increasingly, this is looking like a pipe dream.

There are probably going to be other boats there. How many cruisers will be there, all vying for the same resources -- 10,000?

It looks like there is absolutely nothing within walking distance of the cruise port.

Any ideas?

I've read all the various Cozumel snorkeling threads, and it seems that there are beach snorkeling options (where you have to pay to hang out at a resort), but the best snorkeling is by boat.

We have already blown the budget in booking this cruise. Seriously, we do not want to spend a single penny when we are in Cozumel. If we have to spend money on the island, we would rather just stay on the ship.

And yet I am an avid snorkeler and desperately want to see the best underwater life Cozumel has to offer.

Can anyone help us sort this out? If we do take a boat to the reef, can we take one for say $10?

We just did a cruise that stopped in Leningr...uh, St Petersburg. We had no problem.

On the excursion we sat side by side. The excursion leader didn't care.

In St Petersburg itself we thought we were seeing gay people everywhere, although we didn't go to a gay establishment.

However, I didn't go through the Russian passport check side by side with my partner. Nor did we wear any gay T-shirts or anything.

Didn't like the feeling this generated, but there was no point just staying on board. We wanted to see St Petersburg.

"Cheap" and "expensive" are completely relative, subjective and vague terms.

Is it "cheap" in comparison to other similar cruises?

Is it "cheap" in comparison to what you would ordinarily spend on your hols?

Is it "cheap" in comparison to what your brother-in-law spends on their hols?

Is it "cheap" when you consider what you get for the amount spent, e.g. balcony stateroom, free on-board credits?

A cruise involves a huge outlay when you actually book it. This always feels expensive, even if the cruise itself is a bargain. However, once we've on board, the luxuriousness of the experience makes us feel like our vacation euros are being well spent, even if the cruise is expensive.

But to answer your question, we apparently consider a cruise cheap if it is less than around 75 euros (US$100) per night per person. That's without the flights, on board costs and shore expenses. For a balcony room, we still think it's cheap for an extra 10 euros p.p.p.n. All our straight cruises have fallen under this benchmark. If it is more than this, we feel the cruise is expensive.

When we travel in other ways, we always spend less than EUR 150 per night. Usually much less. Cruising is the most expensive kind of holiday we do. Mind you, we live in Europe and go on a lot of holidays. Perhaps 8-10 weeks a year. So I suspect that our vacation budget in the end is the same as someone who spends big but goes on fewer holidays.

In addition to the sticker price, you have to remember to factor in:

(1) the cost of getting to and from the ports;

(2) how much you actually fork over to the cruise line on board;

(3) how much you spend on shore.

We try to keep these additional costs very low, although flying to Florida is always a killer.

And for gay cruises, it's a completely different story. They are frighteningly expensive. We love them, and would take them all the time, but we feel they are a rip off.

SDC, I think your main problem will be that you may find yourself to be one of the hottest and youngest guys on board. We were shocked at how old and overweight many of the Atlantis cruisers are. Although there is usually a group of about 200 youngish party boys on each cruise. (I think Atlantis hires them...)

I want to tell you that after taking a few cruises not once have I ever been sniffed by a dog, either in the US or on a Caribbean island, and certainly not in Europe.

On the other hand, if you bring drugs on board you're making a mistake. You'll be crossing borders, going through security checks, and so on. It's foolish.

I like the idea of a gay group hanging out together somewhere on board so that I can join them whenever I feel in the mood. I'm grateful if a fun group does emerge on a cruise. I find it tends to centre on a group of gregarious guys who are totally out and don't give a ****.

However, it's not easy for everyone. If you're an educated, fairly well-off WASP type (ie the type who tends to go on expensive cruises), you're probably someone who identifies as straight-acting and who has spent a lifetime avoiding PDA and trying to blend in. Of course, you're automatically going to do the same thing on a cruise. You're going to avoid obvious groups of gay men like the plague. It's a huge shame, because a cruise is a place to relax, to meet new people, to be yourself but also to try on a different persona, and maybe even to get romantic.

And even if you don't find gay gatherings toxic, you may just want your freedom and don't want to feel compelled to join a group of strangers if you don't have to (especially if there's no eye candy in the group!) This is my partner's issue.

Part of it is cultural too. Sometimes it's too difficult to overcome the gender, language and cultural gaps. What do I have in common with Spanish-speaking lesbians? Or hard-core drinkers and gamblers? Or even Americans? The truth is that American gay guys (whom I generally love) sometimes have a certain world view that is hard to take sometimes. You have to have something in common other than just sexual orientation.

On one recent cruise, we were on, there was a gay couple that I thought we could become real friends with. I knew all the islands well and was willing to share my insights with them. We had dinner together once. However, they simply blew us off. I don't know why. Each to his own. They wanted to do their own thing. Maybe they were late risers. However, I was a little upset so this experience cast a small shadow on the cruise, something I remember today, six months later. Maybe this is part of it too: it's just easier to stick to your own group than to try to ingratiate yourself to gay people who are not into it and who you really wouldn't talk to on shore.

The "FOD" thing is cute, but it smacks of the 1950s and doesn't translate well into other cultures. We no longer live in hiding, do we? We're not Christians drawing fish in the sand.

I also think that another problem is that many of us are reluctant to find each other on Grindr, Scruff, etc. even though that's how many of us do it now. We're unwilling to pay the exorbitant internet fees for our smart phones.

Following on my earlier comments about Curacao, it still seems like the island has a very split personality when it comes to gay life.

Officially, the island seems to be trying its damnedest to attract gay money. It's hard for me to understand why Curacaoan officials are marketing their island in this way when there is practically no open gay life at all.

My impression from two visits (one for a month) is that the island lacks a gay-friendly infrastructure. There is no gay neighbourhood, gay bars, gay beaches, gay events, openly gay hotels, gay sauna, and so on. Someone else would know better what gay life is really like on the island, but during my visits I didn't see anything resembling the scene in Puerto Rico (and even in Puerto Rico it's not all that great).

Indeed, many Curacaoans openly reject gay activities and gay rights as an wanted foreign Dutch thing. A bit of googling is enough to show that.

On the other hand, Gay Curacaoans apparently feel that public opinion is turning in our favour, although I haven't seen any polls.

I think there are a number of hotels and restaurants run by gay people (probably from the Netherlands) that are trying tentatively to promote themselves in the way they might do in the Netherlands. I'll leave it to someone else to list them.

Public demonstrations by gay groups have not been allowed in Curacao. However, a sort of private, quiet gay pride has been held there for two years now. A gay flag was displayed in Willemstad this year.

http://www.nieuws360.com/ingezonden/ingezonden-de-eerste-south-carribean-pride-op-curacao/

I promised to report on Cupecoy Beach in St Maarten. We went there in December 2013. The nearby condo development hasn't ruined it. It was still "in operation" as a gay beach, and there were men cruising there. Because there are hollows carved out of the cliffs, there is a certain amount of privacy.

Anyone going?

Thanks reedprincess. I think we'll have to fork over $80 pp for Ti Kaye on this trip. It'll be the most we've ever spent at any cruise port. But still it seems like the right thing to do.

Our ship lets us off at 0900, but the boat picks people up at 0830. I'll contact them about that...

I'll check out Anse Cochons. Maybe that's the solution.

Can anyone suggest another great snorkel site within easy reach of the Castries cruise ship terminal? ...something without too much traffic and certainly with not too many other cruise ship passengers.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem. In every cruise port in the Caribbean there is a way to beat the excursion ripoff prices and to enjoy the port at low cost. Any further suggestions are most welcome.

Many thanks.

Could anyone suggest any good snorkeling sites closer to the cruise ship port in Castries? We don't want to spend more than $20.

Reedprincess - Can you tell me the average cost charged by these independent operators to take passengers from Castries to Anse Chastenet and back? I don't want to book a snorkel tour when I can get a better deal with one of these boats. Thanks

I can see others have asked this before. However, the information available on this site and others is not clear.

Our cruise ship is going to land in Castries in St Lucia.

We want to snorkel at the best location, which seems to be Anse Chastanet. It's only 20 km or so from Castries. This is not a long distance.

I'm reading about difficult road conditions on St Lucia. I'm also reading a lot about tourist ripoffs (e.g. $160 taxi ride to travel 20 km.).

We want to take the quickest and cheapest transport possible from Castries to Anse Chastanet. We only have 8 hours or so on the island, so it has to be reliable.

What is the right way for a cruise passenger to get from the cruise port in Castries to the snorkeling beach at Anse Chastenet?

Many thanks in advance.

This is the kind of info I was looking for.

I think I've been to all of these places, including all the Dutch islands.

San Juan seems to be almost the de facto capital of much of the Caribbean. It has gay bars and what most of us would recognize as a gay community.

There is apparently a gay hotel in St Croix. And a few bars. http://www.gaytravel.com/st-croix/gay-scene

Haven't been there yet.

The rest of the USVI and the BVI seem very laid back, but I don't think there is much gay activity there.

St Bart's is inhabited by rich whites and European sophisticates. Too small for a gay scene, but I think you can be as gay as you want there. I didn't find a gay beach or bar there.

Cuba has a complicated gay scene, doesn't it? I don't have any experience with it.

The English-speaking primarily black Caribbean islands I've been to are the most homophobic. (Just an impression because I didn't put it to the test.) I found no scene in Barbados, for example, which is strange when you think about it. Some of these islands have gay friendly B&Bs though.

St Maarten has Cupecoy Beach, which I think was the most overtly and pleasantly gay place I've come across outside of Puerto Rico. I loved the place. However, the beach is now near a condo development, and I'm not sure whether that has had an effect on the beach. I'm going again next month, so I'll report back on it. I remember talking to one gay white guy in St Maarten a few years ago who said that the gays there would do their best to keep this beach. I didn't really find any nice gay bars on the island, although there was something. St Maarten is an interesting island, and worth keeping an eye on. I think a gay scene could develop here.

Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao are relatively relaxed and don't have the scary religious cr*p that you might see on some of the English-speaking islands. You could show affection publicly there, although it might raise a few eyebrows and it might provoke violence from young men. Curacao is openly selling itself as a gay friendly place. They list a few places on gaycuracao.com but I never checked these places out when I was there: http://www.gaycuracao.com/eng/parties.php I think it's significant that the government puts up a website and lists these places. This is a government that wants our business, and is openly saying: come and play. Curacao has a close, love-hate relationship with the Netherlands, so there is a significant Dutch influence there. It's not an Americanised island. However, I just didn't find a fun scene there. My impression is that there are openly gay men, both black and white, in Curacao, but it's not yet an island with an active bar or sauna scene per se. I think what they should do there is try to designate a beach as "officially gay".

Oranjestad in Aruba has a gay bar or two. I stuck my head in one, but I felt it wasn't enough to support a night out. What I did notice in Aruba is that the local gym was filled with shockingly beautiful men. The island is Americanised. I didn't find a gay beach there.

I think what happens is that people are nervous about being the first ones there. (What if it's a trap! What if they're all old and ugly? What if I'm the oldest and ugliest one there?)

People go up and just skirt the area and don't make contact. Sometimes they sit nearby to scout it out first.

These meetings work out well if an extrovert (of any kind) is there early and acts as a sort of greeter and creates a welcoming space.