HAL needs some new itineraries in the Caribbean

[piscesgal223]

The tenders they had to go to Half Moon Cay weren't as scary to get on as the ones when we docked in Cabo. That was scary.

[CaliforniaAC]

The tenders they had to go to Half Moon Cay weren't as scary to get on as the ones when we docked in Cabo. That was scary.

 

It's off topic- but...

 

The tenders to HMC used to be the ones from the ship. I was glad to see HAL put large tenders at HMC that could handle the volume. Very, very wise decision.

 

Scary was coming back on the tender from Grand Cayman, and the seas and the wind picked up. They tried to wait it out for a few minutes, but it didn't get better so they brought us in. A big wave, and a gust of wind came around the ship and we slammed into the side of the landing on the cruise ship so hard that the top side of the tender cracked right next to DH:eek:. And not just a little one either. There was a lady on there that screamed it scared her so bad.

 

So I totally understand the concerns about tendering-

[piscesgal223]

Yup,the tenders we had when we were in Cabo were the ones from the ship.

 

As an aside,I've been looking at different Caribbean cruises(already done the Eastern Caribbean-maybe do the Western or Southern one this time)-I'd like to see a few more islands,but don't necessarily want to do a 10 or 14 day cruise.

[cruiseapril]

Carol- We booked the HAL excursion to St. Pierre & Balata Gardens for Martinique. This was one of the best organized excursions we have been on. The port of Martinique is nice and our hosts met us in purple clothing and were very polite and welcoming.

 

We took the seacoast route up to St. Pierre (near Mt. Pelee) and were able to see how well kept Martinique is. The roads were good and the buildings and yards neat.

The scenery was stunning from St. Pierre through the Rain Forest, down to Balata Gardens. We have been to Dominica and St. Lucia and find Martinique to be the lushest of the three.

 

Balata Gardens are amazing. From there, we visited the Balata Church. Our guide, Yves, was excellent. People along the way were friendly.

 

We would certainly spend a week in Martinique- after a few French lessons. We found it to be a charming island.

[DFD1]

Martinique is very lush and green...sometimes called the Flower Island.

 

I've often read that many people seem not to like it. I find that unfortunate and wonder if it is just the difference in the culture, the "Frenchness" of it, the use of the Euro, and slightly higher prices.

 

We always look forward to going there.

[kazu]

[quote name='DFD1']Martinique is very lush and green...sometimes called the Flower Island.

I've often read that many people seem not to like it. I find that unfortunate and wonder if it is just the difference in the culture, the "Frenchness" of it, the use of the Euro, and slightly higher prices.

We always look forward to going there.[/quote]

I totally agree - half the joy of this island is the 'Frenchness', the use of the euro, the entirely different culture.

It's beautiful and we love it too:D

[Babr]

Id love to see San Juan as a starting point for a round trip Amazon. Hal could eliminate a few Caribbean ports on the current 24-day trip and possibly get it in the 14-17 day range. This would make it more affordable and possibly more attractive to people who can't or don't want to be gone 24 + days. It would also do away with the redundancy of Caribbean ports for those who have seen them before.

[kazu]

[quote name='Babr']Id love to see San Juan as a starting point for a round trip Amazon. Hal could eliminate a few Caribbean ports on the current 24-day trip and possibly get it in the 14-17 day range. This would make it more affordable and possibly more attractive to people who can't or don't want to be gone 24 + days. It would also do away with the redundancy of Caribbean ports for those who have seen them before.[/quote]

I love the idea of San Juan as the starting point of any cruise - our only problem flights

[cruiseapril]

We've mentioned Martinique- what about Guadeloupe? Why don't more cruise ships stop there?

[cruiseapril]

We would like to see HAL ships stop more often in: Martinique, Guadeloupe,
St. Kitts, St. Vincent, & Tortola. Any reasons not to?

[Zyzygy]

I really dislike the HAL end-of-cruise questionnaire when it asks you to choose only one preference for cruising, i.e., ports of call, choice of ship, shipboard food, etc.

We select cruises based on a combination of factors and not just any one.

Unfortunately, I don't think as many cruisers name "ports of call" as their number one criterion for choosing a cruise, so I'm not sure the line gives that as much priority as they should. A more subtle questionnaire could elicit the cluster of factors a cruiser uses in choosing a cruise.

There is also the fact that RCCL is packing passengers into their newest and largest ships out of Fort Lauderdale, and they have terrible three-stop itineraries. RCCL is marketing the mega-ship as the destination, and unfortunately some gullible cruisers are gobbling it up.

Lastly, on the day when Cuba finally reopens to cruise ships, all boredom will be gone for at least a decade. Can you imagine going to Havana, Santiago, etc.?

If I were a cruise line, I'd be lobbying every politician I could find to reopen relations with Cuba. Passengers would flock to the Caribbean to visit various Cuban ports.

[Tamaracboy]

The last 10 or so posts have all had good suggestions for itineraries.
American ports, shorter Amazon routes, less visited islands, etc.
And, yes, I do understand and sympathize with the difficulties associated with tendering, especially for anyone with mobility issues.

The whole main point is that HAL really needs to "mix it up" a bit with their ports of call.
It is like they've gotten into a rut thinking that "this ship in these ports has worked, so let's do it again". (Bean Counter thinking :p )
The problem is that this has become "again and again", especially for regular customers.

They just need to learn: "Variety is the spice of life"

JMHO,
r.

[Palmetto Lady]

We did the 14 day Southern Caribbean cruise in March because of the itinerary - Grenada, St Barts, Martinique and the ABC islands. I was looking forward to some shopping on the French islands, but it was Fat Tuesday in St. Barts and Ash Wednesday in Martinique. All the stores and most restaurants were closed BUT we saw a chaming parade in St. Barts and a delightful show of traditional dances with colorful costumes in Martinque. Great Fun!

[doncarlos]

All interesting ideas , but keep in mind that on HAL [ unlike Carni/RCCL/NCL/etc ] many many guests sail Carib for the ship and could care less what the ports of call are ................recently, as we approached yet another island , a fellow guest on a Carib HAL said : " its so nice to be here in Europe ...I did not bring any of that kind of money so I will, as usual , stay on board " ...........nuf said !

Having said that , I, too, have on occasion sailed for the ship not the ports [ TA , some Caribs, some Alaska , some trans canal, by way of example ]

[cruiseapril]

Maybe HAL will spice up their Caribbean itineraries for those of us who enjoy the ports.

Also, it would be good to have more Caribbean history/culture discussions on board rather than shopping talks- yipes- don't need any more tanzanite lectures!!!!

[sail7seas]

[quote name='Zyzygy']
<snip>


There is also the fact that RCCL is packing passengers into their newest and largest ships out of Fort Lauderdale, and they have terrible three-stop itineraries. RCCL is marketing the mega-ship as the destination, and unfortunately some gullible cruisers are gobbling it up.

Lastly, on the day when Cuba finally reopens to cruise ships, all boredom will be gone for at least a decade. Can you imagine going to Havana, Santiago, etc.?

If I were a cruise line, I'd be lobbying every politician I could find to reopen relations with Cuba. Passengers would flock to the Caribbean to visit various Cuban ports.[/quote]


[B]:o We're on the list of those for whom, to a large extent, the ship IS our destination. We've visited so many islands so many times that we usually have little preference. Sure we like some more than others but if a ship we want to sail is going on the right date and we can get the cabin we want, we're not very picky about the itinerary. Most of them have at least one or two ports we 'reasonably' enjoy and that is good enough for us.[/B]

[B]We go much more for the ship. [/B]
[B]([SIZE=1]sorry .... I know that is not what you wanted to read.)[/SIZE][/B]

[kazu]

[quote name='sail7seas'][B]:o We're on the list of those for whom, to a large extent, the ship IS our destination. We've visited so many islands so many times that we usually have little preference. Sure we like some more than others but if a ship we want to sail is going on the right date and we can get the cabin we want, we're not very picky about the itinerary. Most of them have at least one or two ports we 'reasonably' enjoy and that is good enough for us.[/B]

[B]We go much more for the ship. [/B]
[B]([SIZE=1]sorry .... I know that is not what you wanted to read.)[/SIZE][/B][/quote]

That's ok Sail, we sail based on ship and itinerary. I like to be happy when I'm on board so quite often, I look at a couple of ships and then look at their itineraries.

We still have places to see (or places we want to go back to) so itinerary does count but a nice ship goes a long way with us :D

[Zyzygy]

I don't begrudge anyone who picks a cruise for the ship. We do too! But the ship is not the only factor we consider. We roll together several different factors: ship, ports, cost. HAL's single-answer questionnaire doesn't allow us to indicate the multiple factors we consider.

To CCL's credit, they have worked to create additional ports of call in recent years: Grand Turk, Costa Maya, Roatan, and their new pier at St. Thomas. RCCL has recently added Falmouth.

The problem is that once you've seen one flat Caribbean island, you've pretty much seen them all. The mountainous islands seem to have a little more exotic flavor IMO, but most of those are in the Windward Islands, too far away to reach for any prolonged period during a short cruise from Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

On our one cruise out of San Juan we had a great time visiting Grenada and Martinique. But, as mentioned, the airfare is steep.

I know that it sounds like a pipe dream, but I would really like to go to Cuba. On our recent NA cruise we rounded the eastern and southeastern coast at midday. With the steep hills going down straight to the shore, it looked just like Big Sur.

If Cuba were superimposed on the U.S., it would stretch from NYC to Chicago. It is more than 800 miles long. There would be plenty of variety in the Caribbean if it were ever reopened.

[Tamaracboy]

[quote name='Zyzygy']...............I know that it sounds like a pipe dream, but I would really like to go to Cuba. On our recent NA cruise we rounded the eastern and southeastern coast at midday. With the steep hills going down straight to the shore, it looked just like Big Sur.

If Cuba were superimposed on the U.S., it would stretch from NYC to Chicago. It is more than 800 miles long. There would be plenty of variety in the Caribbean if it were ever reopened.[/QUOTE]

I think I can safely speak for ALL of us:

We are "chomping at the bit" for Cuba to open up to cruising.
Just think of the variety, new ports, convenience, different culture, natural sights, etc. etc.
Yum-Yum, just thinking about it.

Some day . . . . .

r.