Staying on the ship while in port?

[Splatt]

We never thought that we would do this but we are considering staying on the ship (Carnival Sunshine) when we dock in one of the 3 ports that we stop at. We have been to Montego Bay, Caymans, and Cozumel before so we are wondering what the day will be like if we opt to just stay on the boat for any of these days. If you have done this before, please tell us about your day and what you liked about it the most. Thanks for your comments!!:)

[fireman935]

Me and my wife never get off the ship in the Bahamas. We love the peace and quiet on the ship. We have the run of the ship!!! But we love all 3 of those ports so we would never stay on the ship on those 3 you are going to.

[Dare2Believe]

I know the spa runs specials on port days - that might be something to look into!

 

We've either stayed on board or come back pretty early a few times...its definitely a different atmosphere. You can actually get into the hot tubs without being squished with 15 other people, and the pools are virtually empty/there's lots of loungers open in areas that are usually very congested.

 

I'd say if you've been to those ports before, try it out and see how you like it! You may realize that you miss heading out for the day & exploring, or you may see that a mostly empty Carnival ship is a lot more fun than a full Carnival ship!

 

Enjoy :)

[GradUT]

I've done this on every cruise I've taken and I love having a "sea day" in port. The best thing is that the ship is not crowded--no problem getting good seats around the pool; no lines for the water slides; no wait for pizza, etc. And if you play games like trivia, there are fewer people playing, so you have a better chance of winning!:)

[losijon]

The wife and I did it on a 7 day on the pride when she was still sailing out of long beach. When we pulled into Mazatlan we decided to stay on the ship and pretty much had the pool to ourselves. We ordered a bucket of beer and swam for several hours with only 2-3 other people around and those people were very cool to hang out with, so in all it was a great time.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Always stay on in Belize. Hate the long tender and love having ship to ourselves.

[FunCruise1234]

We stayed on in Cozumel last year. It was the best day of our cruise, we played trivia with two other people, it was some fierce competition, swam in the EMPTY pool, and enjoyed a Mongolian wok lunch without a line. Since we are not big snorkels, and so not like rocky beaches, we stayed on the ship for almost all of the day, best decision ever.

[wrigley80]

We always stay onboard the ship when we stop in Freeport, Bahamas and any of the stops in Jamaica. We love using the ship to ourselves. It's so quiet and relaxing. On days like these we enjoy going up to the Serenity deck and laying in one of the clam shell loungers and we also enjoy playing trivia

[Kokomos]

We're thinking about staying on the sunshine at grand cayman. 6 ships in port that day and the long lines for the tender.

[Ryno9065]

Having been to Puerto Rico several times, we choose to stay on the ship. LOVE IT!

[Cjh1975]

We never thought that we would do this but we are considering staying on the ship (Carnival Sunshine) when we dock in one of the 3 ports that we stop at. We have been to Montego Bay, Caymans, and Cozumel before so we are wondering what the day will be like if we opt to just stay on the boat for any of these days. If you have done this before, please tell us about your day and what you liked about it the most. Thanks for your comments!!:)

 

 

We are thinking about doing the same thing when we go to Puerto Rico. That port just doesn't appeal to me

[thehip]

We stay on ship at Port Canaveral and Freeport, relaxing and enjoying the lightly populated ship. Great day to enjoy the usually crowded ship amenities.

[simplelife]

We have stayed on the ship at San Juan and Nassau (since we have been to both places several times and really had nothing more we wanted to see). We enjoyed the relaxation, and we did not have to fight crowds for the hot tubs, or seats by the pool or the serenity deck. It is fun exploring the ship without crowds, though shops and the casino are not open while in port. We enjoy a leisurely lunch and just like the overall quiet.

[shawne71]

For our upcoming Southern Caribbean cruise to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten... we have decided to stay on the ship in St. Kitts. For anyone that has been on this cruise, have we made the right decision? Which was your least favorite port?

[dougandmo]

Our last cruise on the Glory we stayed on in both Nassau and Freeport. We'd been to both, didn't want to pay for an excursion, and were happy to enjoy the ship without the crowds. We'll probably always stay on in Freeport in the future. Just not much for us at that port.

[ATHENA3]

Wow, all those great ports to stay on the ship. But for each their own. We always book for ports and enjoy all of them always new things to do and see. One good thing you won’t have a crowded ship (Sunshine) in ports, on sea days in the Caribbean this could be a problem for her.

Have a great cruise.

 

It’s not a new ship!!!! That was just a shout out to the head cheerleader Heald and others.

[jwalk03]

For our upcoming Southern Caribbean cruise to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten... we have decided to stay on the ship in St. Kitts. For anyone that has been on this cruise, have we made the right decision? Which was your least favorite port?

 

Just did this cruise 2 weeks ago, and I had originally planned to do the same thing and stay on board in St. Kitts because the island just didn’t sound that appealing to us, and I was afraid with soo many ports that we would be exhausted by the end of the trip.

In the end we decided to go to Frigate Bay and spend a day at the beach, (we bought the $35 day passes at the Marriott which is right on the beach which allowed us to use the pools, and their lounge chairs, facilities, etc. But buying the day pass is not necessary if you just want to enjoy the beach.)

I am SOOO glad we decided not to stay on the ship because St. Kitts was amazingly beautiful. This actually turned into one of our favorite ports of the trip! I really think St. Kitts in an underappreciated island, and I would not miss it if I were you.

 

I would say my least favorite port of this trip was St. Thomas, but of course it is the first port, and also there is a sea day the next day, so its prolly not a good option for staying on the ship either. Honestly each of these ports is so unique, that if you have never been to them I would get off the ship in all of them and enjoy the islands.

Edited September 28, 2013 by jwalk03

[dougandmo]

Just did this cruise 2 weeks ago, and I had originally planned to do the same thing and stay on board in St. Kitts because the island just didn’t sound that appealing to us, and I was afraid with soo many ports that we would be exhausted by the end of the trip.

 

In the end we decided to go to Frigate Bay and spend a day at the beach, (we bought the $35 day passes at the Marriott which is right on the beach which allowed us to use the pools, and their lounge chairs, facilities, etc. But buying the day pass is not necessary if you just want to enjoy the beach.)

 

I am SOOO glad we decided not to stay on the ship because St. Kitts was amazingly beautiful. This actually turned into one of our favorite ports of the trip! I really think St. Kitts in an underappreciated island, and I would not miss it if I were you.

 

I would say my least favorite port of this trip was St. Thomas, but of course it is the first port, and also there is a sea day the next day, so its prolly not a good option for staying on the ship either. Honestly each of these ports is so unique, that if you have never been to them I would get off the ship in all of them and enjoy the islands.

 

We're doing this cruise in February, and I would guess we will do less in St. Thomas and St. Martin as it's more likely we will get back to those ports than to the other three. We might be broke by the time we get to St. Martin!

[shawne71]

Just did this cruise 2 weeks ago, and I had originally planned to do the same thing and stay on board in St. Kitts because the island just didn’t sound that appealing to us, and I was afraid with soo many ports that we would be exhausted by the end of the trip.

 

In the end we decided to go to Frigate Bay and spend a day at the beach, (we bought the $35 day passes at the Marriott which is right on the beach which allowed us to use the pools, and their lounge chairs, facilities, etc. But buying the day pass is not necessary if you just want to enjoy the beach.)

 

I am SOOO glad we decided not to stay on the ship because St. Kitts was amazingly beautiful. This actually turned into one of our favorite ports of the trip! I really think St. Kitts in an underappreciated island, and I would not miss it if I were you.

 

I would say my least favorite port of this trip was St. Thomas, but of course it is the first port, and also there is a sea day the next day, so its prolly not a good option for staying on the ship either. Honestly each of these ports is so unique, that if you have never been to them I would get off the ship in all of them and enjoy the islands.

 

Thanks for the feedback. We had originally planned on doing a beach day at Cockleshell Beach in St. Kitts. Maybe we'll reinstate those plans.

[LargeCornGyro]

Years ago, the ship would just shut down. Now, it's as active as at sea. We stay on board when we either feel, been to a port, have no interest in that port, or the weathers bad.

 

Haven't regretted it yet.

[Georgiagolfer]

DW and I always stay on the ship in Nassau and/or Freeport. Like others have posted, the ship is not crowded, no lines for buffet, deli, mongolian wok, etc. Serenity area and Lido pool area not crowded. Best times of some of our cruises have been port days together on a non crowded ship.

[askimdog]

To us the joy of cruising is seeing new places,...Ports.

We are off the ship ASAP and are amongst the last returning. Most of are ports go like this:

 

1/2 the time have a private guide or taxi lined up prior to arrival. Get off the ship with collapsible cooler full of ice. Stop one grocery store to find odd items for bringing home and a 6 or 12 pack of local brew for the day.

 

Hike, geocache, visit researched food places, get lunch to go (always local foods be it balleadas,mannish water, jerk, gibnut, stewed cowsfoot, turtle etc..) Then we wander non combed uncrowded beaches. ( last time on Cozumel we wandered the beaches on the opposite side and saw no one for 3 hours, except for cars on the upper road). We always go inland and find locals to chat with. We avoid any chain establishment like Fat Tuesday/Margaritaville etc. and any shopping streets. Museums and old architecture a must visit. Often we hit a local orphanage and drop off school supplies as well, great chance for our daughter to play with local kids. Normally all this can be done for the 3 of us at under a $100.00.

 

Grand Cayman we have been to twice, still want to hit Historic Pedro St. James and the Caybrew brewery, so one more visit may be necessary some day. Cozumel, pretty touristy place and hopefully we won't return, not much left for us to do there.

 

Favorite ports to date for culture and people chatting with locals:

 

Roatan/ Belize City and Ensenada. We desperately try to avoid private island ports like HMC. If we wanted to sit on a beach, we'd vacation in Florida.

[michelle1836]

DW and I always stay on the ship in Nassau and/or Freeport. Like others have posted, the ship is not crowded, no lines for buffet, deli, mongolian wok, etc. Serenity area and Lido pool area not crowded. Best times of some of our cruises have been port days together on a non crowded ship.

 

was thinking about doing this on the Fantasy in Dec. been to both enough times already and was going to enjoy a quiet day on the ship.

[winddawn]

We never thought that we would do this but we are considering staying on the ship (Carnival Sunshine) when we dock in one of the 3 ports that we stop at. We have been to Montego Bay, Caymans, and Cozumel before so we are wondering what the day will be like if we opt to just stay on the boat for any of these days. If you have done this before, please tell us about your day and what you liked about it the most. Thanks for your comments!!:)

I do this a lot. I've been to most of the ports of call multiple times, so for me, the ship is the destination unless the ship is calling in one of my favorite ports. It is wonderful to enjoy the ship during this time because there are no crowds. This is the best time to go to the swimming pool. The spa often has specials on port days. There are no lines for food or drinks.

 

Enjoy the Sunshine!

[Georgiagolfer]

was thinking about doing this on the Fantasy in Dec. been to both enough times already and was going to enjoy a quiet day on the ship.

 

Try it, you might just find it is very enjoyable. If not, then you can go back to getting off next cruise, no matter the Port.