Great embarkation ports

[navybankerteacher]

While actual cruising is the general theme on these boards, a significant matter is what else can be involved.  Having sailed from a number of ports (including nearby cities), I most enjoyed a few days pre-cruise stay in the following:  Istanbul, Rome, London, San Juan, Quebec, Seattle, Boston, New York (former home town), and San Diego.   Of lesser interest to me were Norfolk, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Houston/Galveston..

 

What embarkation ports/nearby cities do you feel are worth several days - and which do you just see as places to board ships?

[ontheweb]

8 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

While actual cruising is the general theme on these boards, a significant matter is what else can be involved.  Having sailed from a number of ports (including nearby cities), I most enjoyed a few days pre-cruise stay in the following:  Istanbul, Rome, London, San Juan, Quebec, Seattle, Boston, New York (former home town), and San Diego.   Of lesser interest to me were Norfolk, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Houston/Galveston..

 

What embarkation ports/nearby cities do you feel are worth several days - and which do you just see as places to board ships?

I would add Barcelona to your list.

[George C]

Nyc is also my former home and favorite embarkation place since we already visit there every year. Just loved our cruise from Barcelona great city spent a couple of days there could have spent more , really cheap compared to nyc. 

[Essiesmom]

Venice, Hong Kong.  

[Shorex]

Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Capetown, Dubai, Sydney, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, and Reykjavik come to mind immediately. Within a year we'll be back to several of these ports. First visit to Istanbul was as a cruise port, later we made a dedicated trip to Turkey to include a side trip to Cappadocia - to say it's amazing is an understatement.

[iancal]

This is exactly the reason why we do more independent land travel and less cruising.  One port day or a few pre cruise days in an area no longer does it for us.

[Kartgv]

Sydney and Vancouver are favorites of ours, both for beautiful sail-aways and for being great places to spend a few days before or after a cruise.     San Diego, of course, because we live here and it's convenient as well as being beautiful and a great port right in the heart of the city.   

[John Bull]

We do bear in mind the embarkation port so that we can spend a few days there - and we look for one-way cruises so that we can do the same at disembarkation. They don't have to be iconic places.

Unfortunately fly-cruises from the UK (aircraft chartered by the cruise line), which tend to be better value are almost-always fly in / out same-day, so for instance six ports are actually only 5 ports unless your interest is in the road between airport & seaport.

 

Like Iancal, we don't restrict ourselves to cruises, we mix it up with road-trips, city breaks & such.

 

JB 

[ldubs]

This is a terrific question.  

 

In addition to those already listed, we have always enjoyed spending a couple of days strolling around Copenhagen.  San Francisco is a great sail away under the Golden Gate bridge, but sadly might no longer be a place I would want to visit.  

 

Being willing to spend a hour or two on an airplane opens up a lot of great possibilities.  Paris, Geneva, and Zurich to name a few.  Get your hands on a Swiss Rail/Travel pass and Switzerland is a fantastic place to spend some time.   Zurich or Geneva is only a 1.5 hour flight to Rome and then catch a transfer to Civitavecchia for a cruise.    Or, fly into Milan, spend some time at Lake Como, then take a 1 hour flight to Rome to catch your cruise transfer.   There are a lot of great possibilities.  

 

I can't think of too many that would be just places to board ships.  Maybe Civitavecchia, San Francisco (sadly), & Fort Lauderdale.   

Edited June 7, 2019 by ldubs

[cruisemom42]

Istanbul is one of my favorite cities and its convenience to the port makes it a great jumping off point for cruises.  Rome is less convenient to the port but one of the great cities of the world, where I could spend weeks, not days...

 

Other favorites would be Venice, Athens, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Lisbon.

 

I found Singapore to be kind of sterile....

 

I like Fort Lauderdale but primarily because it was my second home growing up and I know it so well.

[lenquixote66]

On June 7, 2019 at 10:56 AM, navybankerteacher said:

While actual cruising is the general theme on these boards, a significant matter is what else can be involved.  Having sailed from a number of ports (including nearby cities), I most enjoyed a few days pre-cruise stay in the following:  Istanbul, Rome, London, San Juan, Quebec, Seattle, Boston, New York (former home town), and San Diego.   Of lesser interest to me were Norfolk, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Houston/Galveston..

 

What embarkation ports/nearby cities do you feel are worth several days - and which do you just see as places to board ships?

We have only cruised from 5 ports. However,my favorite cities where there are ports are Manhattan as I lived in NYC from birth to 2003 and Galveston.I love the Houston/Galeston areas.

[Bizmark'sMom]

Seattle - lived there 20 years

Amsterdam - worth a week all by itself.

Reykjavik - take a week before the cruise to rent a car or camper and really see Iceland!

 

[Roz]

14 minutes ago, Bizmark'sMom said:

Amsterdam - worth a week all by itself.

 

Agree with you 100% - what a great city!  I'm exploring options for a land based vacation in the Netherlands.

 

Roz

[Aplmac]

Bridgetown Port - BARBADOS

Simply because I live 10-15 mins across the other side of town!

 

During the winter cruise season

there's quite a number of ships/lines that board pax here!!

.

[sattva]

Vancouver is a favorite with us.  Thanks to miserable trains from London, we don't depart from English ports any more.

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

We have only cruised from 5 ports. However,my favorite cities where there are ports are Manhattan as I lived in NYC from birth to 2003 and Galveston.I love the Houston/Galeston areas.

No accounting for tastes - I’ve lived in/near NYC all my life (other than Navy years), love it - and we make a point of going in several times a year.  Houston/Galveston is a whole other thing:  Galveston has nothing on Atlantic beaches and Houston strikes me as dismal - uninhabitable without A/C, prone to flooding, driving there makes LA look like CT back roads.  I am sure that area is what General Sherman (when military governor during Reconstruction) was considering when he said that if he owned Hell and Texas, he’d rent out Texas and live in Hell.

 

(We visit step-daughter there at least once a year - proving, I suppose, that blood is stronger than humidity.)

[Hlitner]

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 10:56 AM, navybankerteacher said:

While actual cruising is the general theme on these boards, a significant matter is what else can be involved.  Having sailed from a number of ports (including nearby cities), I most enjoyed a few days pre-cruise stay in the following:  Istanbul, Rome, London, San Juan, Quebec, Seattle, Boston, New York (former home town), and San Diego.   Of lesser interest to me were Norfolk, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Houston/Galveston..

 

What embarkation ports/nearby cities do you feel are worth several days - and which do you just see as places to board ships?

Great topic :).  We often think of embarkation ports as just an extension of a much longer trip.  For example, next fall we are cruising out of Civitavecchia which is a port we have used dozens of times.  We will fly into Rome a week early, rent a car, and spend a week in Tuscany before driving over to the port the afternoon before our cruise.  If cruising out of Barcelona it is a great excuse to spend a few days (or weeks) exploring Spain.  We even do stuff with the US ports.  Taking a cruise out of Ft Lauderdale or Miami is a great excuse to spend a few days in Key West.  

 

As to places to "just board ships" it might surprise some folks that the one that quickly comes to mind is Copenhagen.  DW and I have spent quite a few days in this city (and even more time just exploring Denmark) and now find the city (and region) somewhat boring.  For our last cruise out of Copenhagen we simply flew in on an early morning arrival and grabbed a taxi directly to our ship.  We had no concern about missing the cruise since the ship did not sail until 10pm...and was spending the following day in Aarhus.  We are now looking at another cruise that embarks from Copenhagen and DW quickly made it clear she would prefer to fly-in the day of the cruise.  Ironically, we always advise others to NEVER fly-in the day of any cruise :).

 

Hank

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Great topic :).  We often think of embarkation ports as just an extension of a much longer trip.  For example, next fall we are cruising out of Civitavecchia which is a port we have used dozens of times.  We will fly into Rome a week early, rent a car, and spend a week in Tuscany before driving over to the port the afternoon before our cruise.  If cruising out of Barcelona it is a great excuse to spend a few days (or weeks) exploring Spain.  We even do stuff with the US ports.  Taking a cruise out of Ft Lauderdale or Miami is a great excuse to spend a few days in Key West.  

 

As to places to "just board ships" it might surprise some folks that the one that quickly comes to mind is Copenhagen.  DW and I have spent quite a few days in this city (and even more time just exploring Denmark) and now find the city (and region) somewhat boring.  For our last cruise out of Copenhagen we simply flew in on an early morning arrival and grabbed a taxi directly to our ship.  We had no concern about missing the cruise since the ship did not sail until 10pm...and was spending the following day in Aarhus.  We are now looking at another cruise that embarks from Copenhagen and DW quickly made it clear she would prefer to fly-in the day of the cruise.  Ironically, we always advise others to NEVER fly-in the day of any cruise :).

 

Hank

 

What next, Hank? Are you going to tell us all about the great ship's excursion you took on a big bus?

[lenquixote66]

8 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

No accounting for tastes - I’ve lived in/near NYC all my life (other than Navy years), love it - and we make a point of going in several times a year.  Houston/Galveston is a whole other thing:  Galveston has nothing on Atlantic beaches and Houston strikes me as dismal - uninhabitable without A/C, prone to flooding, driving there makes LA look like CT back roads.  I am sure that area is what General Sherman (when military governor during Reconstruction) was considering when he said that if he owned Hell and Texas, he’d rent out Texas and live in Hell.

 

(We visit step-daughter there at least once a year - proving, I suppose, that blood is stronger than humidity.)

I should clarify that the last time I was there was 15 years ago prior to many of the hurricanes and when there stayed in Kemah. Galveston had wonderful restaurants as did Houston.

[Denise72]

I'm shocked- 18 replies and no one has mentioned New Orleans?

 

I'm not awesome enough to have cruised Europe, but I love land vacations in NOLA and a cruise is an excellent excuse to spend a few days there. It is so much more than Bourbon street. Plantations, Garden District, WW2 museum, aquarium, Old Ursuline Convent, Frenchman street... there is so much to do there.

[Aquahound]

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 9:56 AM, navybankerteacher said:

What embarkation ports/nearby cities do you feel are worth several days - and which do you just see as places to board ships?

 

My favorite embarkation port to date is Venice.  We stayed 3 nights there and I have fond memories of walking the alleys, finding little restaurants and drinking the house wine under candle light.  Plus, its the most beautiful sail-away I've ever seen. 

[Heidi13]

Favourite ports I have embarked/disembarked and are definitely worth additional days are Sydney, Hong Kong and London (Greenwich).

 

If you time a Sydney departure to coincide with "Vivid Sydney" the festival of lights it is spectacular, as is the daily evening laser show in Hong Kong.

[lab_love123]

I'm actually going to throw a curve ball here and say Baltimore. While only Carnival and Royal sail from there, Baltimore is just a good central location. If you have a few days, it's an easy day trip to either Philadelphia or Washington DC. Baltimore itself is often an overlooked city, but has some really nice attractions like the National Aquarium, Inner Harbor, and if it's baseball season - a game at Camden Yard.