stay on your ship

[longislandgirl]

I visited martinique on the carnival legend last week...I have to say that I am sorry if I offend anyone, but I did not like port at all and would never return! my husband and I found all the people we dealt with really nasty and could not be bothered with you if you didn't speak/read french! I had a book with some french so I could try to communicate, but noone wanted to give you a chance. the ferry on the orange boat was ok, but we paid $12 roundtrip, and they don't like to accept American money, so I suggest you get some euros if you plan on going there.we found a beach that would allow tourists from the cruiseships to enter, and although it was my best sun of the trip, and the water was beautiful, I would not recommend this port.sorry, this is just my opinion! I am all for going to another country and being prepared, but next time I will know better...Good Luck!

[ming]

No need to feel sorry, LIG, many have had the same experience on French islands.

 

Cruisers that visit French islands for the first time should choose an escorted tour, especially if you're not fluent in french.

 

Martinique is a beautiful island. It would be ashame to miss it.

 

A guided tour, even by taxi and little shopping unless escourted by your tour guide may give a different experience.

 

Sometime first impressions are misleading. Non-french speaking solo tourists often are intimidated on French islands.

 

Touring with a local makes all the difference.

 

Happy crusing, my friend. :)

[gizmo]

Sorry you didn't like Martinque. It is a beautiful island. I have been there 3 times and enjoyed each visit.

 

Somtimes things just don't go right. I did have a tour once that I thought was horrible. (Ship sponsered tour) The tour was bad not the island.

 

I must admitt I have never shopped there. I have heard complaints but I spent my 3 visits doing other things.

[celticd1]

We were also on the Legend last week, and we really enjoyed our time on the island. It is beautiful! I wish we would've had more time to see it. I agree with Ming, a guided tour can make all the difference in a port like this. Having read about language and currency problems that others have had on Martinique we decided to book a ships tour (something we almost never do). I'm very glad we did. We did not run into any rude or uncooperative people (other than fellow passengers :rolleyes: )

 

Don't stay on the ship! You will miss a wonderful island.

[emporess]

What ship tours did you all do?

Robin

[celticd1]

We did the St. Pierre Island Tour through Carnival. A bus drove us through the rainforest on the Trace road. It included a stop at a rum factory (with free samples) and a stop in St. Pierre at the volcano museum. The drive was beautiful, the only complaint we had was that we couldn't stop along the road for pictures (very narrow, winding road). Our guide was very informative and knowlegdeable about the island even though she is from Germany. We enjoyed this tour very much.

[emporess]

That is the tour I was thinking about booking. Thank you for your advice!

[mared1]

I visited martinique on the carnival legend last week...I have to say that I am sorry if I offend anyone, but I did not like port at all and would never return! my husband and I found all the people we dealt with really nasty and could not be bothered with you if you didn't speak/read french! I had a book with some french so I could try to communicate, but noone wanted to give you a chance. the ferry on the orange boat was ok, but we paid $12 roundtrip, and they don't like to accept American money, so I suggest you get some euros if you plan on going there.we found a beach that would allow tourists from the cruiseships to enter, and although it was my best sun of the trip, and the water was beautiful, I would not recommend this port.sorry, this is just my opinion! I am all for going to another country and being prepared, but next time I will know better...Good Luck!

 

Everyone has a different opinion and experience - we liked Martinique and found the people to be very friendly. We did not have any trouble communicating with the people even though we know very little French.

The country is very beautiful. I would encourage people to get off the ship and explore.

[thatbloominplace]

it would be a shame to miss this island. we have walked around the town and shopped but didn't care for it. nothing really special in terms of merchandise..did not find the people to be rude or anti-american. the real treat is to get out of the port area and sae the beauty. the ship's tours are ok that go to st. pierre. however, the real beauty is beyond there.. rainforests, beautiful towns, and waterfalls. you would need to hire a cab and driver for the day to do this. what i usually do is get a map ahead of time and draw in the route i want to take and then find an english speaking driver and set a price. please don't judge this island by the experience of some in the commercial area.

[Coolcruise02]

We loved the island and thought it was beautiful, but we also found the people to be very unfriendly! We didn't let that stop us, we had a good time anyway. :)

[bluejeans]

We will be on the Legend the 17th of this month, and was wanting to do a beach day here also, do you remember which beach you went to? And cost for the cab? Thank you.

[hevuk]

After reading the negitive coments about Martinique on these boards it was with some trepidation that i left The Legend when we docked there march 6th.There were no tours that i fancied so i figured i would just explore Fort De France,then take the ferry over to Port De Bout and spend the rest of my time on the beach.I never made it out of Fort De France.

I cannot stress how much i loved that place.It was by far my favourite port of the 3 we stopped at.

With the exception of one very rude taxi driver,everyone i met went out of their way to be friendly and helpful.Even though i had an excellent map i got lost twice{my fault entirly as i love to go wandering through back streets}and despite having only a little schoolgirl french anyone i asked tried real hard to find out where i wanted to go and set me back on the right track.

My main problem was not having enough time to see all that i wanted to.

I know some people may have real gripes and this is only my opinion but i felt i had to report as i found.

If you get the chance please do not stay on the ship ,go and explore this wonderful place.:) :) :)

[pomliane]

Hello,

I'm really pleased that you loved the island. i hope next time you'll stay longer. You'll see all the beauty of Martinique.

You're welcome here

;)

['The Bear']

Hevuk ---- I couldn't agree with you more !!

 

I was on the Legend that same trip, and after all the negative reviews (pre-cruise) I was worried that this day would be a bust --- How WRONG !!

 

We found the taxi drivers, as well as the vendors, to be very friendly.

 

We also spent the short time we had in port at Fort de France, and we were impressed by the cleanliness of the town.

 

I was also not expecting this island to be as developed as I found it to be --- what a pleasant surprise !!

 

I will definitely visit this 'Taste of France' in the Carribean, again !!

 

DW & I live in eastern Canada, so we could converse with the resident Creoles in our own French patois, they seemed to understand us, and were certainly amused at some of our colloquialisms; perhaps this made a difference in the friendliness that we encountered !!

 

All I know is that I felt perfectly at ease visiting this beautiful, intriguing island. :)

[Pointyhead]

We did this same cruise February of 05. We took the bus tour of the island that also stopped in at the DePaz rum factory. It was a great tour, and the island is beautiful. We drove for over an hour in the rain forrest in the middle of the island. I highly recommend it highly.

[anniversary cruiser]

I am sure Martinique is a beautiful island -it certainly is very picturesque. We visited the Distillery through a Princess tour, the young girl who did all the commentary was a student and spent most of the time reading from a booklet/sheet of paper, she was obviously inexperienced, don't get me wrong she was a very pleasant girl but not what we would expect from a Princess tour. We spent about 20 minutes at the distillery and came across a very unpleasant young lady in the shop there, the distillery itself though was worth seeing, very interesting, we were on the couch for a very long time and given the choice again I perhaps would opt for a beach visit.

[Walterswife]

In my opinion, this island gets a bad rap. The cruise lines tell you that the people are not friendly and you won't like the island. We took an excursion (arranged in advance over the internet). We loved the island and the people and would return to Martinique in a heartbeat. Please don't believe all of the negative things you might hear. Keep an open mind and experience the island for yourself.

[Polar Bear]

We just returned from the Sea Princess ...visited this island once before I was not impressed..this time was a little better.....but do not take the tour on the ship...we did the 4x4 tour....not worth it....also ran into the same unpleasant lady in the distillery....we had friends who took a cab and got the almost the same tour for half the price... and the cab driver spoke pretty good english.

[loge23]

..with a French accent!

We took a ferry over to a all-inclusive French resort. We had no idea where we were going - we just walked into it.

We were greeted warmly by a french-speaking activities director who had little problem setting us up with beachside chairs and tickets for drinks.

We had a great day! They converted our $'s and everyone was quite accommodating.

[waynebrian]

Martinique has been my favorite island port so far. The city is terrific, the people are wonderful, it is just a great place. We made the effort to speak some French as we do any place we go where English isn't the first language. It goes a long way. It is also helpful to note local custom...something as simple as saying bonjour when entering a shop can make the difference. We'd go back in a second if we could find a ship calling in there.

[Kokamo]

We visted with the Legend in Jan 2003. We got off the ship and hired a taxi. The drivers name was Gabriel. What a wonderful tour that was. The island was truly beautiful. Much better that Barbados or St. Marteen.

 

It appears that it's not on Carnival's schedule any more. A shame.

[bardenl]

We went to Martinique on EasyCruise1 in March. My husband and I agreed with a cab driver on $60 for a 2.5 hour tour including the church modeled on Sacre Coeur, the botanical garden, a drive through the rainforest, the volcano museum, the rum distillery (where we chose to take in the scenery and walk around a bit, but not tour the plant) and St. Pierre with the volcano-destroyed church. The guide was pleasant, and we saw what we wanted at an easy pace, not needing to wait for others or to hurry when we found something interesting. Right at the beginning at our request, he stopped at a bank because we wanted to change $ to euros.

 

Unlike the other islands on our cruise, Martinique has close to a European standard of living, so you don't get the bargains you may find other places, and cab fares are higher. On the other hand, the botanical garden was by far the best maintained we had seen in the islands, just beautiful, with wonderful views of the mountains and jungle, and we felt more comfortable walking around town.

 

In the evening as we were heading out for dinner with our son, we encountered four friends who were about to decide to eat on the ship. It turned out they were from Martinique, and our son used his fluent French to convince them not to. We all went off together in 2 cabs to Au 4 Epices (At Four Spices), for a memorable meal. It was in a traditional Creole house, and we overlooked a private garden. The food was delicious and very reasonable. Ask for the Four Spices restaurant, and a cabbie will know where to take you.

[PennyAgain]

I stayed there for a full month many years ago and have returned on cruise ship port visits. Yes, I do speak some French, but I find it to be a nice place to visit even if I don't speak at all.

 

I love to go to a cafe' and buy a fine coffee and something sweet. Just don't ask me how to operate the telephones!

[burrma]

In my opinion, this island gets a bad rap. The cruise lines tell you that the people are not friendly and you won't like the island. We took an excursion (arranged in advance over the internet). We loved the island and the people and would return to Martinique in a heartbeat. Please don't believe all of the negative things you might hear. Keep an open mind and experience the island for yourself.

 

CanN you tell me where you fopund this tour that you booked on the net? Thanks