Ports where once is enough

[exlondoner]

As we've had such fun recognising ports in another thread, I thought we might enjoy considering this. We have all been to ports on Cunard which we've enjoyed, but have no desire to revisit, or which we loathed the first time. Perhaps we could have fun with those. In the Marmorean fashion, perhaps we should stick to one per person per day to give a chance for discussion and mitigation. And this is meant to be frivolous, so don't use it as a reason to moan about Cunard too much. A picture of the ship in port is always nice if you have one.

 

i shall start with Isafjordur, where it was cold, wet, Sunday, and they weren't expecting us. So it may have not been at its best.

[Mudhen]

19 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

As we've had such fun recognising ports in another thread, I thought we might enjoy considering this. We have all been to ports on Cunard which we've enjoyed, but have no desire to revisit, or which we loathed the first time. Perhaps we could have fun with those. In the Marmorean fashion, perhaps we should stick to one per person per day to give a chance for discussion and mitigation. And this is meant to be frivolous, so don't use it as a reason to moan about Cunard too much. A picture of the ship in port is always nice if you have one.

 

i shall start with Isafjordur, where it was cold, wet, Sunday, and they weren't expecting us. So it may have not been at its best.

We must've been there on the same day, although I wasn't on a Cunard ship! Cold, rain and it very well could've been on a Sunday! 

[Rotterdam]

1.Jamaica

2.Bahamas

3.Dominican Republic

 

On any line ...after first visiting in the 1970's and a few times over the years since these 3 ports are the worst sanitation , people harassing, food & drugs abuse.  I stay on the ship

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by Rotterdam
Addition

[Host Hattie]

We were lucky in Isafjordur, it was cold but there was some sun and the light was amazing.

I can't think of anywhere for the moment but I'll have a think. Even if the ports themselves aren't that inspiring, there's usually somewhere worth visiting close by.

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

We were lucky in Isafjordur, it was cold but there was some sun and the light was amazing.

I can't think of anywhere for the moment but I'll have a think. Even if the ports themselves aren't that inspiring, there's usually somewhere worth visiting close by.

 

Where did you go from Isafjordur?

[Host Hattie]

We didn't, we did tours in our other Iceland ports but we had a stroll around the town and Mr HH tried some beer - always a good port when there's proper beer available close to the tender drop off !

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

We didn't, we did tours in our other Iceland ports but we had a stroll around the town and Mr HH tried some beer - always a good port when there's proper beer available close to the tender drop off !

 

Yes, I remember seeing the pictures of Mr. HH's beer in the treasure hunt thread. I bet they didn't have many snazzy cocktails for you.

 

We were only there by accident because  Grundafjordur (spelling may be slightly wrong), where QE2 was supposed to be making a maiden call, had failed, despite more than a year's notice, to organise a tug for QE2. So they clearly weren't expecting us.

[newjoisey]

I cant say there is any port that i would not return to.......if i had to nit-pick i guess Venice because it smelled ....well like a swamp and Dubrovnik ? right after seeing the horror movie hostel 2  

[carlmm]

40 minutes ago, Rotterdam said:

1.Jamaica

2.Bahamas

3.Dominican Republic

 

On any line ...after first visiting in the 1970's and a few times over the years since these 3 ports are the worst sanitation , people harassing, food & drugs abuse.  I stay on the ship

 

For the sake of "discussion and mitigation":

 

When we visited Falmouth, Jamaica, quite a number of people showed the same sentiment and spread a lot of fear and horror stories.

Fortunately I had a good time, first on an excursion, than wandering on my own, prepared with a self-guided tour and information about the historic sites. At a church I was approached by a Jamaican who offered to tour me a little bit aroud. This way I got to see even some parts of the town I would not have ventured in on my own.

 

As I had similiar experiences in other places, now, when people tell me "this place is a dumb", I am even more open to see the positive in each port.

 

[Host Hattie]

Venice & Dubrovnik - 2 of my favourite cities in the world ...

[MCC retired]

Nassau Bahamas 

[Windsurfboy]

Southampton 

[exlondoner]

19 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Venice & Dubrovnik - 2 of my favourite cities in the world ...

 

 I don't think you see the best of Dubrovnik on a cruise. People say the same about Venice, but I find that as soon as you are away from St. Mark's Square, you can wander peacefully without bumping into crowds and have a nice time. In Dubrovnik that was much harder, and I encountered two individuals, one in a shop, another in a bank, who had clearly been trained under the Soviet Union's 'Despise the Customers' Scheme.

[exlondoner]

15 minutes ago, MCC retired said:

Nassau Bahamas 

 

Because?

[MCC retired]

5 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

Because?

 Nassau Bahamas 

 

Perhaps because I have been there too many times or because it is too Americanized that it doesn't feel like a unique Island experience. 

[exlondoner]

13 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Southampton 

 

I like Southampton very much as a nearby town, adore it on sailing day, and dread it on the day the voyage ends.

[Host Hattie]

That first sight of the ship in Southampton still gets me excited.

[bluemarble]

The first port that came to my mind is also Nassau, Bahamas although we didn't go there on a Cunard cruise. We did an excursion to the Atlantis resort at Paradise Island there. Interesting enough, but it felt like we were in Las Vegas. Didn't really have to go to the Caribbean for that kind of experience. We probably would have done better with a different excursion there.

[bluemarble]

25 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

That first sight of the ship in Southampton still gets me excited.

 

Or that first sight of the ship in New York as the case may be. OK, I'm drifting and exceeding my quota for the day. New York is definitely not a port where once is enough.

[BigMac1953]

Managed 2 hours in Casablanca. What a dump!

 

My daughter, (25 at the time), was groped several times in the souk. Luckily neither she nor my wife told me at the time or there would have been a serious diplomatic incident involving these stinking low-lifes.

 

Apart from those on official trips, everyone else couldn't get back on board quick enough.

[Colin_Cameron]

3 hours ago, Rotterdam said:

1.Jamaica

Definitely number 1 on my list too. Although it wasn’t a Cunard trip.

 

Montego Bay, AKA Rip-Off Central. I’ve never known anywhere like it for vendors or taxi drivers who really wouldn’t take No for an answer.

[jimdee3636]

These may or may not be ports Cunard goes to, but I vote for:

1. Tangier

2. Cabo San Lucas

3. Cozumel

4. Key West (reluctantly added because it was fun the first time, but the second and third times were dismal)

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, BigMac1953 said:

Managed 2 hours in Casablanca. What a dump!

 

My daughter, (25 at the time), was groped several times in the souk. Luckily neither she nor my wife told me at the time or there would have been a serious diplomatic incident involving these stinking low-lifes.

 

Apart from those on official trips, everyone else couldn't get back on board quick enough.

 

Sounds ghastly.

 

But, of all the places in the world, Casablanca is the one I most want to conform to the picture Hollywood has painted. So, I am shocked, shocked...😀

[sfred]

I honestly can't object to any port I've been to with Cunard.  Even if a port was uninspiring on the day, the alternative to just get back on the ship and enjoy a pint (or two or three) in the Golden Lion or by the pool is an experience I will always savour and fondly remember.

 

If pressed, though, I'd be tempted to put my home port of Brisbane on the list only due to the poor facilities at the Grain terminal. Being an industrial pier, it is better suited for bulk cargo handling than passengers, and it is inconveniently located for the city or the airport.  It certainly does not portray southeast Queensland in an attractive image.

 

 

  Larger ships like all three Cunard Queens cannot use the better facility further upriver at Portside Hamilton due to limitations getting under the Gateway bridge and the width of the Brisbane river at Portside for turning.  

 

Brisbane's brand new cruise terminal at Luggage Point will be finished soon, and will greatly improve the passenger experience, but unfortunately will not have any ships to make use of it for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

[Colin_Cameron]

I’m sure there are some places where you have to stick to the busy, tourist infested spots to be safe.

 

And then there are others where the opposite is true. As as my wife puts it when (she thinks) I’ve got us lost again, “At least anyone looking to target tourists is never going to find us here.”

 

She’s said that in Casablanca, Tangiers, Cairo, Alexandria, Guatemala, ...

 

I’m sure if we’d ever made it out of the centre of Montego Bay the same would have been true. We just never managed to escape.