After St. Maarten, what other Caribbean home ports would you like to see X use?

[NMTraveller]

I think that the Mexican ports have most of the infrastructure.  I would vote for Aruba.  Or the Mexican ports going down and back to the ABCs.  Grand Cayman would be good also.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I think that the Mexican ports have most of the infrastructure.  I would vote for Aruba.  Or the Mexican ports going down and back to the ABCs.  Grand Cayman would be good also.  

Open jaw flights to Europe are not more expensive than round-trip, but is that also the case in the Caribbean?

[AstoriaPreppy]

One thing that I appreciated about Celebrity’s choice of St. Maarten as a home port is the island’s gay-friendly and accepting culture. Leaving a ship for a shore excursion is one thing, but spending substantial vacation time in many Caribbean locales can be challenging for members of the LGBTQ community. 
 

NCL’s choices of home porting in Jamaica and the DR definitely discouraged us from considering those voyages. Getting a single bed in a resort pre-cruise would be the least of our worries in either of those locations.

 

On the contrary, St. Maarten is open, liberal and inclusive (in comparison to much of the Caribbean), which made it a no-brainer for us. I’d hope Celebrity takes that into account in considering other home ports outside of the US mainland. 

[NMTraveller]

11 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Open jaw flights to Europe are not more expensive than round-trip, but is that also the case in the Caribbean?

I think that it is similiar.  It can also depend upon the airline.  For Delta to Europe I always got a better deal by booking round trip.  Other airlines I could book a couple of one way trips.  To South America and back I was booked on different airlines different start and return ports with no penalty.

 

For the most part I prefer a cruise that starts and ends in a different port.  That is a plus for me.

 

For my Asia cruise I am flying to Singapore on one airline and flying back from Tokyo on a different airline.  There was no penalty there.  It was a long flight so I wanted the shortest flights there and back.  That happened to be on different airlines.

Edited April 24, 2021 by NMTraveller

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

I think that the Mexican ports have most of the infrastructure.  I would vote for Aruba.  Or the Mexican ports going down and back to the ABCs.  Grand Cayman would be good also.  

 

Grand Cayman is a tender port. Tender ports------Belize, Grand Cayman are not going to be home ports. 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Charles4515

[ECCruise]

2 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

 

Bunkering .... doesn’t necessarily happen at the home port, can take place anywhere along the route 

 

Provisioning ... i thought most things come by air from the US anyway, and supplies could also be loaded on at one of the port stops

Supplies all come by container ship world wide.  If you are having dinner on a ship in Asia, the food was sourced in the US.

[cruisestitch]

I have seen locally-sourced foods  served on board, cheese and meats from Portugal and fresh-caught fish come to mind, but it is rare, I’ll admit.

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Grand Cayman is a tender port. Tender ports------Belize, Grand Cayman are not going to be home ports. 

I could clean my own balcony window for the first day or two until they hit a hard dock.  I am sure that my room cleaner would take care of it for me.

 

On RCL the window cleaning machines would wake me up in the mornings on the last night back.  While not optimal they could always pick up supplies in the middle at a hard port.  It seems to me that the only hard requirement is that they hit a dock once during the cruise for supplies and fuel?  You have transatlantic cruises and antartic cruises that go on for days without hitting a dock.

 

I don't get the cruise has to start out at a hard dock because that's the way we used to do it.

Edited April 24, 2021 by NMTraveller

[TrulyBlonde]

30 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I have seen locally-sourced foods  served on board, cheese and meats from Portugal and fresh-caught fish come to mind, but it is rare, I’ll admit.

So true. I do not think the kangaroo and crocodile on our OZ cruise came from USA.

[WestLakeGirl]

In South America the fluid milk and the cream cheese were all local, not from the US.  But we digress.

 

Agreec that Grand Cayman would be incredibly difficult to use as a Home Port.  

[nocl]

Imagine having to load and off load all of the luggage as well as passengers by tenders.  Not very likely or practical.

[Jeremiah1212]

37 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I don't get the cruise has to start out at a hard dock because that's the way we used to do it.

What do you do when seas or winds don’t cooperate and you can’t tender on embarkation or departure day? Keep everyone on board an extra day and leave a few thousand people looking for a place to stay for the night? And the luggage transfer? 

[If only]

I would love to see them have cruises .begin & end in Barbados.  That way we are already in the Caribbean & could see different islands like Trinidad & Tobago as well as the ABC islands

Edited April 25, 2021 by If only

[cruisestitch]

17 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

What do you do when seas or winds don’t cooperate and you can’t tender on embarkation or departure day? Keep everyone on board an extra day and leave a few thousand people looking for a place to stay for the night? And the luggage transfer? 

I had that happened on a Royal Caribbean cruise once.  The ship was coming to Southampton from Spain and ran into terrible weather causing it to be some three days late. We who were catching the ship had to suddenly find three days accommodation while we were waiting for it to arrive!

 

some embarking passengers never received their notification of the delay and were stunned when they arrived at the pier on the scheduled departure date only to find no ship in sight to board!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Galapagos cruises all start with a Zodiac rubber boat transfer [passengers on one boat, luggage on another].  On our cruise the seas were just a little rough, and we all got soaking wet [luggage did too].  On an excursion cruise you chalk that up, but even given the nicer tenders on Celebrity's other ships I don't think many passengers would be so game.

[NMTraveller]

So if tender ports are out (I really would not mind going to the ship on a jet ski luggage and all), then it sounds like the ports left are St Maarten and Cozumel.  I still want a stop in Belize for a night or two to snorkel.  And a stop long enough for Chitzen Itza without rushing.  Those are the two places left on my list in the Carribean.

Edited April 25, 2021 by NMTraveller

[hcat]

9 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

What do you do when seas or winds don’t cooperate and you can’t tender on embarkation or departure day? Keep everyone on board an extra day and leave a few thousand people looking for a place to stay for the night? And the luggage transfer? 

GC  is well known for unpreductable weather and Seas...it's hit or miss.

In our last few cruises that stoooed there we just stayed on board.

Hotels are also expensive.....

[Charles4515]

8 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

So if tender ports are out (I really would not mind going to the ship on a jet ski luggage and all), then it sounds like the ports left are St Maarten and Cozumel.  I still want a stop in Belize for a night or two to snorkel.  And a stop long enough for Chitzen Itza without rushing.  Those are the two places left on my list in the Carribean.

 

If you want to go to Chichen Itza without rushing I suggest take a land vacation. That is how I did it and Coba. There are plenty of all inclusives along the Maya Rivera. I know someone who just came back and  has flown to Cancun twice in the last six months. She has booked another. If you do a cruise the trip there from Cozumel is going to be a long ride and you have to take the vomit ferry to the mainland. Belize you can snorkel from a one day 1`cruise stop. Snorkeling or diving is pretty much all that worth doing at the Belize port. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

If you want to go to Chichen Itza without rushing I suggest take a land vacation. That is how I did it and Coba. There are plenty of all inclusives along the Maya Rivera. I know someone who just came back and  has flown to Cancun twice in the last six months. She has booked another. If you do a cruise the trip there from Cozumel is going to be a long ride and you have to take the vomit ferry to the mainland. Belize you can snorkel from a one day 1`cruise stop. Snorkeling or diving is pretty much all that worth doing at the Belize port. 

I agree. While a visit to the ruins in Tulum is a worthwhile shore excursion, the far longer drive to Chichen Itza leaves little time to explore the site.

[rjrpar]

18 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

 

Bunkering .... doesn’t necessarily happen at the home port, can take place anywhere along the route 

 

Provisioning ... i thought most things come by air from the US anyway, and supplies could also be loaded on at one of the port stops

Belize is not going to work as a home port

[gerelmx]

19 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I think that the Mexican ports have most of the infrastructure.  I would vote for Aruba.  Or the Mexican ports going down and back to the ABCs.  Grand Cayman would be good also.  

Grand Cayman is a tender port, it will be very difficult

[gerelmx]

Cozumel is a port that cruise lines consider as an option

 

https://cruiseradio.net/with-u-s-restart-stalled-cruise-lines-considers-cozumel-as-home-port/

 

https://www.riviera-maya-news.com/cozumel-could-become-home-port-for-royal-caribbean/2021.html?cn-reloaded=1

[Sam.Seattle]

This is a fun conversation.  Here is a West coast option.  Fly into San Diego.  Cruise lines could use buses for a 1-hour and 40-minute-minute ride to Enesada Mexico.  Cruise Mexico, South America and Panama Canal!

 

Better yet... Contact your elected officials to support re-opening US Ports and saving US Jobs. 

[WestLakeGirl]

Caribbean home port?

[toutou]

Barbados, like many other cruise lines.