A little far out cruise question

[edinburgher]

9 hours ago, clo said:

OP mentioned:

such as Norway, Holland, Denmark. But Also Greece and Italy,

Indeed the OP did, but it wasn't the OP who made the remark that "There is so much to see in North America,South America and Latin America.".

 

see post #11.

[DarrenM]

If you are contemplating Royal Caribbean for a cruise, for your 25th, surely you would be better choosing Celebrity, Part of the group, as there will be less little creatures on board.

 

Cant imagine wanting to be around 1000s of little ones on my 25th anniversary.

[edinburgher]

17 hours ago, clo said:

incerely curious about what "Latin America" countries came with warnings about personal safety. We've visited a whole bunch of them and never had qualms. I do understand now that Caracas isn't the safest however.

I don't know which ones you  were happy to wander around in as you didn't say., but there are  so many of them considered to have a risk to personal safety, despite the geographical boundaries being blurred between Central, Latin and S America that in some ports there are warnings posted at dockside.

 

To name but a small number, although there are a number of others,

 

Colon, Belize, Honduras, Haiti, Ecuador, several Mexican ports.

 

Maybe other members would add their own?

 

If you are based in the USA, check your State Dept website for safety info.

 

 

Edited August 12 by edinburgher

[lenquixote66]

On 8/11/2024 at 10:28 AM, edinburgher said:

Hmmm Latin America only  if it is considered safe to leave the ship as some port calls came with strong personal safety recommendations, and despite having travelled many countries of the world and mostly been independent sightseeing, we really didn't enjoy these port calls and felt quite uncomfortable and on edge at all times when off the ship, as we also  did in both Mobay and Ocho Rios.

 

And I personally think that that Asia (which we love and have visited a good number of times) and Europe would be worth visiting even if only one time each. Are you not even the tiniest bit curious?

 

 

No

[clo]

45 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

And I personally think that that Asia (which we love and have visited a good number of times) and Europe would be worth visiting even if only one time each. Are you not even the tiniest bit curious?

 

I would go to Asia and Europe long, long before Latin America. Or even the Caribbean or Alaska.

[edinburgher]

19 hours ago, clo said:

would go to Asia and Europe long, long before Latin America. Or even the Caribbean or Alaska.

clo, the quote above was mine, not lenquixote66 whose reply to that was a brief "no"

 

We never again will step foot on any ship sailing to an number of Central/Latin American/Caribbean  countries due to the high personal risk in so many ports.

MoBay and Ocho Rios aside, disappointimngly, on St Lucia we were exploring Castries on foot, when two local ladies approached us and told us that we should not be in the area we were in as "it wasn't a good place for tourists to be", and they kindly walked with us a couple of blocks "to the safe tourist area" closer to the market where there was a police presence.

 

S. America we very much enjoyed first time around so booked another a couple of years later despite the horrendously long journeys for us. Only in Rio (3 days) and Lima (2 days) were there safety issues and we got around those by booking private tours.

 

Did you not enjoy Alaska?  Again we visited twice, admittedly only 4 weeks total, but I don't think we were disappointed on any one of these days ashore and had no concerns whatsoever about personal safely.

Edited August 13 by edinburgher

[edinburgher]

19 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

On 8/11/2024 at 3:28 PM, edinburgher said:

Are you not even the tiniest bit curious?

 

 

No

each to his/her own, and fair to say that not everyone  has an interest in other countries, exploring their culture, history, language, cuisine etc, For us, exploring many countries of the world has been a great joy, but we like to be safe too..

[lenquixote66]

20 hours ago, clo said:

I would go to Asia and Europe long, long before Latin America. Or even the Caribbean or Alaska.

We all have our travel preferences My wife and I have been to Canada 17 times .That was a passion for us

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, edinburgher said:

each to his/her own, and fair to say that not everyone  has an interest in other countries, exploring their culture, history, language, cuisine etc, For us, exploring many countries of the world has been a great joy, but we like to be safe too..

Safety is a major factor in the feelings of many travelers in todays times.

[clo]

9 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

We all have our travel preferences My wife and I have been to Canada 17 times .That was a passion for us

Canada and the US are about the same size so I can see that.

[clo]

1 hour ago, edinburgher said:

each to his/her own, and fair to say that not everyone  has an interest in other countries, exploring their culture, history, language, cuisine etc, For us, exploring many countries of the world has been a great joy, but we like to be safe too..

We used to have an apt. In Rio and never felt unsafe but I have long had a personal motto of 'don't be where you shouldn't be when you shouldn't be there.'

[MBP&O2/O]

We used to visit Ecuador on a frequent basis and it was horrendous. We had the lads on security patrol, on deck, 24/7 !

There was one unlocked door into the accommodation  and that was guarded.

Both hawse pipes were sealed so no one could climb up the walked out anchor cable.

It was not uncommon for mooring lines to be stolen ... and you know how big they are!

Not a nice place to go ashore.🤪

 

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, clo said:

Canada and the US are about the same size so I can see that.

We have toured 29 US states.We pick a state ,let me say Washington or Nevada and would drive to see as many cities as possible.We have been doing this for 55 years.We usually choose a state in which we have friends or relatives.As an example 1993 to Washington .We have family in Seattle.

[SelectSys]

On 8/12/2024 at 12:22 PM, clo said:

I would go to Asia and Europe long, long before Latin America. Or even the Caribbean or Alaska

I personally wouldn't be so dismissive of Latin American which includes everything south of the US border.  To me, Latin America provides some of the best travel experiences out there and I highly recommend visiting most of the countries there - Venezuela, Nicaragua and probably Guatemala are out for me for a variety of reasons.

 

While I don't know all of Latin America, I would put the countries of Latin America that I do know above the Caribbean.  Obviously Alaska has beautiful unspoiled scenery, but so does the southern parts of Argentina and Chile with the Andes mountains and many glaciers.  This says nothing about the Amazon regions of Peru and Brazil.  

 

Another benefit of Latin America is that it mostly does not really suffer from the issues of "over tourism" (my anecdotal experience) except in some limited places like popular beach resorts in Mexico which are really the least interesting part of the country in my mind.  This is in contrast to Europe where the crowds even during shoulder seasons can be completely insane.  I was in the Louvre in early spring this year and took a picture of the people fighting to see the "Mona Lisa" - what a joy that must be for the first time visitor trying to see all the highlights for their Instagram account.

 

On the security front, a young women tried to steal my phone in a store on my last trip to Buenos Aires.  I also noted a lot more people begging in tourist areas for money.  This is sad to me as Argentina is one of my all time favorite places to visit.  Hopefully the economic situation will improve in Argentina and people will be scrambling less to live.  Of course it's hard to undo decades of governmental mismanagement overnight.

[clo]

15 minutes ago, SelectSys said:

I personally wouldn't be so dismissive of Latin American which includes everything south of the US border.  To me, Latin America provides some of the best travel experiences out there and I highly recommend visiting most of the countries there - Venezuela, Nicaragua and probably Guatemala are out for me for a variety of reasons.

 

While I don't know all of Latin America, I would put the countries of Latin America that I do know above the Caribbean.  Obviously Alaska has beautiful unspoiled scenery, but so does the southern parts of Argentina and Chile with the Andes mountains and many glaciers.  This says nothing about the Amazon regions of Peru and Brazil.  

 

Another benefit of Latin America is that it mostly does not really suffer from the issues of "over tourism" (my anecdotal experience) except in some limited places like popular beach resorts in Mexico which are really the least interesting part of the country in my mind.  This is in contrast to Europe where the crowds even during shoulder seasons can be completely insane.  I was in the Louvre in early spring this year and took a picture of the people fighting to see the "Mona Lisa" - what a joy that must be for the first time visitor trying to see all the highlights for their Instagram account.

 

On the security front, a young women tried to steal my phone in a store on my last trip to Buenos Aires.  I also noted a lot more people begging in tourist areas for money.  This is sad to me as Argentina is one of my all time favorite places to visit.  Hopefully the economic situation will improve in Argentina and people will be scrambling less to live.  Of course it's hard to undo decades of governmental mismanagement overnight.

Excuse my ignorance. Until I checked just now I never knew that South America is considered part of Latin America. Mea culpa. And we adore South America and have been to a lot of the countries. Re Argentina, I believe it was someone on CC who said their economy has improved greatly. No more incredible $30 meals for two tourists but good for them.

[SelectSys]

8 minutes ago, clo said:

Excuse my ignorance. Until I checked just now I never knew that South America is considered part of Latin America.

No worries.  It's no big deal. 

 

Even without South America, I would find Mexico (part of North America) and Central America a more compelling travel experience than the Caribbean or Alaska. Of course my perspective is simply my own and others may disagree based on their personal preferences.

 

13 minutes ago, clo said:

I believe it was someone on CC who said their economy has improved greatly.

Sadly not as of yet.  Argentina has many, many years of mismanagement stemming from policies that started - depending on you who you ask -  in the 1930's or the 40's under the famous Juan Peron.  Who knows what will eventually turn the tide as so many people have a vested interest in keeping the current system alive?

 

[Hlitner]

On 8/12/2024 at 3:22 PM, clo said:

I would go to Asia and Europe long, long before Latin America. Or even the Caribbean or Alaska.

While we do favor Asia, Europe, Oceania and NZ, we still like to get to the Caribbean once a year (love the waters) and live in Latin America (Mexico) part of the year.  While South America is not my favorite neck of the woods, we really enjoyed being in Rio for the big days of Carnival.  Spending one of the big nights at the Sambadrome ranks up there as one the more amazing experiences.  Alaska is also a fascinating State, especially if one gets lucky with the weather.

 

Hank

[clo]

2 hours ago, SelectSys said:

Sadly not as of yet.  Argentina has many, many years of mismanagement stemming from policies that started - depending on you who you ask -  in the 1930's or the 40's under the famous Juan Peron.  Who knows what will eventually turn the tide as so many people have a vested interest in keeping the current system alive?

 

That is so sad. We loved BA...and I'd never known its Italian roots. Had some great food. And super nice people.

[edinburgher]

23 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

We all have our travel preferences My wife and I have been to Canada 17 times .That was a passion for us

17 times visiting any one country would be way too many times for us, but all the places you visited must have been different enough from each other and different enough from your home town to make every trip interesting.. 

We do like Canada and have visited a number of times including to Vancouver, Quebec and Niagara/Toronto,  the latter would you believe as a city break all the way from Edinburgh.  Also had a little peek at part of the Yukon on our White Horse rail/road trip out of Skagway and had a number of port calls, mostly in the Maritimes and Saguenay on a Canada/New England itinerary, so we really only scratched the surface, but distance and jetlag apart, no way would we visit  17 times!

 

17 hours ago, SelectSys said:

but so does the southern parts of Argentina and Chile with the Andes mountains and many glaciers

and volcanoes and waterfalls and deserts and.....Agree on that scenery. We  visited and loved those areas and the Chilean Fjords were beautiful, reminding us of Alaska although there were also differences .

Edited August 14 by edinburgher

[SelectSys]

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

17 times visiting any one country would be way too many times for us... different enough from your home town to make every trip interesting,,, We do like Canada ... but distance and jetlag apart, no way would we visit 17 times!

I think that access to another country, as you stated makes a big difference to people.  For people in Scotland, a trip to Spain in the winter is a lot different than going to the west coast of Canada for example.  I'll bet many people go to Spain from Scotland every year to escape the worst of winter and the their annual trip isn't all that interesting although it would be pleasant.

 

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

and volcanoes and waterfalls and deserts and.....Agree on that scenery. We  visited and loved those areas and the Chilean Fjords were beautiful, reminding us of Alaska although there were also differences .

I am glad you enjoyed your time in Chile.  I first went therefor the summer skiing and really fell in love with the place.  It really has a diverse climate and the scenery is amazing.  In part, it reminds me of California without lots of people.

[MacMadame]

7 hours ago, edinburgher said:

17 times visiting any one country would be way too many times for us

It depends on how big and how varied the country is. The US has several regions that are very different from each other. And even in those regions, there can be a lot of variety. Like the East Coast South is very different from the Gulf Coast South. i.e., Georgia vs. Louisiana.

 

I've been to three of the Canadian provinces and they were all very different from each other. And even within them, Vancouver was very different from Penticton.

 

Both of these countries are physically bigger than all of Europe. I wouldn't visit Germany 17 times but I would visit Europe 17 times as long as it was a different country each time.

[clo]

7 hours ago, SelectSys said:

I think that access to another country, as you stated makes a big difference to people.  For people in Scotland, a trip to Spain in the winter is a lot different than going to the west coast of Canada for example.  I'll bet many people go to Spain from Scotland every year to escape the worst of winter and the their annual trip isn't all that interesting although it would be pleasant.

 

Quite a few years ago we did a partially escorted trip to Costa del Sol. Never again. It was mobbed, as you said, with European from north of there wanting to get away from the winter. It was a complete struggle to get any Spanish food. At the end of the escorted part we rented a car and visited a bunch of places, still in somewhat Southern Spain but not there. What a relief. Now understand, I don't blame them 🙂

[edinburgher]

20 hours ago, SelectSys said:

I'll bet many people go to Spain from Scotland every year to escape the worst of winter and the their annual trip isn't all that interesting although it would be pleasant.

They definitely do go there, also to the Canary Islands to escape winter weather here, and many have holiday homes there, as do residents of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium  Scandinavian countries and others  They are the European equivalent version of American "snowbirds".😀

[edinburgher]

12 hours ago, clo said:

It was a complete struggle to get any Spanish food.

You went to the wrong area.  Neighbouring Andalucia would, I think, have suited you much better as it is more authentically  "Spanish".

 

Next time try Seville, Jerez, Cordoba, Granada and others in Andalucia, and experience the difference.

[edinburgher]

On 8/13/2024 at 6:14 PM, MBP&O2/O said:

We used to visit Ecuador on a frequent basis and it was horrendous.

rightly or wrongly, cruise ships used to have port calls in both Manta and Guayaquil, but I think I read somewhere that drug and other organised crime gangs have made Guayaquil a bit of a no go town.