Question about cruisecal ships in port

[mountainmare]

First I have to thank the people on these boards for letting me know about cruisecal.

 

I'm looking at either the Galaxy for the Carribbean or the HAL Ryndam for Mexico next winter.

Looking through cruisecal for the sail dates I noticed that on one of the saildates the ports were really mobbed with big ships, but on others the ports weren't so bad.

I know that nothing is absolutely perfect, but I am tempted the pick a date that as of this moment looks to be better crowd wise. Am I just being foolish? Is it normal for the port schedules on cruisecal to change and add alot of large ships later?

On one of the Ryndam sailing it looks like Cabo would be like playing tender bumper boats and I'm so fond of that port that I would not want to ruin my memories. On one of the Galaxy sailings there are 4 or five large ships at St Maarten--I've been to Cozamel when it is wall to wall people, I would like to avoid a similar experience.

[NanD]

Don't think you're being foolish at all, mountainmare. If not having a lot of company in port is a priority, it only makes sense to use available info to figure out how to avoid crowds. Nothing is perfect, so there is a chance of schedule changes but, chances are, what you see now is fairly solid.

Nan

[fllady]

I agree, if time is not a concern, I would also book the crusies with the least ships in port on the same day. Most ports are a nightmare when that happens.

[chasetf]

The standard routes like Caribbean (East and West), Mexico Rivera, and Alaska will always be crowded. It is just a matter of will it be three or seven ships in port that day. The other disadvantage to these routes is the ports they visit are small to begin with. When three ships show up to an Alaskan port they are probably doubling the local population.

Some ports (major cities with lots of attractions) can handle the traffic and you do not feel crowded. So the bottom line is stay with the popular routes, and then expects crowds. Off the beaten path routes (South America / Australia / Tahiti / Europe for example) you usually will be the only ship in port (or like Europe, then can handle it)

[mountainmare]

Thanks everyone, I think I'll go for the cruisecal stats w/ the fewest ships as of now.

 

chasetf--this is why we now avoid the Eastern/ Western routes. I love the blue water but it seems that every year there are bigger and bigger ships so the poor ports are swamped with crowds of people. To do this area we may look into the smaller ships (if we can afford it) that go to the smaller islands.

 

We wanted to do the Jan sailing of the Galaxy, but there are several megaships that seem to be on the same time frame so we'll postpone until later in the year when Tortola and St Maartin will be less busy with cruise ships. San Juan looks to be busy all the time so will look into the air situation too.

[bs_kc]

I'm the webmaster of CruiseCal.com.

 

I do update the site frequently. There are several ways to think about the crowding situations. If there appears to be overcrowding far in advance, the lines will move ships around. I have also seen the cruise lines change their schedules the week of the cruise to relieve congestion. There are other factors such as the ports themselves may have input if there is severe congestion. Certain times of the year are always going to be crowded in the Caribbean!

 

I'm glad you found the site useful!

 

Brian