How Many Ships Are Too Many In Port ??

[c5chaps]

:eek:I just discovered that there will be 5 other ships in port(St. Thomas) on Dec.26th plus the glory!!! and 6 other ships in port (St.Maarten) on the 27th and the glory!! should i be worried about crowds? is that a lot of ships to be in port at the same time???

 

http://www.cruisecal.com

[BND]

We were on Glory a couple of weeks ago and in St Martin there were 7 ships in. 4 at the pier and 3 tendering. Our taxi driver told us on our way to Divi Little Bay that the first two days of that week there had been one ship one day and two the next and that their season was starting. We also heard from a couple of locals that 6 is the most they've ever seen in port before. To be honest, I didn't feel like it made a huge difference. The stores were all a little busy, but there are so many of them and the island is big enough that the only problem I heard of was traffic in the afternoon getting back to the ship. We were in St Thomas with only one other ship and there is also plenty of shopping and things to do there so people were pretty spread out. Traffic was interesting getting downtown to shop, but that was the only crowds. Not much you can do about it except give yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship at the end of the day.

[yst347]

That is alot of ships in both ports but why worry about it? It won't do anything for you. I would suggest you plan any excursions well ahead of your sailing so you are in place and ready to do what you want. Otherwise, just go with the flow and enjoy your cruise.

[kdunn]

We were in St maartin a couple weeks ago and their were 6 ships and our ship. But it didn't seem crowed at all.

Kim

[cruisinbuddy]

I was in Cozumel in '03 and there were 9 other ships there

and it didn't feel crowded. Now maybe that's because 6 had

to tender in. But when it came to shopping no problem.

[yst347]

From a tourist perspective crowded shopping isn't really the issue. It is dolphin swims, stingray swims, snorkel charters, etc. On most islands there isn't the excess capacity to handle the once a week crush of so many ships on the same day.

 

If you plan on taking an excursion on a busy port call and you know how to make arrangements on your own, don't wait, book it now. If you just want to stroll around and do some shopping, dine and have a drink you shouldn't really be concerned. You cannot have any effect on the crowd so just go with the flow and have a good time.

[chasetf]

:eek:I just discovered that there will be 5 other ships in port(St. Thomas) on Dec.26th plus the glory!!! and 6 other ships in port (St.Maarten) on the 27th and the glory!! should i be worried about crowds? is that a lot of ships to be in port at the same time???

Those would be too many for me. I think the port makes a difference, plus what we planned to do. Some ports can probably handle the crowd, others you would feel the "crowd".

 

We are not shoppers, so hopefully they would all be in the stores. I would also worry about finding a taxi at a decent price. More demand means a higher price.

[BND]

In St Martin with 7 ships in, the beach at Divi Little Bay had just our Carnival Excursion and another group from another ship came in about 1/2 hour before we left and they were expecting another one later in the day. It was NOT crowded on the beach and no one complained about their excursions being crowded. There are limits at each location as well on each excursion. Both St Thomas and St Martin can easily handle the crowds.