Caribbean Bottom 5 List

[jamessa]

First off everyone is intitled to their own opinon. That is why I started this thread. For those people that don't like "the way of life" these people in certain parts of the Caribbean have then this is the place to voice that. If other people think different and don't have an issue with those areas and their "people's way of life" then refer back to my first sentence and share you thoughts on the places you don't like and maybe why. Personally we were not bothered by the locals while in Nassau. We had 2 issues that ticked us off and don't really care to go back, just because we have been there, done that.

 

Now back on topic :)

[Genessa]

1 jamaica

2 jamaica

3 jamaica

4 jamaica

5 jamaica

 

sorry but the locals are just too pushy and aggressive with their selling tactics

 

 

Ditto!

[Genessa]

Just curious about the posters who are upset about the 'hard sellers' on these islands:

 

Have any of you been in the REAL-southern part of Mexico? Hard selling is a way of life for these people. I am not making excuses for them when they are physically aggressive..no one likes that...but this is part of their culture. Something we Americans are not used to, for sure.

 

Not trying to start an argument, but just wondering why everyone is so shocked about this selling procedure.

 

It wasn't the "hard sell" it was the man-handling, filthy mouthed, sell in Jamaica that turned us against a beautiful island.

 

The "market" outside of Dunns River Falls had some beautiful items for sale and we would have purchased some and probably would have loved Jamaica if we weren't physically accosted. My hubby is a big guy and we are from NY. We know how to handle ourselves in crowds, know how to politely, but firmly say "no" to street peddlars, panhandlers, etc.

 

We've dealt with hard sells in touristy places, no problem. Said no to the 3 year old children in Acapulco selling trinkets and their mothers making the sign of the cross with every sale.

However, we will not spend our time and money in a place where when you are walking past a stand the proprietor runs out, grabs your arm and refuses to let go unless you come back to shop. And then, when I grab dh's right arm to prevent him from punching the guy in the face, dh gets called a p*$$y and several other names, for not punching the guy. Then, after dh "shook" the guy off, he continued to follow us, calling names the entire way. All this because we had the nerve to walk past his stand.

 

 

Then, even worse, when we got back to our bus and had taken a seat, we noticed several men following a very elderly, frail woman. They blocked her way onto her bus and were insisting she buy something. She was alone. My husband and another man from our cruise got off our bus and the bus driver (of our bus) did also, and told the men to leave her alone and let her get on the bus.

 

So that is why Jamaica is my 5 least favorite ports all in one.

[10X]

I'm surprised to see Grand Cayman listed here in the 5 worst, but I guess it depends on what you like to do.

 

Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac rank in the top 10 of scuba diving destinations in the Caribbean, so if you're a diver you'll never be bored here.

 

I also see the Bonaire is mentioned once, but when it comes to diving, Bonaire is theeee #1 dive destination in the Caribbean. My wife says it is the best snorkeling she has ever experienced as well. And that's saying a lot, considering we try to dive/snorkel at every port in our 11 cruises; and these included Hawaii and Tahiti, so Bonaire rocks underwater.

 

We have done 2 Western Caribbean cruises and one Mexican Riviera cruise, and don't care if we ever do another. Jamaica was the worst, followed closely by anywhere in Mexico. You probably couldn't give my wife a free cruise to Mexico.

 

I find St. Kitts a little boring but you can generally find some pretty good snorkeling there, and St. Maarten leaves a little to be desired but we manage to find things to do there. St. Thomas is also somewhat boring but their great watersports take the sting out of being there.

 

Other than that I can't think of anywhere we didn't like, so you get two from me:

 

Jamaica

Mexico

 

with 3 needing some improvement:

 

St. Kitts

St. Maarten

St. Thomas

[Southbound]

cruiseapril -- I tend to do quite a bit of research on any port we'll be visiting for the first time, which was the case with Costa Maya. There were several excursions offered through our ship but, after reading numerous posts on CC's ports of call forum about the tours offered by David & Ivan and the exceptionally high recommendations given, we booked with them. Our ship offered a similar tour, done on a bus, at a much higher price. With David & Ivan, we were in an a/c'd van with four others from our ship, the driver, and David. After a leisurely visit to the Chacchoben [sp?] ruins, we stopped for a wonderful lunch hosted by a Mayan family (not included in the ship's tour). Afterwards, we had plenty of time in Mahahual (a small village near the ship) to explore the shops and enjoy a couple of "cold ones" on the beach. Both of these men are very knowledgeable and there was no language problem. We were very pleased with the personalized nature of the tour; it was the highlight of our cruise.

[packercruising]

Absolutely, no question, Ocho Rios! It looks like we could fill a cruise ship with people that have the same opinion.:)

 

My brother and his DW have a place in the Cayman's so we got a personal tour when we were there. We really liked the Nautilus, but I recommend you stay out of Hell. :eek:

[momofmeg]

It wasn't the "hard sell" it was the man-handling, filthy mouthed, sell in Jamaica that turned us against a beautiful island.

 

The "market" outside of Dunns River Falls had some beautiful items for sale and we would have purchased some and probably would have loved Jamaica if we weren't physically accosted. My hubby is a big guy and we are from NY. We know how to handle ourselves in crowds, know how to politely, but firmly say "no" to street peddlars, panhandlers, etc.

 

We've dealt with hard sells in touristy places, no problem. Said no to the 3 year old children in Acapulco selling trinkets and their mothers making the sign of the cross with every sale.

However, we will not spend our time and money in a place where when you are walking past a stand the proprietor runs out, grabs your arm and refuses to let go unless you come back to shop. And then, when I grab dh's right arm to prevent him from punching the guy in the face, dh gets called a p*$$y and several other names, for not punching the guy. Then, after dh "shook" the guy off, he continued to follow us, calling names the entire way. All this because we had the nerve to walk past his stand.

 

 

Then, even worse, when we got back to our bus and had taken a seat, we noticed several men following a very elderly, frail woman. They blocked her way onto her bus and were insisting she buy something. She was alone. My husband and another man from our cruise got off our bus and the bus driver (of our bus) did also, and told the men to leave her alone and let her get on the bus.

 

So that is why Jamaica is my 5 least favorite ports all in one.

 

Your story is worse then mine. Fortunately we were told not to go back through the straw market but go the way we came in.

[momofmeg]

cruiseapril -- I tend to do quite a bit of research on any port we'll be visiting for the first time, which was the case with Costa Maya. There were several excursions offered through our ship but, after reading numerous posts on CC's ports of call forum about the tours offered by David & Ivan and the exceptionally high recommendations given, we booked with them. Our ship offered a similar tour, done on a bus, at a much higher price. With David & Ivan, we were in an a/c'd van with four others from our ship, the driver, and David. After a leisurely visit to the Chacchoben [sp?] ruins, we stopped for a wonderful lunch hosted by a Mayan family (not included in the ship's tour). Afterwards, we had plenty of time in Mahahual (a small village near the ship) to explore the shops and enjoy a couple of "cold ones" on the beach. Both of these men are very knowledgeable and there was no language problem. We were very pleased with the personalized nature of the tour; it was the highlight of our cruise.

 

to me Costa Maya is equal to a private island. It is okay for a day at the beach-but beyond that it is nothing special-but I would rather go there then jamaica!

[momofmeg]

I'm surprised to see Grand Cayman listed here in the 5 worst, but I guess it depends on what you like to do.

 

Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac rank in the top 10 of scuba diving destinations in the Caribbean, so if you're a diver you'll never be bored here.

 

I also see the Bonaire is mentioned once, but when it comes to diving, Bonaire is theeee #1 dive destination in the Caribbean. My wife says it is the best snorkeling she has ever experienced as well. And that's saying a lot, considering we try to dive/snorkel at every port in our 11 cruises; and these included Hawaii and Tahiti, so Bonaire rocks underwater.

 

We have done 2 Western Caribbean cruises and one Mexican Riviera cruise, and don't care if we ever do another. Jamaica was the worst, followed closely by anywhere in Mexico. You probably couldn't give my wife a free cruise to Mexico.

 

I find St. Kitts a little boring but you can generally find some pretty good snorkeling there, and St. Maarten leaves a little to be desired but we manage to find things to do there. St. Thomas is also somewhat boring but their great watersports take the sting out of being there.

 

Other than that I can't think of anywhere we didn't like, so you get two from me:

 

Jamaica

Mexico

 

with 3 needing some improvement:

 

St. Kitts

St. Maarten

St. Thomas

 

I have loved and hated Grand Cayman-depending on how many ships were there. When we were there this past October it was wall to wall people, 5 cruiseships there, including that monster, Freedom of the Seas.

 

We were also there last Feb.-and it was only 2 ships and both small to medium sized. That day was much much nicer as it was not congested.

[packercruising]

Your story is worse then mine. Fortunately we were told not to go back through the straw market but go the way we came in.

 

We were told the straw market was like a rummage sale. We were given absolutely no reason for concern. Wrong!:mad:

[Genessa]

We were told the straw market was like a rummage sale. We were given absolutely no reason for concern. Wrong!:mad:

 

 

Our bus driver told us we might not want to go through the market...and if I had been alone I wouldn't have.

 

It looked like there were some really nice things there, though, and we were expecting a somewhat hard sell, not expecting what we did get.

[packercruising]

It wasn't as oppressive as you described it but it was like running a gauntlet. Wish we had been forwarned. We just followed the map.

[Cruise Raider]

The worst ports ever visited and wouldn't bother to go back:

 

1) Honduras (Americans trying to sell everything to help THEIR economy in the name of Hondurans)

2) Jamaica (very unsafe - a man actually displaying his privates asking if we had ever seen one of these before...yuk!!)

3) Nassau (the outer islands of the Bahamas are most beautiful - mugged in Nassau)

4) Acapulco (yuk! saw a lady get a necklace ripped right off her neck getting off the ship - sewage running into the water - cab driver with pot on his dashboard - had to pay him to get out and find another cab)

5) Matzatlan (don't even bother getting off the ship anymore)

 

Good thing there are plenty of amazing sites to go visit!! When visiting these ports, I call it a personal sea day .... the ship is a lot less crowded and all sorts of fun to be had. :D

[manmtnmike]

Only one on my list!!!

Grand Turk - A great way to have a downer after a great itinerary.

 

This new Carnival port boasts a single attraction built around empty store- fronts ( could have changed by now), a so-so beach area, your options: sit around the pool area and your focus is the swim up bar and Margarita ville.

 

It looks like they built this simply for a post card front.

[cruiseapril]

Some unfortunate stories of Jamaica. One of my female relatives was accosted on the beach there when she was with her husband and another couple. If two couples can't walk on the beach without being accosted (or propositioned, in this case)- then that is very unkind.

[michiganirish]

My least favorite port Jamaica - spent 15 days there 10 years ago - stayed at AI in Mo Bay. Every other day - did a different tour saw the entire Island except Kingston - very scary - and dirty . Heard lots of stories from the drivers and tour guides. Too bad the mountain and water are so beautiful and the hotel workers were so kind to us.

[Sally Forth]

I agree with you on Nassau. Twenty years ago, it was beautiful, with lots of nice stores and nice well-kept streets. When we went back fifteen years ago it was still okay. Since the rise of Paradise Island, downtown has deteriorated into a slum.

 

Viv

[Sally Forth]

Ditto for me on Cozumel. We had been to Playa del Carmen twice and decided to go to an all-inclusive on Cozumel. My 12 year old son needed to cash some US $ to Mexican and went to the exchange booth next to the ferry ticket booth. He turned around and looked confused and said, "Mom, this doesn't look like enough." I went up and did the math and he had received about 30% less than he should have. The woman had one of those wheels with the exchange rates and she pointed to it and yelled, "That the money there!!!!" I asked her to reverse the transaction and she wouldn't and put the closed sign on her wicket.

 

Too bad to paint a whole country with that brush but that's it for us and the Caribbean side of Mexico. And I'm not a fussy princess traveller. I've been to some pretty scary spots in the world (like the point on the West Bank where you can see Palestinian, Israeli, and Jordanian soldiers with guns) and never felt as used and foreign as we did in Cozumel.

 

Viv

[Sally Forth]

I liked Ocho Rios but maybe that was because we went on Phil's tour and he ran interference for us.

 

Viv

[jamessa]

Ditto for me on Cozumel. We had been to Playa del Carmen twice and decided to go to an all-inclusive on Cozumel. My 12 year old son needed to cash some US $ to Mexican and went to the exchange booth next to the ferry ticket booth. He turned around and looked confused and said, "Mom, this doesn't look like enough." I went up and did the math and he had received about 30% less than he should have. The woman had one of those wheels with the exchange rates and she pointed to it and yelled, "That the money there!!!!" I asked her to reverse the transaction and she wouldn't and put the closed sign on her wicket.

 

Too bad to paint a whole country with that brush but that's it for us and the Caribbean side of Mexico. And I'm not a fussy princess traveller. I've been to some pretty scary spots in the world (like the point on the West Bank where you can see Palestinian, Israeli, and Jordanian soldiers with guns) and never felt as used and foreign as we did in Cozumel.

 

Viv

 

We went to Conch Fritters before leaving Nassau to get some conch fritters. The bill was 7 bucks and I gave them a 10. They gave me back 3 Bahama dollars or whatever they are. I asked for american money back as we were going straight back to the ship and had not planned to spend anymore $. She came back and said they did not want to give us american singles! I did not leave them for a tip, I took them and kept them.

[SUN TURNIP]

Jamaica Was Bad But Not So Bad That I Would Never Go Back. Now... If You Asked My Husband He Would Disagree He Said That He Has No Desire To Go Back To Jamaica. I Would Still Like To See Dunns River Falls. When We Were There We Went On A River Tubing Excursion And We Thought It Was A Lot Of Fun!! We Are In Our 20's So Maybe We Are Not As 'picky' As Some.

[pba20493]

Well, you can keep freeport. If I never go there again it will be too soon. Cozumel, well its ok at best. Been there 4 times and really dont want to go back.

 

As for Grand Cayman, I loved it. Costa Maya..Loved it, Belize City, Loved it. Dont really want to go to Key West aboard a ship, I can drive there in less time.

 

Kinda Western Caribbeaned out, dont want to do it anymore, maybe a southern or eastern next time. But doing a b2b europe/transatlantic. Lets see how those ports measure up.

 

 

Tim

[momofmeg]

Only one on my list!!!

Grand Turk - A great way to have a downer after a great itinerary.

 

This new Carnival port boasts a single attraction built around empty store- fronts ( could have changed by now), a so-so beach area, your options: sit around the pool area and your focus is the swim up bar and Margarita ville.

 

It looks like they built this simply for a post card front.

 

My husband flew here about 10 years ago and loved the snorkling and beaches. Now that he is certified for diving he wants to return.

[Capt_BJ]

One of the ports on our upcoming 14-day holiday cruise was to be Port Antonio in Jamaica. After doing much research, had learned it's very different from the rest of the island -- very clean, popular with many celebrities and the wealthy hoi polloi. We were therefore very much looking forward to seeing what's considered one of the gems of the Carib. and a visit to the Blue Lagoon. Recently learned that Ocho Rios has been substituted for Port Antonio on our itinerary. Arrrggg! :(

 

I don't know about your research but I've visited Port Antonio several times (business) and while there are a couple of nice resorts, the town itself is .... well, shall I say 'rustic'. You would find a place not that different from Ocho - but much smaller.

 

I think the 'celebrities' reference may be to the fact that a small island that protects the harbor was once a plantation owned by Errol Flynn .... (did I spell that right?) Subsequently there was a small resort there. On my last visit that resort was closed but it could be open again .... I dunno.

 

Many also note that the hotel where the island scenes from Cocktail were filmed is here ... been to that bar & stay at the resort and BOY can you work wonders with camera angles is all I can say!

 

So it is true - you will see a very different, much less touristy JA in PA ... but you won't be tricked into thinking you're in Kansas :rolleyes: Quite possibly the HP have large estates in the surrounding area, it is lush rain forest like jungle ... but there are no sidwalk cafes where you are gonna spot them..... there is the lagoon and a raft attraction....very nice yes

[Southbound]

Capt BJ -- Thanks so much for your comments; I no longer feel disappointed about not visiting Port Antonio. The limited info I was able to obtain via Google must have either been very outdated or written by a very imaginative P.R. rep.:) Your feedback is much appreciated.