Best cruise ports?

Question

Taking a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale sometime soon. Which cruise should I take? Which countries are the best? Which are the worst? What is your opinion of Cozumel? Grand Caymen? Belize? Jamaica? Others?

Answer 1

If you are going on a cruise out of Ft Laduerdale you will generally have two options for ports, Eastern Caribbean, Or Western Caribbean. That's because the cruise lines typically have just two routes from that departure port. If you want to do the Leeward islands in the southern Caribbean you probably need to consider Miami and Puerto Rico for departure ports.

The Eastern Caribbean ports are typically St Thomas, St Maartin, a cruise line "private island" and maybe the Bahamas. A western Caribbean cruise will typically go to Grand Caymen, Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Jamaica, plus maybe Key West, Fl.

St Thomas is great for shopping and beach and depending on your cruise you may have time to take a ferry trip/tour to St John which has some of the most beautiful beaches in the caribbean.
St Maartin is an OK stop in my opinion, nice island but nothing special.
Grand Caymen is a nice stop for beach time.
Cozumel is a stop for beach and snorkeling/scuba. There is not much else there. All of the action is in Cancun on the main land.
Costa Maya is not a great ports stop either in my opinion. Not much there.
Jamaica is a good stop for Beaches and attractions. But don't go off the beaten tourist path by yourself. If you go to Ocho Rios, do a tour to Dunn River Falls, that's great.
I have been to the Florida Keys, but not Key west.

The cruise line private islands are all great. Its basically a cruise ship catered beach party with only folks from the ship.

Now if you want to get to the southern Caribbean to placs like Aruba, Barbados, Grenada, Antigua ...... all great cruise ports, you probably need to take a cruise out of Puerto Rico or a 10 to 12 days cruise because it takes longer to get down to those islands. We took a 12 day cruise out of Miami to the southern Caribbean and covered those islands and more.

Answer 2

Alot of this would depend on what you like to do. Cozumel is one of my favorites. There is alot to do there. The diving is world class, you can go to the mainland to see mayan ruins, the beach clubs are very good and it is a pretty safe area. Coz, although it is in Mexico though is not like real Mexico, it is 100% tourist area, still I love going there. GC is great for beaches and diving / snorkling. It is also supposed to be a shopping Mecca but it seems that all they sell is upscale stuff. Things are very expensive there though. Belize is a 3rd world primitive country. Make sure you book a shore excursion. You cannot get off the ship and wander around. The tender will bring you to a little fenced in tourism village. You do not want to go outside the fence on your own. Now having said that, the interior of the country is beautiful. You can do some Mayan ruins or jungle tours that you cannot do any place else and they are fantastic. Just make sure you book with a reputable tour company or book via your cruise line. Jamaica is somewhat like Belize as far as safety etc. You want to book with a reputable tour guide and not wander about on your own. Most people do Dunn River Falls. I did the origional canopy tour which is a total trip. You can have a great time at all 4 ports, just figure out what kind of activities you are most insterested in and then book your cruise based on which activities you like. A great resource for cruise info is cruise critic.

Answer 3

I'm going to try and answer your question, but my response is going to be kind of general. For example, I don't know if you are younger, older, have a family, what budget you are looking at, etc. But, this can give you an idea.

As far as which ports, it just depends what you like. I think that no matter which ports you choose, you are going to find something that you enjoy there. The ports you listed are all very nice.

As far as ships, again, this is going to be pretty broad. But here is a place to start.

Princess Caribbean Princess, nice ship, a little more costly and an older crowd, but, offers a 14 night cruise with several ports you listed.

Carnival Legend, one of Carnival's nicest ship. Nice length cruise, pretty good ship. Younger average age and more families.

Carnival Liberty, similar to the lenged in cruise options and ship, but not quite as expensive.

Celebrity Constellation, nice cruise, great ship and staff, longer cruises. This one is again a little more costly and the average age on board tends to be older.

Again, the list goes on and on, Costa, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Cunard, etc. But this is something to start with. I recommend contacting a travel agent to help find you what you are looking for.

I hope this helps!