What's your favorite Caribbean island?

814man

I'm going to cheat slightly as its not actually an island and although its in the Caribbean its also part of central america. My choice is Ambergris Caye in Belize. The town of San Pedro is a fascinating mix of Latin america and creole Caribbean influences which make it a great place to be based for a holiday in this area.
https://mybeautifulbelize.com/destinations/ambergris-caye-2/

gettingtheresometime

Well during our Caribbean cruise I think we spent a total of 30 mins on Jamaican soil.Hated the place.

Liked all the rest though

PompeyPete

I reckon to appreciate a lot of these small Caribbean Islands you have to spend time on them to loiter, and 'get under the surface'.

Tbh there's far better places around he World to do that.

theonlywayisup

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Well during our Caribbean cruise I think we spent a total of 30 mins on Jamaican soil.Hated the place.

Liked all the rest though

30 mins, that's a short time to make a judgement in a busy cruise port.

As someone else eluded to up the thread, cruise ports aren't really representative of any town/island/country.

I don't like Jamaica, can't say I hate it. But then I don't cruise....

Voyager2002

Pollycat wrote: »

When did you visit?
We went to Cuba back in 1997, when it was very new as a destination country in holiday brochures.
We stayed in Holguin which was a very new destination - unlike Varadero.
The AI food wasn't that great but there was nowhere outside of the hotel to go to eat.
Nothing in the shops.

We found the food bland, boringly bland, which from what you say may be the norm.
Good local cuisine is a very big part of our holiday.

We liked Havana.

Interesting how things change.

I visited Holguin and Santiago at the end of 2013.

There were lots of eating places, none of which were memorable. Also private kiosks selling drinks, fruit and snacks from windows or from hand-pushed barrows: some of these were really good.

I mostly stayed in private houses ('casas particulares') which also provided food, but in fact only ate breakfast there: I later found out that the evening meals they served were apparently really good. The best meal that I had was in a kind of restaurant in a private house.

I also spent a few days at an all-inclusive resort: travel agents in city centres sell spare resort places to walk-in customers at very affordable prices. Food here was good rather than memorable: exactly the same as at the Rui AI resort where I later stayed in Morocco.

Pollycat

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Interesting how things change.

I visited Holguin and Santiago at the end of 2013.

There were lots of eating places, none of which were memorable. Also private kiosks selling drinks, fruit and snacks from windows or from hand-pushed barrows: some of these were really good.

I mostly stayed in private houses ('casas particulares') which also provided food, but in fact only ate breakfast there: I later found out that the evening meals they served were apparently really good. The best meal that I had was in a kind of restaurant in a private house.

I also spent a few days at an all-inclusive resort: travel agents in city centres sell spare resort places to walk-in customers at very affordable prices. Food here was good rather than memorable: exactly the same as at the Rui AI resort where I later stayed in Morocco.

We were just ahead of the curve.

Quite often, that's a good thing but on this occasion - definitely not.

We've holidayed in lots of places just as they became 'mainstream'.
Mexico in 1991
Goa in 1994
Sri Lanka in 1996

Cuba was the only place that disappointed.

gettingtheresometime

theonlywayisup wrote: »

30 mins, that's a short time to make a judgement in a busy cruise port.

As someone else eluded to up the thread, cruise ports aren't really representative of any town/island/country.

I don't like Jamaica, can't say I hate it. But then I don't cruise....

I understand what your saying but when you're being followed down the street for 30 minutes and being very aggressively 'encouraged' to go on a tour with them then no I don't think it was a short time to make a judgement.


In all the other ports you were politely asked if you wanted to take part in a tour and if you declined (equally as politely) you were left alone.


As I said I enjoyed the other ports of call but if we went on another Caribbean cruise, I would plan that day as a ship day.

Pollycat

We're not cruise people.
Never tried it and don't want to (judge me if you wish).

A friend of ours went on a Caribbean cruise and was trying to get us to book (at that time we were holidaying in the Indian Ocean and Far East).
We asked him what he did when the ship docked.
He replied 'we get a taxi to the nearest beach'.

If I'm going on holiday I want to see some of the culture of the place and soak up the ambiance.
Eat local food, chat to locals.

PompeyPete

Pollycat wrote: »

We're not cruise people.
Never tried it and don't want to (judge me if you wish).

A friend of ours went on a Caribbean cruise and was trying to get us to book (at that time we were holidaying in the Indian Ocean and Far East).
We asked him what he did when the ship docked.
He replied 'we get a taxi to the nearest beach'.

If I'm going on holiday I want to see some of the culture of the place and soak up the ambiance.
Eat local food, chat to locals.

Not judging you Polly, but having spent 23 years in the Royal Navy the last thing I ever fancied doing was going on a cruise.

A few years ago my resistance snapped, and we went on a thoroughly enjoyable Cruise/stay [7 + 7] with Thomson* on one of their smaller and older ships CELEBRATION.

Haven't looks back since, though we still prefer the smaller, more intimate ships. Done two Transatlantic [East to West] too....you can't beat the clear, pollution free, starry, moonlit nights on deck. Plus the feeling of safe vulnerability of being hundreds of miles from the nearest land.

Also keep up with the traditional sort of adventures, with the odd indulgent lazy AI thrown in.

*Thomson are now called Marella.

ibizafan_2

PompeyPete, I’m with you. I never thought I’d enjoy cruises, but we’ve done four now. Norway in the winter to see the Northern Lights (we did), the Caribbean, from Lima to Sydney across the Pacific Ocean, and last September to Alaska. Loved all of them, and are doing the Baltic this year. They’re a great way to see places you probably wouldn’t see otherwise. My favourite Caribbean island was probably Tortola, although I liked all those we sailed to for different reasons.