Forbestraveler.com
August 4, 2007
Ports to Avoid in High Season

The couple kayaking with no one else in sight, lovers watching the sun set from a secluded corner of deck, the family frolicking on a private beach. Dream on.

Cruise line ads work hard at trying to convey exclusivity, intimacy and seclusion. In the real world, the more than ten million people who cruise every year go to a lot of the same places. Tour buses line up at the docks like advancing armies, while sign waving guides and freelance touts vie for passengers’ attention.

Take Alaska. Overall, the number of cruise passengers to Alaska has more than tripled since the early 1990s, according to the North WestCruiseShip Association. Juneau is the state’s busiest port and this summer some 650 cruises will call there. Juneau’s local population hovers around 30,000 and on an average day during high season, more than 5,000 cruise passengers fan out around the small town piling on buses for trips to Mendenhall glacier and other local attractions.

In St. Thomas, an island just 13 miles long and four miles wide, almost two million tourists arrived by cruise ship in 2006, according to research consultant G.P. Wild International Ltd. Six to eight giant ships a day is business as usual at this Caribbean evergreen --- we’re talking more than 20,000 cruisers on an average day heading for the same few beaches and attractions. It’s the same deal in Nassau and St. Maarten, where traffic jams are as prevalent as sunburns and hangovers.

The smallest ships carrying just 100 or 200 passengers don’t make a dent, it’s the 2,000-passenger and bigger guys that have the most dramatic impact. Behemoths like Royal Caribbean’s new Liberty of the Seas can carry more than 4,000 passengers, and half that in crew. The weekly rotation includes Cozumel and Grand Cayman or St. Maarten and San Juan.

The Caribbean has been the number one cruise ship destination for years. In both 2005 and 2006, the Caribbean accounted for about 40% of the North American-based cruise fleet, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a trade group. The Mediterranean and Europe accounted for about half as much in each of the past two years, followed by a virtual three-way tie by Alaska, the Bahamas and the Mexican Riviera, each just under about 10% of the total market. But it’s not just the numbers who show up, it’s the size of the port that matters most.

Some ports can handle the onslaught better than others.

While large cities like Barcelona and Naples have populations in the millions and can easily absorb another 20,000, it’s a different story for small islands and coastal towns. Their physical space is simply limited. In tiny places along the Cote d’Azur for instance, the tourists can easily outnumber the locals. Same goes for the Greek Isles.

“It really depends on the port and how well they and we handle the guest experience. St. Petersburg, for example, is a big city and deals pretty well with the millions of guests it gets each year,” says Regent Seven Seas Cruises President Mark Conroy. “A port like Grand Cayman, Monaco or Juneau, on the other hand, suffers so we try not to be there when all the other ships are.”

According to Royal Caribbean President Adam Goldstein, stretching the Europe and Alaska cruise seasons beyond the summer months --- from as early as April through as late as November --- helps to alleviate crowding for those willing to deal with the cooler temps.

“The lengthening of the non-peak season Europe is creating more choice for our customers,” says Goldstein, adding that they’ll even be positioning a ship year-round in Europe in 2008.

Another way to get around the crush at certain ports is by breaking out of the traditional Saturday to Saturday cruise paradigm. More and more lines are offering departures for weeklong cruises on Fridays or Sundays too. Conroy says Regent skirts the jam up in Juneau by operating its Alaska cruises on a Wednesday to Wednesday schedule, to be there on the days when the fewest number of ships are in town. In the Caribbean, many lines also pack their itineraries with visits to their private islands, where generally only one ship --- two max --- is there at a time.

At the end of the day, some tourists like the hustle bustle of ultra-popular ports. For those that don’t, cruise during the off-season or on smaller vessels of lines like SeaDream Yacht Club and Star Clipper, which tend to avoid the beaten track as much as possible.

“Regardless of the volume on a given day there will be people who enjoy the port experience because of the particular excursions they have chosen. To the extent there is congestion, a percentage of the guests will be negatively affected by it,” adds Goldstein.

Hordes or not, obviously, millions are still enjoying the cruise concept.

“Generally across the industry passenger satisfaction is very high, much higher than that of any other vacation opportunities both in North America and Europe,” says Wild.

We did not consider ports which serve predominantly as “turnaround” points --- such as Miami and Ft. Lauderdale --- from where cruises start or end, since guests are not necessarily spending much or any time on shore there.

The List:

1 Cozumel, Mexico

The 2.4 million cruise passengers, according to research consultant G.P. Wild International Ltd, who visit Cozumel every year pull up to one of three docks around tourist hub San Miguel. No longer the appealing gritty Mexican outpost it was just a decade ago, this island port is packed with 6 to 10 ships on most winter days. Passengers shuffle between suburban-mall-style shops and hit the beer joints, unless they’re heading for the island’s beaches or the Mayan ruins on the mainland.

2 Grand Cayman, Caribbean

Six or seven megas bobbing offshore is business as usual during high season at Cayman's capital of George Town. Tender boats shuttle the masses --- 1.8 million a year according research consultant G.P. Wild International --- back and forth to the island, where some hit the brand-name shops in town, others head for the nearby Seven Mile beach, while the rest hop on buses bound for diving trips or jaunts snorkeling and feeding the rays at Stingray City.

3 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Caribbean

The 1.7 million cruise passengers who come every year, according research consultant G.P. Wild International, get there in giant white ships, often 6 to 8 at a time during the winter months. Traffic jams into the main town of Charlotte Amalie, just a few miles from the ships, are common place. Considering the time and hassle it takes to get to nearby beaches like Megans Bay or Coki, you may just want to stay put on the ship.

4 Nassau, New Providence Island, The Bahamas

Ditto the numbers and scene in St. Thomas here, it’s the same story in Nassau. Rivers of passengers flow onto Bay Street, the main shopping drag, and invariably file into the seriously mobbed straw market. Claustrophobes be warned.

5 St. Maarten, Caribbean

Same story --- yawn. According to research consultant G.P. Wild International, about 1.2 million cruisers pour into Phillipsburg annually. During the prime winter months, traffic jams, packed shopping strips and wall-to-wall beach towels at Great Bay Beach in town, are par for the course.

6 Juneau, Alaska

Just under a million passengers tramp though this cozy southeastern Alaska town. The docks are wedged in along the foot of Mount Roberts, and there are just a few streets for cruisers to explore, unless they’re signed up for an excursion to explore Mendenhall Glacier.

7 Ketchikan, Alaska

Another marquee port on the Inside Passage Alaska run, when thousands of passengers are in port for the day in tiny Ketchikan, it can feel like a gold rush stampede. Many are bee-lining it to the t-shirt and souvenir emporiums built within earshot of the docks.

8 Mykonos & Santorini

These two Greek isles are in the same boat. Beautiful islands yes, but when four or five (or more) jumbo ships are anchored off shore during the July and August rush, you might want to put on those rose colored glasses. Getting that classic photo of a white washed blue-domed chapel might be a long shot, unless you don’t mind your fellow ship mates in the picture too.

9 Dubrovnik, Croatia

Few cruise ports are as picture perfect, Dubrovnik’s Old Town reaches to the sea and views are great both ways. But when there area a zillion tour groups elbowing their way around the medieval ramparts that surround the ancient city, it’s no easy feat to see the cathedrals, palaces and monasteries in a civilized manner.

10 Rhodes, Greece

The giant Colossus of Rhodes which once towered over the Mandraki harbor in Rhodes Town would be shocked to see the imposing mega ships that now fill the bay. The city’s Old Town sure is charming and the 700-year-old hilltop Acropolis at Lindos is stunning, but these two top sights are a mad house during high season when thousands of cruisers descend on the island.