Embarkation Ports

JoeyandDavid · January 3, 2008

Embarkation Ports .. the gateway to Cruising we have all had great and not so great experiences I am sure....

My questions are........Is there ONE or two embarkation Ports that.. for what ever reason you would rather NOT sail away from?

Is there ONE or two Ports that are your favorites to sail from? Why?

Joanandjoe · January 3, 2008

It's thrilling to sail out of NYC, past the Statue of Liberty and under the Verazzano. We've had 3 1/2 cruises (one was Montreal to NYC, so I count it as half) from NYC, and it's wonderful.

Nice was also wonderful, but only a ship as small as the Wind Surf, or smaller, could start a cruise there.

Bad ports to sail from? Haven't had one yet.

Peddler · January 3, 2008

Favorite would be Galveston as we can drive to it. BTW it's the only one we've sailed from.

RNSANE · January 3, 2008

I don't especially like Miami....considering it's Miami and the home of Royal Caribbean, the terminal isn't very well set up. On our recent Brilliance cruise, there wasn't the usual lounge for the Diamond - Platinum passengers and there were plenty of them. Because it was the first US port for the ship after returning from Europe, it took much longer to disembark passenger and the crew had to go through much longer custom formalities. Passengers awaiting embarkation were jammed into the small waiting area and everyone was in the Windjammer at once at 1PM...that couldn't be avoided but, certainly, you'd think RCI could do better in their homeport terminal.

Of course, I absolutely abhor the Miami airport, too.

San Francisco doesn't have a very nice terminal/port area, either...thankfully, Pier 39 is right there to make passengers feel a little better but getting on and off a ship in SF leaves much to be desired.

I love Singapore...nice cruise terminal with a great shopping center right there...

TheSkipper · January 3, 2008

Miami is a Port that would be among my most undesirable, followed by Brooklyn. Simply because they are quite aways from the Airport, congested and sometimes difficult to reach due to traffic.

In Florida I'd prefer either Tampa or Ft. Lauderdale, not in any special order.

I'm trying to stick with the actual boarding experiences, not if I can drive to the ship or not. West Coast ports are within driving distance but are not in my top three or four ports.

hazelson · January 3, 2008

I love sailing out of Vancouver just because we don't have to fly anywhere - apart from that the only place I wasn't fussy on was San Pedro - not exactly beautiful facility wise lol.

JoeyandDavid · January 4, 2008

apart from that the only place I wasn't fussy on was San Pedro - not exactly beautiful facility wise lol.

They have remodeled! :biggrin:

rogue · January 4, 2008

I think that Vancouver was the best place we sailed from. I actually love the new Brooklyn terminal. It is an easy drive from our house, and the parking is very convenient. Like Joe said, sailing out of New York is great. It really is quite inspiring.