Different ports, and different priorities

An interesting thing about working on ships, and going to many of the same ports each cruise, is how some ports become known for one thing or another.

Here are a few of the types a port could get put into:

Tour/Sightseeing port:

Any port that I only will go to one or twice I will always try and get on a tour to see as much as I can. Repositioning cruises will usually have ports that are often not visited, on the usual cruise.

I will always make the extra effort to do and see as much as I can in ports like this.

People that don't do this I always shake my head at.

Beach port:

Even though in the Caribbean there are great beaches in every island. Few of the ports will have the beaches very close to the ship.

So after taking a taxi to a beach in an island. It has to be a really good one to make the effort to come back.

The beach everyone goes to in Barbados is one of the only beaches I will always go to. And it also happens to be my favorite of all the islands.

Also St Maarten, as the beach is within easy walking distance, I will usually go into town for the beach.

Internet port:

The internet on the ship is very slow, and also very expensive. So when crew finds free internet in a port it is a treasured find. And if it happens to be fast internet, then even more so. And I will likely come back to whatever restaurant or random hotspot every week to get my fix.

Aruba was this port for me this contract. The restaurant I randomly went to the first time I got to the island turned out to have the fastest internet in the Caribbean, in my opinion. It even seems faster then at home at times.

Have lunch port:

Even when you can eat, upstairs in the guest buffet, it is easy to get bored of the ship food. And even more so when you are confined to the staff mess, for one reason or another.

So going to a restaurant on land is often a highlight of a day.

The Canadian Bar in St. Maarten for Poutine. And Tracy's King Crab Shack in Juneau are places I go back to week after week.

Crew discount port:

Many places in port will offer crew discounts. A good crew deal will keep us coming back week after week.

The Boatyard in Barbados has the best crew deal going. $5 rather then the $20 for guests, gets you use of all the beach chairs etc, a free drink, and a free ride back to the ship.

Also many restaurants will give food discounts to crew. The Shipwreck Bar in St. Thomas always gets me in for the crew burger deal.

Bank, mail, cell phone:

Depending on where you are from. Docking in a port in a home country happens on occasion.

When this occurs, many people will try and get to their bank to deposit money, rather then use the ship wire transfers.

Also their cell phones, which have been basically useless up to that point will work again. Many times you can see crew looking at their phones the night before as we sail toward the port, checking to see if they have reception yet.

Do nothing port:

Some islands, while nice, might just have nothing happening in the port area.

Some ports like this end up becoming a day to stay on the ship, take a nap, etc.

Visit home port:

While it hasn't happened yet, my next contract will include a stop in Vancouver. Allowing me to visit home while on my contract.

Something that is rare and I am looking forward to.

Traveling to Manhattan in style (late post from last contract)

This is a post I meant to do a long time ago, as the pictures are from near the end of my last contract. But here it is anyways

Our ship was docked in Bayonne New Jersey. And while the view from the ship while docked looked very close to the big city, it was actually a bit of a trek to get there.

If you were to take public transit you would take the port shuttle, the new jersey train, then a subway. Which would take about 1-1.5 hours depending on catching connections. And the same going back. Which is a problem as it leaves very little time to see the sights. And also requires knowing when and where to leave from so you don't miss the ship.

The one time I went into the city, we had a small group. Too big to fit into a taxi, but we also couldn't take transit because one of our group was going to a hotel with luggage.

So our chosen way into the city was... A limo.

Even though this got us into the city a lot faster, we still didn't have a lot of time as all aboard time was fairly early.

However we were able to see Times Square.

Rockefeller Center

I would have gone to the top but it was a bit cloudy that day.

After that we had some lunch.

Then did some shopping on 5th Avenue. ( I bought some socks)

Unfortunately there was no time to see a show. Even though it was a Sunday and Book of Mormon had a Matinee, we had to get back to the ship for all aboard time.

Getting a ride back to Bayonne turned out to a bit of a problem. Though it was a bit expected. Taxi drivers didn't want to go out of the city because they are not licenced to pickup fares in New Jersey.

After a few tries we ended up in a building where a doorman offered to call us a town-car to take up to the ship.

This ended up working out well, and possibly better then a random cab.

We passed by the Flatiron building on the way back as well.

It was a pretty fun, albeit short trip into Manhattan. Had I not signed off the ship a few weeks later, i'm sure I would have tried taking the transit option of getting into the city.

I guess I will have to leave that for another time.