Top 4 Cruise Ports I Don’t Need to Revisit

Last week I shared with you a number of cruise ports that I would love to revisit. If you missed the post you can find it at Top 5 cruise Ports I Want to Revisit. I am sure that for everyone who cruises there are ports that you love to visit over and over again. However, at the same time, there are those ports that you might have visited, and they just did nothing for you.

For me the ports that I did not fully enjoy also seemed to bt eh ports that did not have a lot to offer. But there are also a couple that might have plenty to offer but just don’t feel right. Which is one thing I would like you to consider in my choices below. They are just my choices, there is nothing to say that these choices are right or wrong.

Acapulco, Mexico

In total, I have had the chance to visit five different ports in Mexico and only truly felt comfortable walking alone in one of them. That port was Cabo San Lucas, which appeared to have a much greater expat population.

Acapulco, on the other hand, turned out to be a port that I did not even leave the cruise terminal. Not just because I did not like the area, but safety was a concern that had been expressed all around. Even some of the frequent cruisers who had been here before were turning around and coming back rather quickly.

I have very little to go off personally, as I was travelling alone and interested to stay safe. However, numerous people who did venture out had stories. People that would offer to lead them to the old town, only trying to lead them down alleyways. When travelling I believe it is important to stay safe as a priority. With so many other places to travel, I am happy to skip a return to Acapulco.

Naples, Italy

Even though it has made my list of cruise ports I would not like to revisit, I did enjoy my time in Naples. I visited a local coffee shop, explored some beautiful churches and shared a pizza with a friend.

Napes was the sort of place you can enjoy but still have a poor impression of it as a whole. I do in many ways hope that some of the following had changed since my visit in 2012. In fact, I would welcome being informed otherwise.

The very first issue was the lack of an accurate tourist map at the cruise terminal. Eventually, we found a tourist information centre after wandering for around three hours with better maps. The second thing was the amount of rubbish littering the area, especially nearby the where you enter the town. Especially bad was the number of unmentionable pieces of litter on the footpath. Finally just the general dirtiness of the buildings, the graffiti and feeling of something lacking.

But just remember these were my personal observations from 2012. I do hope that some of these things have changed for the better since then.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

I have now visited Fort Lauderdale twice and do have somewhat mixed feelings about the city. While I am not all that interested in visiting again, I know that I will be back here in the future. Not so much for the city but for the cruise terminal.

The first time that I visited Fort Lauderdale was a port day on my first ever cruise. I joined with some people I met on the ship to see a little of the area and quite enjoyed the visit. You can read more about it here. The enjoyable experience is of course what led me to return the following year and spend a few days before boarding another cruise.

Possibly my biggest problem was to book too many nights in Fort Lauderdale without doing my research. I end up booking five nights and it was not until I reached the hotel I discovered the problem. I found that there was very little to do from a tourist perspective. That is without spending a lot of money or travelling a significant distance. There were many shops that were closed in the shopping areas. I managed to pass the time but felt that I somewhat wasted the time that I could have used better elsewhere.

Apia, Western Samoa

Especially when you are undertaking a longer cruise there are going to be a mixture of port calls included. Which means that depending on the area you are going to find some that you want to visit and others that are just included. Apia turned out to be one of those ports that were included but not a place I had ever considered visiting.

I do think that the particular day the cruise arrived here could have had something to do with my feelings about the area. It was a public holiday and almost everything was closed. I did take a tour to get to see a little more, but the first stop for the tour was the fish market. Not the best way to start a tour in my mind.

There is a chance that I could find myself returning to Apia. As maybe a longer period of time would give a better chance to explore the area. Because when I look around there do appear to be some interesting sights. But I will just have to wait and see what might come about.

Go Cruising

In some ways this post is a little bit negative, looking at the idea of places I don’t want to visit. You will see though that I do mention in a couple given the right circumstances I would likely revisit some. The thing is though that I can share my opinion and it is just that my opinion. You are always welcome to disagree and I would love nothing more to hear why you disagree. So if you have experienced a destination differently to my experience I would love to see it in the comments below.