Fodor's Caribbean Cruise Ports of Call

by Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.

Whether you want to snorkel around one of the colorful coral reefs in Bonaire, explore historic Nelson‘s Dockyard on Antigua, or shop ‘til you drop in St. Thomas, the local Fodor‘s travel experts in Caribbean cruise ports are here to help! Fodor‘s Caribbean Cruise Ports of Call guidebook is packed with maps, carefully curated recommendations, and everything else you need to simplify your trip-planning process and make the most of your time. This new edition has been fully-redesigned with an easy-to-read layout, fresh information, and beautiful color photos.


Fodor‘s Caribbean Cruise Ports of Call travel guide



AN ILLUSTRATED ULTIMATE EXPERIENCES GUIDE to the top things to see and do on your cruise
MORE THAN 60 DETAILED MAPS to help you navigate confidently
COLOR PHOTOS throughout to spark your wanderlust!
HONEST RECOMMENDATIONS FROM LOCALS on the best sights, restaurants, shopping, activities, and more
PHOTO-FILLED “BEST OF” FEATURES on “Best Under-the-Radar Cruise Ports in the Caribbean,” “How to Avoid the Crowds in the Top Cruise Ports,” “The Caribbean's Best Outdoor Activities,” and more
TRIP-PLANNING TOOLS AND PRACTICAL TIPS including getting around, beating the crowds, and saving time and money
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INSIGHTS providing rich context on the local people, politics, art, architecture, cuisine, music, geography and more
SPECIAL FEATURES on “Flavors of the Caribbean,” and “Best Caribbean Souvenirs”
LOCAL WRITERS to help you find the under-the-radar gems
UP-TO-DATE COVERAGE Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Grenada Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montego Bay, Nassau, Nevis, Ocho Rios, Roatan, San Juan, Santo Domingo, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda

Planning on spending more time in the Caribbean? Check out Fodor‘s Essential Caribbean, Fodor‘s Cancun & the Riviera Maya, and Fodor‘s InFocus Cayman Islands.


*Important note for digital The digital edition of this guide does not contain all the images or text included in the physical edition.


ABOUT FODOR'S AUTHORS: Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by local experts. Fodor‘s has been offering expert advice for all tastes and budgets for over 80 years. For more travel inspiration, you can sign up for our travel newsletter at fodors.com/newsletter/signup, or follow us @FodorsTravel on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We invite you to join our friendly community of travel experts at fodors.com/community to ask any other questions and share your experience with us!

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Guides

417 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Fodor's Travel Publications is a United States-based producer of English-language travel guides and online tourism information. It was founded by Hungarian Eugene Fodor in 1936.
Fodor’s was acquired by Random House in 1986 and sold to Internet Brands in 2016.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.8⭐

This book contains a good deal of useful information, especially for persons new to the whole cruise concept. Yet I didn't give it a higher rating because of an apparent underlying element of boosterism for the cruise industry. It never comes straight out and criticizes anything, which you sometimes want to see if you need to be warned off. It's approach is much more oblique. For example it doesn't rate cruise lines against each other, but rather gives reasons to choose or not choose a particular company. A reason given not to choose one line: "You're turned off by men in tank tops." Translation: it's full of slobs in muscle shirts. To be fair, other parts of the review hint broadly these are party barges, full of loud and often inebriated passengers but you have to be paying attention and read between the lines.

Another example, Belize City has the 4th highest homicide rate in the world but Fodor's chooses to address this as "...the city has a crime problem." Again, buried in the upbeat description of the tourist attractions are warnings of places to avoid but I'd rather they just come out and say 'this city can be dangerous. Plan accordingly. ' Instead it's " you may decide Belize City has a raffish,atmospheric charm rarely found in other Caribbean ports of call." No doubt the tourist areas frequented by cruise ship passengers are pretty safe but why downplay the overall risks, except to protect the tourism and cruise industries.

To contrast different styles of travel guides here's how Fodor's describes one archeological attraction: "Rising from the jungle, these temples make up Cozumel's largest remaining Maya and Toltec site." Lonely Planet's guide to Mexico has a slightly different take:"This over-priced Maya complex is Cozumel's only surviving ruin...But it's structures are small and crude and the clay images of Ixchel were long ago destroyed by the Spanish."
Both descriptions are accurate but which one gives the traveler the information to make an informed decision?

As I said off the top there's good information here about how cruises work, about different companies and ports of call. The book's well written by apparently knowledgeable contributors. It lacks an index (at least, the e-edition I read, did) which would have been useful. And it just left me with the nagging suspicion that it wasn't entirely on my side. -30-

[AmyNor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh - It doesn't actually give you recommendations, just all the options with no commentary.

[Maggie Anton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an edited version of Fodor's Caribbean 2016 that is geared to cruise ship passengers, not those on any island for longer than a day. I thought it would be useful for highlights in advance of our week-long trip to the Virgin Islands, but it's pretty much the same info. I'd suggest getting this from the library and photocopying the pages needed for a particular port.

[Kessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this travel guide immensely helpful especially when cruising to new ports of call. Each port includes a smidget of its history as well as a basic map of the island. I find this helps orient me as to where the ships are located in relation to sightseeing, shopping and restaurants. I especially appreciate the Coming Ashore sections that let you know what is within walking distance of the port. For example, the guide notes that in Curacao it is only a 4 minute walk to downtown areas. This is an awesome tip as most passengers are used to catching transportation from ports to areas of interest. I loved the little guide. It's perfect for casual cruising. I realize that this guide is a smaller version of Fodor's Caribbean, but it's the perfect size to pack with you on a cruise!

[Nick Salenga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that will prepare me to go on cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, Roatan, Honduras, Harvest Caye, Belize, & Costa Maya, Mexico on Norwegian Viva round trip to & from Galveston, Texas for my birthday.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read, even a must-owm if planning a cruise!

[Laurie Byro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found most of this very good advice and information. Couldn't go wrong with this travel book.
(I was a travel consultant, salaried not commission and manager at times) for 25 years.

[Rebecca Peplinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be treasure! So many ideas whether at the embarkation city or ports of call. I can’t wait to explore! The print / font is extremely small which made reading for long periods quite challenging. Overall an excellent resource whether you are cruising or not!

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fodor’s guidebooks contain a lot of helpful information as well as good maps. Caribbean Cruise Ports of Call is no exception. Although not as detailed as a Rick Steves guide, it covers the most time-worthy sights, beaches, restaurants, shopping and, in some cases, hotels on the islands. The book helped me plan our time on an upcoming cruise to the Dutch “ABC Islands”—Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether you want to snorkel around one of the colorful coral reefs in Bonaire, explore historic Nelson’s Dockyard on Antigua, or shop ‘til you drop in St. Thomas, Fodor’s in Caribbean cruise ports guidebook is packed with maps, recommendations, and everything else you need to simplify your trip-planning process and make the most of your time.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has minimal information on the ports, each island has just a few described attractions which come verbatim from Fodor's larger and better book on the Caribbean,Fodor 2012 Caribbean the only cruise specific information for each port is a brief description of how to get to town, there are no reviews of shore excursions either offered by the ship or by independent operators.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had some good information, especially for things to do in your departure city before or after your cruise. However, I thought it was a little light on helpful information for the ports of call. As the name insinuates, these are ports of call or stops on a cruise therefore, why would you need recommendations for hotels? I thought that was odd. I would have liked a little more information about good snorkeling spots or ideas on how to get past the crowds.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent source for someone unfamiliar with the main cruise lines and island options, but not as specific as I would have liked. I expected more detailed recommendations for shore excursions; many of the common shore excursions from various ports in the Lesser Antilles are not mentioned at all. No photos.

[JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fodor's guides consistently impress me, and this version is no exception. It's easy to navigate, informative, and focused on the key tips one really needs to know. I perused several books on the Caribbean and this one was easily the simplest and most helpful.

[Aurelio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surface introduction to different Caribbean ports targeted to those cruisers who know nothing about the area.

[Janusz Mrozek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical travel book. Navigation could have been better for being an ebook.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was extremely helpful since it's from 2014 nothing really has changed much in the countries. Definitely somthing worth reading for any one traveling in the caribean.

[Chrissy Shea Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t read the book from front to back but covered the areas I’ll be seeing on this year’s cruise. It’s definitely worth keeping for future trips.