PORT TRANSPORTATION
Transportation when cruising
The first thing you want to do is— do some research— on the specific port you are stopping at, lots of info available from others that have been there on forums like Trip Advisor, also Country websites will usually post taxi rates, bus routes etc.
When you are getting off at a port there are usually a few different options available. here are some general transportation info/tips,
(on the main Budget Cruising Tips in the section “ports we have been to” I will detail some more useful info for each port).
Taxi– usually taxis are available and will run the same price whether you have one person or a full car, larger cars/SUVs and vans will usually have a higher rate but will fit more people
Some small countries ( like St Thomas, USVI we visited) will have Taxis that shuttle a bunch of people to different areas and you will pay per person.
In some places you will pay more for a taxi in the port/tourist area and it is cheaper a few blocks into town, some it is the same either way (Mexico is pretty good about having a posted/set rate you can count on (here is a good write up on taxis in Mexico), but if you don’t know the rates some will charge you more)
Couple more things on taxis, some places that taxis run regular they drop you off and you find a different one back. Sometimes you will negotiate a rate with a taxi driver to take you somewhere, pick you up 2-3 hours later, and bring you back (we have done that more in Mexico).
If you want to just see sights, usually you can get a taxi driver to drive you and take you around to all the normal sites that the tours would go and stop somewhere (if you want) to buy some souvenirs or whatever(same type of thing you might get on a “shore excursion” but on a much better schedule and cheeeaaper)
Uber– if you are in US ports (it is working its way into other countries) Uber is a good option over a regular taxi
Local Bus -there are several different types of buses in smaller countries, from30-40 passenger to smaller 12-14 passenger Toyota like vans.
if you know where you want to go usually you can find bus stop and route info online and save a lot of money by taking the local bus , for example in the Bahamas, Nassau we walked about 5-6 blocks to the bust stop and it was $1.25 ea to get to Saunders Beach (nice beach, not a lot of tourists make it out there) and the same to get back, would have been about $12 taxi each way.
The main thing is to know what is- what bus you want to be on!, in most Caribbean islands (Bahamas, St Maarten, Jamaica, etc) you don’t have to be at a bus stop to get a ride, if they have a sign showing the place you want to go just look at them and stick your hand in the air and they will pick you up (if they have room, and sometimes even if they don’t) sometimes as they are driving by they will even yell out where they are going to see if you want a ride, some taxi drivers will do that too, most places the “bus” will have a sign in the window and the taxi will have a taxi sign. some areas the bus will not have/give change so either have some change or give up the change.
Plan adequate time! Be aware of how long it takes to get to your destination, the bus may take a little longer than a taxi because it make more stops and could drive slower, plan your return trip accordingly
Shuttle– some ports you almost have to take a shuttle of some sort (or walk a looong ways) to get to the main part of town where you find taxis or the bus to where you want to go, usually these are only a couple dollars (seems like Ensenada does that as well as Costa Maya that we have been)
Tour – sometimes you may not have any real plans or specifics of stuff you want to do, most of the time when you get off the ship you will find people selling excursions (snorkeling, island tour, zipline, fishing, jeep tours, swimming with stingrays, etc) and they will provide transportation from the pier to those things and back, just double check that they do and that, and that you will be back to your ship on time, they are pretty good about knowing when the ship is leaving and will get you back in plenty of time, if you are doing this make sure you get off the ship early so you are not pushing it.
Water Taxis – some areas will have water taxis, not usually the quickest form of transportation, can be kind of a novelty or there are some small islands/areas only accessible that way, (it was an option for us in St. Maarten to get to the main part of town) just remember it is a lot easier to get sea sick on a small little boat than big ones.
Car Rental – usually renting a car in another country is not the best idea, especially if they drive on the other side of the road, the big kicker is there may be a cheap advertised rate but then they hit you with an expensive insurance, also in some areas you may have to pay for parking, the only place we have rented a car when we got off in a port in in San Diego, mostly because the public transportation did not go as far as we wanted to go and we had too many people for a taxi.