There are things that rural Caribbean does that are definitely head scratchers.

One of them, to this day, I still don't understand, is why Royal Caribbean in some ports has absolutely terrible hours. I'm talking about the ports of call in which you don't have a full day there. You have like a half a day. But the hours they choose, not only are they weird, but it really makes it. So it's almost impossible to do anything in port. There are three ports that I'm aware of where this is consistently an issue.

St. Thomas, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Costa Maya. In each of these cases, there's a better than average chance that if you're on a real Caribbean cruise that visits one of these ports, you're going to end up with only a couple of hours. I was recently on Star of the Seas, and this is why we wanted

to talk about this, because we were going to Costa Maya. Great. I love Costa Maya, because number one, I'm a big fan of going to Mexico in general. I mean, food alone is a good reason to go there. But number two, I love going to Maya Chan. Maya Chan is a independent short excursion that you can go to and I've been going there for years and years and years and it's one of my favorite things

to do over there. The problem, however, is that we were only in 4 from 7.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and it's just not enough time. When we did start the seas over Thanksgiving, we had this exact same scenario. And I said, we're going, and we're going to have fun no matter what. And we did have a good time. Don't get there with enough time. The problem is realistically, you don't get there with enough time. I mean, we got off the ship exactly when it was cleared, but we really didn't get to like Maya Chan because of the walk through the port, the check-in, getting a taxi, and going over there. It was like 9 o'clock in the morning by the time we actually arrived. And then we had to turn around and leave

because we'd be back on the ship by 1.30. So I think we left around noon or something, leaving just like three or four hours. That's really not a lot of time and certainly not enough time to quote-unquote make it worthwhile. And this has occurred many times. I mean, St. Thomas, I really do not recall

the last time I was in St. Thomas for more than like four or five hours. Every time you're

either there very early in the morning, like 7.30 a.m. to 1 o'clock or 2 o'clock, or you are coming

there in the afternoon, something, you know, where you come in very late. Puerto Rico is very similar where you come in early in the afternoon, something where you come in very late.

Puerto Rico is very similar, where you come in early in the morning, early in the afternoon.

The evening stops like I did want an oasis of the seas this past fall.

It wasn't terrible because we got in at like 2 o'clock and we weren't leaving until, I forget, like 8 or 9 o'clock at night.

So the advantage was that a lot of the people that had come for the day had already kind of finished what they were doing. And also we could say for dinner, which usually you don't get to do. You don't get to enjoy sunsets and nighttime viewing in these ports. But the problem in Puerto Rico is similar to the problem you have with the early morning stops, is that once you get past 5 o'clock, all the tourist places shut down. Like even on Fortaleza Street, the shops, after like five, it was closed. Now, the restaurants were open, right? But it was pretty much a ghost town after that. And when you come in in the morning, the other problem compounding the issue when you do an early morning visit like 7.30 a.m. Nothing's open until 9 o'clock at the very earliest.

It doesn't matter. And when you come in in the morning, the other problem compounding the issue when you do an early morning visit like 7.30 a.m., nothing's open until 9 o'clock at the very earliest.

It doesn't matter what time the cruise ship's come in.

There are no shops open at 7.30 in the morning or 8 o'clock in the morning. They'll open at 9. If you walk through the port of Costa Maya or if you go to Charlotte Amalia and St. Thomas at 8 o'clock in the morning, you're going to be enjoying a very nice leisurely stroll with a lot of closed places. I mean, the Caribbean in general, you don't really see a lot of shops opening until maybe 10 o'clock in the morning. And I really don't know why Rural Corbin does this. I mean, I think part of it, well, obviously it's cost. Okay, let's be clear on this. I am sure, without a shadow of a doubt, they're doing to save money. I don't understand it. I mean, I think part of it, well, obviously it's cost. Okay, let's be clear out of this. I am sure, without a shadow of a doubt, they're doing to save money. I don't understand it. I mean, in Costa Maya, they literally own the port. Royal Caribbean bought the port of Costa Maya recently in order to build the perfect name Mexico, which will be forthcoming. So I get they still have to, you know, one hand pays the other hand and that kind of thing. But like, I still really, truly do not understand why they do that. Part of it, I think, is timing. They want to make sure they can get to the next port, although in the case of Star of the Seas, we're going between Cosamel, Roatan, and Costa Maya. In fact, it was kind of funny because we went from Cozumel, which is the northernmost port.

We sailed past Costa Maya down to Roatan, spent a full day over there, and then came back to Costa Maya for the last stop.

It seemed very roundaboutish. But like, it's got to be a cost issue. I'm sure that every minute you spend in port costs a cruise line money.

And it's probably cheaper to come in

for just a couple hours rather than the full day. It also could be logistical issues. Like I said,

getting the next port, fuel costs, I don't know. And then there's always the factor of if the ship

is in port, the shops, the casino cannot be open because of the local regulations. And so that cost them

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