<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Mostly General Info & Very Weak on Central American Ports
Review: .
I purchased this book because the other books on the Caribbean did not include all the ports I'll be visiting on my March 2004 cruise. I looked at Fodor's, Frommer's, Lonely Planet, etc. I wanted to buy a book that contained all the ports for the Western Caribbean, and this book advertised just that. I was looking forward to the information that this book would provide.This book has 3 parts:
* Cruising and the Caribbean (18 pages)
* Caribbean Cruise Lines & their Ships (16 pages)
* Ports of Call (177 pages) Regarding the Ports of Call section... Here is what you get:
* The Bahamas (35 pages)
* Key West (20 pages)
* Jamaica (34 pages)
* The Cayman Islands (17 pages)
* The Mexican Caribbean (36 pages)
* Central America (23 pages) My cruise is going to Grand Cayman, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Cozumel. I read the first 2 parts of the book along with the chapters in Ports of Call that dealt with the ports I will be visiting. Most of the Ports of Call chapters do a good job of evaluating the port and country. Topics covered in each port/country are
* at a glance (summary about the country),
* brief history,
* fast facts (country facts),
* budget planning (weak),
* a list of the author's favorite attractions (but we aren't told why they are "favorites"),
* popular shore excursions offered by most cruise lines, and
* exploring on your own (driving, shopping, dining, sports, entertainment, nightlife). The Central America chapter was very weak and this was very disappointing to me, since 3 of the 5 ports I will be visiting are in Central America. The Central America chapter deals with Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama (all of those countries in just 23 pages...that's less than 4 pages per country). The author should have devoted as much time to Central America as she did to the Bahamas, Key West, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and Mexican ports. As an example...the Panama pages are primarily a history lesson on the Panama Canal; only a few paragraphs mention shore excursions. The author should have devoted one chapter to each Central American country. The author does not attempt to rate or evaluate the shore excursions. She merely describes them (much like a cruise line's brochure or website). This was also disappointing to me. The book was helpful in confirming the research that I had already done on the Internet (and that info is free to everyone...unlike this book). Honestly, I can't recommend this book. I do recommend that you use the Internet to do your research as well as the cruise line's website. You can find a lot of helpful cruise info and reviews at this website: http://www.cruisecritic.com/ You can obtain valuable research info from many other websites as well...just take your time to do your research (and then you can write a better book than this one).
.
<< 1 >>
| 
