Pretty much all the things that you listed as positives, I viewed as detractors. Guess I'm old fart, but i'm usually looking for good golf courses, upper tier restaurants, and tend to avoid bars that feature bajingo-launched ping pong balls - technique only.
LSO, remind me not to go on liberty with you. You sound like the chief of the fun police. Sent from my BlackBerry 9850 using Tapatalk
Concur, except the golf (that's for fags ). There's only so much novelty one can experience in the various forms of genital gymnastics in foreign lands. If I'm going to get shitfaced in port, I'd rather do it in a high end establishment and not have a legion of TEDs screaming and vomiting next to me. Brett
I enjoyed Benidorm, Spain and Palma was very nice. We also visited Cannes, France during the Film Festival, awesome place. Worst was the 2 stops to Naples each for a month at a time, just so much time in the arm pit of the Med if you ask me.
Be still my heart.... the many ports of my youth, and the many I sadly missed. What a thread! Disclaimer: My memories are exceptionally valuable, and you will be charged massively to ever learn.
Fun police? Hardly. Just different priorities since my first JO cruise, unless we're in a complete shit hole and there's nothing else to see / do.
This is totally off topic, but can we change the DOD requirement from doing the stupid online training in "Traffickin in Persons" once a year to watching "Taken" once a year. Its much better training and more enjoyable.
Thoughts.... Palma--LOVED it the first time. Came back 10 years later and it seemed like the Panama City of Europe. I don't know if it changed or I changed, but I'm guessing the later. Phuket--Everyone needs to go to Thailand once before he dies, because otherwise you'll never be able to say you've "seen it all." Returning is strictly optional. Singapore--expensive, but awesome. "A round of beers is $100 for the FIVE of us?" Crete--great tourism, great times hanging out, but you have to get off the beaten path. We had a local restaurant owner who loved us and hooked us up to no end. Malta--not mentioned yet, but solid. Good blend of some decent bars and good tourism. Am I wrong to say I really enjoyed Dubai? Everyone says it's expensive, but $50 got us all we could eat and drink at a fairly classy joint, and we definitely made our money back. As long as you don't stumble down the street or get jiggy in public, it's party central, at least by Arab standards.
-1 for reading comprehension. Not wrong at all, I had a blast in Dubai. The time we were restricted to the sandbox kinda sucked though.[/quote][/quote]
Gr8 thread, but it really makes this ol' fart jealous to realize how many 'exotic' places that I never got to experience! On our '66 & '67 VN cruises, got 2 stops each cruise in Yokosuka (coming & going); 1 port call each cruise in Hong Kong. All the other 'R & R' visits were 'Po City. I'm not knocking Cubi...many good libs been had there...but after a while, It gets OLD! On Connie in '67, having just been relieved onsta by FORRESTAL & prepping for the long anticipated visit to Australia, emergency recall, then underway returning to replace FORRESTAL which had just had the disasterous tragedy. Tough for us, but sad & tragic for them. Never got to Oz that cruise. BzB
Could be worse - you could stop at Subic and not be allowed across The Bridge. (Yes, you read that right...)
I recall that Da Po' used to be regularly placed off limits during local (Mayoral) campaigns/elections. We may think our campaigns are 'rough', the OL started in the '60s when one Mayoral candidate's gang assassinated his rival in a "mud street" niteclub (Chicago style)! BzB
Two port calls in Subic in 2009 (both 2+ weeks long) and got full access to the local area! Pretty good diving in the PI and lots of ways to get into trouble....
So I had no idea where Subic was and had to google it, clicked on the images tab and ya definitely NSFW!
Malta was pretty fun. We were there in summer '04, and at least at the time, it was the place for hip young Eurotrash to go. Going on an 'eastpac' counter-dope cruise on a frigate meant getting to see some non-traditional liberty ports, like Panama City. PC is a old-school white hat liberty port (steak, beer and lap dance for $20). Generally safe and clean (at least by Central American standards), natives were friendly - most common question was when are the yanquis going to take the Canal back, things ran so much smoother then - and holy G-d were the women gorgeous.
Rhodes Greece, at least in 91, took the bitter edge off a long cruise with little port time (9 days iirc). Got a room down in Lindos and had the admin I the Rhodes palace. We were the first cvn in a long time to hit it. Anchored out but it was a 5 minute ride and the port is where the collasis of Rhodes stood.
Subic Bay- Not to great, I heard it was better when we still had bases there. Went to a pretty cool bar/restraunt that was massive and mostly outdoors. Thats about the best thing there. Try not to get tetnis Pataya Beach- Cheap, great food, interesting culture... crazy Phufket(sic?)- Awesome, beautiful, cheap, lot better than Pataya. You need to take the elephant ride through the jungle
In my day, it was Subic, Pattaya Beach, Singapore, Hong Kong, Yokosuka, Pusan, etc....The P.I. of course is nothing like the 80's when I was going there and tearing up Magsaysay, Gordan Ave...Pusan had the legendary Texas Street (supposedly off-limits now due to many squids getting in fights with Russian fisherman). Hong Kong was great when the China Fleet Club was going, "Bull and the Bear" pub, Suzy Wong district, Central, Stanley...And, who can not say they had a good time in Thailand! Later, Persian Excursion liberty was downright boring...oh yay...a beer garden on the pier and a schwarma...geeze
Rio- No gouge neccessary. A wet-behind-the-ears Ensign couldn't f it away. Rota, Spain- Tour a bodega, eat some paella, drink some wine and go to the beach.
I dig Rota okay, but it's hardly among the "best liberty ports." Puerto de Santa Maria is pretty nice, though.
