Caribbean Ports of Call: Eastern and Southern Regions

I got this book and the Frommers ports of call guide for a trip to the Southern Caribbean and Puerto Rico. My plan was to rely mainly on the Frommers book, and I bought this as a "just in case" book because it was offered at a bargain price. It turned out this book had much more detailed information and I would buy this instead of Frommers if I had to choose just one book. One of the best features of this book is that it has a rough map of each port city and about 2 pages describing a walking tour. This was great for the ports where we were too tried to rent a car or cab to drive around the island. I was amazed that Frommers didn't have this, not even for San Juan; it just said, you can go tour historic San Juan - with not much other info. That's not useful when you have only 4 hours to see an unfamiliar city and quickly need to devise a walking tour for yourself! The book also has suggested itineraries for driving around the islands if you want to rent a car - which we did in several ports. They're clearly designed for a person who has only a day to see the place, which I found great. Again, the Frommers guide seemed more disorganized, listing several attractions but without organizing them into trips by region. Finally, I can't believe the low price at which the book is now offered! Get it now if you're going on a cruise! It's going to be worth the price.

I used this book on my Dec 2008 trip to 11 ports of call. I had four guides but this book was the book I referred to most. We don't tend to do on-ship excursions and this book covers the port as well as self-guided trips ashore. Highly recommended.

This is by far the best of the three Caribbean cruise books I bought. It has big easy to read type, lots of information and few photos. Each port has a nice map and specific information about typical cruise ship tours, but also has things you can do on your own, cab fares and tips, buses, places to walk to etc. Each port and island has a section on what you can do on your own, without paying for the way overpriced cruise ship tours. Of my three books this has three times the text on each port and island. I do not need a book of photos but do need specific recommendations for each port. Also, each port is scored on each of 20 categories, scenery, shopping, beaches, architecture, etc. My only complaint is that the very nice maps do not have distance scales. It has so many positive features that this can be forgiven.

Walking tours! It has walking tours and maps of the ports and very complete information on each island listed. If you want to tour on our own, this is book for you.

This book was definitely the most (if not the only) practical book for my week-long cruise along Eastern Caribbean islands last week, and I took a good look at about ten of them! It provides a good balance between amount and brevity of information to make it a fast and easy read and to help you schedule your limited time on each island as best as possible, depending on your particular interests - be it shopping, sunbathing, golfing, or fishing. Not an encyclopedia on Eastern Caribbean but has just enough for a cruise passenger! A perfect five!