Biggest destination disappointment

I always do a ton of research before I go on a trip and after traveling as much as I have, I have a pretty good idea of what I like and don't like. Therefore, I'm rarely disappointed in a vacation spot. I dislike vacation spots that are an artificial environment like Vegas or the whole cruise ship scene so I avoid those whereas I love anything historical or nature based so that's what I concentrate on and I always have a good time.

However, the one time that I was completely disappointed was when we went to Bali. We were there for a liveaboard dive trip to Komodo. The dive trip was unbelievable, amazing, off the charts. Bali itself - not so much. We went right after the nightclub bombings in 2002 that killed a bunch of tourists. The tourist trade had practically dried up and the locals were pretty desperate. We were hounded and chased constantly by vendors. We could not get them to stop grabbing at us trying to sell us stuff. In addition, everyone wanted you to bargain for everything. They set prices ridiculously high, then expected you to bargain them down, but I hate bargaining and when I was hungry the last thing on earth that I wanted to do was bargain for the price of my meal. The island was spectacularly beautiful, but unbelievably dirty - mounds of trash piled everywhere. I'm sure others have had better experiences there, but it was one of my least favorite places ever.
 
Biggest disappoint was our recent transatlantic cruise. It's not a single place, but was expensive and mind numbingly BORING!!

We cruise a lot but have always chosen port heavy itineraries. We'll cruise again, but never again will we do a transatlantic.
 
Lisa99 said:
Biggest disappoint was our recent transatlantic cruise. It's not a single place, but was expensive and mind numbingly BORING!!

We cruise a lot but have always chosen port heavy itineraries. We'll cruise again, but never again will we do a transatlantic.
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I guess the passengers on the one and only transatlantic cruise on the Titanic could not complain of boredom!

Was it the fact that the view every day was "ocean"? The lack of ports of call? Or other factors?
 
I think it had a lot to do with our ship choice. It was the Celebrity Constellation and is a smaller ship that we're used to. There were no consistently quiet public spaces to read and most of the activities were sedentary (bingo, scrap booking classes, art). Nine days of this on the water and I was ready to commit hary-cary.

I think if we would have been on one of the newer class Royal Carribean ships it would have been better, but I'm not going to shell out $7k to find out!

and so true about the Titanic passengers!
 
meridiver said:
I always do a ton of research before I go on a trip and after traveling as much as I have, I have a pretty good idea of what I like and don't like. Therefore, I'm rarely disappointed in a vacation spot. I dislike vacation spots that are an artificial environment like Vegas or the whole cruise ship scene so I avoid those whereas I love anything historical or nature based so that's what I concentrate on and I always have a good time.

However, the one time that I was completely disappointed was when we went to Bali. We were there for a liveaboard dive trip to Komodo. The dive trip was unbelievable, amazing, off the charts. Bali itself - not so much. We went right after the nightclub bombings in 2002 that killed a bunch of tourists. The tourist trade had practically dried up and the locals were pretty desperate. We were hounded and chased constantly by vendors. We could not get them to stop grabbing at us trying to sell us stuff. In addition, everyone wanted you to bargain for everything. They set prices ridiculously high, then expected you to bargain them down, but I hate bargaining and when I was hungry the last thing on earth that I wanted to do was bargain for the price of my meal. The island was spectacularly beautiful, but unbelievably dirty - mounds of trash piled everywhere. I'm sure others have had better experiences there, but it was one of my least favorite places ever.
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Bad Rap.
When I was in Bali (also right after the bombing) I thought it was spectacularly beautiful. We stayed in Nusa Dua where they keep the riff-raff at bay. Umbud was much more beautiful and serene than anywhere on earth- puts somewhere like Hawaii to shame.

Bali is like many places, Mexico, Jamaica, southeast Asia are all similar. You have it, they want it. Third world countries are like that. If you don't want to be hustled don't go. It comes with the territory.
 
WoW that price sure seems high. We are booked on Royar Carribean for Nov. and it is $3,000 (including tips) a couple. plus port call activity
 
The cruise itself (the cabin charge) was only $3k. The total cost of the trip came in at $7k.

Daily gratuities were not included (almost $500), the excursions we did in London, Paris and Amsterdam totaled almost $1k, had to pay for our return airfare from Germany, and airfare from Vegas (home) to Miami.....then there's my husband and his famous bar bill. He found a wine that he LOVED and had to have it at dinner every night to the tune of another $1k.

So while we could have done the cruise for a lot less, it was still boring :D
 
Our cabin is $630 each, and air fair $650, 14 day cruise. I rounded it to $3,000 for both to cover the tip. It may run a little more, and shore excursions will up the bill. I don't think the bar bill will be a problem but hey, it might! We might start to practice 'When is it time to spend down your stash' from another thread.
 
I think one of our least exciting vacations was to the Big Island in Hawaii. We stayed on the dry side. The condo/hotel area we stayed at was nice but beyond that there were miles and miles of almost nothing but lava fields. Maybe it would have been more fun if we had stayed on the Hilo side.

As far as other people's least favorites - I though Stonehenge was okay. I mean I wouldn't make it an end destination point but if you are in England anyway it is worth a visit.

I also liked Las Vegas, Cancun and Honolulu. I was in Cancun years ago when it was less touristy than I've heard it is today. When I was there I went snorkeling at Xel-ha when it was an undeveloped lagoon surrounded my Mayan ruins with big (3 foot) green lizards running around. I saw on the travel channel that today that area looks more like a commercial waterpark.
 
TooFrugal said:
I think one of our least exciting vacations was to the Big Island in Hawaii. We stayed on the dry side. The condo/hotel area we stayed at was nice but beyond that there were miles and miles of almost nothing but lava fields. Maybe it would have been more fun if we had stayed on the Hilo side.
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Wow. I guess everyone has their own tastes. We think the Kona side of the Big Island is the best place on earth. The Hilo side is depressing - the pits, except of course the volcano. Kona has spectacular diving, snorkeling, fishing, and everything else having to do with the water, in my experience better than places people rave about like the Great Barrier Reef. The town is the perfect size and the perfect blend of locals and tourists. I really can't imagine what would be appealing about Honolulu, and I have spent a fair bit of time there! But, to each his/her own.
 
Lisa99 said:
I think it had a lot to do with our ship choice. It was the Celebrity Constellation and is a smaller ship that we're used to. There were no consistently quiet public spaces to read and most of the activities were sedentary (bingo, scrap booking classes, art). Nine days of this on the water and I was ready to commit hary-cary.
Click to expand...
Different cruise lines and different cruise destinations all have their own demographic. The cheaper lines (such as Carnival) tend to be noisier and with younger passengers. Also, tropical destinations tend to have a younger crowd than, say, Alaska or Europe which is likely to have more older passengers (and more sedentary or senior-based activities).

My wife used to be a travel agent selling cruises, so we went on a few and learned some of the differences through experience. :)
 
Kona has spectacular diving, snorkeling, fishing, and everything else having to do with the water, in my experience better than places people rave about like the Great Barrier Reef. The town is the perfect size and the perfect blend of locals and tourists.
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We don't dive or fish so maybe that made it less fun there for us. We have stayed the most in Kihei on Maui and quite like it there.

On thing that was really cool on the Big Island besides the volcano was all of the sea turtles.
 
We leave for Alaska on Saturday. Two weeks with an RV. There has been a lot of rain so who knows.

For me the worst USA destination is Las Vegas. I have turned down free trips there.

Dullest big European city was Brussels.
 
meridiver said:
However, the one time that I was completely disappointed was when we went to Bali. We were there for a liveaboard dive trip to Komodo. The dive trip was unbelievable, amazing, off the charts. Bali itself - not so much. We went right after the nightclub bombings in 2002 that killed a bunch of tourists. The tourist trade had practically dried up and the locals were pretty desperate. We were hounded and chased constantly by vendors. We could not get them to stop grabbing at us trying to sell us stuff. In addition, everyone wanted you to bargain for everything. They set prices ridiculously high, then expected you to bargain them down, but I hate bargaining and when I was hungry the last thing on earth that I wanted to do was bargain for the price of my meal. The island was spectacularly beautiful, but unbelievably dirty - mounds of trash piled everywhere. I'm sure others have had better experiences there, but it was one of my least favorite places ever.
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ITA!! We had such great expectations for Bali, but were mauled, harrassed & abused by the locals. We were there in 2008 on a "pass thru" visit to Wakatobi Dive Resort, Sulawesi, Indonesia (which was AMAZING!). On the pass thru back we stayed at a 4 star hotel in the Nusa Dusa area...much less public harrassment but artificially mellowed for tourists IMO. Like staying under a Bell Jar for Tourists. Loved the Balinese dancing, ruins, temples....too bad they treat tourists like sh*t!:(

Love the locals in Fiji, just a short hop away. They are incredibly beautiful and friendly people. :flowers:
 
Emeritus said:
Dullest big European city was Brussels.
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Yep, DW lived there 25 years ago when we got together and then, as now, Antwerp was a much cooler place.

I alsothink that Bruges/Brugge is massively overrated. On a recent vacation we were in St Malo, France and sat at lunch next to a US couple who were on a cruise from Barcelona to Amsterdam. They were sooo looking forward to Bruges, but we couldn't get excited for them. That could be because, unlike some who have posted here, we love Venice... we love getting lost there. We went out to Murano, found a square with a local restaurant, and ate among working people for peanuts.

Here's another tip for Venice: it can be hard to find a clean public toilet. One way to "go" is to use your vaporetto pass (Do Not Do Venice Without A Vaporetto Pass) to go out to San Michele island, which is always described as "Venice's cemetery", and use the facilities there. But we found the cleanest place was in the very little-known cemetery of Murano itself. No tourists, and some interesting graves (including some super headstones on the resting places of local glass blowers).
 
BigNick said:
we love Venice... we love getting lost there. We went out to Murano, found a square with a local restaurant, and ate among working people for peanuts.

Here's another tip for Venice: it can be hard to find a clean public toilet. One way to "go" is to use your vaporetto pass (Do Not Do Venice Without A Vaporetto Pass) to go out to San Michele island, which is always described as "Venice's cemetery", and use the facilities there. But we found the cleanest place was in the very little-known cemetery of Murano itself. No tourists, and some interesting graves (including some super headstones on the resting places of local glass blowers).
Click to expand...

We love Venice.
Best cheap hotel is the LUX ( for the tolerant)
In the last year they have installed very clean very expensive (one Euro) public toilets right at the vaporetto stop san Marco

We go to Rome in October
 
meridiver said:
However, the one time that I was completely disappointed was when we went to Bali. We were there for a liveaboard dive trip to Komodo. The dive trip was unbelievable, amazing, off the charts.
Click to expand...

NW Landlady said:
ITA!! We had such great expectations for Bali, but were mauled, harrassed & abused by the locals. We were there in 2008 on a "pass thru" visit to Wakatobi Dive Resort, Sulawesi, Indonesia (which was AMAZING!). On the pass thru back we stayed at a 4 star hotel in the Nusa Dusa area...much less public harrassment but artificially mellowed for tourists IMO. Like staying under a Bell Jar for Tourists. Loved the Balinese dancing, ruins, temples....too bad they treat tourists like sh*t!:(

Love the locals in Fiji, just a short hop away. They are incredibly beautiful and friendly people. :flowers:
Click to expand...

DW and I are looking forward to diving all those places once we get our kids situated. And can both take off 3-4 weeks minimum at the same time.
 
I don't know if I would ever say I was "disappointed" in a destination, although maybe surprised at what I found when I got there. But to me, that is part of the trip. I dont think there is any place I have been that I regretted. But I am not hard to please, as long as I am traveling and not working.....:D






For some of the previous places mentioned, I would say:
  • Niagra Falls - the falls are amazing, the area is now (sadly) over-commercialized
  • Disney - if you don't go with a child's mindset, you are wasting your money.
  • Venice - I thought it was neat. I mean....there are no roads. Watching a police chase or an ambulance rushing to its' destination by boat is sort of different....
  • Rome - I love old architecture. The city itself was crowded and scary - but I thought the sites were great
  • Mt Rushmore - again, I was impressed. All I could kept thinking was "Damn that's big". Wouldn't make it a 2 week trip, but worth seeing if you are anywhere in the area.
  • Grand Canyon - another place I kept staring at in awe saying "Damn, that's big"
  • I also loved just about any "old" smaller city in Europe (Salzburg, Maastricht).
Other places not mentioned that I think are noteworthy are Mesa Verde (Colorado), Alaska (esp. Denali), and the trip up to Eagle's Nest (Hitler's retreat in Germany). I found each of these to be very memorable experiences.


The one thing I will say surprised me was the Eiffel Tower. We saw the from the distance the night before (all lit up) and it was beautiful. Should have stopped there. The next day when we went to see it up close. It looked like a rusted erector set to me. I was sort of surprised how unattractive I thought it was.

Oh, and the Mona Lisa. It struck me as much smaller than I expected. Of course, I have no idea why I was thinking what I was in the first place.....
 
Recently cruised Royal Carribean transatlantic. Six of the sixteen day cruise were spent at sea. Enjoyable excursions at port in 5 countries once we arrived. Pros and cons but will likely fly across Atlantic in future. Very loonnnggg six days. Spent too much at the art auction - captive audience.
 
Bridgetown Barbados was a disappointment for me. Freeport Bahamas was also not great. Montego Bay suffered from bad ocean. Loved St Lucia and St Martin.

I liked Brussels but then only spent 2 days and 2 nights there.

Bern in Switzerland is pretty bad.
 
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