As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Looking at a 4 day cruise on the Dream which has a port in Nassua. Looked at the excursion/activities and none seem to interest me and WOW are they expensive!! For those of you who have had the experience, what have you choosen to do there???
Convience me that Nassua is a good choice, please!!!!
We did the tour . ( around town ) It goes to the aquarium, a casino ( just a walk through to see the art ) and and gives you time to look around. Well worth your while!
Why Nassau? Cruisers want to visit exotic, foreign lands when they cruise, but there's only so far a ship can sail on a three- or four-night itinerary from Port Canaveral. The Bahamas don't have a lot of deep water anchorages ("Bahama" is derived from the Spanish baja mar - literally, "low sea" - "shallow seas" in this context). Other than the Bahamas, Key West is within reach, and folks from outside Florida enjoy stops in Key West. But since all cruise lines are drawing a large percentage of cruisers from the drive-to-the-port market, there are limits to how many Floridians are going to, for example, drive north from the Miami metro to Port Canaveral, just so they can visit an island they could have driven to at much lower cost.
So, back to, why Nassau? The Disney ships are registered in the Bahamas, and the cruise line leases Castaway Cay from the government of the Bahamas. Bahamian politicians would have a lot to answer for to the electorate if a Bahamian-registered cruise line did not bring free-spending tourists to the Bahama's biggest city and seat of government. Want to bet there's something buried in DCL's lease with the Bahamas that requires a certain number of annual visits to Nassau in exchange for allowing ships on the Caribbean itineraries to stop at Castaway Cay without visiting another Bahamian port? Then, cruise ship visitors like Nassau better than Grand Bahama. In Nassau, you can walk off the ship into town, do some shopping, and walk back to the ship, without paying for an excursion. In Grand Bahama, the port is miles from the hotel strip. There's no town to speak of - it more closely resembles low-density suburbs with small strip malls here, there, and the next place. The island was built-up to support stay-at-your-hotel style vacations, and surrounding the hotels are mostly vacation condos. You have to take an excursion bus to shop - there's virtually nothing right at the port (a few small shops).
So Nassau it is, and Nassau it will probably continue to be for a very long time. The Straw Market and glass-bottomed boat excursions were travel industry cliches even when I was a small kid and my parents were visiting Nassau on seven-night itineraries sailing from the old Hudson River piers in NYC.
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I stay aboard during stops at Nassau I avoid the residents wanting to braid my hair and to barter with me for merchandise and instead spend quality time aboard the ship while most of the guests have gone on excursions. To us, it is the least desirable port to disembark.
We shopped a little, and then returned to the ship for a quiet afternoon. I know that some people love Nassau, but it's not our fave. We enjoyed our time on the ship immensely (sp?), so we decided to do more of that.
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Looking forward to another Christmas with The Mouse!!
We always leave the ship in Nassau and do one or two excursions. We've done the Ardastra Zoo and Gardens (fun to see the "World Famous Marching Flamingoes" and the enclosure where the lorikeets sit on your head or arms and eat bites of apple from your hands). The drive through the city was mildly interesting. Did you know that the government buildings are all pink?
We've done the Discover Atlantis excursion which includes the beautiful underground aquarium and a walking tour of the resort. There's also plenty of time to explore on your own. This November we hope to do the stingray encounter in Nassau just to compare it with the one on Castaway Cay that we did a couple years ago.
If you don't want to pay Disney prices for an excursion, the PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line guide provides information on doing the excursions on your own. In some cases the on-your-own prices are only a dollar or two less than Disney's price, and you have to make your own transportation arrangements.
We've never encountered pushy vendors at either the strawmarket, along the waterfront, or in the shops. Someone may call out asking if we want a carriage or taxi ride, but we just say no thanks and keep on walking.
Unless you've experienced it at least once, there's no reason not to disembark in Nassau and enjoy the culture and the opportunity to visit a "foreign" port, even if it's just a walking tour of the area near the ship.
Thanks for the info, Dave!! Very interesting how politics always plays a part!!
I tend to agree with Judy in regards to Nassau not being one of my favorite ports but I know we will want to take in a bit of the culture since we are there. Currently, however, I have heard reports of high crime and tourists not being safe in the Bahamas.........Is that true???
Since we really want to sail on the DREAM, we will be going to the Bahamas so we will have to come up with some plan of action. Possibly just a little shopping to take in the sights and sounds but then back to the ship for some fun and relaxation!!
Not my favorite either. Last visit we got off the ship and shopped for about an hour then got back on. My girls stayed on board.
This trip we are going to splurge and do the aquaventure at atlantis. I know my girls want to do this. Plus I have been to Nassau it will be 3 times and have never been over to Atlantis. I want to see it as it looks beautiful.
Stay on board and enjoy the pool or see a movie. There is plenty to do. You choose that is the beauty of cruising.
I tend to agree with Judy in regards to Nassau not being one of my favorite ports but I know we will want to take in a bit of the culture since we are there. Currently, however, I have heard reports of high crime and tourists not being safe in the Bahamas.........Is that true???
There were two serious incidents last year, one involving DCL passengers. Both involved excursion groups being robbed at gunpoint. However, there have been no repeats since then (and one of the two seems like a "copycat"). The Bahamas and cruise lines did get a black eye (and wake-up call), so at least for now, they're being extra careful about keeping folks safe. These were the first major crimes in Nassau involving cruise ship tourists in many years, and I don't think this represents a trend. Most crime against cruise tourists is petty crime - picked pockets, scam artists, etc. There doesn't seem to be any uptick in that area. Traditional safety precautions should be adequate.
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are they expensive!! For those of you who have had the experience, what have you choosen to do there??? 
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I avoid the residents wanting to braid my hair and to barter with me for merchandise and instead spend quality time aboard the ship while most of the guests have gone on excursions. To us, it is the least desirable port to disembark.
*Ginger*
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