Fort de France, Martinique Cruise Port Walk Around

Key Takeaways

• Explora I was the only ship in port, and I think they can only take one ship at a time here.
• There’s a hotel right at the port, plus a taxi stand, an excursion desk and signs pointing you to the toilets.
• They make you walk through a little shopping village before you get out to the town, and a lot of the exits were chained off, so it took me a bit to find my way out. There’s a McDonald’s right outside.
• Things are in euros here. I brought cash with me this time so I didn’t have to deal with the euro struggle.
• Downtown is streets and streets of shops, a baguette shop, a KFC where you order on a screen, and some really narrow streets. Watch the motorcycles, and crosswalks mean nothing.
• I walked through a local market selling spices, vanilla, produce, hats and lots of homemade stuff in bottles. You could smell the spices.
• St. Louis Cathedral is a beautiful building, and they had a Christmas tree set up outside when I was there.
• Along the water there’s a little park with food stalls that I’m assuming open at night, and you get a great view of the ship. There’s a small beach near the fort, but that’s about it for beaches.

Good to Know

It was hot and steamy, but thank goodness there was a strong wind. This is one of those spots that looks nicer from the ship than it does when you’re walking around. It’s not bad, but it’s definitely not impressive, and the people downtown are mostly locals going about their day.

Unlike some of the other towns, there are sidewalks here. A few blocks out it starts to thin out and turn residential, and a couple of streets gave me some vibes that said turn around, so I headed back toward the cathedral and the waterfront.

We’d been across the bay at Les Trois Ilets just a few days earlier, and that side was very small, quaint and beautiful, with beach after beach. Fort de France is a lot more city, so if you’re here for beaches, plan on getting out of town.