How can I tell if Woodwind is the operator on a Princess tour?

We could book privately I know but we are overly cautious.

Thanks!

Send Woodwind an email and they will tell you. I've found them to be very responsive to emails. With the stellar reputation of this particular vendor, I wouldn't hesitate to book with them directly. The only downside would be if for some reason your ship did not make the scheduled stop in Bonaire.

Be aware that if they do have a contract with the cruise line, they might not be permitted to book directly anyway. We found that to be the case with Sea Cow in Bonaire. Unfortunately, it means you pay the higher rate through the ship.

We could book privately I know but we are overly cautious.

 

Thanks!

They are not. They do not contract with any cruise line.

Since they fill up months, even years in advance, they have no need to partner with anybody.

The last time we spoke with Dee (who owns the Woodwind) she made it clear she does not do cruise line excursions. Why? No reason. She runs her own show, the way she wants, without any interference. Also, her boat is really not large enough to handle the numbers that would want to book her tour from a ship.

Hank

Yes, Woodwind runs their own show! We went out with them last week when we were in port and I highly recommend them! Email them, they are very responsive! It is a quick 5 minute walk off the ship to get to them, and everything is just as they stated it would be in their email. It was a great excursion, just wished it would have lasted longer!

Thanks all! I booked this and just told my husband it will be all right. It's nice they have RX marks, also.

We did it last week as well and loved it. I have another thread with a mini review on the Bonaire board. Also we did not pay tell after snorkeling, so if you miss it for some reason, you are not out anything and yes do it.

Thanks all! I booked this and just told my husband it will be all right. It's nice they have RX marks, also.

I booked with Woodwind both times I was in Bonaire.

They are very service oriented and I would recommend them with no hesitancy. No doubt that you will enjoy the excursion. Enjoy!

We went with them at Christmas. My wife has quite a strong eyeglass prescription but they had prescription masks that worked great for her. They were also very good with her in the water as she was quite nervous about the whole thing so the guide stayed close to her and helped her out.

They provided drinks while on board (soft drinks only i think, they might have sold beer but I cant quite remember) plus there was some kind of meal provided once we were out of the water and heading back to shore.

They also have a photographer that will go in the water with you and will take very high quality underwater shots and you can buy them after wards (I believe they load them onto a portable USB drive to take home)

Nice snorkel trip though we went in the morning and found the water was very choppy so maybe afternoon is better?

Very easy to find as well. Get off the ship and turn right and keep walking along the shore line and then through a hotel area. Maybe a 5 minute walk if that. You are very close to the ship

I can vouch for the promptness of their email. We live in AZ, and I asked some questions early in the evening, and Ulf responded before I went to bed. Wow! Also answered a couple of other questions very promptly. All we have to go off of are the high recommendations from Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor, but we took the advice and booked them a year ahead of time. Really looking forward to a trip with them! Our trip is early in the morning, after arrival, so we will not have issues getting back to the ship before it departs.