Jewish Heritage Tour

We visited Curacao on our recent Carnival Conquest voyage. We decided to do the Jewish Heritage Tour, which was led by our friendly and learned guide, Gigi Schlepper.

The tour lasted about 3 hours and visited Mikve-Israel-Emanuel synagogue, the longest active synagogue in the western hemisphere. We learned much about the history of Jewish settlement in the Netherlands Antilles and marveled at the simple beauty of the synagogue, with its floor of sand, cobalt blue glass windows and beautiful woodwork. In addition we visited the adjacent museum and saw artificacts that dated back 800 years or more.

The tour also visited the Jewish cemetery with its tombstones damaged by the nearby oil refinery. We then went to visit the Curacao liqueur factory where we had tastings of this wonderful liqueur.

Gigi was an incredibly knowledgeable guide and was very friendly. She was waiting for our group at the pier when we docked. She also gave us the option of returning directly to the ship at the end of the tour or being dropped off at the shopping/restaurant area which was only a short walk back to the ship. She was bar far the best guide we have ever had on an excursion. We would rate this tour with 5 Stars

Who did you book this tour through?

It was found in this forum by one of our cruising companions. We were looking for an excursion that would be different, and we did not want to spend the day at the beach since we were going to a beach at the 3 other ports on this cruise.

The cost was $60 per person paid at the conclusion of the tour. We gave Gigi an additional $10 per couple and the driver of the van $5 per couple, which was purely voluntary on our part. There were 8 people all together, the 6 in our party and 2 women who joined us.

Gigi's email address is: gigischeper@hotmail.com

Thanks so much. I'll e mail right away as we'll be there the first week in March. Sounds like an interesting tour.

If you need any more information on this tour or on Curaçao, you can email me at bsilver28@gmail.com. You will love Curaçao

Thank you for this recommendation.

It is something different and very interesting to do here in Curacao. Glad you enjoyed the island.

We have this tour booked for our day in Curaçao 3/6. Gigi is looking for 4 more people to add to the tour that day. If you're interested e mail her right away or try meeting her there. She will be at the pier where the sign says "Pick Up Tours Internet" and will be wearing a purple polo shirt and a white hat with Curaçao written on it.

Have you also put this on your roll call?

What ship are you coming to Curacao on? I will post this on the FB page

Curacao - Cruise Port of Call

as there are always people looking for interesting excursions.

I'll be there in Adventure if the Seas.

Based on recommendations, we also booked with Gigi. But she never showed up for our tour. We were so disappointed. We have not heard from her at all.

Sure hope Gigi doesn't do that to use. On the ship now and due in Curaçao in two days.

Sure hope Gigi doesn't do that to use. On the ship now and due in Curaçao in two days.

Let us know if there was any problem

Gigi was there waiting for us and we had a wonderful tour. She is very informative about life in Curacao and the history and culture of the Jewish population. It was nice to do a different type of tour on one of the islands.

So glad yu enjoyed it. I feel bad for stargate fan who missed it due to Gigi"s fathers' illness. I hope he is doing ok and that Gigi can continue to operate this wonderful tour.

Excited to find this! I was hoping for a non-sunbathing type activity but nothing took my fancy so far so this looks wonderful! We have a 2 year old but hopefully she can still accommodate us.