What to do over night in Curarcao?

Hi everyone! Need a little help to figure out what to do in Curaraco Feb. 25-26. We are overnight ( a first for us) on the Eclipse and would like to take advantage of the extra time. Is there anything we shouldn't miss on the island? ( were diverted there once back in the late 90's and my dfil drug us into a casino!) thanks in advance for any help/ advice!

Yesterday the 8:30 show on board was packed.

Shops and the casino on board were all open.

Some passengers went ashore to do do things one normally does in port, eat, drink and be merry... and shop and gamble...

Find a nice restaurant in Willemstad (i.e. "stumbling distance" from the ship ;) ). There's a cluster of high-end shops, hotels and restaurants within sight of the pier.

I'd also be interested in some long-exposure photography, but that's my personal preference.

NO reason to be there overnight, thats why there are so many on the ship. Celebrity cancelled Bonaire to give you this wonderful opportunity to spend a night in Curacao. Yeah, thanks!

Why don't you check the excursions for you sailing? If the ship docks inside the floating bridge, you can walk across the bridge to town where ther are lots of restaurants & bars. The view of the waterfront at night will be awesome. Curarco is a great port. Don't listen to the negatives. Go either with an excursion, or wander on your own. Have a great time!

It might depend on what cruisers are looking for, but we really enjoyed Curacao.

I wish we had done a over night, and were able try some of the Cuisine of that Island that is perhaps more European, which should be and interesting, combination of cultural food. and most likely an expensive adventure. To us would be better than the speciality restaurants on board.

Have you looked at the roll call for your cruise to see what others are doing. Am positive you will find several private excursions.

Thanks so much for the responses so far! I guess I should clarify my question..... Does anyone have a suggestion or advice on something we should do / see on the island that isn't usually offered in the traditional excursion package or that the normal tourist wouldn't know about ?

Thanks so much for the responses so far! I guess I should clarify my question..... Does anyone have a suggestion or advice on something we should do / see on the island that isn't usually offered in the traditional excursion package or that the normal tourist wouldn't know about ?

In that case, maybe you should be asking this on the Ports of Call board...EM

Curacao is very picturesque the first time you are there.

The second time it is still fun to cross the bridge, see the shops and restaurants.

The third time, thats where you want to say, not much to do during the day. much less at night, could we please go somewhere else like Bonaire , since we have never been there.

ok ok I am a very sore loser at having lost Bonaire in favor of an overnight in Curacao.

Yes, I am sure Curacao is pretty with the lights on at night and we can see that from the ship. Someone said do a night tour. What night tour?

In that case, maybe you should be asking this on the Ports of Call board...EM

i posted ***** roll call asking same qestion 3 weeks ago....NO RESPONSE!!!

I may be in the minority, but I love Curacao. I spent a week on the island for my 40th birthday and had a great time. I would suggest taking a taxi to Tempo Doloe restaurant. It is an Indonesian restaurant with a Caribbean twist. It may sound strange but being that Indonesia and Curacao are both former Dutch colonies, cultural influences were shared. Another great restaurant is the Boathouse. There is nightlife in the casinos, and amazing beach parties at night in Jan Thiel. I found Curacao to be an amazing island full of culture and friendly people. It is not overdeveloped like many Caribbean islands, and that is part of its unique charm.

Curacao is very picturesque the first time you are there.

 

The second time it is still fun to cross the bridge, see the shops and restaurants.

 

The third time, thats where you want to say, not much to do during the day. much less at night, could we please go somewhere else like Bonaire , since we have never been there.

 

ok ok I am a very sore loser at having lost Bonaire in favor of an overnight in Curacao.

 

Yes, I am sure Curacao is pretty with the lights on at night and we can see that from the ship. Someone said do a night tour. What night tour?

We've been to Bonaire a number of times, & frankly, unless you're ibto scuba diving, there's not much going on. There is a small island with a nice beach (no amenities when we were there), & you pretty much have to take the ships tour to get there because all of the water taxis are contracted for by the cruise line.

As far as Curacao & being bored after a few times, one can say that about just about every island in the Caribbean. But if you're a sore loser about losing Bonaire, nothing anyone says will help.

Yes Rich I agree with what you have said and you are probably right, I am clinging to Bonaire because we have not been there. So even if there is not much there, at least it is a new port for us.

It is too bad that Celeb cant come up with other carb ports, I know the size of ships cant be accommodated. Would love to go to st barts, gorda, turks and caicos. Just somewhere new. We use the Carib as a getaway for a few weeks from our winter. But same old same old ports, really make me rethink this kind of winter getaway.

Yes Rich I agree with what you have said and you are probably right, I am clinging to Bonaire because we have not been there. So even if there is not much there, at least it is a new port for us.

 

It is too bad that Celeb cant come up with other carb ports, I know the size of ships cant be accommodated. Would love to go to st barts, gorda, turks and caicos. Just somewhere new. We use the Carib as a getaway for a few weeks from our winter. But same old same old ports, really make me rethink this kind of winter getaway.

I seethis thread has been moved.

I hear you loud & clear! Unfortunately there are only so many islands with the port infrastructure to handle the larger ships. We also are using the Caribbean to escape some winter weather, & we are at the point where we sometimes do not get off the ship.

But back to topic, we do think that Curacao is still one of the more interesting ports; Bonaire much less so. To each his own!

Hi everyone! Need a little help to figure out what to do in Curaraco Feb. 25-26. We are overnight ( a first for us) on the Eclipse and would like to take advantage of the extra time. Is there anything we shouldn't miss on the island? ( were diverted there once back in the late 90's and my dfil drug us into a casino!) thanks in advance for any help/ advice!

We are on the same cruise as you are on the Eclipse. Our third trip on the Eclipse. We always take the snorkel trip offered by the ship. You get a 20-30 minute sort of scenic ride across Curacao and a nice snorkel trip on the " Miss ANN"

There are not as many excursions offered the second day we are in port.

If you read through the roll call, you may get some ideas.

Thanks everyone! I still have some time to come up with something.... If I had my way we would just lay on the beach all day, but hubby n son aren't much for the beach so.....

How many hours in port? What are the hours?

We r in port from 7 am till 5 pm the next evening

Just off the Eclipse and we enjoyed our overnight in Curacao. The first day we walked downtown over the floating bridge. You walk through the old fort which is full of shops and restaurants. We walked by the floating market, eventually made our way to the taxi stand which was back by the floating bridge. There were many different companies offering different tours but we decided to go to the beach. We went to Mambo beach. At first I was a bit turned off by all the stores etc, but we walked to the right towards the Marina. We found a nice spot in front of a hotel (Lions Dive Resort) It was beautiful and peaceful. The snorkeling was great, there is a rock wall protecting the beach and we were entertained by some very lively iguanas. A lady makes her rounds and she came and collected 8.50$ each for the chairs and shades.

We went back to the ship to change and had supper then went back downtown. We had drinks at a waterfront outdoor patio and enjoyed live :)music. Then we walked back to the fort for frozen Mojito's outdoors again with live music. Very busy in this area and fun.

The next day we had planned to go to the Renaissance hotel. They have a beautiful infinity pool with a little man made beach. It is right beside the port. We had inquired the day before and were told it was 30$ for the day but that they would wave the fee if we ate and drank. However the day turned out to be blustery and cloudy so we decided to go back downtown. We visited the Maritime museum and just enjoyed the beautiful old homes. Very colourful and European.

We also noticed the most amazing 50m outdoor pool right by the ship on sail away.

A friend we met actually swam there for 3-4$. She said she was almost the only person there.

We loved the overnight because we felt that we didn't really need a plan, we could make it up as we went as there was no rush.

oops, I meant to say Left towards the marina at Mambo beach.

We have been to Curacao many times & are not looking forward to our overnight in March. I don't think a cruise line should change an itinerary once it is published. I know that is their prerogative, but why not make it effective on the new schedule once it comes out. We always go in February (6 times on this cruise since it was on the Constellation) but we scheduled March just to go to a new island - Bonaire. Then we got the bait & switch email. We find Curacao boring. I should say we are not beach or snorkel people. Last year we had a new person with us so booked a private 4 hour tour. What a waste - he ran out of things to show us so we looked at random houses, a small market & the post office.

Just so people know, we also got the itinerary change for 2017 - on that cruise we skip St. Kitts, are suppose to stop in Bonaire & are overnight in Aruba. I think that Aruba will offer more to do. No matter what, I still look forward to the 2 weeks on the Eclipse - I love that ship.