kings2001

@mand75 Baby Beach was gorgeous.  My son liked that there were no waves and the water was very calm.  My daughter and husband snorkeled there and saw some fish but said the snorkeling wasn't great.  We didn't stop anywhere on the island to eat but did some shopping near the port. 

@jbrinkm There was no fee for the donkey sanctuary, the ostrich farm was $15 for adults and $8 dollars for kids and included a tour and feeding the ostriches, at Baby Beach we rented 2 chairs and a clamshell for around $80.

Hi!  We went in May and rented with Jay's and had a fabulous day.  It was myself, my husband, our 14 year old and 11 year old.  We went to the donkey sanctuary, the ostrich farm and then spent the afternoon at Baby Beach.  If you have any questions feel free to ask.

We did this itinerary last May and had an absolute blast.  It was myself, my husband, our 14 year old daughter, and our 11 year old son.  These three islands are now our favorites out of all the ones we've been too and we plan to book the exact same cruise for next year.

In Aruba we rented a car from Jay's Car Rental and visited the donkey sanctuary, the ostrich farm, and Baby Beach before dropping the car off and doing some shopping.

In Bonaire we rented golf carts from Bonaire Cruisers and did the South Loop of the island with a stop at the donkey sanctuary.  After dropping off the golf carts we had lunch in town and did some shopping.

In Curacao we rented a car through someone in a Curacao visitor's group that I found and spent the morning at Grote Knip Beach followed by walking over the floating bridge, putting our lock on the love locks and then doing some shopping in town.  

If you have any questions let me know.  We absolutely loved the ABC islands.

We had a port stop in Aruba in May.  We rented a car from Jay's and went to the donkey sanctuary, ostrich farm, Baby Beach, and then did some shopping.  

We rented a car on Curacao from Carson's Car Rentals and went to Grote Knip beach on our own.  Got there really early and had the whole beach to ourselves for the first hour.  It is absolutely gorgeous there.

@moposh We spent about an hour and a half driving through the Donkey Sanctuary.  The map from Bonaire Cruisers was very easy to follow.

We just had a port stop in Bonaire on May 3rd and had the absolute best day EVER renting golf carts from Bonaire Cruisers.  We rented two carts (I drove one with our 10 year old son and my husband drove the other with our 14 year old daughter).  Pickup was super easy and they gave us a map with the route we chose to go highlighted.  They also marked how to get to the Donkey Sanctuary since we planned to go there also.  We did the South Loop with lots of stops to take in the beautiful scenery and went to the Donkey Sanctuary before heading back to town and eating lunch at Mambo Cafe.  We then shopped and returned the golf carts before heading back to the ship.

We were in Aruba as a port stop on May 2nd and went to Baby Beach.  Absolutely gorgeous and super calm water.  We rented 2 chairs and a clam shell for $60.  They had a restaurant and bathrooms but we didn't end up using either.

We just got off the Horizon on Sunday and we had the pasta bar at Cucina for lunch on embarkation day.  It was only our family and one other family there.

We just got off of the Horizon on Sunday.  You are going to have a great trip!  We ended up spending all of our evening in the Piano Bar with Chris Woods.  He is phenomenal and so much fun.

Not sure when your cruise is in May but we just got off the Horizon on Sunday and spent every night in the piano bar (except for two - his day off and the last night he was sick and didn't perform).  Chris is amazing.  Excellent voice, fantastic personality, very interactive with the crowd.

We are on this sailing and somebody on our cruise group on social media called Carnival regarding this and was told that the first boarding group would be at 2:30pm.

On 5/24/2019 at 1:50 PM, suesnake2002 said:

Has any one been to south beach?? Pro's, cons?  Bungalows?

@suesnake2002 We were in Coco Cay on May 8th and rented a beach bungalow.  South Beach was absolutely beautiful.  My family enjoyed the day playing in the water and hanging out at the bungalow.They were doing construction way down at the other end of the beach but not near where the bungalows are located.

Loving your trip report. We will be on the Grandeur in a few weeks.  

The spot where the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea meet is one of my favorite views. I turned one of the pictures that I took overlooking that spot on our cruise last year into a canvas.

We docked in San Juan on our April cruise and did not have a lot of time in port.   We had our 6 year old son and 9 year old daughter with us and we walked to the fort (Castillo de San Cristobal) and then on the walk back to the ship we stopped in a bunch of shops and ate lunch at Choco Bar de Casa Cortes.  Our kids loved San Juan.

We sailed on the Freedom last April (2018) with our 6 and 9 year olds and they absolutely loved it.  In fact, they liked it better than the Disney cruise that we went on.  They loved the kids club, the splash zone pool, and playing mini golf.

Did you use the free trolley?

No, we didn't. We walked up and back stopping to shop along the way. And on the way back we ate at Choco Bar de Casa Cortes.

Hi, did the kids like it? I will be there for a short time as well and do not want to leave the Old San Juan area. I am afraid we won't be back on time.

Both kids loved it. We got back to the ship about an hour before all aboard.

On our cruise last week, my husband was wearing his Sunset Bar & Grill t-shirt. A couple on the elevator noticed it and commented he should frame it because he probably won't get another one. They said Maho Beach and the Sunset Bar & Grill had been completely destroyed and there were no plans to re-build it. Is this really true? I was under the impression they had been there since the hurricanes, but from what I'm reading on these boards it's up and running again. I sure hope so. We'd love to get back there soon. It's one of our favorite ports due to that beach - so unique! Plus, we both need new t-shirts from the Sunset Bar & Grill - we're wearing out our 2nd set - LOL!! Best wishes to the people of all of the devastated islands. :*

They were definitely wrong. We went to Maho Beach and at lunch at Sunset Bar & Grill on May 2nd while on the Freedom of the Seas.

We went to Maho Beach the beginning of May. Our kids are a bit older than yours, they are 6 and 9, but we had an awesome day watching the planes. The water was rough but they had a blast just getting their feet wet, playing in the sand with friends that they had made on our cruise, and watching the planes come in.

I'm not sure when you are sailing but wanted to give input on this excursion.

We recently did this excursion on the April 28th sailing of the Freedom and absolutely loved it.

It was an afternoon excursion so we got off the ship in the morning, did some shopping at the port, got back on the ship to bring our purchases to our cabin and ate lunch in the Windjammer, and then got off the ship again after lunch for the excursion.

The RCI excursion was with Greg's Safaris. The 4x4 vehicles took us on a tour of the island and through the rainforest. We stopped at a private property that was 1,000 feet above sea level to see the views. There was a walk up part of the hill on the property to see the view from the top but it was not very strenuous. After walking back down the hill they had passion fruit juice, guava juice, and local rum to sample. After sampling we got back in the 4x4 vehicles to tour the other side of the island. We stopped at Carambola Beach Club and got to spend an hour at the beach before heading back to the cruise port. It was gorgeous.

Kings2001, this is exactly what we plan to do with our kids! Did you have a map you used that you could share or did you just follow signs? Google? Thanks!

We just used Google on our phone. It was really a great day!

We were just in San Juan last week on the Freedom of the Seas from 7am - 2pm (all aboard was at 1:30). We are a married couple in our 30s with two children (ages 9 and 6). We got off the boat and walked to the fort (Castillo de San Cristobal) and then after the fort walked back down towards the ship and did some shopping along the way. We stopped to eat at Casa Cortes Choco Bar.

Castillo de San Cristobal. We were just there last week on the Freedom.

Thank you