Navigator of the Seas - 9 Day Southern Caribbean- Another Sayvan Semi Live Report

[cincicruisers]

Enjoying your review.

[cruisinlife]

Thank You for the review and the Great Pictures !! We set sail this Friday on the Navigator on this itinerary and this gets us in the mood even more.

[Bette And Bill]

Thank You for the review and the Great Pictures !! We set sail this Friday on the Navigator on this itinerary and this gets us in the mood even more.

 

We will be sailing with you. Please come and say hello on the roll call. Friday will be here before we know it.

[David9261]

Great review and pictures. Sailing on NOS leaving this Friday and am so excited!

[cruisinlife]

Thanks for the invite, Bette and Bill. I have been following the Roll Call when I can. My wife and I will be on this cruise. I'm sure we will see you around the ship.

[Bette And Bill]

Thanks for the invite, Bette and Bill. I have been following the Roll Call when I can. My wife and I will be on this cruise. I'm sure we will see you around the ship.

 

 

I hope so. Hope you will join us at the Sky Bar for our pre-muster get together.

[KansasK]

We will sail away on the Navigator this Friday. I was relieved to hear that the embarkation was not too bad. I am enjoying seeing your pictures of the Navigator and the ports and cannot wait for this Friday! :D

[nautiweiner]

On March 17th cruise! Cannot wait to hear more!

 

 

We are too. :)

[dh6230]

We are too. :)

 

 

We are also on the March 17th cruise.

[sayvan]

We will sail away on the Navigator this Friday. I was relieved to hear that the embarkation was not too bad. I am enjoying seeing your pictures of the Navigator and the ports and cannot wait for this Friday! :D

 

 

I will get to the ports before you leave! Enjoy!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[sayvan]

I hope so. Hope you will join us at the Sky Bar for our pre-muster get together.

 

 

Just a quick note... the sky bar is the smoking area.... I know on our cruise many people had complaints about the smoke in that area during the meet and greet.... it was always the most crowded bar too...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[FishOn55]

Just a quick note... the sky bar is the smoking area.... I know on our cruise many people had complaints about the smoke in that area during the meet and greet.... it was always the most crowded bar too...

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

Do you know if there is a smoking area on Deck 5 starboard? If so, would it affect sitting on the balcony of the hump cabins on Deck 6?

[sayvan]

Do you know if there is a smoking area on Deck 5 starboard? If so, would it affect sitting on the balcony of the hump cabins on Deck 6?

 

 

I believe that it was Port side only on deck 5... I will check my compass to see if they indicate. We had a balcony on deck 6 and I never noticed any smoke smell at all when out....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Ocean Boy]

Do you know if there is a smoking area on Deck 5 starboard? If so, would it affect sitting on the balcony of the hump cabins on Deck 6?

 

 

Deck 5 is the Royal Promenade. There is no outside area there. Deck 4 would be the closest outside passenger deck to you.

[sayvan]

Deck 5 is the Royal Promenade. There is no outside area there. Deck 4 would be the closest outside passenger deck to you.

 

Yep that is correct.... I meant to say deck 4.. thanks for the correction.

[sayvan]

Day 5 - Curacao

 

Day 5 would find us arriving in Curacao. As had been the pattern for the trip thus far it was once again a beautiful and sunny day with high's around 85.

 

We hadn't planned anything in particular in Curacao as we had been here twice before. Once on a cruise stop and the other time we stayed for a week at an all inclusive. We were mostly looking to head to a beach and well do absolutely nothing but bake in the sun and swim in the ocean. Curacao is known for Williamsted, its main city centre. We had hoped to get off the ship, find a taxi and make our way somewhere nice.

 

Getting off the ship was easy. Once the ship was cleared and most of the tours were on their way, we headed out around 10ish... When you head out of the ship there is a nice area with shops and folks looking to sell you a tour somewhere. There is also a small market with vendors all pretty much selling the same thing. The locals were not really that pushy and once you advised them you weren't interested they moved on to the next person. Hey everyone has to make a living so we get it!

 

Just to the right of this market is a taxi stand. If you are planning to just head into Williamsted and walk around you don't need to take a taxi at all. The city is only about a 5-10 minute (depending on your pace and mobility) walk. Williamsted is a pretty modern place and not your typical Caribbean island.

 

As we were heading to the beach a taxi was a must. You have options once you get to the taxi stand and there is a sign that lists all the beaches and locations with a set cost. if you are not shy... share your ride its much cheaper.

 

We had heard of a particular beach to head to. The beach was called Playa Cas Abao and the ride was $65 one way. You can see on this map...

 

 

Cas Abao Beach is about 20 miles northwest of Willemstad, near the town Fontein. The beach is only accessible by car, and there is a parking lot on site. All in all, this was about a 20-30 minute ride one way. As it happened, we discovered that some folks from our hometown were also on this cruise (although we didn't know this until we ran into each other on the ship) and they also wanted to head to this beach so we all shared a cab. It ended up costing us around $30 return for the both of us. A pretty good deal quite frankly!

 

There was a cost to enter the beach but that was looked after as part of the fare. The beach is only accessible by car and has parking facilities as well. Our driver left us his card, asked us how long we wanted to stay and said he would be back to get us. We arrived around 11am at the beach and all decided we would stay until 2 pm and he agreed to be back for us. No doubt, I am now writing this review so he did return to get us.

 

When we arrived at the beach we were amazed at what was before us! it was a beautiful, secluded little spot. You can be the judge!

 

 

 

 

 

[cherylroslyn]

Wow! Thanks for posting I just got back from court and am so excited to see a new installment!!!!

 

 

I leave Thursday for Miami.

 

I really hope we will have weather like yours, what a great review and wonderful pictures. you have a gift!

[sayvan]

Cas Abao beach was a great spot. There was ample shade and trees or you could just lay out in the open sun. Chairs were free and we had no trouble scooping some up. Now there was a few women who kept coming around saying we had to pay for the chairs but we simply ignored them and they went on their way. I am still not sure if we actually had to pay for the chairs or whether these ladies were just locals trying to con a few bucks... either way we didn't pay!

 

Now back to the beauty...

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

The colours of the water were magnificent and the water was crystal clear. If you wanted to snorkel there were areas at the side of the beach near the cliffs you can see in the pictures that seemed to have people swimming. I didn't actually snorkel but I did take the GoPro under the water for some shots. I would recommend water shoes for this beach by the way. The entrance to the water in some spots had a lot of coral that had washed up onto the beach and so it could be a bit hazardous without some kind of foot covering. Once you made your way into the water after about 5 feet it you were standing on nice soft sand!

 

Here are some of the GoPro shots...

 

 

You can see how clear it was... a few fish in the area and this was only about 10 feet offshore.

 

 

Vanda and our friends in water...

 

 

 

Snorkelers

 

 

Some of the coral I mentioned...

 

[sayvan]

and a few more shots of the beach....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of cactus on these islands as well...

 

[sayvan]

You can see the beautiful white sands and aqua colour of the water....

 

 

At one end of the beach were these huge cliffs and rock. A great area here for snorkelers.

 

 

 

 

 

Someone found a very private spot to hang out!

 

[sayvan]

 

 

 

Snorkelers heading out... note the coral on the shore...

 

 

 

In case you needed directions around the beach.

 

 

The beach had a dive shop, you could rent snorkel equipment and beer was $3 a bottle. There was also a small place to get food with tables as well, all shaded with umbrellas!

[sayvan]

If you wanted even more relaxation you could get yourself a $20 massage for about 20 minutes.... much cheaper than on the ship!

 

 

This fella spotted a nice spot to relax...

 

 

 

A couple enjoying the refreshing beach... (no GoPro underwater shots on this one..lol)

 

 

 

I always enjoy a few shots of the waves hitting shore...

 

[sayvan]

Our beach time was quickly coming to a close and like clockwork our taxi driver had arrived and we were all ready to head back to the ship and so we did!

 

Once we made our way back to the ship, we headed up to our room, had a quick change of clothes and grabbed a bite to eat. We still had about 3 hours before the ship left port so we decided to take a little walk into Williamsted and see what was happening... so we did....

 

 

 

Along the way we met up with some of our table mates who were just on their way back to the ship. I haven't mentioned anything about the dining yet but I will get to that once the ports are all done.

 

These two lovely ladies are both in their eighties and let me tell you at times in the evening I couldn't keep up with them. Bernice and Helen know how to live life to their fullest!

 

 

We then spotted another couple (Gary and Alcuin) from our table and so we took a group shot with the GoPro!

 

 

Here are some more shots from around town.... The swinging bridge is always a popular spot in port!

 

 

[sayvan]

A ship sailing around the harbor...

 

 

 

The famous floating bridge....

 

 

Colourful buildings....

 

 

 

Time to cross the bridge...Vanda patiently waiting for the photographer!