question for passengers of Sympathy of the Seas

[Astromaid]

We are considering a cruise on Sympathy going to Aruba and Curacoa. My concern is how these islands handle the amount of people that will be coming off. We are not beach people, we are more interested in island tours. We have been on Explorer of the Seas a long time ago and Carnival Vista recently, but mostly cruise on smaller ships. Sympathy is catching my attention due to the variety of entertainment, food and public areas.

[barbeyg]

I know you meant Symphony, but got tickled by what was probably auto-correct. 😁

 

I think the islands we have been to handle the Oasis class ships well. Book your tours in advance if you sail that class and you should be fine.  🙂

[Astromaid]

Oh, too funny! I guess I am more tired than I thought!

[twangster]

Allure is doing this route.  She alternates a 6 / 8 itinerary with the 8 night going to the same islands.  No complaints noted.  See if you can find a roll call from last week or any of the other 8 night cruises recently.

[jp2746]

We did both of these islands and they are my favorites (close tie with Roatan)!  We were on a smaller ship but there were a lot of ships in port during those stays.  I didn't notice it being too crowded but we did have an excursion for both stops and we did go to a beach that was recommended by our driver.  It was amazing.  Snorkeling in Curacao was just a short swim from shore and I am not a swimmer.  The best snorkeling I have encountered was in Curacao. I am looking at an Allure cruise next year to those islands again.  The Allure was a very fun ship!

[Ret MP]

1 hour ago, Astromaid said:

We are considering a cruise on Sympathy going to Aruba and Curacoa. My concern is how these islands handle the amount of people that will be coming off. We are not beach people, we are more interested in island tours. We have been on Explorer of the Seas a long time ago and Carnival Vista recently, but mostly cruise on smaller ships. Sympathy is catching my attention due to the variety of entertainment, food and public areas.

I've been to both of those ports but on a different cruise lines with multiple ships (I don't believe any of them were Oasis Class ships) in both ports.  I found that Aruba handles the masses better than Curacoa.  BUT, that doesn't mean that it was bad.  Curacoa was just a little (seemingly) more congested.  Not to worry, you'll enjoy both, I believe.

 

[ARandomTraveler]

The biggest ship I've visited these ports in was Freedom, and it didn't seem crowded at all. There's several beaches and excursions that people spread out to. It's not nearly as big as Oasis though.
 

I was in Aruba last November on a land vacation when 2 cruise ships were in port and I didn't notice the beach feeling any more crowded than days where the ships weren't in port, but I stayed at a hotel that probably doesn't get a lot of day-pass people. 
 

We were the only ship in port in curaçao, and I didn't feel like things were crowded, but I also didn't enjoy that port stop at all. I thought it was boring, and the beach we picked to go to was terrible. But I left with a big wheel of cheese 😂.

Edited July 23, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[Steppy08]

Just off Allure to both these ports. We were the only ship in Aruba, and Mariner was docked with us in Curaçao 

 

Both port areas seemed congested but honestly the only places that seemed overrun with tourists were the obvious tourist areas (the lighthouse in Aruba, the caves in Curaçao). Both ports were able to handle the amount of people. They even built a giant pier in curaçao to handle the big ships. We did not do beach things at either port, we toured the islands. Loved both ports, especially Curaçao