What to do on Curacao ??

[dewatson12]

Need ideas for Curacao, leaving two weeks.

 

We are thinking about doing the highlights of the island and visiting the Blue Curacao factory?

 

Any thoughts ??

[Browezilla]

Snorkeling is excellent here. They have a marine reserve near the Princess Hotel. Also, the Dutch city there is nice as well well.

[Crewmates]

Definitely go to the Blue Curacao factory. They make many flavors and you have the opportunity to try them all. They also make a product that you mix with water and spray it on yourself: it is so refreshing and cooling.

 

We did not book a tour through the cruise line but waited until we got ashore and booked with one of the many tour operators hanging around the dock. We traveld in an air conditions van and our guides were very entertaining and took us to some of the off beat areas. We were very happy with the tour. Saved about $20.00 also. Some friends booked a tour (through the ship) to the caves and were disappointed. They said it was incredibly hot and humid in the caves and said we should be thankful we didn't do it.

 

Try to arrange some time at the fish and produce marked at the harbor in town. It is very interesting. We really enjoyed the island and mark it as one of the most enjoyable islands we visited. I think we owe it all to the people we met and talked to who were native to the island. We liked it much more than Aruba.

[Crewmates]

Definitely go to the Blue Curacao factory. They make many flavors and you have the opportunity to try them all. They also make a product that you mix with water and spray it on yourself: it is so refreshing and cooling.

 

We did not book a tour through the cruise line but waited until we got ashore and booked with one of the many tour operators hanging around the dock. We traveld in an air conditions van and our guides were very entertaining and took us to some of the off beat areas. We were very happy with the tour. Saved about $20.00 also. Some friends booked a tour (through the ship) to the caves and were disappointed. They said it was incredibly hot and humid in the caves and said we should be thankful we didn't do it.

 

Try to arrange some time at the fish and produce marked at the harbor in town. It is very interesting. We really enjoyed the island and mark it as one of the most enjoyable islands we visited. I think we owe it all to the people we met and talked to who were native to the island. We liked it much more than Aruba.

[Crewmates]

Oh No!!! The dreaded "Double-Post". Sorry!

[premiumrican]

How long and how much was your independent tour? Going back to Curacao next month. I went 2 yrs ago and took the ship's canoe and snorkel excursion, boy what a rip off!!! If I can't find anything worthwhiled, just going to plan on shopping and coming back to the ship and enjoying the pool.

[dewatson12]

Crewmates: thanks for the info.

 

How close to the dock is the shopping area and town area?

[premiumrican]

Crewmates: thanks for the info.

 

How close to the dock is the shopping area and town area?

 

The dock has a few stalls as you depart the ship. To get to town you make a right and it is about a 10-15 stroll along the shore depending how fast your walk until you get to the floating bridge. Cross the bridge and you are in the center of town.

[missbear]

The town and shopping are close by, it's fun to take the free ferry across the harbor to the town, but wear good shoes. The 'cobblestones' are really new but already really irregularly worn and I twisted my ankle so bad I was on crutches for the rest of the cruise. When I fell, several people ran over to help me and several of them said they had fallen themselves. Good luck. It's a really cute waterfront with nice cafe's. I'd still go, but in good shoes rather than cute shoes.

[Crewmates]

If memory serves me correctly, the tour we took was for 4 or 5 hours and cost us $15 each. Gave the guide a decent tip. My wife picked the guy; she picked the one with the nicest smile. This was not a private tour. There were probably ten outher people on the tour also. The van was one of these things that has the custom coach work with real nice seats similar to hotel shuttles. There is an open air pavillion right next to the ship that has a tourist information kiosk there and then there are several vendors selling everything from braiding your hair to trinkets. Also present are quite a few guys trying to get you to sign up with them as tour guides. This is where we found our guy. We flat out asked him what type of vehicle we would be in and if it was airconditioned, and if he went to the distillery, where else, etc. The guy was dressed very professionaly in all white with a the name of the company on the front. His name was Kenneth Drommond and worked for "Does and Cadushi Travel Tours" (email of company is dtct@cura.net. Please bear in mind all of this occured 4 years ago. Kenneth did a super job and my wife and both felt that we had a new friend living on Curacao.

 

The rest of the day we spent bumming around downtown Willemstad jabbering with the locals. All very friendly people.

 

Also, please take note of the "rock" people at the tourist pavillion when you get off the ship.

[Cruise Lover Kathy]

We rented a car right at the dock and went on our own. Saw the Curacao factory, the Hato Caves (interesting) then drove to the end of the island to the nature park.

 

If I had it to do over again...I would take one of the van tours. In the long run a van tour was cheaper than what we paid (rental car was cheaper than ship tour).

 

Maps of the area are very good but we found there were vey few street signs so we did a lot of extra driving,

 

We were there in October and the BUGS at the nature park were like no-see-um and bit ankles etc. We ended up getting benedril from the ship's doctor to help with the itch. I really wanted to see the park but it was disappointing as well as buggy.

 

Next time...

[Rent-A-Guide]

There are some more options and new activities this cruise season, mainly because of the positive growth in the industry (more ships and more hotel beds), besides the smaller tour operators that you will find on shore.

Those that have not purchased tour on board (or direct on-line via the web) will have various options for ATV, scooters and dune buggies:D when in downtown.

 

Check this out and get your VIT pass:

http://www.curacao-event.com/ccch/eng/index.html

 

Henry"Leo"Plaate

Rent-A-Guide

 

P.S.:Now you can even get freebie's:rolleyes: (yes it's getting to that:eek: !) for

Seaquarium and catamaran snorkeling, if you follow sales

(45 min.)presentations!