Hi everyone! I was on the May repo cruise, and I'll be doing some write-ups on the ports we visited for anyone who's interested. Our first stop after Castaway Cay was Curacao, so I'll start there. A little background: I'm 39, and I was traveling with my sister Susan, who is 37. We were in cabin 6114, which had a verandah. I'll start with Curacao, and mostly take everything straight from my journal that I took along with me, with some comments added in:
(If this post belongs on the Trip Reports board, moderators, please let me know).
Wednesday, May 18
Curacao! I'm writing this at 6:20 a.m. Beautiful sunrise! We're barely moving - I guess so we arrive at exactly the right time. Maybe some celebrations are planned for our arrival? I was worried an hour ago because we were moving through MAJOR lightning. It's still quite overcast. Going to breakfast in a few minutes. Then we're going to walk around Curacao a little bit before our 9:40 excursion.
It's now almost 7:30 a.m. Had to eat a quick breakfast because we were pulling in to the pier. We had a water cannon greeting. We blew our horn 3 times. There are lots of locals watching us come in. It was sweet to see school kids come running down the streets to see the "Mickey Ship." It's VERY humid and overcast today. 78.8 degrees with 88% humidity, which is very rare in Curacao. It's usually very dry and pretty cool with the trade winds they usually receive.
Susan and I disembarked the ship and walked around Curacao, but only for a little bit, because it started to rain. It was so awfully humid that I had to keep mopping my face with a towel I brought off the ship. So we went back to the ship and prepared for our excursion. One neat thing is there is a walking bridge that connects the two sides of the island. Whenever a boat needs to get through, the bridge swings open to let it through. It swings open just a little for smaller boats, and all the way open for a ship our size. They do this while people are walking on the bridge! It was a strange feeling! If you don't want to walk on the bridge, there is a ferry that will take you across.
As we left our cabin to meet for our excursion, we ran into Willie, the lady who gave the Panama Canal talk. She worked for the Panama Canal Authority for many years and was in the public relations department, I think she said. She and her friend are staying in the cabin next to ours. She was so nice, and came into our stateroom to sign a Panama Canal map/brochure we had ordered by e-mail from the Panama Canal Authority. We got it out for her to sign, and she said SHE designed it! How cool! So she autographed it, and allowed us to take pictures of her. What a very nice lady. She said she was disembarking today, but that she'd be waving to us at the canal.
We met in the Promenade Lounge for our excursion, which was the Curacao Day at the Beach. I highly recommend this excursion! It was awesome! We boarded a bus for a 15-minute ride to the Hilton. It was PARADISE! Beautiful beaches, lovely swimming pools (including a couple with infinity edges), lush landscaping. We grabbed a couple of beach chairs, then Susan went to explore the grounds while I went straight for the ocean. The water was warm, and there were small waves for bobbing. Only a few people got in the water, so I had it mostly to myself. When I had my fill, I got out to explore the grounds, which seemed to go on FOREVER. There are several beaches to choose from. One warning: There were some topless sunbathers on one of the beaches, so be careful if you have children along.
Next was the buffet lunch. It was an EXCELLENT meal! It was only for people on our excursion, and it was so good! We sat in a covered, open-air restaurant. The buffet line had EXCELLENT lasagna and mahi-mahi. They also had salad, chicken, rolls, and I can't remember what else. For kids they had hot dogs, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, and french fries. We were also given coupons good for two drinks. The dessert buffet had really good cookies, excellent ice cream (try the banana flavor - it's the best), and a few other things I can no longer remember. Lunch was as good as any meal served on the ship!
After lunch, I went to the tiny hotel gift shop and bought postcards and postage. There was a mailbox right outside the store. On this excursion, there are 3 return times. The first was at 1:30, and Susan took that one because she wanted to shop in Curacao. I went swimming in the pools, and again in the ocean (the waves were much bigger by this time). I took the 2:30 bus back. I would've liked to stay until 3:30, but I had had enough sun and didn't want to risk getting burned. As the bus was leaving the grounds, our driver pointed out several iguanas sitting in some shrubbery. Very cool. When I got back to the pier, some of my new DIS friends pointed me to a place where I could call home. I was able to get 25 minutes worth of calls for only $6! What a deal! It turns out it's not supposed to be that cheap, but there was some glitch, and that was all they had to offer. So I came out good on that deal.
After I called home, I boarded the ship and went back to my stateroom. Susan was still shopping in town. Then the celebrations began on the pier. There were colorfully dressed dancers putting on a very energetic show. One sad note: As all this was going on, an ambulance pulled up to the ship, and an elderly lady was wheeled off the ship in a gurney, and the ambulance took her away. A few days later I heard that she passed away at the hospital in Curacao, but I don't know if that's true or not.
The sailaway was very cool. It seemed like the whole town turned out to watch us sail away. One of Royal Caribbean's ships was still docked, and we did dueling horns with them. I had heard that the characters had gotten off the ship during the day and visited some schools, because the children in Curacao had never seen the Disney characters. One of our fellow DISers passed out candy to the children, and she said you would've thought she was passing out gold. How sweet. It was very sad leaving Curacao, but we have so much excitement ahead of us!!!
Curacao was a great place to visit, and I'd gladly go back again. The nice thing about Curacao, besides the very pretty multi-colored buildings, was the lack of pushy street vendors. They're out there, but they're not nearly as pushy as some other places I've been. It was a nice change from other ports I've visited.
I'd very gladly do this excursion again. I highly recommend it! It was perfect in every way!
Angela
(If this post belongs on the Trip Reports board, moderators, please let me know).
Wednesday, May 18
Curacao! I'm writing this at 6:20 a.m. Beautiful sunrise! We're barely moving - I guess so we arrive at exactly the right time. Maybe some celebrations are planned for our arrival? I was worried an hour ago because we were moving through MAJOR lightning. It's still quite overcast. Going to breakfast in a few minutes. Then we're going to walk around Curacao a little bit before our 9:40 excursion.
It's now almost 7:30 a.m. Had to eat a quick breakfast because we were pulling in to the pier. We had a water cannon greeting. We blew our horn 3 times. There are lots of locals watching us come in. It was sweet to see school kids come running down the streets to see the "Mickey Ship." It's VERY humid and overcast today. 78.8 degrees with 88% humidity, which is very rare in Curacao. It's usually very dry and pretty cool with the trade winds they usually receive.
Susan and I disembarked the ship and walked around Curacao, but only for a little bit, because it started to rain. It was so awfully humid that I had to keep mopping my face with a towel I brought off the ship. So we went back to the ship and prepared for our excursion. One neat thing is there is a walking bridge that connects the two sides of the island. Whenever a boat needs to get through, the bridge swings open to let it through. It swings open just a little for smaller boats, and all the way open for a ship our size. They do this while people are walking on the bridge! It was a strange feeling! If you don't want to walk on the bridge, there is a ferry that will take you across.
As we left our cabin to meet for our excursion, we ran into Willie, the lady who gave the Panama Canal talk. She worked for the Panama Canal Authority for many years and was in the public relations department, I think she said. She and her friend are staying in the cabin next to ours. She was so nice, and came into our stateroom to sign a Panama Canal map/brochure we had ordered by e-mail from the Panama Canal Authority. We got it out for her to sign, and she said SHE designed it! How cool! So she autographed it, and allowed us to take pictures of her. What a very nice lady. She said she was disembarking today, but that she'd be waving to us at the canal.
We met in the Promenade Lounge for our excursion, which was the Curacao Day at the Beach. I highly recommend this excursion! It was awesome! We boarded a bus for a 15-minute ride to the Hilton. It was PARADISE! Beautiful beaches, lovely swimming pools (including a couple with infinity edges), lush landscaping. We grabbed a couple of beach chairs, then Susan went to explore the grounds while I went straight for the ocean. The water was warm, and there were small waves for bobbing. Only a few people got in the water, so I had it mostly to myself. When I had my fill, I got out to explore the grounds, which seemed to go on FOREVER. There are several beaches to choose from. One warning: There were some topless sunbathers on one of the beaches, so be careful if you have children along.
Next was the buffet lunch. It was an EXCELLENT meal! It was only for people on our excursion, and it was so good! We sat in a covered, open-air restaurant. The buffet line had EXCELLENT lasagna and mahi-mahi. They also had salad, chicken, rolls, and I can't remember what else. For kids they had hot dogs, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, and french fries. We were also given coupons good for two drinks. The dessert buffet had really good cookies, excellent ice cream (try the banana flavor - it's the best), and a few other things I can no longer remember. Lunch was as good as any meal served on the ship!
After lunch, I went to the tiny hotel gift shop and bought postcards and postage. There was a mailbox right outside the store. On this excursion, there are 3 return times. The first was at 1:30, and Susan took that one because she wanted to shop in Curacao. I went swimming in the pools, and again in the ocean (the waves were much bigger by this time). I took the 2:30 bus back. I would've liked to stay until 3:30, but I had had enough sun and didn't want to risk getting burned. As the bus was leaving the grounds, our driver pointed out several iguanas sitting in some shrubbery. Very cool. When I got back to the pier, some of my new DIS friends pointed me to a place where I could call home. I was able to get 25 minutes worth of calls for only $6! What a deal! It turns out it's not supposed to be that cheap, but there was some glitch, and that was all they had to offer. So I came out good on that deal.
After I called home, I boarded the ship and went back to my stateroom. Susan was still shopping in town. Then the celebrations began on the pier. There were colorfully dressed dancers putting on a very energetic show. One sad note: As all this was going on, an ambulance pulled up to the ship, and an elderly lady was wheeled off the ship in a gurney, and the ambulance took her away. A few days later I heard that she passed away at the hospital in Curacao, but I don't know if that's true or not.
The sailaway was very cool. It seemed like the whole town turned out to watch us sail away. One of Royal Caribbean's ships was still docked, and we did dueling horns with them. I had heard that the characters had gotten off the ship during the day and visited some schools, because the children in Curacao had never seen the Disney characters. One of our fellow DISers passed out candy to the children, and she said you would've thought she was passing out gold. How sweet. It was very sad leaving Curacao, but we have so much excitement ahead of us!!!
Curacao was a great place to visit, and I'd gladly go back again. The nice thing about Curacao, besides the very pretty multi-colored buildings, was the lack of pushy street vendors. They're out there, but they're not nearly as pushy as some other places I've been. It was a nice change from other ports I've visited.
I'd very gladly do this excursion again. I highly recommend it! It was perfect in every way!
Angela
