24Cruise7

LOL!!! Isn’t that the craziest thing?!?! Sadly, my cherished rash guard trophy had to be discarded. There was no saving it. I called the store to see if they could ship one too me. They said shipping was about $180. Turns out a replacement wasn’t worth that much to me.

We sailed on Voyager of the Seas. You are going to love this cruise out of San Juan!

I liked Curaçao because of the turtles, but overall I’d say my favorite was Tortola or the Captain Cook area on the Big Island. The Tortola snorkel was in 2012, though, so the quality may be different now. I’d love to hear more about what made Grand Turk a favorite. I’ve never been there and may need to add it to the list!

rollnoles2 - you are so welcome! 🙂

Saturday 4/8/23 This cruise was booked after 3ish attempts and fails to snorkel in Bonaire. The first time, I ended up with a bad infection that prevented me from snorkeling in 2 of the ports, Bonaire and St. Maarten. I did get to experience the ship’s (Freedom of the Seas) medical care, which was great, but something I hope no one has to experience. GET TRIP INSURANCE. That bill was $1,200 that ended up costing me nothing besides the insurance policy premium. After we got home from that cruise, I booked another one for 8 months later on the NCL Epic, which included Bonaire. For a bunch of reasons I won’t go into here, I would recommend not sailing with them. Despite liking the ship and the food, their customer service and some of their practices seemed shady. Within 2 or 3 days after final payment was due and no refunds were given, they canceled Bonaire. I was crushed. It’s such a first world problem, I know, and I also know that sometimes ports change. However, I really expected those reasons to be due to things like weather or mechanical issues. Having it just canceled for no apparent reason was disappointing. The 3rd time I booked for 2022, but we ended up having to cancel due to a very sick cat. This cruise was the makeup cruise for the 2022 cruise that was canceled. I kind of wanted a redemption cruise for missing Bonaire twice and St. Maarten. Our flight left Denver at 6:50AM on Saturday. We landed in Orlando for a layover of about an hour and a half. In line to board the plane to San Juan were 2 people from Boulder that we would end of seeing several times throughout the cruise. We arrived in San Juan around 5 and realized as the luggage stopped appearing on the carousel that my suitcase had been left behind in Orlando. My Apple Airtag confirmed this. We filed a claim with the baggage office, who told us the suitcase would be flown in on the next flight to San Juan. That flight landed around 8pm and they said they would deliver the luggage shortly after landing. I tried to request an Uber, but the app glitched out after stating a driver was 5 minutes away and I received a message saying there were no available drivers in the area. So, we caught a taxi to the Doubletree and had dinner in the hotel restaurant. The grilled chicken was surprisingly really tasty. We then walked across the street to the Super Max restaurant to see what kind of toiletries they had, in case the luggage didn’t show up. We perused the fruits and vegetables and were shocked at the size of the cucumbers, peppers, and gourds. We then walked back across the street to the Starbucks near the hotel and got a beverage. We sat on a patio and listened to the Coki frogs for about 30 minutes and then headed to the room. At 8:30, I could see my Airtag showing in San Juan, which was a relief. We waited up until about 11 to hear from someone at Southwest, but heard nothing. We went to bed but I was relieved to have placed that tracker in there because at least I knew the suitcase was in town. Sunday 4/9/23 We woke up at around 7:30, and I saw an email from the delivery service Southwest had contracted to deliver my suitcase stating it was supposed to have been delivered by 11pm the prior evening. I called Southwest because the Airtag was still showing the suitcase at the airport. They gave me the number of the delivery service stating I had to call them. I called, and it sounded like I woke the guy up. He said, “he is on his way to pick up your suitcase and it should be there in 40 minutes”. Since there wasn’t much to do since I couldn’t shower, we went to breakfast in the hotel restaurant. That took about an hour, so I checked Airtag and it was still showing at the airport. I called the delivery service again, and the guy who originally answered stated he had my luggage and was on his way. I called the baggage claim center at the airport directly, and the guy who answered wasn’t terribly helpful. He said the guy picked up the luggage, but he couldn’t help me right then because he had customers. I asked for a call back, and he begrudgingly said he would. He called back saying the delivery service had picked up the bag and it should be at the hotel in 10 minutes. Just as I was getting ready to buy some toiletries, the hotel called stating the bag had been delivered. I guess I don’t know exactly how the Airtag works, because I didn’t see it move while the bag was enroute. I got my bag at 10am, which was plenty of time to shower and get checked out. I had botched our check in, and we ended up with one at 1:30pm and one at 5:30pm. However, I’ve had two nightmarish experiences boarding different ships in San Juan and I didn’t want a repeat of that. Both times we literally stood outside in the Puerto Rico heat for HOURS in a line with a few thousand other people waiting to board. So, I ignored the request (sorry, I promise I’m normally a rule follower) and we left the hotel at 11am. We Ubered to port and were on the ship by noon. There was no line at all, and the check in was extremely easy. Two things that were different from our last Royal cruise was how we got our room keys and soda cup. The room keys were just placed in the slot above the room number, along with the one excursion I had purchased through the ship. The beverage cup could be requested at any bar by showing them your room key. We ate lunch in the Windjammer, and walked around a bit. We had anytime dining so we made a dinner reservation for the main dining room and then I sat on a lounger outside soaking in the warmth until our room was ready. After we checked out the room, we went to the art gallery and completed a scavenger hunt. It wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it would be something like, “find the frog with the hat”. But it was clues like “Is it wood or is it water”, and then you’d look for a painting that matched that description. It was decently entertaining, and they gave you a print for participating. Dinner in the main dining room was decent. We ended up skipping dessert because I wanted to be in the room to watch the sail away. We watched until you couldn’t see a light from the island and then went to bed. Monday 4/10/23 – St. Maarten For this port, I decided we had to visit Maho and experience the planes. We disembarked around 9am, and walked around the little shops in the secure area of the port. I ended up buying a hoodie and a few stickers from a very nice man in one of the booths. The tax was easy. You exited out a gate and there are people there helping you purchase your taxi ride. It was $16 each for a roundtrip to Maho. When we arrived, we immediately rented 2 lounge chairs and an umbrella. This setup was $20. The planes were coming in quick enough together to keep your attention, so I was in the jet blast area and my husband stayed in on the loungers. The smaller planes were arriving consistently all morning and the larger planes started coming in around 11:30. I got a great picture of me with a Delta plane flying over. One tip I would recommend is to check departure schedules before you go. There was a chalkboard with arrival times posted near the bar where we rented chairs from, but no arrival times. You MUST watch one of the larger planes take off. It’s hysterical watching all of the hats other loose articles getting blown away and people having to chase them, and being in the jet blast zone was like free skin dermabrasion. It didn’t hurt, but I had to turn away from it because I was worried about the lens on my phone getting damaged. One thing I will say about this beach is the vendors are constantly approaching you to buy a foot massage, towels, hats, etc. It started getting annoying, but they weren’t really aggressive. The foot massage did look lovely, but it just seemed weird to get a foot massage by someone who used the same towel to wipe down the feet of every person she touched. No thanks. We left around 1:45pm shortly after the largest plane arrived. When we purchased the taxi ride from the cruise pier to the airport, it was a round trip. However, I wanted to stop on Front Street to look in some of the souvenir shops and my husband wanted to see the Yoda Experience. I asked if it would be possible to be dropped off at Front Street instead of taken back to the pier. It was no problem. They didn’t drop us on Front Street, but it was about a 10-minute walk to the Yoda Experience. While my husband explored that, I walked around the shops there. It was around 3pm, and it was pretty empty. I’d say I saw a total of 20 other people the whole time I was in the shops and waiting for him. I felt perfectly safe and the people were nice. They had a few stores that carried the usual souvenirs, and I got a t-shirt/hat combo. He was done at the Yoda Experience at around 3:30, and just as we were getting ready to start walking to the ship, a taxi pulled up asking if we wanted a ride. Since the all aboard was 4:30pm, we did take the taxi. The cost was $7. Dinner was in the main dining room again, and our server and assistant servicer were fantastic. I remember the server’s name was Chetty, so if you see him expect great service. Dinner was ok. We found ourselves perfectly content with spending the evenings in the room, and on the verandah. I spent more time on the verandah on this cruise than any in the past. It was lovely. Tuesday 4/11/23 – St. Lucia The arrival time this day was 9am. We disembarked the ship for an excursion with Spencer Ambrose tours that was scheduled at 9:30. We waited for 20 minutes past the time we were supposed to begin the excursion and just as my husband was going over to say something, the guide started walking our way. We walked a short distance to a small dock and boarded his boat. We then had to come back for 2 people that had originally delayed us and pick them up. Then we spent another 10 minutes waiting for the guide and another of this company’s boats while they screwed around passing papers back and forth. We finally left around 10:15. We selected a 2-stop snorkel tour, so they dropped us off at the first spot, Jalousie Beach and told us they’ve be back for us in 2 hours. I LOVE to snorkel and I don’t get to do it very often, so I want to spend every second I can in the water. Because they told us they’d be back in 2 hours, I was out of the water and ready. They didn’t show up until 3 hours later. I was pretty annoyed. They took us to the 2nd stop, which was Sugar Beach, where you can snorkel beneath one of the Pitons. The excursion included lunch, which was ok. Again, they gave us a time that we’d be loading up, which was 3pm. My snorkel time was barely 30 minutes because of this deadline and, again, I was irritated because we didn’t load up until close to 4. I’ve used this company once before, and the start of that tour was a bit chaotic, but this time the whole thing was frustrating. I wouldn’t recommend them and won’t use them again. We arrived back at port at around 5. We browsed a few of the shops at port and I purchased my t-shirt. That evening we weren’t terribly fond of the main dining room options, so we went to the Windjammer. We ended up eating there for the rest of the cruise because the main dining room options didn’t really appeal to us. We found there to be enough variety to keep us from getting bored, and the food was decent. Wednesday 4/12/23 – Grenada The ship’s arrival time was 7am, and I had booked us a snorkeling excursion through Native Spirit. I recommend them. They offered free pickup at a small dock by the cruise ship pier. They told us to be there at 9am. We arrived at 8:55am, and they arrived at 8:56am! We went to pick up additional snorkelers and divers and then we were on our way. At the first stop, we snorkeled at the underwater statue garden. I didn’t think the visibility would be great for snorkelers, but it surprised me. We were clearly able to see them. There was an employee in the water with us and he guided us to the statues. One woman was either not a good swimmer or had never snorkeled, so he gave her the lifeboat ring and towed her around. We snorkeled here for about 45 minutes, and had to wait about 20 minutes for the divers. Again, not my favorite thing because I want to spend every second I can in the water, but in retrospect, we had plenty of time to see the sculptures. The second snorkel spot wasn’t great in terms of life. There was some great fan coral, and a few fish, but that’s about it. We have about 45 minutes to snorkel there, but I was done a few minutes early because it just wasn’t very interesting. The water started getting rough at this spot, and one lady needed to get back in the water because the rocking of the boat was making her feel sick. One of the divers said the fish at the depth they were at was fantastic. She listed off several of what she saw, but the only thing I remember was a lobster. They dropped us back off that the small dock and we walked back to the shopping area near the pier. This was like a mall. We bought a few small things and then went back to the ship. Sail away was at 2pm. Thursday 4/13/23 – Bonaire The big day! For 4 years, almost to the day, I’ve been waiting to snorkel here. About 9 months ago, I reached out to Woodwind because I had heard such wonderful things about them. I checked in January to make sure I was still on their list. About 3 weeks before the cruise, when our arrival time was changed from 11 to 1, I reached out to them to ask if they could still accommodate us. They said they were not aware of the ship’s arrival time being pushed back to 1 because no one else had mentioned it, and the excursion was going to start at 9. This was very frustrating because I had told them when the ship arrived in my earlier emails. Their communication is poor, and they were nonchalant about this. To be fair, they did offer to do another tour at 1:30 if I could find enough people to fill it. <<insert eye roll here>> I was aware of the water taxi to Klein Bonaire, but at this point I just wanted to have something solid that I didn’t have to worry about, so I booked a water taxi through the cruise line. It was about $12 more per person, I think, than doing it independently. I was ok with that for the peace of mind. We arrived at 1pm. The water taxi picked us up right at the pier, and it was a quick 25–30-minute ride to the small island, and we arrived at 2pm. As they were taking us over, they mentioned that you could walk about 10 minutes to this point on the beach that was marked with an orange marker, and then drift snorkel back to the drop off point. This was exactly what I wanted to do. One thing I liked about booking through the cruise line is there was a little hut there where we stashed our stuff while we snorkeled. I know you aren’t guaranteed that someone won’t mess with your stuff, it was a little bit of piece of mind and the shade was nice. We promptly started walking to the marker and. I marveled at the white sand. Then, the sand started to have more and more coral on it. It was a fairly miserable walk and there were several times I didn’t think I was going to make it all the way. I had on water socks for my fins, and it was still extremely difficult. If I did this again, I would skip the fins for the drift snorkel and walk over there with water shoes. There was so much dead coral that it is unstable and difficult. One lady, the one that was in line to board the plane with us in Orlando, dislocated one of her fingers because she fell during the walk. This walk was no joke and I recommend you do some research before doing this to see if it’s right for you, if this is something you are considering. The snorkel was really nice. Lots of different fish, this spiky worm looking thing, and a beautiful reef. When we finished the drift snorkel, we went to get a drink of water and a lady said the snorkel on the other direction was great. Since that didn’t require the walk, I went out again. It wasn’t great. It was better than the 2nd stop at Grenada, but it was subpar, in my opinion. One thing I’d note here is that I quickly lost track of how far down I had gotten because the drift was carrying me. While waiting for the water taxi to pick us up, I bobbed in the water. There was a man from Puerto Rico that mentioned how large the fish were there. They were fairly good size, but the truly amazing thing was watching him put his head in the water and watch, WITHOUT ANY GOGGLES. He did this over and over again. I had a few instances where I got a few drops of that salt water in my eyes and it was very uncomfortable. He repeatedly looked without goggles and had no problem. I saw a small flounder, and that made me happy. I’d only ever seen one before in Tortola, and I’ve wanted to see one again. At 5, we boarded the water taxi and we were back at the pier by 5:30. There is a mall outside of the secure area of the pier and we found a great souvenir store there. After getting very sunburned on my chest at Maho beach, and then getting sunburned slightly on my back at Grenada, I decided I was done trying to get the sunscreen situation figured out and I was going to get a rash guard. I find a beautiful light blue one with turtles on it and I was in love. I felt like this was my trophy for finally making it to Bonaire to snorkel and for surviving that walk on the coral at Klein Bonaire. I didn’t see any t-shirts I liked, so we walked over to the outdoor vendor stalls they have set up a few blocks away and found the cutest little store. I ended up getting a-shirt/hat combo, and a sweater. We walked back to the ship and boarded by 6pm. Sail away was at 9, but I didn’t feel the need to explore any further. Friday – 4/14/23 Aruba I had booked a snorkeling excursion through Red Sail Sports that started at 9:30am. I was a little nervous about making sure we got there on time, despite the ship arriving at 8am. We have been to Aruba twice before, and getting a taxi the time we needed one previously was not a positive experience. I made sure we were ready to disembark as soon as the gangway opened, which was at 8:17am. The taxi experience this time was so easy. They had a line of taxis ready to go, and we got one about 30 seconds after we exited the ship. We were dropped off at the Hyatt, and we walked through their property to the Red Sail Sports meeting location. We were at the check in stand at 9am. The first stop was 45 minutes. From experience snorkeling at this spot previously, I expected it to just have a ton of fish. It seemed like there were fewer fish to me. However, I spotted an octopus. He was hiding under a rock, and then he crawled up it. I’m always on the look out for octopus, and I was absolutely thrilled to see one! The next stop was at the Antilla. This was is fairly rough, and I wouldn’t recommend this if you are not a confident snorkeler. This time the visibility was amazing and I really got to see how big that ship was. I snorkeled back and forth the full 45 minutes we were there. When I boarded the catamaran, my husband looked at my brand new, beautiful Bonaire rash guard, and asked me how I got oil all over it. I looked down, expecting to see a few drops. I was wrong. It looked like a changed the oil in my car and used the rash guard as a filter. I have no idea what happened. A part of me was incredibly disappointed, but I tried not to let this ruin my day. When I booked the excursion, I thought it was a 2-stop snorkel, but it was actually 3. That kind of made up for my oil-soaked rash guard. When we arrived at the 3rd stop, the staff member mentioned we could definitely snorkel, but he said there’s really nothing to see. I almost didn’t get in the water, because I didn’t really have enough time to get sunscreen on for it to be effective. My husband let me borrower his rash guard and he stayed on the catamaran. After seeing a few fish and the tail end of one eel, I decided to head back to the catamaran. I saw an angel fish that caught my interest so I stayed and decided I might as well keep going to get every last second in. Then I saw a turtle! I was so happy because I had wanted to see one. He was on the floor eating some lunch and then started coming up for air. He kept getting closer and closer, like he was going to run into me. He finally figured out I was there and ended up going under me and out through my legs. We had lunch, which was pretty tasty. It was a combination of warm and cold food, which kind of surprised me. We sailed back and arrived at 1:30. One thing I will say about the catamaran is that it is a party atmosphere with very loud music and a lot of encouragement to drink from the open bar. When we docked, I wanted to find another rash guard because the day had been fabulous using one. There is a souvenir store, Coconuts, right by the dock. I found a new rash guard with a sea turtled on it, and a t-shirt. I kind of wanted to hang around the beach for awhile because it’s so beautiful, but I was indecisive on where to sit, and I wasn’t sure how or who to reserve chairs from. We ended up buying a few smoothies from this booth near the Hyatt and just sat there and relaxed for a while. It was lovely. At 2:30pm, we walked back through the Hyatt property to get a taxi. The property is lovely. They had a fabulous looking pool area. There is a Koi Pond with a black swan. There’s lots of lush greenery, too. I also liked the number of foot washing stations all along the beach and the paths on the property. When we got back to the pier, we walked through the stalls set up selling typical tourist stuff. I had heard about the Dutch Pancake house and I wanted to try it. We walked there, and I ordered what was basically a giant crepe with Nutella, strawberries, and bananas. It was so good! I’m sure I missed the whole point because a crepe isn’t necessarily anything special, but I really enjoyed it. At about 5pm, we walked back to the port and browsed the shops. I found a t-shirt I pondered buying but didn’t. We boarded the ship, showered, and then I realized I was still thinking about that shirt, so we went back and got it. Sail away was at 11pm, but we were back onboard and finished by about 7. We reached out the ship’s laundry crew to inquire about possible cleaning my rash guard. They tried but it was not salvageable. My husband insisted they charge us, but they didn’t. I really appreciated that they attempted to clean it, and I was grateful they didn’t charge us, even thought I would have gladly paid. Saturday 4/15/23 – At Sea This was a lazy and relaxing day. We slept in until around 8:30. I spent hours on the verandah reading and just watching the water. I think there was a nap in there too. I love long trip reports, so for those of you that made it this far, I hope you liked it. If you have any questions, please ask!

I visited Bonaire last week and bought a rash guard, and then proceeded to ruin it the next day. I’m hoping one of you might be able to help me find the name so I can contact them. It was located in the shops by the cruise pier. As you exited the ship secure area, you walk up some steps and exit a wrought iron gate. On the left there was a store in the first yellow building that sold Bonaire stuff, and immediately as you enter there was a wall of rash guards hanging on the wall to the right. If any of you know the name of this store so I can contact them, I’d be so appreciative.

Thank you all for the replies!

Thank you for responding!

When I was choosing a boarding time, I apparently didn’t select the arrival time for my husband but I did for me. So, my time is 1:30 and his is 5:30. Will they allow him to board with me? This is for an upcoming sail out of San Juan Puerto Rico. In Aruba, the port start time is 8am. I’ve booked a snorkel excursion with a private operator that starts at 9:15. It departs from the Hyatt pier. Assuming there are no wildly abnormal events that take place that morning, do you think an hour an 15 minutes is sufficient time to get to the pier from the port? Thank you taking the time to read and respond!