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On 10/4/2019 at 1:32 PM, Peachy59 said:

I know lots of people seem to love Woodwind, but we really didn't like it.

 

The boat was small and older and barely enough room to sit. They sailed in a big circle for 45 minutes before they stopped for snorkeling. The water was a little rough and the current kept pushing us toward the shore near where we were snorkeling. We didn't even see very much and they tried to keep us in a tight group so there were others bumping into us, and we weren't in the beginner group. Then another at least 45 minutes back. This was the three hour tour.

 

On the sail out, one of the young girls came to the bow to do something, and bent over in her skimpy bathing suit bottom right in front of the eight of us sitting there. I mean she bent all the way over. My husband just went "wow" and put his head down, he was so embarrased. For a minute I thought we were at a strip club or something. We also didn't care for Dee, the owner. She was very condescending. When people were jumping into the water she kept yelling "don't swim" Ha. I'm not kidding.

 

This was last year, so maybe they've improved or we just went on a bad day.

I am surprised to hear this, complete opposite experience to what we had.  I wonder if they got a new(er) boat since you were there, I thought the boat was really nice and had plenty of space for everyone, it certainly wasn’t small or old. Maybe it was wind related on your day or something, for us there was no doing circles, just pulled up to the spot dropped us off in the water and away we went.  Once we were picked up we moved to a different spot and were again dropped off. Really enjoyed it and would go with them again next time.

I would look at going with Woodwind in Bonaire.  Nice stable boat, experienced and friendly staff/guides, beautiful snorkelling area and great food/drink onboard the boat.

5 hours ago, MarLieb said:

I need to pick one last excursion for our upcoming ABC cruise and I'm having a hard time deciding.  I have narrowed it down to either a snorkeling tour with Aruba Bob or a land tour which would include the major sites plus a swim at Eagle Beach.  My son, who will be 12 by then, has requested snorkeling, but we will also be snorkeling in Bonaire (with either Woodwind or on the Mushi Mushi) and, from what I've read, the snorkeling is not as good in Aruba.  

 

For reference, here are our other excursions:

 

St. Kitts-Nevis - Catamaran to Nevis for a beach day

Aruba - ?

Curacao - resort day

Bonaire - snorkeling

 

Any feedback or other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Maybe use a resort day in Aruba if you are not 100% set on a resort day in Curacao and think about doing a tour with Irie tours.  We did the island/beach hopping tour and it was a good tour that included stops at various beaches as well as a chance to snorkel with turtles.  Your son may really like that since you mention he requested snorkelling.  Would recommend Woodwind in Bonaire.

I would imagine most of your fellow snorkelers will be from the ship.  Email woodwind to confirm, but I don’t think they’ll have any problem getting you back.  The dock is not far from the port. Woodwind is great, highly recommended! 

On 8/23/2019 at 9:36 AM, mcmarya said:

We were in Aruba in April and found that the snorkeling was not nearly as good as in the past.  There was some brown stuff in the water that reduced visibility.  We're stopping again in October so we'll see if it is any better at Boca Catalina/Catalina Cove this time.

Agree, it was pretty brown in March.

Nothing on the bus that I recall, but a few of the stops had facilities. 

6 hours ago, jlocole said:

How did you arrange your snorkeling at Aruba and on Curacao?  Beach hopping tour suits me: is it offered as a RCCL excursion?

Curacao we took Irie Tours Beach Hopping trip which was great fun.  We got a decent tour of the island with stops at a few different beaches, even swam with turtles.  For Aruba we just took a city bus (across the street from port) to the beach on our own, it was easy and inexpensive, plus many of the tour boats were anchored just beyond where we were snorkelling.

2 hours ago, Tall22 said:

Thanks but their tours include too much beach time.

That is what we liked about it, as we wanted to both explore a bit of the island and get some snorkelling in.  It was lots of fun, but for some I could definitely see it being way too much beach time.

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Thanks! I don't have my own horse, but I am an experienced rider. Reviews on the HAL excursion site are mixed--more about staff being rude to guests but not mean to the horses. Like your wife, I was worried about how well it would be run. And I, too, want to ride in the water. 

 

I do snorkel tours because I travel solo and like to have that structure rather than being in the water on my own. I did a snorkel trip in St Thomas, and their only instruction to the one newbie was "Do you like to swim? Great! You'll love this." And then they handed her off to me as a buddy, not knowing if I was experienced enough to help her! (I am) But at HMC, they're good about helping anyone who is a novice or a bit nervous about it. For anyone reading this thread and thinking about the snorkel tour, I've done it twice and it's done well.

 

The staff for the horses was great, they even let me have a drink (told to help myself to a water or pop from the cooler) while I was waiting there.  The drinks were there for the riders when they got back.  They also took a a few photos during the ride, my wife handed her little camera off to one of the guides, so no complaints about the staff at all.

Curious where did the snorkel excursion at HMC take you? was it from the beach or a boat?

We did do snorkelling excursions from a boat in Bonaire, and Turks and Caicos, and a snorkelled on our own during a beach hopping tour on Curacao, as well as on our own in Aruba and HMC.  Clearly we love the water and snorkelling! 

On 7/12/2019 at 8:01 AM, mrpayroll said:

anyone know what the minimum age is to use the zip line at the port ? Taking our two grandkids aged 12 and 10 ? 

The water slides are fun as well.  If the zip line doesn’t work out for them.

Have a look at Irie tours, it was great!

We took a public transit bus up to Boca Catalina and went in from the beach.  Snorkelling was ok, but not as good as other ports on our cruise.  Many of the snorkel excursion boats were anchored just outside of the area we were in.

5 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

How did you wife like the horeseback ride? I'm thinking about that for my next trip to HMC.

 

I haven't snorkeled from the beach, but I have done the excursion. I've seen a lot of different fish, got some good pictures. The equipment is excellent and the crew are great. It would be a good snorkel excursion for a beginner because it's usually smooth water. 

My wife has a horse back home so was worried about the condition of the horses prior to going on the trip, but eventually decided if she was going to do it HMC was the place.  She really enjoyed it and was pleased with the stable and the care the horses receive.  She really wanted to ride a horse in the water, so especially loved that part.  The staff were great, they even let me tag along on the ‘shuttle’ to the stables so i could get photos of them riding in the water.  

For the snorkelling, we had our own equipment (as we planned snorkel trips in other ports) and just got a couple chairs on the beach closest to the tender dock area and swam/ snorkelled for the rest of the day, decent variety of fish along the rocks there.

We thought about doing this but a family member said that on a previous trip the ferry wasn’t running the day they were in port, so we didn’t want to take the chance of missing out on snorkelling and booked a tour with Woodwind for piece of mind. It was wonderful! The ferry did appear to be running the day we were there.

We used USD in and around the pool area. We didn’t venture beyond that.

Double post

Only comment I will disagree with from above it about snorkelling.  While I can certainly agree it isn’t the best spot you will likely stop on your itinerary, if you love to snorkel, and don’t have anything else planned I would bring your gear.  My wife did the horseback riding and then afterwards we snorkelled to the far left along the rocks and saw lots of interesting stuff (variety of fish and an octopus).  The water is beautiful and we wanted to enjoy spending the day in the water so why not throw on the mask and fins and explore.

We did it, hopped on the public bus across from the cruise dock, was easy and cheap. 

On 8/3/2019 at 12:34 PM, Tall22 said:

Thanks to each of you for your input. I have tried snorkeling before with limited success. Actually I should say no real success. Each  time I was on my own, others were nearby but no one to give guidance or help. In Hawaii it was so rough I was afraid to let go of the guide rope attached to the boat. One of the things that concerns me with Woodwind is the drifting aspect.  I want to see the fishes and the turtles! But...The more I think about it maybe I should just tour the island and take pictures! I have had more success with that!🤔

I wouldn’t be too concerned about the drifting, it is actually nice they drop you in a spot and you drift along and they pick you up at the other end. I think if you are going to try snorkelling from a boat this is the place to do it.

On 8/3/2019 at 8:06 AM, Sweetnspicy said:

Thanks for the advice. We just got the email that our itinerary changed and Bonaire is now a sea day instead. 

That is too bad, hopefully you’ll make it there some other time it is beautiful.

When we were there I did both things mentioned above.  Woodwind snorkel tour (which was great!) and then I snorkelled in the shadow of the ship on the way back. I was actually surprised at the variety of sea life just in thay area.

3 hours ago, Tall22 said:

When I booked a Woodwind snorkeling tour for my husband, Ulf asked why I wasn't signing up for myself. I explained that I cannot swim. Ulf assured me that knowing how to swim would not be required, that I could safely snorkel with their help. Are there any non-swimmers out there that have gone snorkeling with Woodwind? What was your experience? Those of you who are experienced snorkelers - What are your opinions? Should I give it a try or shy away from it?

As a strong swimmer it is hard to have an opinion, but at minimum I feel you would have to be comfortable in the water and obviously be ok with putting your head/face under.  Remember you are in an area where you can’t just stand up like in a pool, it is deep. They did have pool noodles (they may have also had vests) which you could kind of float around on kicking with your fins to follow the group. The guides we very helpful and did take people in groups based on their skill level.  Only you can decide if you feel like you can handle this, but it is an amazing place to snorkel and I would highly recommend Woodwind!

One of our stops was quite rough and strong current and even as a strong swimmer and experience snorkeler, I wouldn’t say it was an easy snorkel, but the crew is there to help everyone.

Since we are talking restaurants, the little bakery across the street to the left was good for a cheap and easy breakfast.  Down the block to the right was El Camino mexican type food was really good as was the french place next door both for lunch and dinner, can’t recall the name.  We also used lyft from the hotel to port and back.  They would arrange a shuttle but for our group of 4 lyft was just easier and actually less money.

We stayed in Feb for a few nights in the tower pre-cruise.  Really nice hotel, close to everything.  Easy to hop the shuttle bus to the beach and tons of restaurants nearby.  We also saw the regular room post cruise prior to flying home as family was staying a few nights, it was also nice. I would look to stay there again next time.  

As for the shuttle question, we used lyft, but they did offer to arrange a shuttle and it was priced per person, and less if 4 or more people iirc.

We were disappointed to see Escargot was not offered on our 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise (Koningsdam) in March.  We asked and were told the cruise before us didn’t have any either.  We assumed it was just a temporary supply issue.