CruiseMuch?

Icy Straight Point: Do Wild Bear Safari with Luke.  He is great!!!

www.wildbearsafari.com

We just did whale watching with Jayleen.  She is awesome.  Small operation, personal, yet professional.  She was the best.

After more than 1 negative experiences, I feel I have to post this. I have rented, or attempted to use AVIS in Curaçao 3 times, here are my experiences:

1) July 2016, got a car that was 3/8’s on fuel, dropped it off with at least that much gas or more, they later charged me $17 dollar fuel refilling fee. They can do this as I am back home when I see the charge. $17 is not enough to spend much time trying to get this refunded.

2) July 2017, no one showed up for work, when someone finally arrived to open the store, they were backed up. They helped us 2nd since we had a reservation, but we still waited for about an hour for help, another 30 min for them to find a car, finally got in a car and rode with the agent several blocks away to get a car. Wasted a good chunk of our port day.

3) January 2018, I gave them one more try. Again, ship was closed when we got there. When they opened she had no cars. Not that they rented them before we arrived, they opened up with zero cars, in spite of our reservation.

I used them b/c you can make a reservation on the Avis website, but it’s pointless.

I am done with them & want to warn others.

They do not know how to do business!

Anyone want to live in Curaçao? Open up a car rental agency near the ship, you can make some buck.

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Yes, it’s awesome.

Now please remove this post so no one sees this. Once people know how good it is, they will take advantage and get in my virtually non-existent line. [emoji6]

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We are heading back to Roatan for the 1234908636434 time (just kidding but seems like it). We need something new to do (maybe).

 

 

 

In the past we have done Maya Key, West Bay, Zip lining and the animals with Bodden, and Little French Key about 3 or 4 times (I've lost count at this point).

 

 

 

While our favorite thing so far has been LFK, I feel like I need something new. Each time we go there they have made additional changes/add-on's and while it's super nice and more options, I feel like it just has so much now and getting so popular but yet still the same old same old. I need something different I think.

 

 

 

We are beach loving, snorkeling and fun in the sun type of people. What would you suggest?

Parrot Tree Resort. Google it. We have been to Roatan many times & love it there. Great beach/lagoon, nice bar with great food and a huge pool. Best of all it has always been very chill and no crowds. There is a small day use fee, I can't remember the price.

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We are a group of 4, 2 couples in their 40's. We have cruised alot, but never to the D.R. We are there from 9:00am to 4:00 pm.

We like adventure, to get off the path, to do something unique. We are willing to spend a little bit of money. I am looking for suggestions as to what we can do to make the most of our day in La Romana. Some idea's I have without knowing options are: charter a boat to take us somewhere beachy and remote, an all-inclusive resort day pass, waterfall/pools etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Cruising.

I certified a couple of years ago. I too, was tired of snorkeling. I have done about 50 dives now, all amazing! I wish I would have certified earlier. The dive community is a great group of people.

Here was my method. Go online to PADI, do the preliminary course work. It takes about 8-10 hours. There are tests, but it is informative. I completed it over about 4 days. Then, go to your local dive shop to sign up. They will host 2 days of classes in a pool, which is great to get comfortable in an easy environment. After this, you must do 4 open water dives, 2 a day for 2 days. I did mine in March, we wore wetsuits. Then you are good to go.", head to the Caribbean and enjoy!

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Blue Hole! We have done both, multiple times.

Dunn's is nice, but it is commercialized & over-crowded. I feel like I am at an amusement park. Blue hole is smaller, somewhat off the grid, cheaper, more personal & prettier. It can be difficult to get to, we had a personal driver for the day, which was definitely the best way to go. We still had time to tour other sites , shop etc.

(Note: If they have had recent heavy rains, it will be brown rather than blue)

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Ain't nobody got time for that!

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As the originator of this thread, I will comment. Thank you for the thoughts. After reading, y'all are right, there does not seem to be much point to propping doors open.

The beach ball & tea lights are a great ideas.

We will be on the Caribbean Princess. Does anyone know if they provide regular chairs or chaise lounges on the balcony?

Thank you!

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If you have cruised several times, & never have had strange tablemates.....YOU might be them. Just sayin.

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I don't know why, but at least once per cruise, I get up before sunrise, get coffee and sit on the lido deck to watch the sun come up. It's usually me and the people hosing down the deck. For whatever reason, I get fascinated watching them, then the sunrise. Great way to start a day.

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Hello, we have cruised plenty in the past. We finally spent some extra money & booked a premium balcony room for our next cruise. My question is, what should we pack to most benefit from the balcony. I have heard some say a bungee cord to prop the door open. I am looking for ideas like this. Thank you & happy cruising!

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I am a Princess fan. I have been on 20 cruises, and many with Carnival & Princess. I believe Princess & Carnival are equal in their quality, food etc. I can have a good time no matter what. Here is the difference imo: Your fellow guests. Carnies are a little more of a younger, party & wild crowd. Not always, that is a generalization. You have all types anywhere, but I see a difference. After other factors are considered, I think about those you are stuck with on the ship. That is where Princess wins for me, but based on that, others will prefer the Carnies.

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Stay on the ship, call it a see day, enjoy having the Lido deck & pool to yourselves.

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If you want I can email you the list we use. We made it ourselves but any have benefitted from it.

Keith

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Thank you all for the replies. A lot of good information and good ideas.

Since I started this post, I guess I will address some of the comments made:

cbatsea: Of course you don't NEED any of these things. Just looking for ideas from other seasoned cruisers.

donaldsc: This wasn't a must have list, just some ideas people might bring and benefit from, to make the cabin etc more functional, space saving etc.

Many ideas are solved with a smart-phone, flashlight, clock etc.

Ashland: The magnetic board counts the days, says happy sea day etc. We also post things "like went to the pool" etc. A great way to communicate. we are not giving away our exact whereabouts to psychopaths.

Side-note: keep the marker in your cabin, not clipped to your board-we had some interesting artwork drawn on our board.

Magnum60- A Credit card is a good piece of vacation info-Thanks for that. Many people choose to pack wisely so as to not buy a bunch of stuff to take home and store with the same stuff you could have packed and benefited from. For example, I would be happy if I brought Advil from home rather than paying $9 for it on the ship.

Keep the ideas coming.

Happy Cruising.

Cruisinreunion, you are correct, you can have it done at guest services. But, on day 1 there is often a decent line at. It is small to pack & we usually travel in a big group, so it has become my duty to lanyard everybody up during boarding. :)

What are some items on your cruise packing list that most people would not know to bring on a cruise?

Here are a couple of items we learned to bring with us:

-Tervis cups/lids for the pool

-A hole punch for our ship card/lanyard

-Magnetic Board to leave notes for our friends

-Wireless speaker to have in our cabin

-Command hooks-we always need room to hang items

-Ziploc bags-good for wet clothes on port days

Can anyone add to these? I like to update our packing list.

Divocean would allow my wife to tag along for about $15, but she would have been bored on the boat. We did scuba off of Klein Bonaire where should could have hung out, but she opted to go to the beach with friends.

Thanks for all the input. I ended up booking a 2 tank boat dive with divocean.

They were great, picked me up, had my gear ready, nice boat, great diving, then they drove me back to the ship. I was back in time to go horseback riding with the rest of my group. Amazing day. Bonaire needs to be a week long trip for me to do more diving.

Enjoy!!!

I just put this on a thread:

We just got back from a cruise with a stop in Bonaire. We decided to do something different and booked horseback riding. It was an awesome experience. The couple who runs the ranch are Mark and Bridgett. We were picked up at the ship by Mark. 20 minutes to their ranch and Bridgett had our horses ready. It was about a 30 min ride to the water, then you get to go in the ocean on a horse. The guides lead the horses in the water so it was very safe. We took some pics then headed back to the ranch. They were very friendly and personable and told us a lot about Bonaire. Their horses are well trained and cared for. It is obvious that they love their animals and what they do. Mark then took us back to the ship. I highly recommend them. Here is a link to their site: https://ranchowashikemba.com/

We just got back from a cruise with a stop in Bonaire. We decided to do something different and booked horseback riding. It was an awesome experience. The couple who runs the ranch are Mark and Bridgett. We were picked up at the ship by Mark. 20 minutes to their ranch and Bridgett had our horses ready. It was about a 30 min ride to the water, then you get to go in the ocean on a horse. The guides lead the horses in the water so it was very safe. We took some pics then headed back to the ranch. They were very friendly and personable and told us a lot about Bonaire. Their horses are well trained and cared for. It is obvious that they love their animals and what they do. Mark then took us back to the ship. I highly recommend them. Here is a link to their site: https://ranchowashikemba.com/

We just got back from a cruise with a stop in Bonaire. We decided to do something different and booked horseback riding. It was an awesome experience. The couple who runs the ranch are Mark and Bridgett. We were picked up at the ship by Mark. 20 minutes to their ranch and Bridgett had our horses ready. It was about a 30 min ride to the water, then you get to go in the ocean on a horse. The guides lead the horses in the water so it was very safe. We took some pics then headed back to the ranch. They were very friendly and personable and told us a lot about Bonaire. Their horses are well trained and cared for. It is obvious that they love their animals and what they do. Mark then took us back to the ship. I highly recommend them. Here is a link to their site: https://ranchowashikemba.com/

I just got back from a dive in Bonaire. It was DivOcean. They picked me up from the ship, took me to the shop, had all my gear on the boating waiting for me. There were 5 divers total, we did 2 tanks. Great boat, guide and perfect diving. When we were finished, they took me back to the ship. I actually had time to go horseback riding in the afternoon. Highly recommend.

Enjoy!