Sunshyne4ever

I'm wondering if anyone has ever rented a van for the day in Curacao? Trying to find a good rental company that would offer same day pickup/dropoff but is also close to the cruise terminal. we are a group of 6-7. There are rental companies that have Van rentals, but require 2-3 days bookings, and we only need it for the day. I'm not sure if renting from the airport would be worth it, as we would have to take a taxi to /from there.  Any guidance would be appreciated.

HI AlohaLivin... I would love the link to read your map, and giving an advance thank you for your hardwork in keeping up with the map and as well keeping this thread going. dinpet1422 at gmail dot com.

We will be going there in February 2017 and would like if Jolly Beach will be okay with a 1 year old baby? Is the water shallow enough so baby can walk a bit in the water. If not, any other beach to recommend. thanks in adavance

Hi Karenbeanpole and Turalura, We were thinking of going with Joe Banana Limo for the Sorrento/Amalfi coast/Pompeii in November. We're thinking of joining a group or another couple, still haven't found one yet. Also, not sure if it'll be still open in the "off-season".. but do you know how long you were there? What time did they pick you up and then drop you off. Did you ever feel you were being rushed at each site? Thanks in advance

We are leaving on Monday for 10 cruise on NCL Sun and we are wanting to go to Carlisle Bay to snorkel (we have all our own gear). Can you tell me where it was that you stop and rented the chairs? We do not want to go to Boatyard we just want to go to the beach to snorkel and dive on the ship wrecks.

Oh you're so lucky, it's considered to be -21 degrees celcius today, uggh! Hope you have a wonderful time. I really don't remember where we had rented our chairs. I knew when I hit "Lobster alive" that we were at the beginning of the bay

Directions

(google map "Carlisle bay barbados")

we walked down (20-30mins)

1. Princess Alice hwy (there's a sidewalk)

2. We then made a left pass through the parking lot of the Bridgetown heliport (which will become The Wharf rd)

3. then once you see Chamberlain Bridge cross over

4. head onto Bay St. (You'll have to pass a few local market stalls),

5. keep walking til you get "Lobster Alive" bar/restaurant (it's red)

6. We were going to go here as our inital plan, but it seemed to us it was too far from all the boats

7. so we just keep walking onto the sandy beach, and kept going til we saw more chairs and umbrellas

8. I guess we stayed closer to "Bayshore Beach" (see attached pic - carlislebayswimmingroute)

- we stayed with the red color umbrella

- Green line (DH swam straight to the beach and then walked back to the chair

- magenta line, I swam back diagonally back to the chairs (needed more exercise, lol)

I also think, there were more boats near the "Brownes Beach/Pebbles beach" which may indicate the "shipwrecks" and turtles. We didn't really care much about the shipwrecks so we didn't walk further down. It does get hot, so if you can't stand the heat, just take a taxi $5pp instead of walking to get to say "Pebbles beach" from the ship.

hope this helps

So we've decided to go with the Poinciana Tour and here's our review.

link: http://www.poincianatours.com/

Emails were sent back and forth with David, but when we met the tour guide, it was Al. We were a bit hesitant because David (Al he did mentioned David's name) said that there were 6 people joining us, but that didn't happen. Either all 6 decided to not go with the tour or it was a lie. Its seemed sketchy at first, going into Al's Mazda with just the two of us. I was complaining the whole entire ride to the mountain, because I was worried... and my DH kept saying it'll be fine. Al kept reassuring that it's legit, he had his cellphone and said he could call David to verify and having a private tour is the best.

By the time we got to the parking lot at the base of the mountain (15mins ride), I felt so much better, there were 3 other tour groups that were also hiking. One had already gone up, and the other two were still at the bus, getting ready.

The hike itself was difficult. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with knee problems. We had 8 small breaks and they were short, about 2-4 mins each, because I just wanted to keep going til I reached the top. At times, I wonder to myself if I could make it. I kept telling myself to just get to the next break... The trail was hard, going over tree roots, pebbles, and rocks; you'll get dirty. I am a 5'5' with short legs so sometimes it was hard to get to one rock to another. If you don't rush it, you'll get through it. Running/hiking shoes is a must, no flip flops or even open toe sandals, you will get dirty. It's a rain forest, it's going to be wet and muddy. I didn't have to carry the backpack and used the hiking stick provided, but you definitely need water. Thank you to my DH, he carried the water and camera most of the time. Our tour guide brought us some as well, thank goodness. And we had some extra so we gave a huge bottle of water to a couple from another tour, because they didn't bring anything.

After 2 hours, we finally made it to the top, and it was such a wonderful feeling to be at the top. The view is breathtaking, breathing in the cooler air and having a long break. About 10-15 minutes was all we had, but enough to sit, enjoy the view, have something to drink and eat. See the clouds forming over the crator. Al gave us some sandwiches and fruit juice which gave enough energy for us to go back down. You could bring granola bars but that's it, something quick and easy.

The trek down seem harder for me as it took longer for me to reach to the next rock or root. I'm just too short. lol. My DH had to help me at times, having the walking stick did help as well, and sometimes I just threw it down, so I have two hands to hold onto something.

It took us 2 hours to go down, as it did rain for about 20 minutes, the ground was wet and slippery which also took a bit longer. Al mentioned that his fastest time was 1.5 hours up, and 1 hour down... but also his slowest time with a group was 3 hours up 3 hours down. So it all depends on your group and how fit you are.

We are average, team sports twice a week, go to the gym 2-3 times a week.. but we're definitely are not marathon runners or anything like that. Overall, we would do it again in a heartbeat, just next time we're more prepared and pace yourself.

I do want to make a note.. about the other tours (group of 15), don't know if they came from the ship or another tour. but I felt really bad for a older couple who did the hike and didn't make it to the top. He had cut himself and there was a bit of blood as we were coming up and he and his wife was coming down. I think the tour guide should have first aid and helped him. The couple mentioned the tour guide didn't even know they turned around and left them by themselves. If there's a group, maybe two tour guides should be there, one at the beginning and one at the back. They also mentioned, that they only had 3 breaks, and the tour guide kept pushing them to go faster. Maybe in a bigger group, you don't have that much time.. so I was glad we had a private tour. I wouldn't want to feel I'm the person slowing the group down. Just my thought.

Our tour guide Al was sensational, he kept motivating me to keep going. He helped by telling me where to put my foot and where to grab on a root or tree. Without him, I think it would take me longer deciding how I would take the next step. Al never made me feel I was rushed. There were times that my DH could just hop from one rock to another, but I can't do that, so Al told me to go on my bum and slide down. Even though I was so dirty by the end of the trip (I literally took a shower in my clothes and shoes back at the ship, lol) Al made my DH and I feel safe. I did like the private tour, as we can go at our own pace then in a group. A good recommendation, maybe a group of no bigger then 8.

anyways, sorry for my grammar and hopefully it'll help provide some tips on the hike.

I just did the volcano hike tour with Thenford Gray last week. I have many details and photos from in my photo review. The only point I want to stress is that this is a very difficult hike.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41632069#post41632069

Thanks for the pictures and your review. Your review is awesome. LOVE it

We just got back from our cruise (RCCL, Jewel of the seas) and had a wonderful time. Just wanted to mentioned spending the day swimming with the turtles was so much fun, I had to post it here. lol

We were too late to book a spot with Calabaza or Silvermoon Catamaran tours, so we were on our. But that didn't stop us, all we did was walk off the cruise ship and walked along the sidewalk along the water, and we got to the beach about 15-25 minutes, as I had to stop and take photos along the way.

We picked a place with two chairs and an umbrella for $15 total and plopped ourselves down. (had a huge breakfast before we left, so we didn't buy anything food or drinks)

Started to snorkel around, and not even 20 feet in front of us from the sand was a huge starfish. (a size of a Frisbee). There were about 10 that we saw that day. For the turtles, you do have to swim a bit farther away, maybe about 90 feet (30 metres) you could see one or two swimming by.

It's only when a boat tour that comes along, and the tour guy comes and feeds them squid that there will be more turtles around. But if you're patient enough, you will see them. We were out in the water for about an hour, and then we went back later on in the afternoon. At most we saw 5 at one time.

As for boat tours, I recommend it if you don't have that much time, or if you have kids that can't swim for too long. They were offering $15-20 pp to just go from the beach to the location of the water.

We did talk to a couple who did the Calabaza tour ($110) and they had a wonderful time, swam with the turtles and the shipwreck, and had a huge lunch on the Catamaran. They take you to a different location other then Carlisle bay. So maybe next time we'll do that, but this time all we wanted to do was lie on the beach and swim for an hour or so.

See map on where we walked to the beach. Hope this helps

Has anyone went with this tour group? Poinciana Tours recently? Any good reviews for the Mount Liamuiga hike? Or is there another hiking Tour group that would be better. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks