Curacao afternoon ship visit to Shete Boka

[Heidijobuck78]

We are coming into port in the afternoon (carnival says 1:30) & would like to go to Shete Boka National Park & Snorkel with the turtles. Our cruise ship offers an excursion that does just that but I’d rather book our own private tour. I have contacted a couple tour companies. Most are saying yes we can do that but others are saying that the time might be 230 island time. With that said it’s an hour drive to Shete boka & it looks like it may close at 4:30 according to their website. One of the tour companies told me it closes at 4.  Not a whole lot of places offer the afternoon Shete Boka & I’m going to guess because of this reason. Has anyone ever came in on an afternoon cruise & went to Shete Boka? How do I know which time we come if it’s island time or ship time? If it is 1:30 we would have time to see Shete Boka. If it’s 2:30 that might be pushing it?  Maybe the park closes entrance gates at 4? Or 4:30? And than you can still stay as long as you wish? As I said Carnival does offer it so unless they get some special privilege to get in after it closes they would be cutting it short on time to get there as well. Any help from anyone who has done in the afternoon would help!! TIA

[bup1224]

36 minutes ago, Heidijobuck78 said:

We are coming into port in the afternoon (carnival says 1:30) & would like to go to Shete Boka National Park & Snorkel with the turtles. Our cruise ship offers an excursion that does just that but I’d rather book our own private tour. I have contacted a couple tour companies. Most are saying yes we can do that but others are saying that the time might be 230 island time. With that said it’s an hour drive to Shete boka & it looks like it may close at 4:30 according to their website. One of the tour companies told me it closes at 4.  Not a whole lot of places offer the afternoon Shete Boka & I’m going to guess because of this reason. Has anyone ever came in on an afternoon cruise & went to Shete Boka? How do I know which time we come if it’s island time or ship time? If it is 1:30 we would have time to see Shete Boka. If it’s 2:30 that might be pushing it?  Maybe the park closes entrance gates at 4? Or 4:30? And than you can still stay as long as you wish? As I said Carnival does offer it so unless they get some special privilege to get in after it closes they would be cutting it short on time to get there as well. Any help from anyone who has done in the afternoon would help!! TIA

I live here so happy to help. 

What date are you coming so I can check the time for you.

If your ship gets in on time (which the past few months the Carnival afternoon arrivals have been later than scheduled), you would have possibly have maybe an hour to 2 hours at Shete Boka if that, it closes at 4 pm and you have to leave by 4:30, no you can't stay in there after that.

The private tour companies know what they are talking about regarding this.

 

[Heidijobuck78]

14 minutes ago, bup1224 said:

I live here so happy to help. 

What date are you coming so I can check the time for you.

If your ship gets in on time (which the past few months the Carnival afternoon arrivals have been later than scheduled), you would have possibly have maybe an hour to 2 hours at Shete Boka if that, it closes at 4 pm and you have to leave by 4:30, no you can't stay in there after that.

The private tour companies know what they are talking about regarding this.

 

Hi Thanks! April 22nd on Carnival Horizon. As far as the tour companies they were all saying not a problem booking it at that time until one of the tour operators wrote back laying out the time line and than what time the park closed. Up to him messaging me the possible timeline and the parks closing time I had no idea there might be an issue. Also if you live there how long is the drive to shete boka from the cruise port? I find it odd though that Carnival has that excursion as an option at that time so that’s why I was thinking the park allowed maybe a little later entrance into the park when a ship was in port?! Thanks again!!

[bup1224]

33 minutes ago, Heidijobuck78 said:

Hi Thanks! April 22nd on Carnival Horizon. As far as the tour companies they were all saying not a problem booking it at that time until one of the tour operators wrote back laying out the time line and than what time the park closed. Up to him messaging me the possible timeline and the parks closing time I had no idea there might be an issue. Also if you live there how long is the drive to shete boka from the cruise port? I find it odd though that Carnival has that excursion as an option at that time so that’s why I was thinking the park allowed maybe a little later entrance into the park when a ship was in port?! Thanks again!!

With absolutely no traffic it's about 25-30 minutes. 

The closing time is the closing time,  regardless of a cruise ship being here.

[Heidijobuck78]

19 minutes ago, bup1224 said:

With absolutely no traffic it's about 25-30 minutes. 

The closing time is the closing time,  regardless of a cruise ship being here.

Ok that is helpful I thought it was a good hour to get there.  Like you had said with no traffic understanding it could still be an hour with traffic but I thought it was an hour with no traffic. So that does help.