Courtney892

We are a family of 9 taking a cruise next month. Is there any reason it would be hard for us to just go to the Curacao Sea Aquarium on our own? We would just need a taxi and to pay entrance fee and the fees for any additional activities we want to do, correct? How far is this trip by taxi? And I can't find prices for additional activities online so far. Does anyone know the prices for Sea Lion or Dolphin encounters?

If we are done early, I thought we could do one of the nearby beaches after the aquarium. Should there be any issues with us doing that?

We have not yet taken our cruise. We leave in just a couple weeks.

We have booked both tours (snorkling through Woodwind and sightseeing through Bonairevistatours). I spoke with both tour operators, and they are able to accomodate the slight time adjustment for us to do both of them. Will post here on how it goes.

Thanks for the responses.

Crewsweeper, we may be with you up near Ft Pierce :) I looked at prices the other night when I had a hotels.com coupon offered, but the prices weren't calling to me so no definite plans yet.

Lido_Deck, La Quinta has secure parking there in Miami? That surprises me based on what I have read here! Good to read.

JohninDC, thank you very much for the links. Will look into them later today!

We are taking a family cruise. For about 1/2 of us snorkeling on Bonaire is a priority. With some overlap, the other priority is going to see the flamingos.

I am hoping we can arrange for both. Our 4 hour Woodwind tour is 8:30-12:30 and I am hoping that I can arrange to either see the flamingos DIY or on a sightseeing tour.

I have checked the excursions offered through RCCL and also through our travel agent, but they both offer morning tours. I do have an email in to Bonairevistatours.

Any other suggestions for how I can make this happen? Thanks so much in advance!

We have an early March 2017 cruise planned, and since Miami is roughly 15 hours from our home in TN, we figured we'll drive down the day before.

We need somewhere to stay the Thursday night before we embark and we need somewhere to park the car during our cruise.

We aren't tied to any area in particular, though based on what I am reading on various threads here, I have safety, price, and parking concerns with regarding to staying in Miami.

Option 1--stay somewhere in the $100ish range anywhere south of Ft Pierce and drive in the Friday we embark and park at the port.

Biggest drawback here is the price of port parking. $20 per day is pretty steep. Florida Cruise tips suggests several supposedly safe parking options in the area surrounding the port. I was interested in one with 24/7 security in a fenced and gated lot for around $10 per day. Would you be wary of these or are they pretty secure? We have done this type of offsite parking at other ports with good success, but I read somewhere on these boards that only the port parking is truly safe in Miami.

Option 2--stay near Ft Lauderdale airport (where my sister will be flying in sometime on Friday). Stick around the area to pick her up vs having her shuttle over to POM

I may only be interested in Option 2 because I was so disappointed not to be able to stay in some of the excellent hotels near Port Everglades when we were sailing out of there a few years ago. Really this option only makes sense to do if if we were able to park the car in the hotel over there during the cruise and get a shuttle/taxi/uber to Port of Miami. Is that even feasible?

Any other suggestions? The only reason I can think of to drive into Miami and pay the higher prices there for rooms would be if we received secure parking for the car duing our cruise (which is a 10 day). I am not finding hotels that offer that.

What would those of you much more familiar with the area than we are suggest for us to do? Thanks for any and all help!

We are huge RCCL fans and are sailing on the Oasis with my in-laws to the Eastern Caribbean in December. I feel like there is a ton I should be doing as far as planning and preparation (other than shopping which I have covered ;), but because of a grandmother recently put on hospice and a Disney trip I am planning for my niece in November which has required a lot of coordinating between family members, my cruise has gotten little to no attention.

I am loving the TRs to help us see what we need to be sure to try to do once we are on the ship, but there are not enough pre trip reports (and yours covered too little of the planning aspect for me :) here, so I am making a direct plea.

I'd really really appreciate any suggestions you have for what we should be doing as far as planning and preparing for our trip which is just about 3 months out now. The last RCCL ship I was on was the Explorer of the Seas (LOVED IT), and as excited as I am about the Explorer, I am also nervous about being overwhelmed by the size. My in-laws have never cruised before and are looking to me to take care of everything for them....perhaps why I have been in shut down mode a bit remembering the last time I took a trip with them :eek:, but I need to get on the ball.

We tried booking excursions a few months ago and the one we were excited about in St Maarten was cancelled because it isn't being offered on our sailing for some reason.