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Irie Tour Bus?

Aquarius85

By Aquarius85,
in Curacao

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  • 3 weeks later...
uncletr21

uncletr21

Posted
Posted
We just returned from our cruise and did this trip, what a great time. Yes it is well worth the $20. I would recommend this tour to anyone

 

Thanks for the feedback. Which beach did you stop at on the tour and was the water clear enough to bother bringing mask and snorkel?

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  • 1 month later...
Tabbymom

Tabbymom

Posted
Posted

Below is my review of the IRIE tour. We also stopped at Seaquarium beach; I didn't have my snorkeling stuff but there were people snorkeling near the sea wall. The water was very clear.

 

I had reserved the 11:00 am IRIE bus tour and headed over early to make sure I could find it (their directions were from the other pier). I found a guy with a card with my name on it near the IRIE tour sign so knew I had the right place. While I was waiting I found free wifi inside the Renaissance Resort shopping center. When I came out I made a joke about the IRIE guy's Segway and he asked if I would like to use it. I'd been on one before so took it on a little circle of the courtyard. The bus arrived and the driver said not to worry about where we sat because we wouldn't be very full. We started off and the next thing we knew, the bus was being filled by passengers off another ship (the Grandeur out of Panama). They were a bit raucous for some of the tour.

 

Other than that, it was a very nice tour, especially for the $20 cost. There were plenty of descriptions and history in both English and Spanish. They had cold water, soda (no diet), and beer. We drove past the pontoon bridge, through the old Jewish quarter, across the Queen Juliana bridge, past more old homes and other famous landmarks, and a stop at the Curacao "factory" (actually store). IMO this was a bit of a waste; they don't manufacture there so all you really learned was the history and had the chance to try tiny samples of four flavors. It was also theoretically a bathroom break but the ladies room had TWO STALLS. You can imagine the line.

 

Back on the bus to the new housing developments, a view of Spanish Waters, and down to Seaquarium Beach where we got free admission for a 45 minute stop. We could opt to stay longer and have a later bus pick us up, which fortunately was the choice for the Grandeur passengers. It was a lovely beach with warm water; I just left my stuff on a chair and floated for most of the time. Then back on the bus, back across the bridge, and finished where we started by the pontoon bridge.

The water at the beach:

 

2egemug.jpg

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Tabbymom

Tabbymom

Posted
Posted

Two-thirds of our bus tour were off the Grandeur (an immersion cruise out of Panama) and they all opted to stay for a later bus back from the beach. But I don't know the details of how that worked. If necessary, I'm sure you could get a taxi back from the beach. There really wasn't more tour after the beach, just heading back to where we started. The cost of the taxi wouldn't be too bad considering the low cost of the tour and the savings at the beach (normally an $11 pp fee).

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
Sunny AZ Girl

Sunny AZ Girl

Posted
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I'm having a hard time getting an email reply from Irie Tours. Is anyone else having this problem? If I don't here from them soon, I will consider Curacao-Actief Tours, which also has good ratings.

 

I did receive an e-mail reply from Irie on my inquiry the other day:

 

First of all thanks a lot for your interest in our tour.

 

When it is a morning arrival , our tour is at 11:00am. If it is an afternoon

arrival, the bus leaves at 3:00pm.

 

It's also possible to stay longer at the beach, but just let the driver know

so he won't be waiting for you to come back to the bus. You can take a taxi

at the beach, it's a 10 minute drive so it's not expensive. Maybe around $20

for the ride. But who knows, maybe there are more people that want to stay

longer and then we arrange a time to pick you up later. That we will have to

arrange on that day.

 

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask or if you would

like to make a reservation, please let me know.

 

Nagalie(trainee)

 

 

Irie Tours

 

I am disappointed in the hours of the tour. We are in port from 8 AM - 6 PM. They don't seem to customize the tours a ship's arrival time. It would cut right into the middle of the day allowing for little time at either end for other pursuits. We are looking at other options.

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LuckyZ

LuckyZ

Posted
Posted

Just got back from Breeze southern Caribbean and Curaçao was definitely my favorite port of call.

 

We did Irie tours with Silvain and uncle Bob and had an absolutely fantastic time.

 

I will give this tour 5 stars due to the high quality and reasonable price.

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  • 1 month later...

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