To Excursion or Not to Excursion in the ABC's

[robptaylor]

First time visiting the ABC Islands and looking for suggestions on which islands to book excursions and which to just "tour the town". 

 

On a recent cruise we booked excursions for every port and frankly found it EXHAUSTING.  In the past we usually booked one or two excursions and save the other ports for doing our own thing, e.g., walking the town, renting a scooter/car, etc.

 

Which of the ABC's is best for just doing your own thing and which should you go with an excursion/group?  In other words, which ports have plenty to do on your own and which do you need to "get away" to experience the island?

 

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Duanerice1]

Bonaire is great for just renting a golf cart and cruising around the island.  But, not sure I could go and no snorkel at Klein Bonaire.  Even that you can take a ferry to the island and do it on your own.

 

Not sure about Aruba and Curacao as we rented a car on both and just stopped at beaches snorkeling along the way.  We are not big on excursions so that's why we rent a car.  It was great taking our time and going our own pace.  And we are not kids, both over 60.

 

Whatever you decide, have fun

[cb at sea]

If you research your ports, either thru a guidebook or online, you can determine what interests you most in each place...and plan accordingly.  Excursions are really rarely needed to have a good day ashore...but you MUST know something about the places you'll visit!

[Ashland]

Just as you exit the terminal in Aruba there's an around the island tour for $20.00pp...large enclosed bus with air conditioning...avoid the open air party bus.

[donnachipper]

On ‎10‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 5:08 PM, Ashland said:

Just as you exit the terminal in Aruba there's an around the island tour for $20.00pp...large enclosed bus with air conditioning...avoid the open air party bus.

This is good to know, I have just started my research on this island.   We are going to be on a cruise ship, and docking 12 to 10 pm , or something like that.  Do you know how long those tours are going to be?

 

[Ashland]

5 hours ago, donnachipper said:

This is good to know, I have just started my research on this island.   We are going to be on a cruise ship, and docking 12 to 10 pm , or something like that.  Do you know how long those tours are going to be?

 

I believe for us it was about a 3 hour tour...we opted to be brought back into town...you also had the option of some beach time with a later pick back up time...so you have two options.

[Davey Wavey]

We have done land excursions on each of the islands on our first visit there. We don't regret doing any of them, but we wouldn't do any of them a second time. There just isn't that much to see on these desert islands outside of the cities. I tell people these are great islands for beaches, snorkeling, or gambling. In a casino on Bonaire, pretty much the entire ship's casino staff was there.

 

I think Curacao has the most stuff right around the port. You can cross over the floating bridge, which itself is a tourist attraction, right into the city. Head to the left after crossing the bridge to find the floating market. Internet search for self-guided walking tour of Willemsted for lots of info if you just want to keep walking around the town right there. Plenty to keep busy. Curacao is also the biggest of the islands and lots more stuff to see and do if you do an excursion.

 

The port in Aruba is in more of a business district. There are the usual port stores around and a flea market across the street, but not much of a walk around and look at stuff kind of place, unless you want to see some of their government buildings or do port shopping. Note, the prices on these islands is higher than typical Caribbean islands. Of the three islands, I would probably do an excursion here. Oranjestad seemed to be a much bigger city than Willemsted with lots of those colorful houses to see and old churches and forts. Just keep in mind that outside of the cities, it is just desert. Aruba has a cave and the collapsed bridge/arch thing, so I thought the highlight of excursions here was looking at the buildings in the city. You could drive yourself if you wanted.

 

Bonaire is least developed. Port stores and restaurants along the waterfront with not much to walk around and see. It was really interesting to see the active salt pans since so many of the islands no longer have them. The big piles of salt and the pink, pinker, pinkest water was unique and is too far to walk. The slave huts and a few old mills have some historical interest, but the excursion seemed like a desperate attempt to throw enough stuff together to make a "tour." The most enjoyable thing here was walking to the left of the port to the little area with a few shops. The music playing was unique to Bonaire and they liked dancing to it. I bought quite a few CDs of their unique music. Can't even find much of it on youtube. Example search for Grupo Di Betico or Remailo-Rincon Boyz

 

So, any of the places isn't bad for taking a land tour excursion for the first visit just to see some different places. Curacao is the best for just walking around near port.

Edited November 1, 2018 by Davey Wavey

[cruiseapril]

Agree that Curacao is a place to walk around- the Willemstad area-  and that a bus tour of 3 hours or so is good for Aruba.

 

If one wants to go to the beach in Aruba, take a taxi to Palm Beach (high rise) or Eagle Beach.

 

If one wants to spend part of the day at the beach in Curacao- we went to Blue Bay before walking around Willemstad.

Be sure to ask your taxi driver to pick you up.  Or one can stay nearer to the ship and go to the Hilton.  E-mail hotels for details.

 

Agree also that Bonaire is a beach and snorkel area.

[BOOGALOO509]

With regards to the $20pp around Aruba island bus tour for 3 hours.

 

Can you confirm that is the Big Bus Island Tour bus I have read about or is that one of the party buses that should be avoided?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

John

 

[Floridastorm]

We are Floridians and it's well known that Florida has some of the best beaches and water activities in the world. That being said, my wife and I never use the beaches or pools for that matter, as neither of us are beach people. We have done cruises before but never in the Caribbean. Most of the cruises out of Florida tour the Caribbean. Most of the port stops are in places where there are plenty of beaches and water activity, which I'm assuming is the main interest in cruising the Caribbean for a lot of folks. The ABC ports, and also some of the other ports where the cruise ships call, must have a lot of other interesting facets to them besides just beaches. What, in some people's views, are the Caribbean ports that you would pick if you had no interest in beaches per se but had interest in things like culture, history, and topography? I know that I can check each individual port listed on CC. But, thought I might get an overall view doing it this way. 🤔

Edited November 9, 2018 by Floridastorm

[Floridastorm]

On 11/1/2018 at 12:01 PM, Davey Wavey said:

We have done land excursions on each of the islands on our first visit there. We don't regret doing any of them, but we wouldn't do any of them a second time. There just isn't that much to see on these desert islands outside of the cities. I tell people these are great islands for beaches, snorkeling, or gambling. In a casino on Bonaire, pretty much the entire ship's casino staff was there.

 

I think Curacao has the most stuff right around the port. You can cross over the floating bridge, which itself is a tourist attraction, right into the city. Head to the left after crossing the bridge to find the floating market. Internet search for self-guided walking tour of Willemsted for lots of info if you just want to keep walking around the town right there. Plenty to keep busy. Curacao is also the biggest of the islands and lots more stuff to see and do if you do an excursion.

 

The port in Aruba is in more of a business district. There are the usual port stores around and a flea market across the street, but not much of a walk around and look at stuff kind of place, unless you want to see some of their government buildings or do port shopping. Note, the prices on these islands is higher than typical Caribbean islands. Of the three islands, I would probably do an excursion here. Oranjestad seemed to be a much bigger city than Willemsted with lots of those colorful houses to see and old churches and forts. Just keep in mind that outside of the cities, it is just desert. Aruba has a cave and the collapsed bridge/arch thing, so I thought the highlight of excursions here was looking at the buildings in the city. You could drive yourself if you wanted.

 

Bonaire is least developed. Port stores and restaurants along the waterfront with not much to walk around and see. It was really interesting to see the active salt pans since so many of the islands no longer have them. The big piles of salt and the pink, pinker, pinkest water was unique and is too far to walk. The slave huts and a few old mills have some historical interest, but the excursion seemed like a desperate attempt to throw enough stuff together to make a "tour." The most enjoyable thing here was walking to the left of the port to the little area with a few shops. The music playing was unique to Bonaire and they liked dancing to it. I bought quite a few CDs of their unique music. Can't even find much of it on youtube. Example search for Grupo Di Betico or Remailo-Rincon Boyz

 

So, any of the places isn't bad for taking a land tour excursion for the first visit just to see some different places. Curacao is the best for just walking around near port.

Very good synopsis. Gives exactly the information that I believe many people are looking for, like myself, that have no interest in beaches or snorkeling. Well done.

[Ashland]

We were just in Curacao in September and was very surprised the floating market was gone...and many of the shops were closed/boarded up...unlike other times we have visited this port.

[BarbinMich]

11 hours ago, Ashland said:

We were just in Curacao in September and was very surprised the floating market was gone...and many of the shops were closed/boarded up...unlike other times we have visited this port.

 

That sounds odd--we've never cruised there in Sept (usually in Jan), but would speculate that it's a slow time for them and maybe they use the down time to vacation.  It also may have to do with the possibility of hurricanes.  Up here in the US we don't usually hear about storms way down there.  But it's a good "heads-up" for future fall cruisers to the ABCs.

Edited November 12, 2018 by BarbinMich

[Johnamac123]

In Aruba? Pass on "Best of Aruba" bus tour. Stop 1: Aloe plant (boring). Stop 2: Rock Formation climb (exhausting). Stop 3: Collapsed Natural Bridge (what's the point?). Tour bus was air conditioned and guide was great... $60? nope...

[jean87510]

In curacao, we have rented a car and explored and snorkeled. Also have gone to the Marriott and used their beach. We didn't get a day pass. Taxi driver told us to hide our ship towels and just walk onto beach which we did. We did buy lunch from there. In bonaire we rented a car and drove around island stopping to snorkel. Big highlight here was the donkey sanctuary. Huge hit with my teenagers. Aruba we were at 1x so we just took the bus down to palm beach I think it was called. We are renting cars again when we visit the abcs in April. What I did was research each island and find things I would like to see as well as places to eat that are inexpensive. I have gone on popular tour websites and read their tour descriptions to get ideas. In the Caribbean the only way I'd book any tour would be if there was no way I could get to it (ferry schedules, boat trips) by car, bicycle or foot.

Edited December 22, 2018 by jean87510