Woodwind Bonaire Timing Q

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Hi everyone. 

 

We'll be in Bonaire from 9-6 next December on the Explorer of the Seas. I emailed Woodwind for a tour, but the only one they sent back was the 1-5pm tour. I am worried about taking that trip as our ship departs at 6pm, with an all aboard time of 5:30. I let them know that I didn't feel comfortable with that and they responded that everyone on the excursion would be from Explorer and that we would definitely be back on time. What would you do? 

[greatwhitenorth1]

9 hours ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

Hi everyone. 

 

We'll be in Bonaire from 9-6 next December on the Explorer of the Seas. I emailed Woodwind for a tour, but the only one they sent back was the 1-5pm tour. I am worried about taking that trip as our ship departs at 6pm, with an all aboard time of 5:30. I let them know that I didn't feel comfortable with that and they responded that everyone on the excursion would be from Explorer and that we would definitely be back on time. What would you do? 

I would book it with no worries. Our ship leaves at 1:00pm and our tour finishes at 12:00. All private companies that rely on cruise ship customers know the importance of being back on time. There business reputation would be tainted if they didn't.  Enjoy your trip.

 

[khm1]

You will be fine. The pier where they let off the excursion is very near the ship. Hey are a very well respected and extremely well organized company. You will be amazed at the beauty you will see under the sea. It is not to be missed!

 

i have done this excursion once and will again in 3 weeks. I can’t wait!

[merinski]

Do they not have a morning tour that day? I would want the morning tour. I guess maybe 9am is too late?

 

[NateUpNorth]

If everyone is from Explorer I wouldn't worry.

The pier is literally 3 mins away and they have options to make up time to get you back earlier if need be. 

 

 

[Johnamac123]

Go for it. Look at the Woodwind website and you can see how close their pier is to the cruise ship's. Literally a 5-10 minute stroll down the sidewalk. They won't be even close to being late. Plus they are awesome.....

[Johnamac123]

...

Edited January 22, 2019 by Johnamac123

[canadianbear]

We just did an afternoon tour with Woodwind but it was 1-4.  I was nervous but was guaranteed all were from our ship and they’ve never been late getting cruisers back on time.  We were fine.  Wonder why they want it 1-5 but I wouldn’t worry.  

[mattR]

I have booked the afternoon trip aswell since the morning trip leaves at 8:30 and we don't dock until 9.  I'm not worried about missing the ship, the problem we have is that we have early seating at 5:30 and it just happens to be Dec 31 so it will be a formal night.  I have now left the final say up to my wife.  Are there any other tour operators that are highly recommended just in case this is to tight for my wife? 

[canadianbear]

41 minutes ago, mattR said:

I have booked the afternoon trip aswell since the morning trip leaves at 8:30 and we don't dock until 9.  I'm not worried about missing the ship, the problem we have is that we have early seating at 5:30 and it just happens to be Dec 31 so it will be a formal night.  I have now left the final say up to my wife.  Are there any other tour operators that are highly recommended just in case this is to tight for my wife? 

Is your ship the only one in port?  If so, they usually do it so all guests get back in lots of time.  If a couple ships in port that may be an issue. When I emailed my concern about the time he stated they’ve never had a guest late to get back to the ship.

 

Our first cruise we did the HAL snorkel to Klein Bonaire and it was with SeaCow who were excellent but they are still contracted to the ships as far as I know.

 

I have heard Twin Divers are good but have no person experience with them.  You may want to browse through CC dive & snorkel site which is where I got lots of info a few years back.

 

https://www.h2ovisionsbonaire.com

 

Also Compass Bonaire-no personal experience but were also in my list if Woodwind didn’t work out.

 

http://www.compassbonaire.com/

 

 

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

23 hours ago, mattR said:

I have booked the afternoon trip aswell since the morning trip leaves at 8:30 and we don't dock until 9.  I'm not worried about missing the ship, the problem we have is that we have early seating at 5:30 and it just happens to be Dec 31 so it will be a formal night.  I have now left the final say up to my wife.  Are there any other tour operators that are highly recommended just in case this is to tight for my wife? 

Well we ended up booking with Woodwind. We'll see you there if you stick with your booking!

 

22 hours ago, canadianbear said:

Is your ship the only one in port?  If so, they usually do it so all guests get back in lots of time.  If a couple ships in port that may be an issue. When I emailed my concern about the time he stated they’ve never had a guest late to get back to the ship.

The Explorer and a TUI ship will be the only ships in port. The TUI ship leaves at 5:30pm and the Explorer at 6pm. 

[Eldaph]

Our ship will be in port from 8-5pm & our tour is 1-4pm.  I emailed them to confirm our reservations and I also follow them on Facebook to keep in the loop as our cruise isn't until November.  I'm really looking forward to this one.  

[hrmkr]

We will be in Bonaire in early December. We are sailing on the Freedom of the Seas and will be in port from 8:00 AM-5:00 PM

 

I have already contacted Woodwind and have been emailing with Ulf. Trying to decide which time slot to take.

 

Either the AM tour from 8:30 AM-11:30 AM and then maybe go back to the ship and grab a quick lunch and then walk around the city for a few hours or find a short tour of the island.

Or take the Noon-4:00 PM tour.  We would either take a short tour around the island or just walk around the city before going snorkeling. Ulf suggested Bonaire Vista Tours but I looked at their website and the tours look great but may not fit in the with time available.

 

  I asked Ulf if it would be to tight ending at 4:00 PM when the ship sails at 5:00.  He replied with "For obvious reasons we can not leave 25 tourists from "Freedom" stranded on Bonaire. You are guaranteed to be back on time."  They know that they survive on business from the cruise ships.  If people get left behind, people will know about it and no one would take the tours.

 

Thought?

 

[canadianbear]

I’ve been on both the morning and afternoon.  I actually prefer morning and then go walk around town after showering on the ship.  

 

If you do the afternoon they will get you back on time .  They are a 10 minute walk from where the ship docks and like Ulf mentioned to me when I had the same concern he had the same response.  

[hrmkr]

Sort of leaning toward the afternoon since I want to be able to get the extra hour of snorkeling at probably the best place in all of the Caribbean.  I have read that Bonaire is in the top 3 of top snorkeling spots in the world.

 

I asked Ulf if many people have signed up on the date I will be there and he said only a few.  Seems I have a little time to decide.

[canadianbear]

11 minutes ago, hrmkr said:

Sort of leaning toward the afternoon since I want to be able to get the extra hour of snorkeling at probably the best place in all of the Caribbean.  I have read that Bonaire is in the top 3 of top snorkeling spots in the world.

 

I asked Ulf if many people have signed up on the date I will be there and he said only a few.  Seems I have a little time to decide.

Then I’d go ahead and book the afternoon.  Don’t worry about getting back in time as they wouldn’t jeopardize their reputation.  

 

Have fun-great excursion either way, morning or afternoon!  

[Eldaph]

3 hours ago, hrmkr said:

We will be in Bonaire in early December. We are sailing on the Freedom of the Seas and will be in port from 8:00 AM-5:00 PM

Thought?

 

 

I had the same questions and I booked the afternoon.  Since both port days before this we will be up & out early for morning excursions I wanted to be able to sleep in a bit and have a nice sit down breakfast on the ship.  I plan to walk over to Whilhelmina (sp?) park for some shopping, then go back to the ship and get dressed for the snorkeling trip and head over.  

[hrmkr]

Since I probably will never be in Bonaire again, I am trying to find a short island tour to fit in along with the Woodwind tour.  Ulf from Woodwind suggested Bonaire Vista Tours but there tours are a little long.  i emailed them to see if a can get maybe a little shorter tour or dropped off early.  If I can do both, I will coordinate with the afternoon or morning snorkeling tour.

 

If not, I will do the same thing as you.  Sleep in a little, have breakfast and just walk around town until it is time to meet Woodwind.

[brookie848]

On 12/30/2018 at 1:26 AM, greatwhitenorth1 said:

I would book it with no worries. Our ship leaves at 1:00pm and our tour finishes at 12:00. All private companies that rely on cruise ship customers know the importance of being back on time. There business reputation would be tainted if they didn't.  Enjoy your trip.

 

 

We also have a 1:00 departure (12:30 all-aboard). Did you take this tour yet? Did you feel rushed at the end?

 

Thanks!

[mattR]

On 1/30/2019 at 6:42 PM, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

Well we ended up booking with Woodwind. We'll see you there if you stick with your booking!

 

The Explorer and a TUI ship will be the only ships in port. The TUI ship leaves at 5:30pm and the Explorer at 6pm. 

Well our ship is now coming in on Jan 1st so don't have to worry about getting ready for formal night anymore:)  Who is in your group my group will be Me 44 Wife 44 Son 22 Daughter 16 and Nephew 23 Father-in-law and Mother-in-law  If your group is big enough we might be the only ones on? 

[TEGL]

We booked with them for a trip in September.  Our ship leaves at 5pm (so I'm assuming all aboard is 430) and our sailing will be from 1145-1545.  Im sure by the time everyone is off and we are actually walking back to the pier it won't be until closer to 4pm.  Im not at all worried about it.  
We have sailed with other palaces in the past that come back with that same about of time before all aboard and we have never had a problem.  We typically still have time to roam around a little in the port shopping areas. 

[TEGL]

On 4/5/2019 at 12:46 PM, hrmkr said:

Since I probably will never be in Bonaire again, I am trying to find a short island tour to fit in along with the Woodwind tour.  Ulf from Woodwind suggested Bonaire Vista Tours but there tours are a little long.  i emailed them to see if a can get maybe a little shorter tour or dropped off early.  If I can do both, I will coordinate with the afternoon or morning snorkeling tour.

 

If not, I will do the same thing as you.  Sleep in a little, have breakfast and just walk around town until it is time to meet Woodwind.

We are trying to do the same thing.  Our ship gets in at 8am and we don't meet with Woodwind until 1145, I'm trying to figure something to do before hand but not having much luck.  If i can't find anything we will just sleep in a little, have a relaxed breakfast, and maybe just hit up the beach by Windwoods pier for a little bit before we head over.  Would love to hear if you find something to do though 🙂

[sellwingri]

What is the Woodwind tour?

[EatonDoolittle]

https://www.woodwindbonaire.com/

 

 

[hrmkr]

On 7/12/2019 at 6:47 PM, TEGL said:

We are trying to do the same thing.  Our ship gets in at 8am and we don't meet with Woodwind until 1145, I'm trying to figure something to do before hand but not having much luck.  If i can't find anything we will just sleep in a little, have a relaxed breakfast, and maybe just hit up the beach by Windwoods pier for a little bit before we head over.  Would love to hear if you find something to do though 🙂

We are doing the opposite to be able to do the 2 tours in 1 day.  We are snorkeling with Woodwind in the morning and then a tour afterwards.