Bonaire excursions through Celebrity

[LadyBerard]

Hi everyone, I have a few hundred dollars in OBC from Celebrity and even though we hardly ever book shore excursions through the cruise line, thought we might use some of it for Bonaire.  We have recently gone to Bonaire (this past Jan.) and rented golf carts for the day.  Although we enjoyed that, we want to do something different this time.  I am looking for opinions on excursions specifically booked through Celebrity.  If you have, would you please let me know the name of the excursion you booked and your thoughts on it.  

 

Although I posted on the Bonaire board, I also thought I would post it here, as chances are I'll get more responses as this is specific to Celebrity sponsored excursions.  Thank you all!!

[hcat]

In 2016,  on our first trip to Bonaire  we took the Flamingo Salt Tour ( BO 38) with Celebrity.  It was 2.25 hours.

We had an air conditioned bus,  and  a very professional guide and bus driver   The tour was not full so we had plenty of room for comfort. 

 

It was a long trip..We saw the Flamingos  fairly close up at a stop along the way, went to Sorobon Beach for a drink,  saw the Salt Flats , windmills and Slave Huts.    Very glad we were in an air conditioned vehicle  as opposed to a golf cart or open air tram, because Bonaire is very hot.

 

We thought it was a good choice.  We were drppped off near the pier.  Had time for lunch at Kraals ,  browsing in shops and the nice  market with crafts and salts  etc.  And a stop at the post office to mail postcards.

 

Next time we won't wander so far but this tour covers most of the highlights we wanted to see, esp as we did not want to snorkel or do a full beach day.

Edited July 26, 2019 by hcat

[LadyBerard]

That's pretty much where we went on our golf carts this past Jan.  Once we got to Sorobon, we stayed there for a few hours and had drinks, lunch (which was excellent by the way) and spent a little time in the shallow waters.  I'm thinking this time we'd just like to take a beach excursion, Celebrity offers a Coco Beach excursion and a Spice Beach excursion, and they have quite a few sail/snorkel tours.  I'm going to pick from these excursions based upon what others have done and thought about it.

[hcat]

We  had booked and then cancelled Spice Beach for our next trip after looking into it & seeing the lack of a nice  beach ...odd ladders into the water . .  

 

We,ll look at  X's Cocoa Beach excursion....maybe they have a nice Beach... thanks for the info.  Sorry I could not be of more help.

[Highpeaklad]

It wasn’t with Celebrity but with P&O, Mangrove kayaking very interesting, not very physical and definitely different. Saw the flamingos on the ride to the kayak centre. 

[rakes5]

If you like to snorkel, the Seacow excursion, in nice. They get nice reviews in Trip Advisor, but can't book privately when there is a cruise ship in port. Here is their website.

[LadyBerard]

6 minutes ago, rakes5 said:

If you like to snorkel, the Seacow excursion, in nice. They get nice reviews in Trip Advisor, but can't book privately when there is a cruise ship in port. Here is their website.

Thank you.  I'll check the reviews out!

 

 

[cyntil8ing]

We took the Water Taxi to Klein Bonaire. Very convenient, left from the same dock as the ship.

[LadyBerard]

3 minutes ago, cyntil8ing said:

We took the Water Taxi to Klein Bonaire. Very convenient, left from the same dock as the ship.

I thought of doing that, but we have some on board credit burning a hole in my pocket!  lol

[cyntil8ing]

Just now, LadyBerard said:

I thought of doing that, but we have some on board credit burning a hole in my pocket!  lol

Yes, that's why we booked it. It was a RCCL excursion, but I checked and Celebrity has it too.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/pcp-excursions/kralendijk-bonaire-tours/klein-bonaire-beach-water-taxi?features=SINGLE&excursionItemID=100000002879123645

[LadyBerard]

I didn't go far enough down the excursions.  It was toward the end.  I don't think I want to do that though, as I understand that there is no bar on the beach.  If we do a catamaran excursion or beach excursion we will have access to one.

[ipeeinthepool]

Go to the roulette table in the casino.  Divide your money into three pots and bet on Red.  Bet 1 pile at a time until you lose.  Immediately take your winnings off the table and cash in your winning chips when you're done.

[mom says]

DH and I did the Mangrove Eco trip by rib (zodiac). Saw some of the island and the flamingos enroute to Lac Bay. The guide gave a fascinating talk about the ecology of mangrove swamps. We essentially saw what the kayakers saw, except we were in an electric powered boat. It's listed as strenuous, but really the most strenuous thing about it was climbing into the back of the truck, and enduring a fairly bumpy road for a while. Then balancing on the side of the zodiac as it slowly moved through the mangroves. Had time for a swim at the end, before returning to port. 

[hcat]

Looked at the Celebrity  Cocoa Beach excursion...It includes an island tour ( been there done that) and the facility did not look that appealing.  Beach on this part of Bonaire  looks quite rocky.  I think we'll just do lunch and wander.

[Fogfog]

Catamaran sailing?

 

[anniedave]

On 7/26/2019 at 11:29 PM, mom says said:

DH and I did the Mangrove Eco trip by rib (zodiac). Saw some of the island and the flamingos enroute to Lac Bay. The guide gave a fascinating talk about the ecology of mangrove swamps. We essentially saw what the kayakers saw, except we were in an electric powered boat. It's listed as strenuous, but really the most strenuous thing about it was climbing into the back of the truck, and enduring a fairly bumpy road for a while. Then balancing on the side of the zodiac as it slowly moved through the mangroves. Had time for a swim at the end, before returning to port. 

Hi, just looking at info for our cruise in Jan and see you did  the same excursion we are doing. Could you please tell me once the excursion is finished where do you end up ? We are in port   7-3 and I'm assuming the excursion is fairly early. Just wondered how much time we have left at the end and what else we can do - go to a beach or have a look round the shop area near the port.  Thanks for any tips 

[cruisefan123]

We did the snorkelling excursion with Seacow through Celebrity in February.   It was an incredible experience.   We drift snorkelled along the reef with a belt flotation for buoyancy so if you are not a strong swimmer you felt safe. Each group has a leader to help guide you along.  Prescription  face masks are also available for those whose vision is not 20/20.    Seacow is very professional, informative and fun (also serve a great rum punch on the return trip)!!.   A photographer will accompany you who takes great pics and it was not overly expensive.  We did the early excursion which left us time to change on board and then go into town to browse and have lunch.    

[Fouremco]

We've spent time on Bonaire on dive holidays and multiple cruise visits, and I don't think that any of the Celebrity excursions, other than the SeaCow, are particularly interesting. As you aren't enamoured with the SeaCow option but will be visiting other islands with better excursion choices, you might want to consider using the OBC elsewhere.

[Mickey22]

Hello, 

 

  We have also done the SeaCow snorkeling excursion twice.  Really loved it and  would highly recommend it to anyone

 

[mom says]

8 hours ago, anniedave said:

Hi, just looking at info for our cruise in Jan and see you did  the same excursion we are doing. Could you please tell me once the excursion is finished where do you end up ? We are in port   7-3 and I'm assuming the excursion is fairly early. Just wondered how much time we have left at the end and what else we can do - go to a beach or have a look round the shop area near the port.  Thanks for any tips 

There was an early and late excursion on our port day. Both returned to the ship. We took the early one. We showered and changed on the ship them wandered around the port area, had a drink and snack, and used the bar's free wifi to catch up on email.

[lovecruzin]

We did a Klein Bonaire excursion on an old “junk boat”. It was a great time. I think it is called Samur and is a ship excursion.

We were originally going to go on SeaCow but it was canceled at the last minute due to a medical issue and replaced with Samur.

Edited November 16, 2019 by lovecruzin

[LadyBerard]

We booked the Seacow a number of months ago for our trip next Oct.  The reviews on tripadvisor were excellent for this excursion.  )  Paid $79 p.p. through Celebrity.

[anniedave]

10 hours ago, mom says said:

There was an early and late excursion on our port day. Both returned to the ship. We took the early one. We showered and changed on the ship them wandered around the port area, had a drink and snack, and used the bar's free wifi to catch up on email.

Thanks - did you get to choose which excursion you took or did you just get allocated one?

Edited November 17, 2019 by anniedave
Mispelt

[thon]

We did not take the Sea Cow snorkelling  excursion through the ship; we took the Woodwind one which we booked ourselves.  But both companies go to the same place and both get great reviews on Trip Advisor.  So if you like snorkelling, and if the Sea Cow one is offered on your cruise I would go for it.  On our upcoming cruise we have already re-booked the Woodwind one.

Edited November 17, 2019 by thon