OhhLiveEeeUh

Of course, thank you! I was hoping to include in the cruise survey as well but unfortunately came down with COVID right after our trip and was just getting around to doing it and apparently it's expired I will look into if there is someone to email!

Hello! I just recently got off an 8-night cruise to the Southern Caribbean on Allure of the Seas and I loved it! I did however want to write a review of the excursion we took in Curacao, mainly because when I booked it I couldn't find ANY info and would love to share my experience in case it helps future cruise goers to decide if it's for them! The excursion was titled, "Snorkel Trip to Turtle Bay" (CUL9) and described a lovely boat ride to Blue Bay Beach where we would "cool off with a fruit punch" and learn about (and see) sea turtles. This sounded awesome and I was excited to join. I might add there were many other snorkel trips that went elsewhere and advertised sea turtles, but I was late to book and this was the last trip left. It was about $130 pp. When we arrived in the morning at port we promptly exited the boat and found our guide, after standing in line for a few moments we boarded a bus to take us to the boat at Blue Bay. The excursion start time was 9 and was only set for 3 hours and it seems we did a lot of sitting around. The tour guide on the bus was super nice and knowledgeable on the area, but for an 8:45 meet time we didn't make it to the boat (about 20 mins from the cruise terminal) until 9:50. From there we took a 10ish minute boat ride to the location. It was a lovely boat and we got to sit right up front on the netting taking in the sights of Curacao, but I feel like we didn't get much interaction with the tour guides. Maybe that was going on inside so I don't knock them if so. From there we all jumped off and went on our merry way snorkeling around. There were two guides we could follow but they weren't saying or pointing out much. The area they took us to was very rocky, there were lots of fish (some of pretty colors) but not a turtle in sight. I completely understand the tour mentioned "turtle sightings not guaranteed" but the way the guides were talking afterwards, it seemed like it wasn't really a spot they even frequented. After 45 minutes (which felt like 10) they called us to head back to the boat. As we got on my boyfriend said, "are we heading somewhere else next?" The answer was no. That was it. We were done and on our way back to the cruise terminal. There were no sea turtles, no fruit punch, and not even any "food and drink available for purchase" as the description mentioned. We were thankfully given water bottles. I'm not saying it was terrible, it was a lovely trip and was fun to see fish but it felt for the money it was not worth it. I do think if RC is to continue this it should just be renamed as a snorkel boat trip, and potentially even lengthened even an hour to give more time in the water. I'm a big proponent of researching excursions before taking them and took a chance with this one and that is on me. I hope this info doesn't come off too negative nancy and instead helps others as they look for things to do in the beautiful island of Curacao. Have you taken this excursion? Would love to hear if you had a totally different experience! I will try to find some photos to post as well

Hi @PizzaEaterMan - were you able to get this resolved? My party is having the same issue currently.