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Leaving on 3/8/20 on Freedom to Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, & St. Thomas. What are the best things to do? Looking to do 2 excursions.


freedomletsgo

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Hi everyone! I am going on freedom this weekend, and am looking for things to do at each port of call. The ship is going Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, & St. Thomas. My gf and I would like to do 2 excursions. What are the best excursions for each of these places? And for the ports where we dont do excursions, were are the best places on the islands to go on our own?

 

We definetly want to do snorkeling at some point, so which island is the best place to do that?

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Bonaire is the best for snorkeling..I have no suggestions as where to go but I have heard it's a snorkel destination for sure.  Since I had a non-snorkeler in my party we just rented golf carts through Bonaire Cruisers and explored the island that way and I found that to be super fun.

Curacao is walkable and if you want to explore the town on your own that would be the best one to do that in. 

Aruba has a very easy to use local bus system so if you are comfortable with that you could get around that way.  Or just pick a beach and take a cab to it.  Baby Beach or Eagle Beach come to mind off the top of my head.  We rented an ATV for the day since we had nearly 12 hours there and did some exploring including off roading..but I don't know how easy that would be to set up so close to sailing.  But Aruba has caves and beaches and desert and lots of areas to explore.

St. Thomas you may want to consider an excursion just because the port that Royal Caribbean uses will basically require taking a taxi to anything you would do/see and the taxi system there can be a pain.  An excursion would include transportation and you would avoid that hassle.

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I agree about snorkeling in Bonaire.  It is an excellent snorkeling location.  I will suggest, however, that you try and get a snorkeling excursion that will allow you to snorkel from a boat.  While the reef and ocean around Bonaire are world renowned, their beaches - not so much.  They tend to be very coral-ly and a bit rough.  I'm not saying there aren't beautiful beaches on Bonaire.  Perhaps there are.  I've just never found any...  ...but from a boat, it can't be beat.

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Can't speak to Bonaire.

We enjoyed Curacao.  Our stop was 14 hours which is long for a cruise.  In the morning, we took a tour to the distillery and then to a beach.  In the afternoon, we walked the town and found a few nice surprises going up and down small side streets.  At night, the town was lit up, the pastel colored buildings really jumped out and it had a very romantic feel.  We really enjoyed this stop and would love to go back.

In Aruba, we took a taxi to a beach in the morning, walked the town in the afternoon and then finished the evening with a sunset catamaran.  Very nice indeed.

We've been to St. Thomas a few times.  One of our favorite excursions was driving our own power boat to a snorkeling area.  The boats were lots of fun.  We've also done horseback riding on the beach. 

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