The Good, the Better, and the Best - Southern Caribbean "Ports" Review by bambam

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Home > Member Reviews > bambam's Port Reviews of Ocho Rios, Curacao, Aruba, St. Maarten, St. Thomas

bambam's Port Reviews of Ocho Rios, Curacao, Aruba, St. Maarten, St. Thomas
Norwegian Star cruise in April 2012

Member Name:	bambam
Cruise Date:	April 2012
Embarkation:	Tampa
Destination:	Southern Caribbean
Member Review:	bambam's Norwegian Star Review

	Ocho Rios Port Rating: We did the all-inclusive resort at Dunns River. It was ok, somewhat limited number of activities, but we had free food and drinks. The beach was pretty, but snorkeling was very limited, mostly grasses.
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	Curacao Port Rating: We took a cab ride to Blue Bay Resort. Snorkeling was pretty good, and the beach was very clean and nice. It costs $8 per person to enter. We made arrangements with our cab to come back and pick us up in 4-hours, which worked out pretty good. He took us back to the ship, we changed, and walked back off to visit the shops next to the pier (new shops). A nice area and negated the need to go across the swinging bridge to the main town area (we've been there before). A nice day overall, but WAY too much time in Curacao (14-hours).
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	Aruba Island Tour Rating: Well, it started out very badly, as ABC Tours made a timing mistake on our reservation, telling us 7:50 when the tour didnt start until 1000. After picking us up and delivering us to their store/shop, they admitted their mistake and gave us a private tour. We thought this was a fantabulous bit of customer service on their behalf. We had a fabulous tour that ended at Baby Beach, a relaxing beach great for wading in soft sand. Snorkeling wasn't too bad, but the rough water (reef protected) kicked up the sand, making picture taking a nightmare. Lots of fish to see, just not so clear water. Shopping was limited to the store near the pier.
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	St. Maarten Port Rating: I booked the "America's Cup" 12-Metre Yacht racing while Pebbles did some shopping. It was the best excursion I've ever been on. Ever!! There were other ships in port, and for the 830 "regatta", there were 25 fellow cruisers. We were split into two groups with a captain. The captains flipped for boat choice, and our captain "lost" so our group got "stuck" with True North, the Canadian challenger from the 1986-87 Cup Challange. Guess what, we whipped the Stars and Stripes, by at least 6-7 boat lengths. Totally made my cruise, got a photo and t-shirt of the victory (for a price, of course).
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	St. Thomas Port Rating: We took an island cab (in St Thomas, the island cabs are mini buses that hold 15 people without the van walls) to Sapphire Beach. It was $10pp each way and took about 25 mins. It was a pretty good beach, saw lots of fish, a stingray, two sea turtles and a live conch shell. We went back to the ship and did some shopping at the shops by the pier. Overall, a pretty good stay, but St. Thomas is getting pretty ragged, lots of street-side trash and some serious road-potholes. It was kind of sad to see the road-infrastructure at such a low-level of maintenance.
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