Be careful of Colon. A congested, scary, dangerous looking place that made us shiver even though we went from the bus directly into the Colon 2000 cruise terminal. Buried in Fodor's evaluation of the place is this Illuminating statement; "All of Colon is considered a high crime area and pickpockets have been known to strike even in the seemingly secure areas of the cruise-ship terminals." Additionally, "For the most part, the city is a giant slum..." And later this note, "Travelers who explore Colon on foot are simply asking to be mugged." Having seen and experienced the place, I'm a believer.

Colon (Cristobal)

An inviting place with a decidedly European feel that encouraged a walk from the Otrabanda area, next to which we were docked, over the Queen Anne (swiveling) Bridge and deep into the Punda side of town. With a reputation as one of the great Scuba diving areas in the world but nothing offered by HAL, we reserved a two-tank dive directly with a company called The Dive Bus on their 'house' reef. Super inexpensive and everyone there was happy to see us and to assist us in any way possible. If you are interested in diving while here, please consider them highly recommended as they were two relaxed, very enjoyable dives.

After our dives, we spent the evening strolling around Willemstad from the Mega-ship Pier to the Punda side and all over that colorful area. It was great stuff and very comfortable as the various musician's music emanating from numerous bars and clubs floated through the atmosphere competing with each other for your attentions.

Curacao

It was raining (Rainforest... Duh!) but a great tour beginning with the lengthy, well-narrated large, air-conditioned bus ride past banana and pineapple plantations, shipping centers and villages, up into the mountains, terminating at the entranceway to Rainforest Adventures, Costa Rica Atlantic. A little confusion in the transfer from the big busses to the little ones necessary to get into the facility, apparently caused by the rain, though being in a rainforest, one would think they would get plenty of practice. Tourists trying to get out of the rain filled up the few covered areas pretty quickly. The rain never let up but we had our raingear. My wife and I and 4 other guests into the covered trams suspended on cables above the ground and swung out into the forest. The ride was magnificent as our tram's tour guide pointed out plants, flowers, fruits and birds and had a story to tell about it all. The tram was fitted with a canvas overhead but there was still the opportunity... make that the likelihood of getting wet as the tram headed out mid-canopy height in one direction and returned at a higher elevation nearer the tops of the trees for the approximately one-hour total cable car ride.
Lunch of Costa Rican specialties was good and after a few minutes browsing the souvenir shop we headed back to the pickup area to be hauled back to the large busses. Again, a bit of a bottle-neck here and limited cover from the rain but it didn't detract from the overall experience as far as we were concerned. Remember, though, it's a rainforest. Plan for rain.

The contrast to a relaxed diving experience was the dive we booked through HAL with Unique Sports at Aruba. We rushed from the ship to the dive shop on Palm Beach then jumped on board a rather cramped boat and hurriedly assembled our own gear to be ready as soon as they had tied up to the dive buoy marking the wreck, Antilla. Enjoyed the dive as we figure-8ed the wreck but would like to have taken more time as there was plenty to see sitting upon and hiding among the steel. The safety monitor in me was a little put off by the glass-bottom tour boat constantly running back and forth 40 feet over our heads. Dive flags are to warn motor boats away. If anybody had to make an emergency ascent, there was certainly a danger of hitting or being hit by that thing. Dive op was truly pumping the divers through and everything about the experience seemed rushed but the dive, itself. Upon returning to the boat, the pace picked up another notch or two in a rush to get back to the dock and take on the next boatload. Dive personnel were engaged in their own missions of the moment and none of those included preparing or disassembling any dive gear or otherwise assisting the customers. There was assistance at the ladder. Don't know if there were any facilities to shower or rinse gear as we were hustled from the boat back to gear check-in and into a van for the return to the cruise dock with the admonition that if we did not take that van, we would have to arrange our own way back. When we got back to the ship, there was so much gear cleanup remaining that we had no time to debark again before we were scheduled to sail away again mid-afternoon. But the dive was worth it all.

Superior Suite #6062. It is located port side, amidships and has a spacious balcony equipped with a full-size table and chairs and two lounges. Plenty of room around the furniture and King size (two doubles together) bed which is high enough to have no problem fitting your luggage under. Two sinks in a generous-sized bath with separate tub and shower. Plenty of storage with three closets and numerous drawers including large ones hidden behind the duvet under the foot of the bed. Quiet location mid-way between the elevators.

We immediately noticed that the shock absorber on the bathroom door was broken and reported it to our concierge. It remained untended for the duration.

I heard good things about the production shows but didn't attend one as early dinners and busy days found us usually peacefully walking off our dinner on the promenade and relaxing in the room before heading to dreamland.No canal experience at the end, mainly just a ride on a train and a bus to a brief stop at an uninteresting, limited strip mall that one could find most anywhere.

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