We weren't terribly excited about this port, but it was a nice beach day. We found there were plenty of loungers available and the lunch was decent - ribs, hot dogs, burgers, chicken breast, cole slaw, corn salad, normal salad. It would have been nice for them to offer iced tea on the island though as the only free beverage was water. We also found out quickly that the Caribbean sun is very powerful, so don't forget sunscreen on your ears!

Princess Cays

However, the highlight of Curacao was the Ostrich Farm excursion we booked through Princess. It was $50 per person for a 3-hour tour of the Ostrich Farm and some "art gallery" that makes cast statues of a "chichi" woman (total waste of time, IMO). BUT - the Ostrich Farm, oh it was glorious! They took us on a guided truck tour of the grounds and we learned a lot about ostriches, then got to feed some (photo op!) and stand on an ostrich egg. The baby ostriches were amazingly cute and they had some other animals on the land as well. They have a restaurant on the grounds, but we didn't have time to eat there, plus would feel bad about eating an ostrich after having fed them and seen their babies. The ride to the art gallery took maybe 25 minutes, during which the guide narrated the history of Curacao and some of the buildings, and we spent about 20 minutes at the art gallery and then drove to the Ostrich Farm, where we spent about an hour. The drive back took at least 45 minutes as we hit heavy traffic, but the guide gave us more interesting info on the island.

We booked another Princess excursion of a snorkeling trip on a catamaran - $50 per person for a 3-hour tour again. The crew were very nice, but the snorkeling was tougher than we expected. The first snorkel spot was very close to the coast and we saw some coral about about 3 kinds of fish. TIP - take a bagel or other kind of bread with you to feed the fish. I know technically you're not supposed to take any food off the ship, so proceed at your own risk, but you will see a TON more fish that way. The second snorkel spot was further off the coast where the Antilla shipwreck was located, but the waves were much rougher. We spent most of the time choking on seawater and emptying our masks, but did see some of the ship. We were definitely tired after that though! On the way over, they served soft drinks and on the way back, you could also get rum punch. The sailing part was beautiful and a nice way to see the coastline of Aruba.

Fairly long trek from the front of the ship as the cabin was very far aft, but quiet location, not too far from aft elevators.  Buffet was only 4 flights up, so easy to walk.

Nice Princess Touches
After those complaints/issues, I found several nice, small things that I appreciated Princess doing:
- A log of the cruise on the last night, recapping the ports and ship information of the cruise.If we go on Princess again, I'm not sure if I'd do Anytime Dining or not - we liked "choosing" what time we dine at so that we didn't miss certain activities, but when you have an hour wait, that defeats the purpose.

Crown Princess Review

Wonderful time on the Crown

Rating by category

Additional details

Cabin Review

Interior

Find a Crown Princess Cruise from $128