January 2025
We have been to all of these ports before except Bonaire. You can find more information than what is provided in this post by clicking on the labels at the bottom of this post.
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| Ocho Rios cruise pier from Carnival Horizon |
Ocho Rios, Jamaica: 9:00 - 5:00 PM
There is nothing to do at this pier, and it is not recommended to explore Jamaica on your own. We have previously gone on excursions to Dunns River Falls, an island tour with butterfly garden, and more. This time, we stayed on board, and enjoyed the peace and space on serenity deck.
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7-mile beach in Grand Cayman Views from Governor's Beach |
Grand Cayman, CI: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Grand Cayman is a tender port, and there were several cruise lines in port the day of our visit. This made the process to get to and from the ship take a bit longer than usual. After we got to shore, we walked a couple of blocks inland to the public bus depot next to Starbucks. The cost to take the bus to Governor's Beach was $2.50 per person, one-way. This beach has a couple of picnic tables, and a bit of shade. There is a building on the south end near the parking lot that looked like it may have been restrooms, although we did not check this out. We enjoyed the beautiful beach for awhile, and then we walked back to the cruise port along the beach. This is about a 3 mile walk, and you can walk along the beach most of the way. We walked out to the sidewalk when obstructions in the water made our walk in the water more than waist deep. We had walked through the water a little before this; however, we did not want to go that deep because of belongings we were carrying.
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| Cozumel cruise port from Carnival Horizon Below: leaving Cozumel |
Cozumel, Mexico: 10:30 AM - 6:30 PM
We did not do anything new at this port. There are many tours available through Carnival and independent companies. We disembarked the ship just so we could walk around and get some exercise, different than on deck 12! Again, there were many ships in port, so the area was very busy.
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| Above: cruise ships from Renaissance rooftop pool downtown Aruba Below: free bus ride downtown Oranjestad, Aruba |
Aruba, BVI: 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Aruba is a beautiful island with many things to do on your own, or with an excursion. Be prepared for a breeze, as it is always windy in Aruba. We rode the complimentary double decker bus through town. This stops at the cruise port, and there are different stops in town. This entire area is walkable; we only rode the bus to get a different view point.
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| Above: swimming and snorkeling pier in Bonaire from Carnival Horizon Below: sea turtle in Bonaire from cabin 9206 on Carnival Horizon |
Bonaire: 8:00 AM - 10:30 PM
We took a self-guided historic walk in Bonaire, swam in the ocean from the local floating dock, and did a bit of snorkeling right by the boat dock. After we got back on board, we entertained ourselves from our balcony: watching sea turtles next to the ship, and there were many people jumping, swimming, and snorkeling at the end of the pier.
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| Above: Carnival Horizon from Curacao tour Below: fish at beach resort tour stop |
Curacao: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
We booked the Curacao Highlights & Mambo Beach excursion through Carnival. We enjoyed this excursion, although the liquor tasting stop was a bit dismal. There was another group just ahead of us, and our bus was full. Our large group made it difficult to get close enough to hear our guide, as she led us through the building and talked about the history. The tastings were barely enough to taste, and the line to purchase a beverage afterward was quite long from the group ahead of us. A few people in our group waited in line a few minutes, and then gave up, as it neared our time to depart. The narrated tour on the bus was informative, and the beach stop at the end was nice. There is a shop in Chobolobo Liquor Factory, and there were many shops and a bar at the beach resort.
Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to share this post for others!
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