Punda Vibes

We went on the snorkeling with the turtles and Cas Aboa beach. Even though the hurricane Melissa had the turtles area too rough to snorkel, we went to the beach and swam and relaxed. Our tour team was totally amazing. Corine was so knowledgeable about the history of Curaçao, the local economy, the geological history of the forming of the island, the agriculture, and the fact that there are 20,000 more women than men here. 😉 Corine was well spoken and so friendly she was a true highlight. Her assistant Noah, interjected several things about the local wildlife, and he was our rescue swimmer. Poppy was our driver and was excellent. She was protective over and took great care of us. Thank you to our tour team for a memorable excursion on Curaçao 🤩

We took the Trolley Train tour from our cruise ship and it was excellent. There was included taxi ride to the train. The cute pink trolley train goes all through town with views of the Queen Anne bridge, the old Jewish neighborhood, a Catholic church, the Old fort and of course the brightly colored houses. The guide was informative and funny. A great overview of Williamsted Curacao.

I have been waiting since July 24, 2026 for a USD 84 refund of a cancelled excursion deposit. Irie Tours informed me that this deposit had to be refunded by FBTT. I contacted FBTT directly on July 31 and received no response at all. It is now September 10 and the refund is still missing. Very poor communication and no follow-up.

Tour was mostly terrible. We had booked an afternoon snorkel tour to Playa Piskado and Abao, which got rescheduled to 7:45 a.m.The guide and bus were almost a half hour late. The guide, Hetty, was also extremely rude and combative for the entire tour, tried to prevent me and my husband from putting on SUNSCREEN (we had not gotten a chance to apply it properly beforehand and it was too cramped in the bus to do it in there), and prevented me from even bringing a towel to the first beach. She had the idea that anything we brought to the would get stolen, which was absurd, there was no one there but a few other tourists. Snorkeling at Piskado was overall mediocre, although I did see two small turtles. It was also pretty stressful there in general because Hetty was yelling at everyone over the fact that a couple of folks in our group MOVED too much in the water and would scare off the turtles. (To put this in context, we were a group of very sedate, older people off an Oceania ship, and anyone who wasn’t following directions likely just had hearing issues.) I was heartily sick of her by then, and we still had one stop to go. Snorkeling was better at Abao, which is a lovely place and the only reason I’m giving a second star here. But we only had an hour there, which was not nearly enough. Our ship was in port overnight and it’s not the only cruise line that does that, but Curaçao tour companies, as far as we could find, only offer rushed beach tours like this one. The driver drove like a maniac too, mostly about 50 mph over some very rough, narrow roads. We always tip but we skipped it this time. Avoid this tour at all cost. If we ever return to Curaçao, we will either figure out how to get a cab (no Uber there), or rent a car.

I joined a snorkel excursion on November 12, 2025. While our guide, Hetty, was knowledgeable, her demeanor was extremely rude. When I politely asked for assistance with my life vest, she refused. I’ve participated in several excursions before and have never experienced treatment like this. The sea turtle encounter was wonderful and the snorkeling was memorable. I only wish the guiding had matched the quality of the experience.