2024.01 Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Grand Cayman (Part 7)

We arrived around, or just after lunch.  The seas from Cayman Island to Curacao resulted in the ship having a bit of a rocking motion.  For me, it wasn’t anything of concern, however Little Miss certainly noticed and was happy to be on solid ground.

No planned excursions, so our choose-our-own-adventure started with walking to the old downtown.  The vibrantly painted houses are truly a stand out for this city.  Once across the bridge we stopped for some ice cream before visiting a local rum distillery, and the local market.

From there, we then headed to a blue Curacao liqueur factory.  Upon arrival we did end up with a tour group, however as the tour was self-led we didn’t have to worry about getting lost in the crowd.

It would be unfair to the distillery if we didn’t take a bottle home.  The next challenge then occurred, finding a taxi to return us to the city center.  After a bit of a wait our transportation situation was resolved by joining two other couples who were headed in the same direction as us.  Our return trip towards the ship had us take the large bridge that enabled ships to enter a protected harbour that was filled with an oil terminal and storage.

We didn’t head back to the ship, instead we went to the nearby hotel, Renaissance Wind Creek Curacao Resort.  Not to stay there, instead friends were staying there.  The four of them were on a long overdue friends trip. 

After waiting in the lobby for the four of them to join us in the lobby we headed out to the nearby plaza and had dinner.  The meal was excellent, and the restaurant wasn’t busy allowing us to be as laid back as we wanted.

The timing was excellent as this was their last night on the island before returning to Canada.  They shared with us stories from their week, with the overriding theme that the island has many beaches to visit, and for tourists, is safe and easy to explore on your own.  It was a great evening, and after sunset we then made the short walk back towards the pontoon bridge.  The pontoon and old buildings of Willimsted at night were well lit at night.

And then the houses still looked excellent at night:

After bidding farewell to them, we made our short walk back to the ship.  With an 11pm departure time we had no concerns about being late.  This was the first time approaching the ship at night and the lights certainly made it an impressive ship.

I enjoyed our time in Willemstad.  Sadly, we didn’t get to explore a beach — the friends had made the effort to visit a different beach each day and had several beaches to recommend if we were to return.

Explore other parts of this trip:

Part 1 – Air Canada Flight Toronto to Fort Lauderdale

Part 2 – Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port & Convention Center

Part 3 – Celebrity Equinox

Part 4 – Food onboard Celebrity Equinox

Part 5 – Port, George Town, Grand Cayman

Part 6 – Port, Oranjestad, Aruba

Part 7 – Port, Willemstad, Curacao (this post!)

Part 8 – Kralendijk, Bonaire

Part 9 – Air Canada flight Fort Lauderdale to Toronto