John Sims

This was our first time in Curacao and we were excited to go here. We weren’t disappointed. We arrived at the Mega Pier at 8 AM and the all aboard is at 4:30 AM. Curacao is on Atlantic time as well so the ships clock stayed on local time. Curacao is the biggest of the three Dutch islands. The island lies 35 miles from Venezuela and 42 miles east of Aruba. It is 38 miles long and 7.5 miles at its widest point. There are about 170,000 people on the island and the major industry is oil refining. There are refineries in Willemstad and storage tanks throughout the country. The sad part is that they have the refineries because they don’t have the EPA regulations thus less cost. The black smoke that pours out the smoke stacks is disheartening.
The capital, Willemstad, is large. It is about a 10-minute walk to the downtown area from the mega pier and the walk is fun. To get there you have to cross a pontoon bridge. A must do is to be on the downtown side of the bridge when it has to unlock and open up to let a ship through. It is cool. It is hard to explain, but it is a must do. The architecture is very interesting. The buildings are similar to Aruba and have a Dutch style (imagine that). They are brightly painted and pretty well maintained. This is an excellent shopping port. You don’t have the standard Diamonds, Tanzanite, Emeralds Internationals here. They have great prices on linens like tablecloths, bed sheets, pillow shams, place mats, bun and potpourri holders and wine bottle covers. We bought a nice tablecloth for our 129 inch long table with placemats for $50. You will have to make a choice most likely. You can spend the whole day shopping or you can see the sites. We chose to shop here and we were glad we did. Next time back, we will see the countryside. One cool thing is check out the stone people as you are exiting the ship at the Mega Pier. They are pretty cool. You have lots of photo opportunities in Willemstad and it is a great place to get a picture of the ship.

Check out the shore excursions available in Curacao.
Curacao Shore Excursions

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