Next up: Curacao. This is the only port we didn't have an excursion planned for, so we weren't quite sure what to do. I had been to Curacao before on an 8-day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Breeze. The great thing about the detailed blog that I've kept (I used to be so much better!) is that we can refer back to it and remember what we've done. Rachel had the internet package, so she went to my blog post on Curacao and learned that I had been to Mambo Beach. So Mambo Beach it was!


We were in port with the Carnival Conquest.





We headed to the taxi stand, and a lady asked us where we were headed. When we told her Mambo Beach, she looked upset and told us that it would be very crowded. She was trying to get us to go to Westpoint Beach which turned out to be a $90 cab fare each way! We stuck with Mambo Beach. Below is the list of cab fares.  Note that these fairs are for 4 people in a vehicle, but they were actually driving 12+ passenger vans and charging a per person fee for Mambo Beach.  So we were charged $7/person for our bus ride to Mambo Beach.


Looks just like it did in 2014!




The lady was right - it was crowded!  It was difficult to find chairs, but we somehow managed to locate three together, then scooted another empty one over.

The entrance fee is $3.50 per person, but they weren't charging at the entrance to the beach like they were the last time I visited.  Instead we sat down and claimed chairs, then a woman came to us to collect the entrance fee and gave us a ticket.  Then the rentals guy came by to collect $3.00 for each chair.  This was a little confusing to everyone on the beach and while we were there I heard other people tell him they had already paid and show their tickets, and then he would have to tell them that it's a separate fee for the chair.  I think entrance fee lady should have been warning everyone about the chair fee guy so they wouldn't be surprised.

I think the chair rental prices are totally reasonable, even for the cabana beds.  The only difficulty was securing one because the place was PACKED!



We were near a bar where they were making food, and I kept smelling the most delicious smells.  I was dying for some food.  Thankfully Dad wandered over and came back with some nachos.


Rachel and I swam out to the rocks.  They are very slippery, and I am surprised I didn't completely bust it.




I don't remember this water park from the last time I was there.  I did not research how much it cost to go out there.



So I think what contributed to the ridiculous crowds on the beach is that tour groups kept bringing their large groups of people to Mambo Beach as a "beach break" at the end of the tour.  However, they had not reserved chairs for their tour group, so everyone was just dropped onto this already packed beach with nowhere to go.  I could hear the people from the tour groups getting pretty annoyed that there were no chairs and no place for them to sit or leave their belongings.


The restaurant, however, was not packed.  Doesn't look like a bad situation to me.


If you're in Curacao and headed to Mambo Beach, I'd suggest getting there early so you can seek out a nice beach chair.  I don't think that crowds are typically this high, but since it was the holiday season and two ships were in port, they were pretty packed when we visited.  This was not my experience when I visited in March, so I think it varies depending on the time of the year.


Back aboard, we grabbed some sail-away drinks before getting ready for the loyalty party that evening.


We were invited to the Crown & Anchor Society Top Tier Loyalty Party for Platinum and above members.  Crown & Anchor Society is Royal Caribbean's loyalty program that you're automatically registered in after your first cruise.  We were Emerald members for this sailing, but on this cruise Mom hit Diamond, and it turns out that Dad, who has less cruise points, was rewarded her Diamond status, too - or at least that's what is showing on his online C&A account.  Rachel and I are still Emerald.

Normally, the loyalty parties are a great way to get some free booze (Shingletons love free booze).  However, since we had the Ultimate Beverage Package, we were not in need of free booze because we had already paid for ours for the week.  Why would we drink sub-par free loyalty party beverages when we could order far superior drinks from the bar?


But we went to the loyalty party anyway because we wanted to be in-the-know and see and be seen.  I'm kidding, maybe.  I'm not sure why, but we decided to go, and it's a good thing because this loyalty party had something pretty cool that I've never experienced at a loyalty party before - an ice show!

Normally you go into the ice rink or Viking Crown Lounge and are presented some promotional material and the captain and other people speak, then they award some champagne to the guests onboard who have the most cruise nights.  Tonight, however, they skipped the promotional stuff and quickly got the talking and awarding out of the way.... then presented us with an original ice show!  Thank you, Royal Caribbean, for having something unique at the loyalty event, rather than making it a big sales pitch.




After the loyalty party, we headed to the dining room.  Remember, we didn't have an assigned dining time, but we did have a nightly reservation for the same time each night (8 PM), and we always had the same wait staff.  We were also always seated at one of three tables, depending on what time we arrived.

For an appetizer, Arugula and Radicchio Salad -


I believe this is Rachel's, the Braised Beef Short Rib -


Most certainly Mom's entree, the Lasagna Al Forno -


And this is my entree, the Moroccan Spiced Ahi Tuna -


And then I didn't take a photo of the dessert menu (that's how I remember the names of things!), but I'm pretty sure this was pretty rich and also kind of awesome, but you could only eat tiny baby bites at a time -


Good night!