Carnival Magic - Day 5 - Curacao - 2025/03/12

It's Day 5 into our 8 day Carnival Magic cruise and today we're headed to Curacao! 

We woke up late like usual and when we looked outside, a new country had appeared! It's Curacao! 

Theresa and I were here way back in 2013 for New Years, but the kids have never been!

It's already after noon, but we do need to eat something before we go. The pizza is always delicious, and the pasta bar had zero wait. And while the pasta is good, the grilled chicken tenders from the pasta bar are even better! 

Down, down, down the steps we go until we're on the 1st deck of the ship. Then through a doorway that's usually marked Crew Only. They scanned our Sail & Sign cards as we left, and then it was off to the cruise port.

Welcome to Curacao! 

There's souvenir vendors right by the ship, but once you walk a little further, you get to the regular shops. 

Our destination is the Queen Emma floating bridge and the painted buildings of the Handelskade. 

This wooden bridge floats across the St Anna Bay and can move out of the way when big ships want to come through. 

If you happen to get stuck on one side, there's a ferry that will take you across to the other side. We've got an early boarding time from the cruise ship today, and since we're getting such a late start, we didn't want to dally too long on this side. 

Just enough to get a few pictures. 

Then it was back over the bridge to the side where the boat is on. 

Ian saw a playground and of course wanted to stop and play for a bit. 

The Brionplein Playground is sponsored by a gas and oil company. There's a lot of drilling and refining that we could see from the ship. 

There's lots of things to climb on here. 

Next, I wanted to find another local grocery store to get more things for taste tests. Along the way, we passed under this tree and noticed things dropping down from it. What were they? 

Looking closer, a couple dozen parrots have started picking the seed pods and eating them! 

This grocery store was more like what I was expecting an island grocery store to look like. 

Busta soda is a popular fruit flavored soda company from the Caribbean! We're limited to what we can bring back onto the boat, and bottles are supposed to be forbidden, otherwise I would have picked up every flavor to bring back home for a taste test. 

I picked the flavored that I thought were the most interesting. 

It was... different. Not exactly our favorite. 

The banana tasted like a very Ripe Banana. Like, it's ready for Banana Bread ripe. The Pear was also a little odd. Theresa was hoping for a fresh pear flavor, but got more sweet, chemical, and fermented flavor. I'm still glad we tried it. 

On the way back to the cruise ship, passing through Rif Fort, built back in 1828 by the Dutch, and fitted with 56 cannons and walls a foot thick! 

Our ship, the Carnival Magic. 

We made it back to the ship well before the 3:30pm departure. We didn't want to be one of those guests running down the dock while the ship is pulling away. 

One of the things we have been really good about on the ship is never taking the elevators. They're crowded and slow to come, first of all, but we can all use the exercise. Our legs would be burning when we're going from Deck 1 all the way to Deck 9! 

The towel animal Min left today. I'm not sure exactly what this one is. 

The kids were happy to be back on the ship early so they could run off to Camp Ocean. 

Where they would get signed out along with a bunch of their friends and go play on the ropes course together! 

Goodbye Curacao! 

They're having the best time with their friends. 

Looks like our dinner table is ready! 

As we were arriving, the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 were leaving. There was a special dinner with them for those who wanted to pay a little more. 

Our menu tonight. 

The Antipasti plate. Gotta love meats and cheeses. 

Ian picking a banana split for his dessert tonight. 

While I tried the Double Dutch Chocolate Pave with Raspberry Cream. 

Theresa and I found a quiet spot on the deck that was sheltered from the wind to read our books and enjoy the sunset over the water. 

The kids meanwhile are hanging out in Camp Ocean with all their friends and playing games. 

And when 10pm rolled around and it was time to leave Camp Ocean, they still wanted to play with friends. We gave them to 11pm and they loved it. One of the things other guests do is hide rubber duckies around the shp for others to find. It's a giant scavenger hunt created by other guests! The kids have had some pretty good luck finding them and know lots of the regular hiding places now. 

It's been another fun day on the cruise! Tomorrow is a day at sea as we head to the Dominican Republic!