Carnival Vista- 11/8 Wednesday, Bonaire- Post One
Wednesday, November 8th, Bonaire!
We started the day with room service breakfast on the balcony, complete with very prompt delivery service at 6:58am for a 7-7:30 window. I literally rolled out of bed, hair looking super attractive, grabbed a buck and opened the door. I'm sure the wonderful room service staff enjoyed my freshly woken look! We prepped our food and headed out to the balcony. The ocean colors that exist in the Caribbean are just so beautiful; maybe retirement (in 40 years) will allow me to live on a cruise ship for longer than seven days every 9-12 months. *fingers crossed!*
This military ship was floating outside our balcony this morning:
Remember that $50 spa credit WE got from our room steward? My husband was very giving (one of his best qualities) and said that I should book a massage, even though we’d still end up paying like $70 on top of the free money. I went to the spa for my 8am Swedish Massage and was in the massage room by 8:10. I really like the view they have in these rooms, but they’re pretty pointless for me as my face is only staring at the floor or ceiling for a majority of the time. My massage therapist was very nice and friendly, but not the most graceful, so the massage was a little jarring at times. Overall it was a very nice time to relax. I was back to our cabin at 9:15am and we packed up and headed off the ship around 9:30.
Very nice window in the massage room:
Here was the first of three photographed Dreamscapes!:
One of the first things I saw getting off the Vista. Good morning BEAUTIFUL waters!
There's our ride!
Today’s journey would take us to Plaza Beach Resort Bonaire per a recommendation from Cruise Critic reviews. We decided we would walk to the resort from the port, which was pretty okay despite the heat and sun as well as some confusion early on. Here’s a highlighted route of how we got there if it can help others:
Walk south from the ship on a paved path along the water. Go as far south as you can before running into Divi Flamingo Beach, what I have marked as a black rectangle. You might have to backtrack a few steps to make the original left turn to the main road. Turn right when you hit the main road and continue south of the sidewalk until walking right into Plaza Beach Resort's metal entrance gate. It's about a 15 minute walk, 0.8 miles. It was very warm on our walk but it wasn't too bad of a hike, and there's a sidewalk the whole way.
Maybe I should come to expect photos like this from my husband:
Once we got to the property, we headed through the entry gate and down to the right to the activities building. We bought all inclusive day passes (which ended up be half day passes…more on that later) for $70pp and had access to the pool and beach, loungers and beds, and food and drinks. We had no problem ever finding a spot to sit and the views were INCREDIBLE! I would definitely come back here if I return to Bonaire and would recommend the Plaza Beach Resort as a day trip for other cruisers. We had a pretty lazy day on the beach and loved every second of it. We made sure we were under trees and a palapa but somehow still ended up with pretty intense sunburns. Whoops. The pass included any drinks from the bar, and we had access to a buffet from 12-2pm, I believe. We never used the pool area but I took a few pictures to highlight how nice it was. The bathrooms were a little ways away from the beach and somewhat complicated to find the first time. I had read that people have had to pay $1 to use the bathroom, but we went multiple times between us and never were asked to pay anything, so I can’t really provide clarity on that situation. We also took time to take our Hawkeye Flag picture, unfortunately in selfie-form.
View from our first seating area:
View of the Vista from the buffet area:
Seriously not edited, the water is just this amazing:
GO HAWKS!
At one point during the day, I observed something flopping in the water near the beach so I walked
over and noticed two parrot fish near the rocks. I don’t think I had ever seen parrot fish in person before and only knew what they were due to another Cruise Critic reviewer's posts (Thanks Mitsugirly!). Super cool! There were also several small yellow crabs crawling around in the sand, so I would issue a note of caution when walking around. Luckily they seemed pretty hesitant of people and would rocket underneath the sand when people approached. Later in the afternoon I went to the bar and was informed that because I only had the half-day pass, my bar service ended at 3pm, but she would give us one more round since we didn’t know about that. Turns out I bought the All Inclusive day pass that is only good from 10a-3pm. Plaza Beach Resort also offers a Full A-I pass that is valid from 10a-9pm for $99 per person. I don’t think I’d pay more money to have an all day pass since that would mean returning to the ship when it’s dark out, but it could be worth it to others. I would say the liquor pours were very generous and I feel like we got our money's worth for 70pp.
Yet another view of the beach. As you can see, it's pretty rocky at the shore, but this pier makes swimming/snorkeling easily accessible:
Pool Area:
We laid on the loungers until 3:30pm local time and walked back to the port area. Unfortunately the Kralendjik port area was nothing like yesterday in Aruba and only had a few shops to go into, which was very disappointing. We found our souvenir and got back on the ship to cool down in the cabin with some more Netflix. Aside from the sun being very hot, our day in Bonaire was so fantastic and beautiful. On day five I already knew this was the best cruise I’ve ever been on!
Another Dreamscape, this was was awesome:
After resting for a bit, we made our way to the pub around 5pm for beer and games before getting hungry for dinner around 5:30. We wanted to try out Bonsai sushi, and we sat at the sushi bar to watch the sushi artists at work. The food was very tasty and we would suggest trying it out. I had the shrimp tempura roll (omg yum) for $7 and my husband had the spicy tuna roll for $5, which he confirmed was “very spicy but excellently made." We also split a serving of edamame that was plentiful for only $2, and the teriyaki steak small plate ($8) that was perfectly cooked and so full of flavor. Although it's kind of a bummer to pay for extra food on a ship full of "free" food, we really enjoyed Bonsai and will definitely consider eating there again. I think the price was really comparable to Iowa sushi prices, so that wasn't a problem.
Sitting at the sushi bar:
Teriyaki Steak Small Plate:
We returned to the pub at 6:30 for more games and drinks, played trivia in there at 7:30, and then walked around the ship to take more photos, because why not? We made our way into the piano bar at 9pm, where we had a fun yet interesting experience. The pianist was fairly talented at both playing and singing, and clearly had a large fan base of mostly ladies crowded around the piano. People were singing along and having a great time, as were we. My only complaint is this very uncomfortable rule that the pianist had: clap and cheer when people enter the bar, and boo at people as they leave, even if he’s playing and singing. This was awkward, and pretty rude and disruptive to make noise at people while the pianist was performing, even though it was his rule. We stayed for 30-45 minutes before wanting to check out something else, and despite our best efforts to sneak out, we still got booed at. Maybe I’m being too sensitive about it but why shame people? Blah. I think we went back to the room after our long day in the sun to get ready for Curacao.
Third Dreamscape for the day:
UP NEXT: Thursday, Curacao
LINK: Curacao!
We started the day with room service breakfast on the balcony, complete with very prompt delivery service at 6:58am for a 7-7:30 window. I literally rolled out of bed, hair looking super attractive, grabbed a buck and opened the door. I'm sure the wonderful room service staff enjoyed my freshly woken look! We prepped our food and headed out to the balcony. The ocean colors that exist in the Caribbean are just so beautiful; maybe retirement (in 40 years) will allow me to live on a cruise ship for longer than seven days every 9-12 months. *fingers crossed!*
This military ship was floating outside our balcony this morning:
Remember that $50 spa credit WE got from our room steward? My husband was very giving (one of his best qualities) and said that I should book a massage, even though we’d still end up paying like $70 on top of the free money. I went to the spa for my 8am Swedish Massage and was in the massage room by 8:10. I really like the view they have in these rooms, but they’re pretty pointless for me as my face is only staring at the floor or ceiling for a majority of the time. My massage therapist was very nice and friendly, but not the most graceful, so the massage was a little jarring at times. Overall it was a very nice time to relax. I was back to our cabin at 9:15am and we packed up and headed off the ship around 9:30.
Very nice window in the massage room:
Here was the first of three photographed Dreamscapes!:
One of the first things I saw getting off the Vista. Good morning BEAUTIFUL waters!
There's our ride!
Today’s journey would take us to Plaza Beach Resort Bonaire per a recommendation from Cruise Critic reviews. We decided we would walk to the resort from the port, which was pretty okay despite the heat and sun as well as some confusion early on. Here’s a highlighted route of how we got there if it can help others:
Walk south from the ship on a paved path along the water. Go as far south as you can before running into Divi Flamingo Beach, what I have marked as a black rectangle. You might have to backtrack a few steps to make the original left turn to the main road. Turn right when you hit the main road and continue south of the sidewalk until walking right into Plaza Beach Resort's metal entrance gate. It's about a 15 minute walk, 0.8 miles. It was very warm on our walk but it wasn't too bad of a hike, and there's a sidewalk the whole way.
Maybe I should come to expect photos like this from my husband:
Once we got to the property, we headed through the entry gate and down to the right to the activities building. We bought all inclusive day passes (which ended up be half day passes…more on that later) for $70pp and had access to the pool and beach, loungers and beds, and food and drinks. We had no problem ever finding a spot to sit and the views were INCREDIBLE! I would definitely come back here if I return to Bonaire and would recommend the Plaza Beach Resort as a day trip for other cruisers. We had a pretty lazy day on the beach and loved every second of it. We made sure we were under trees and a palapa but somehow still ended up with pretty intense sunburns. Whoops. The pass included any drinks from the bar, and we had access to a buffet from 12-2pm, I believe. We never used the pool area but I took a few pictures to highlight how nice it was. The bathrooms were a little ways away from the beach and somewhat complicated to find the first time. I had read that people have had to pay $1 to use the bathroom, but we went multiple times between us and never were asked to pay anything, so I can’t really provide clarity on that situation. We also took time to take our Hawkeye Flag picture, unfortunately in selfie-form.
View from our first seating area:
View of the Vista from the buffet area:
Seriously not edited, the water is just this amazing:
GO HAWKS!
At one point during the day, I observed something flopping in the water near the beach so I walked
over and noticed two parrot fish near the rocks. I don’t think I had ever seen parrot fish in person before and only knew what they were due to another Cruise Critic reviewer's posts (Thanks Mitsugirly!). Super cool! There were also several small yellow crabs crawling around in the sand, so I would issue a note of caution when walking around. Luckily they seemed pretty hesitant of people and would rocket underneath the sand when people approached. Later in the afternoon I went to the bar and was informed that because I only had the half-day pass, my bar service ended at 3pm, but she would give us one more round since we didn’t know about that. Turns out I bought the All Inclusive day pass that is only good from 10a-3pm. Plaza Beach Resort also offers a Full A-I pass that is valid from 10a-9pm for $99 per person. I don’t think I’d pay more money to have an all day pass since that would mean returning to the ship when it’s dark out, but it could be worth it to others. I would say the liquor pours were very generous and I feel like we got our money's worth for 70pp.
Yet another view of the beach. As you can see, it's pretty rocky at the shore, but this pier makes swimming/snorkeling easily accessible:
Pool Area:
We laid on the loungers until 3:30pm local time and walked back to the port area. Unfortunately the Kralendjik port area was nothing like yesterday in Aruba and only had a few shops to go into, which was very disappointing. We found our souvenir and got back on the ship to cool down in the cabin with some more Netflix. Aside from the sun being very hot, our day in Bonaire was so fantastic and beautiful. On day five I already knew this was the best cruise I’ve ever been on!
Another Dreamscape, this was was awesome:
After resting for a bit, we made our way to the pub around 5pm for beer and games before getting hungry for dinner around 5:30. We wanted to try out Bonsai sushi, and we sat at the sushi bar to watch the sushi artists at work. The food was very tasty and we would suggest trying it out. I had the shrimp tempura roll (omg yum) for $7 and my husband had the spicy tuna roll for $5, which he confirmed was “very spicy but excellently made." We also split a serving of edamame that was plentiful for only $2, and the teriyaki steak small plate ($8) that was perfectly cooked and so full of flavor. Although it's kind of a bummer to pay for extra food on a ship full of "free" food, we really enjoyed Bonsai and will definitely consider eating there again. I think the price was really comparable to Iowa sushi prices, so that wasn't a problem.
Sitting at the sushi bar:
Teriyaki Steak Small Plate:
We returned to the pub at 6:30 for more games and drinks, played trivia in there at 7:30, and then walked around the ship to take more photos, because why not? We made our way into the piano bar at 9pm, where we had a fun yet interesting experience. The pianist was fairly talented at both playing and singing, and clearly had a large fan base of mostly ladies crowded around the piano. People were singing along and having a great time, as were we. My only complaint is this very uncomfortable rule that the pianist had: clap and cheer when people enter the bar, and boo at people as they leave, even if he’s playing and singing. This was awkward, and pretty rude and disruptive to make noise at people while the pianist was performing, even though it was his rule. We stayed for 30-45 minutes before wanting to check out something else, and despite our best efforts to sneak out, we still got booed at. Maybe I’m being too sensitive about it but why shame people? Blah. I think we went back to the room after our long day in the sun to get ready for Curacao.
Third Dreamscape for the day:
UP NEXT: Thursday, Curacao
LINK: Curacao!
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