Ocean Encounters

Cruise Ship Excursions in Curacao

Cruise Ships arriving in Willemstad, Curacao

Are you looking for the best Cruises that explore the Dutch Caribbean? Are you planning a Cruise Ship vacation that includes an itinerary stop in Curacao? Are you maybe even thinking that you would like to enjoy a world-class Curacao diving or snorkeling experience with your family or friends as a shore excursion?

If you are, then we invite you to dive in with Ocean Encounters – Curacao’s premier PADI and SSI Dive Center! Our professional team is ready to welcome you to Curaçao when you port in with a wide range of fun diving and snorkeling experiences that include PADI or SSI courses, shore diving, boat diving and family friendly snorkel trips. 

The Best Cruise Ship Lines

Royal Caribbean Cruises

Experience Curaçao in full color with Royal Caribbean International. Cruise to the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao and experience underwater life up close and personal with a snorkeling or scuba diving adventure with Ocean Encounters.

Celebrity Cruises

Start planning your luxury cruise vacation that includes Curaçao as a port of call, with Celebrity Cruises! Bright, airy, and beachy Willemstad may feel like a Dutch city, but don’t let the colonial pastels and European-style streets fool you—you’re on the Southern Caribbean cruise of a lifetime. On cruises to Curaçao, beautiful beaches, clear waters, and incredible diving and snorkeling at Ocean Encounters will quickly steal your heart.

Cruise Ship Excursions with Ocean Encounters

PADI and SSI Diving Experiences or Courses

Are you interested in trying scuba diving, becoming a certified open water diver or continuing your underwater adventure with a specialty course? At Ocean Encounters, our professional PADI and SSI instructors are ready for you!

Interested in learning to scuba dive? You’ve come to the right place. Our scuba lessons will unlock the door to new adventures and amazing marine encounters. By the end of your scuba certification course, you’ll see our ocean planet through new eyes.

Interested in continuing you adventure?
Whether you want to access more dive sites safely with an Advanced Open Water Diver certification or improve your skills with a wide range of PADI or SSI core specialties (underwater photography, videography, fish identification, deep diver, or become an enriched air nitrox diver), the Ocean Encounters team of professional instructors are ready to advance your diving education and skill set! CLICK here for all the specialty courses available.

Shore Diving in Curacao

Curacao is laid out in a way that makes the southern side of the island almost perfect for shore diving. Thanks to the geographic location, the winds in the area come from the Northeast, meaning that almost the entire southern shoreline is protected from heavy sea winds.

The lack of strong winds means that divers can get their feet wet almost any time of year, and the diving from shore is calmer and safer.

Guided Shore Dive at LionsDive Beach Resort

The Ocean Encounters Dive Team consists of highly trained Dive Masters that know the best spots to take you and have alot of fun doing it! And there is not better place than our house reef at LionsDive Beach Resort

Our house reef is a beautiful fringing ecosystem that is home to an incredible array of biodiversity, macro life it supports shallow water coral nurseries set up by Reef Renewal Curaçao.

Although this this site is named after the Stella Maris shipwreck (a wreck located far below recreational depth limits on deep water plateau), this this dive site is very special because of the abundant health of the beautiful fringing reef system due to the constant easterly currents pushing rich nutrients along the shoreline.

Boat Diving in Curacao

Let Ocean Encounters take you to the best diving sites in Curaçao! Our fleet of custom dive boats and our professional staff are ready!

Ocean Encounters offers you a complete schedule that allows you to dive many world class dive sites in Curaçao.

These dive trips for certified divers and all our Dive Trips can be booked online immediately. Just pick your favorite(s) below and click ‘Book Now’. Of course, one day may not be enough… and the more you dive – the more you save with our multi-day diving packages! 

Curacao Snorkeling Tours And Private Boat Trips

These essential trips and tours for you, your family or your friends can accommodate not only snorkelers and swimmers but also divers too! All private boats trips offer customized activities especially for you!

All these trips can be booked online! Just pick your favorite(s) below and click ‘Book Now’. We will contact you for any further information we might need from you to join.  All Private Trips are customizable, so if you have special requests, please contact us directly.

Maybe you don’t want to spend your holiday learning how to dive, but you are interested in trying out a dive? In that case our Discover Scuba Diving or Dolphin Dive for Non-Divers might be the thing for you!

Essential Curaçao Experiences

Frequently Asked Questions about Cruise Ship Excursions

Do you pick up at the terminal?

No, we are not allowed to pick up guests at the cruise ship terminal. A taxi can take you to our shop. It’s a 15 to 20-minute drive from the cruise ship terminal.

My ship is docking after 7:30, can I make it for the two-tank boat dive?

It can take about 1 hour from docking time to disembark from your Cruise Ship and get to our dive shop (a 15 to 20-minute drive). If you dock after 7:30, you will not be able to join the 2-tank morning dive, which departs at 8:30AM (check in at 8AM)

I’m thinking of leaving my equipment back home. Can I rent?

Yes. Whether you are leaving all of your equipment behind or just bringing a couple of items, we have plenty of equipment available for rent.

Contact our Dive Team for More Options

There are many options for transportation, diving, snorkeling, PADI / SSI courses and of course, specialty trips that can be customized for your needs and the Cruise berthing schedule. So, please contact our Ocean Encounters reservations team to dive into the endless opportunities to experience Curaçao.