-Day 1
-Day 2
-Day 3
-Day 4
-Day 5
-Day 6
-Day 7
-Day 8
-Day 9
-Day 10
-Day 11
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Cruise Day
12, Aruba, Wednesday November 12th
Today we had an early docking in
Aruba at 7am. This was to be a short stay as all aboard was at 12:30 so we
decided the night before to get up early to go to breakfast so we can make the
most of our time on the island. For those interested in geography, we were a mere 14 nautical miles away from South America!
We got down to breakfast by 7:20 and
were off the ship by 8:15. It was amazing how hot it was so early in the
morning. We had a little bit of a walk until we reached the area for taxis. A
lady asked where we wanted to go so I told her which beach. It technically is
within walking distance of about 20 minutes but with the little ones, I knew it
would be too much especially in the heat. She told us to go to this set of
benches and she’ll bring her vehicle over. After 10 minutes, she was still across
the street so I said to the others let’s just forget it as she isn't coming back anytime soon. We can take the local bus to the beach like a lot of people were doing.
When the next bus came, I asked him
if it goes to Nikky Beach, he said yes. So we hopped on. My first clue
should’ve been when he went the opposite way of where I knew this beach to be.
I just assumed maybe he would circle around.
A view of the beach.
Turns out, it didn’t go to the beach
I wanted and we ended up in the high rise hotel area of the island with
beaches. It wasn’t a big deal but the beach I had researched would’ve been a bit more quiet and secluded. So we ended up at Palm Beach.
Aruba is a lot more developed than
some of the previous islands we’ve been to. Especially the area we stayed at on
the beach. Lots of hotels and timeshares. The water where we were at was warm
and calm unless a boat went by sending in a wake to the shore.
Such calm water!
It was a hot
morning unless you were out in the water to cool off. Because of the short
docking time, we only stayed on the beach about 2 hours then caught the public bus again
to head back to the port.
The public bus stop we waited at to head back.
Views of the port from the ship.
After getting back on board, we got
Ava & Olivia some lunch to eat back in our room then Kevin took Ava for a
walk to put her to sleep and the older girls took Olivia to hang out with their
friends. I went out for some reading time out in the sun.
An unfiltered photo of my afternoon view while reading. Heaven on earth people!
Thanks to the gentle
swaying of the ship & warm sun, I managed to slightly doze for a little
bit on my chair. After a quick dip in the pool to cool off then reading for a bit longer, I
headed in to check on the little ones.
At dinner tonight, out of the blue
our waiter brought us 3 appetizers of escargot (in addition to what we had
ordered) to which Susan finished off 2 of them and I had the other, yum! If you
like clams, escargot is very similar in taste & texture but less chewy. I’d
pick this over clams. They are served in butter with a garlic type of cheese on
top.
The only time we get escargot is on a cruise! Love this stuff!
Poor
Olivia was tired but didn’t tell us that she was. She just curled up in her booster seat and
fell asleep! The tables around us thought it was too cute!
This was the beginning of dinner
This was just a short time later, oops!
Tonight I joined a bunch of friends
for a late night evening game called Quest. The entire room is broken up into
teams with 4 team captains for each team. The quick version is that it is a
scavenger hunt that the host calls out items and the teams have to come up with
the objects from what everyone has on them personally. It’s quite hilarious to
say the least!
We got out from that about 11:20 and
we popped into The Chamber which is a 2 level club with a dance area. Tonight
they had what’s called a “Silent Dance Party”. Anyone who wants to dance is
given a headset with a choice of 3 different music channels to dance to. We
didn’t want to participate so my friends and I peeked in from the second floor
to observe. It was SO funny to see people dancing but we couldn’t hear any
music.
From there, I went to grab some
water to take back to my room and ran into the 3 girls hanging out with the teen
club. It was fun to finally have an evening out and not be in bed by 9:30! Since tomorrow is a sea day, we didn't have to worry about being in bed early.
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All photos can be clicked on to enlarge. The photos I am sharing are a combination of ones I took as well as my kids and husband on a variety of cameras and iPhones, hence the varying quality.
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