Oh, Island in the Sun: Breeze-ing Back to the Southern Caribbean (Part Eight)featured
The sun was just peeking above the horizon when we woke up. We had not quite docked in Oranjestad just yet, but we didn’t have time to waste since our excursion had an early meeting time. I’d barely wiped the sleep from my eyes before I jumped to throw back the curtains to check the weather outside: we were rained out from the beach portion of our tour the year before, so we had our fingers crossed for clear skies for our snorkeling tour this visit. The cruise Gods were on our side this time, and we were greeted with clear blue skies and smooth seas.
On our way to breakfast, we ran into a few party animals hogging all those prime poolside loungers.
I had a well-balanced breakfast of…arepas and coffee and we grabbed a few boxes of dry cereal to throw in our bags before heading down to the Ovation to meet our tour.
It took us awhile to decide on a tour for our day in Aruba. Stephanie wanted to beach. I wanted to shop and take pictures (Aruba has many picturesque structures and landscapes that are prime for Instagram’ing). Mom…never cares. So we chose a catamaran tour. Stephanie would get to snorkel. I’d get to be on the water. And it was short enough that we’d have time for me and Mom to shop before we hit back onboard time.
Our tour guide took our tickets and told us we should move from the back row to the front row of our section: Carnival’s excursion staff led each tour down to the gangway row by row, starting with the front row, so by moving us to the front, our guide ensured we’d have our pick of spots on the boat. This would become even more important as our section filled in and our tour group bloated to 50+ people.
As we were being led down to the gangway, a party of two older couples in their 60s decided to cut in front of everyone. Cruise karma doesn’t discriminate based on age, and as (their) luck would have it, as we got to the gangway, one of them discovered they had forgotten their S&S card in the theatre. Don’t tempt the cruise karma Gods – they strike in randomly impactful ways.
We followed our guide off the gangway and through the marketplace that leads out to the pier, where our catamaran was docked. The catamaran wasn’t extraordinarily large, so fitting our entire group was going to lead to a miniscule personal space bubble.
The crew gave us a quick safety talk before we headed out to our first snorkeling spot in the waters off of Catalina beach.
The waters weren’t quite as opaque as the ones in St. Lucia, but were clearer than many of the other waters we’ve traveled on and a gorgeous shade of aquamarine.
I declined a snorkel and fins but grabbed a vest just in case the sun got too hot (which it did), so I took a quick dip. With my sunglasses on because I didn’t want to see if there were any fish around me. Long enough to cool my warmed skin and for Stephanie to get a picture.
There was a waterslide off the back of the boat and those more adventureminded than me spent the entire stop riding down into the water.
After 45 minutes or so, we set sail for our second snorkel site: the shipwreck of the Antilla where, in 1940, the captain intentionally sunk his ship before it could be confiscated by the Dutch Marines. The wreck sits in about 60 feet of water and supposedly houses a wide variety of sea life. Some people snorkeled. More kept cycling on and off the waterslide. There were strong currents in the area, which the crew warned us about before anyone got off the boat. I decided to take another dip to cool off feeling confident enough in my swimming, but even I found myself struggling to not get carried out too far.
Once the anchor was up and we were on our way back to the ship, the crew passed around rum punches and we sat back and enjoyed the shorescapes as we sailed onwards.
Our tour lasted just over four and a half hours, so with the excursion dropping us off right at the pier and a couple of hours left to finish our souvenir shopping, we headed straight to the downtown shopping area.
We walked to our destination (~10 to 15 minutes from the pier, most of which is walking along the pier itself), but taxi rates and regulations are pre-published and listed right at the taxi stand.
Downtown Oranjestad is colorful and busy. A pastel cousin of Curacao with a dash of the activity of downtown Phillipsburg in St. Maarten. Lots of activity. Lots of shopping. On the left side of the street, stores, casinos and resorts. On the right, smaller stores and marketplaces. Of all of the ports on this itinerary, the shopping is the best in Aruba, where the options range from high end luxury to small souvenir tokens and you can get a Louis Vuitton bag and walk across the street to get some t-shirts and keychains.
It was extraordinarily hot and the long walk down the pier and into downtown offered no shade, so we made our first stop at the Renaissance Mall (yes, another one – the Renaissance brand has resorts and casinos all over the ABC islands), where they offered the three things we were in search of: shade, Starbucks and wi-fi. Starbucks was packed, but we camped out for awhile to cool off with iced coffees and check in on the goings on at home.
Stephanie insisted we make a plan before we headed out again, so we decided to head to Little Switzerland so I could make my ~luxury purchase du jour, we’d hit a couple of souvenir stands and then go back to the ship and with that, we headed out.
For the past three years, one of our cruises has coincided with a career move for me, and I started marking them by buying something to celebrate. Over the summer, our Marketing team began courting me for a role on their team and after months of hemming and hawing, negotiations and heavy contemplation, I accepted a job offer the week before we left. This new job came with a new set of responsibilities and a new salary to match, so to commemorate this new phase of my professional life (and under the rule of my mother and sister insisting that I not blow as much as I pay in rent on another handbag), I had my eye on a Michele watch. I did some research while we were at Starbucks to ensure that anything I purchased at Little Switzerland would be authentic and to check the price ranges of the stores I’d purchase at in the US to ensure I’d be getting a deal. Stephanie helped me pick out a gorgeous timepiece in rose gold and plum, and the savings over the US prices plus the savings in sales tax yielded a discount of over a hundred dollars from US prices. Win, win, win.
We briefly browsed the small marketplace shops on our way back to the ship, but Stephanie was quickly overheating so we didn’t browse for long.
The walk back to the pier seemed infinitely longer coming back and the sunlight was only making the ship feel further and further away.
Once you walk all the way down the pier to the ship, you enter a marketplace similar to the one in Nassau. There are dozens of vendor booths with souvenirs at prices not too different from the ones downtown. I finished up my shopping in the market, safely out of the sun’s reach, while Mom and Stephanie headed onto the ship.
In an effort to control the crowds, only 15 or so people were allowed on the gangway to re-enter the ship at once. I’m still waiting for the day Carnival creates a Platinum and Diamond-only reentry line (a perk that would be immensely useful with no associated cost).
I met back up with Mom and Stephanie at the room, where they were ordering some room service for lunch. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror for the first time since leaving that morning and in round four of Nicole and her Army of SPF 70 vs the sun, the sun won. Again. An angry pink burn was spreading across my shoulders and it was overtly clear that no matter how much SPF I slather myself in, the only thing that was going to prevent me from burning in the sun was going to be not being in the sun.
Lunch was delivered promptly and after a full day outside, everything tasted like the best thing ever (except my crudités, which tasted like disappointment from being delivered sans the savory blue cheese dip that usually accompanies it).
Chicken Fajita Wrap
Roasted New York Strip Loin Sandwich
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Assorted Vegetable Sticks with [Invisible] Blue Cheese Dip
Assorted Cookies
After a shower and a slathering of aloe, I sat out on the balcony to watch sailaway and promptly fell asleep…again.
Later on, a few zzz’s, a couple of layers of mascara and a pair of heels later, we snapped our obligatory balcony formal night snaps before heading out for the evening.
Dinner was delicious and our wait staff was quick, efficient and friendly (the ultimate winning combination of service onboard a cruise). The chateaubriand was and continues to be amongst the best entrees offered in the main dining room and everything from the starters down to the desserts were well-executed.
Shrimp Cocktail
Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls
Fresh Fruit Cocktail
Penne Siciliana
Chilled Creamy Bing Cherry Soup
Chateaubriand with Sauce Béarnaise
Roasted Half Spring Chicken with Gravy
Baked Alaska
Amaretto Cake
We made our nightly round through the shops and noticed a clearance on Michael Kors watches, which was of special interest to Stephanie who has an affinity towards them. We quickly realized the “clearance” wasn’t any kind of a clearance, or any kind of a sale for that matter – most of the watches were marked down to $300-$350, but don’t even sell for that much in the US. We have this revalation on every cruise. At some point, we’ll learn to stop perusing the watch sales.
We headed back to the room to watch Grey’s Anatomy, only to realize it was on hiatus for the week. Mom decided to retire for the evening, and Stephanie and I decided to head out for awhile.
First stop? The Library Bar. The Library Bar isn’t a themed bar – it’s an actual bar within the library. We never see people in there, but they have interesting specials and my favorite – the single serve wine machines!
The library on the Breeze is much smaller than the libraries on the older ships, perhaps a sign of the digital times, but has shelves and shelves of travel guides, literary classics, fiction and board games. It feels like a good place to steal away a quiet moment on a stormy day. Unfortunately, the wine machine wasn’t reading my card, so our time there was limited and we headed out to the Red Frog Pub. Apparently, we weren’t meant for the Red Frog Pub, either, because for the life of us, we couldn’t get service. The pub was packed with people watching football, but oddly enough, most of them weren’t eating or drinking, so we couldn’t really figure out why it was so difficult to get some drinks. We headed towards the Piano Bar, but there was no piano man, so we gave up and headed up to Serenity to get some fresh air.
I headed towards the nearest hammock where I must have fallen asleep (…again) and woke up to Stephanie swearing she saw a shooting star. I thought there was too much ambient light to really see anything, so we headed a bit further forward where there were less lights, and once we found that dark space, the sky seemed to light up with millions of pinpricks of light. The wind laced through my fingers and across my reddened skin and I was pretty sure Stephanie and I were the holders of the best secret spot on the ship – no one ever came up to Serenity after dark, but it was the best spot to take a deep breath of fresh air and watch the stars illuminate the sky.
We headed back to the room to end our evening with some HLN and, with the clocks falling back an hour, a bonus hour of sleep time to get rested for all of the Halloween festivities.
Today’s Lido Dinner Menus
