Cruise 2017: Day 5, Aruba

Aruba. First stop of the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, but not in that order on this trip). We were so looking forward to Aruba! Rob does not like humidity, so we looking forward to the "dry" heat. Can't say that I noticed much difference, though obviously the plants do.

I found the oil platforms interesting. It's hard to get an idea of the scale as I was really zoomed in.

It's a later arrival (11am) in Aruba, so there was time to enjoy the morning on the ship. We might have eaten in the dining room for breakfast. Or maybe lunch. I did try to keep notes, but you know what? Who really cares. The food is good. There's plenty of it. Enjoy it.

We got off the ship and saw these adorable motorized tricycles for rent. We didnt' see any in the town though.

At the talk the evening before, the Shore Excursions lady (Hilde), talked about a trolley that would take you on a tour through the town. For free! Free! Of course, that was our first plan of action! Free! She said it's easy, its right at the end of the pier. Easy and free! Sign me up! 

 

If you look at a map of Oranjestad, you'll see the cruise ship terminal. We were docked along side it. I can't remember if we walked through it to get out. Then there is a long street(?) where those tricycles were, along with lots of other shuttle options and little vendors. We got to the end of that, through the gates and ummm. No sign for a trolley.  We noticed some people standing across the road, to the left. We could see train tracks, so we headed over. There was this sign, above, and I think we were at the little loop at the bottom. Eventually it came, but it was not a fun wait in the sun.

They are lovely little trolleys, but remember, they are "open air" which means both the sun and the heat are also on board. And not just tourists use them--a large number of people on it appeared to be locals. The music was lively, if not a little loud.

We circled around and past the cruise ship and shuttles.

I'm not 100% sure what this is...it looked like some type of market, and new concrete pads were going in. That bike is a rental and the ad is for Royal Bank (of Canada). It seems RBC was more popular in the ABC islands. Up till then, I had never seen it in the Caribbean.

Such lovely architecture. Too bad the city went through a period of not caring about maintaining the same styling for new buildings.

There are these blue horse statues all over. It's a fascinating read!

Wow. Sometimes it's easy to forget the rest of the world is not as PC as North America. I wonder how the salesgirls have to dress. I wonder if they have salesboys. Doesn't that sound strange? Have you ever said "Salesboy"? Most would say "salesman" but why the mature form for the man and the juvenile form for the females?

We quickly realized that the "tour" of the town was really just a tour of the shopping area. We got off at the top end and decided to walk around. Rob say this scooter and wanted a picture.  He thought by the colours it might be a KTM but wasn't aware of KTM scooters.

 

Cactus! Cacti? Whatever. It didn't feel like a "dry" heat to us, but I guess this is proof!

I tried to get artsy and pretend to prick my finger.

We learned about this statue during the talk about the music in the ABC Islands! I believe it is about the writing of their national anthem. Yet I can't find any info on the statue! I think it's sort of behind City Hall (which is a green building). Unfortunately, the satellite view on Google Maps is not very good quality. Apple Maps is better, and I think what the problem is, is that the satellites were taken while the patio/fountain was being built. I think now it's between the Aruba Government building (a circular building seen in some of the Google streetview pictures) and the "Court of Audit".

We headed down towards the Renaissance Marketplace. As we went past the Dutch Pancake place, we were really tempted. But I wasn't hungry! We kept walking along a path near the Casino and came around a corner and suddenly there were all these iguanas!

I liked his bright green racing stripe!

And pretty birds!

And along the rocks by the marina, were all sorts of funky crabs!

We took a break at Starbucks which had free wifi (some Starbucks now make you pay, but we were able to log on without a purchase). I found out that Grandma melted my large white plastic carving board in the oven! We were outside, in a covered patio, but sweating buckets, so we kept moving.

We walked along LG Smith Blvd and found the Renaissance Mall. If you're staying at the Renaissance Resort, you can take a little water taxi right over to inside the mall. I wanted to find a cold Diet Coke and some batteries. The mall was a little more upscale, but we found a variety store with cold Diet Coke and batteries. Rob found the cold local beer. After asking the "salesgirls" if he could drink  it in the mall and the answer seemed to be ye, he got one. They were talking to themselves in something other than English and one pointed to her lapel, like where I had my Canada pin. Perhaps that's why they were nice to us. Or perhaps they were saying "Crazy Canucks, thinking it's wonderful to be able to drink in the mall" LOL. We sat by a fountain and Rob drank his beer. He thought it was really good! My Diet Coke was alright. Sometimes you get a can that tastes kind of metallic.

We decided to hop on the trolley again, and take it for the rest of the ride back up the shopping street and all the way back to the terminal.  We laughed at the "Athlete's Foot" store name. There were a lot of brand name stores. Not sure how the exchange works or if you actually get deals. They take American cash but pay change in the local coin.

Beautiful bells on the outside of the church. Once the trolley got to the end of the route, it stopped. It was supposed to be only five minutes, but time must go really slowly in Aruba. We were sweltering.

It was a really nice walk around the harbour/marina and seeing all the big boats. Lots of fishing boats. I wasn't expecting to see that hill in the background!

Here you can see the market stalls leading away from the terminal building. Just past the path with the squares is the gate buildings, and the road to the left, you can see a white bus and a couple cars, and then there's the trolley on the left. It's just gone around a loop and right where it joins up again was the post with the map from above. We started out waiting directly across from the gate buildings, where there's a little angled entrance to those square buildings. Then we walked towards where the trolley is, trying to figure it out.

The view off towards the resort strip

 

Another view of the marina area.

Okay, I'm confused. We watched the glassblower make this swordfish the night before, but where are the rest of the pictures? They had recommended the Dutch Pancake place by the casino, so I know we saw the show...

We got ready for our sunset cruise and headed into the terminal. It gets a little confusing because there were several sunset cruises and you have to go to the right booth. And then while you're waiting, you notice that the same man is working several of the booths. We enjoyed more of the flavoured water at the terminal. Once again we were the only ship, so they had the water set up near the doors that exit to the ship.  Once our group was called, we gathered together and began walking down the pier. It's a bit of a walk for the older folk. And we noticed some of them had a hard time getting into the catamaran.

 

The crew was nice. The bar was "open" but was mixed drinks only, with the emphasis on rum. And the seemed to have only one CD for the music--Tom Petty's "Greatest Hits". 

 

It's always fun to see the cruise ship from different angles. I like the staggered stern of this ship and the outdoor area by the buffet. Though it was often too hot to eat out there.

Shortly after we boarded and settled in, I heard a woman talking on the other side. One of those loud voices that just carries. Something about what she said made me instantly think she's Canadian. Then she did say something to confirm it. At some point she and her man headed to the trampoline. I could see she was around our age. Rob and I headed out too, hoping for some youthful Canadian companionship.

There they are, behind Rob. Tanya and Jeff. What an absolute hoot. We had an awesome time getting drunk with them. His father was celebrating a birthday and always wanted a cruise. So he paid for his entire family to come too. They had an awesome South Beach hotel before the cruise, awesome cabins, dinner in the separate dining room, and lots of onboard credit from him. This was their first cruise too and a sort of pre-wedding honeymoon. If bringing your entire family can count as a honeymoon. I realized a day or so later that Tanya was most likely the woman in the elevator on the first morning, who hadn't slept all night. Once we got back (I did see her in the smoking area a few times, but I didn't want to hang out there), I looked up her business on FB and messaged her. Yup, that was her strolling the ship in the middle of the night!

I take this shot on every catamaran trip now!

The resorts look nice, and not too huge. There were shark nets along the beach. Tanya and Jeff went to one of them for the day and had a great time until something "huge" swam by her.
The food on the cruise was ...chicken nuggets, tiny empanadas and some other hor d'oeuver. Frozen hor d'oeuver variety pack. Good thing the bar was good. The guy serving said to try all three and if we didn't like one, feed the fishies.

The point of the cruise (besides the free booze) was the sunset. Despite this being our 5th cruise, we rarely have seen a Caribbean sunset. It's either hidden by the late afternoon clouds, or we're in the dining room or getting ready for the dining room.

It really was a gorgeous sunset.

His shirt should have said "What happens on the ocean stays at the ocean" LOL.

Going....Going...

Gone...

Despite having drank quite a bit, and feel "good", it didn't really hit me until off the catamaran and walking back to the ship in the dark. By the time I headed up the gangway, I felt loaded.

So of course we had to head up for food! I couldn't resist some of the ice cream (first time!) and the sour fruit gummies. One British man called the colourful sprinkles "Hundreds and thousands". The server seemed to know what he meant. Apparently, that's what the UK calls them! 


There was a "Full Moon Party" (no, it wasn't a full moon night, they just call it that) on the pool deck. You're supposed to wear all white (of course, they don't give you this info when you book). We checked it out, looked like fun, but the booze was starting to wear off and we had an early morning in Curacao the next day so we headed to bed!

Cruise 2017: Day 4, At Sea

This day was Canadian Thanksgiving! It was mentioned in the daily guide and at the buffet for lunch there was a turkey dinner available, as well as a large "Canada" cake. Of course, I didn't have my camera.  Edited--while searching for another picture, somehow I found this one. I think Rob might have taken it because it was saved where he automatically saves the pictures from his phone. There were also some shots of the ship leaving Miami!

I have a lot of things circled in the daily planner, and I know we didn't do all of them. At 10:15 was a talk on the music of Aruba, by Cary Ginell. He'd had a couple of other talks about music, but hadn't managed to fit them in. Not knowing anything about the music of Aruba, I thought this might be interesting. It was, though perhaps spending so much time in a university music program left me wanting more details. 

I circled a Hot Glass Show at 11:00, but since I have no pictures, I don't think we made it. The timing on the shows was just not working for us! We must have gone, because while writing the post for our day in Aruba, there's a picture of a sailfish that we saw them make, and the ladies had recommended a Dutch pancake restaurant which we saw while walking around.  I probably had a camera malfunction or something.

After lunch, Rob wanted to see Wonder Woman, but I wasn't interested. That's fine with us. Usually I'll go along to movies just to have that time to relax (and possibly knit) but this time I wanted to enjoy being on a cruise. So I sat up by the pool somewhere. There was a talk about Stargazing that I thought I might go to...but opted to relax. So many evenings are cloudy anyway LOL. I do wish I had remembered to pack our stargazing guide.

At 3:30 there was a Music Trivia Challenge on Canadian Artists. I had to go. I didn't do as well as I would have liked! I'm not sure if it was then, but we also did a Broadway musicals trivia and I didn't do very well with that either. There were a lot of musicals that I haven't played the music from because they're still pretty new. Then there was General Knowledge trivia challenge. Okay. Some of this was not general knowledge!! LOL! It was hard! 

I wish we had taken some of the dance classes, though they were in the Grand Foyer where people could watch...Pirates of the Caribbean was showing at 5:15 but that was too close to dinner. I haven't seen any of the Pirate movies, though I've played some of the music!

 

 We were surprised there wasn't a Thanksgiving dinner on the menu. I think one item had turkey in it, but the more traditional dinner was the next night. This little tomato appetizer was nice, though I would have preferred it warm so the cheese was gooey. I think I picked it because it had buffalo mozzarella and I wanted to try that, and I make a similar appetizer--but I broil them.

 

 I have no idea what this pasta was. I don't normally get pasta, trying to be low carb! I think it was penne with prosciutto and a cream sauce. I mainly ate the meat and the sauce LOL. But did eat some of the pasta.

 Dessert time. There was both Tiramisu and Cherries Jubilee on the menu. I couldn't turn down either, so I got them both. As often happens, there was also tiramisu at the buffet that night or the next. I think the dining room is usually better but I was pleased at how good the buffet desserts were. They didn't have that chemical taste that is often in the whipped cream (a stabilizer?).

 I made this dress after seeing this one when I had been thinking about making a different style of infinity dress. I knew this one would be more versatile for me. Of course, I couldn't remember all the ways to wear it once on the ship. On one hand, I liked how flowy it was--perfect for the hot weather (except that it's usually freezing inside the ship and  the material was a polyester, so perhaps not as cool as possible), but on the other hand, flowy also means shapeless and I felt larger than I am. But it was also good for those fluctuating days on a cruise LOL.

At 7:45 we went to "Destination Highlights: Aruba". I got Rob there only because it wasn't listed as a port shopping talk. It was supposed to be fast and informative talk about all you need to know to have an awesome day in Aruba. Instead of being about port shopping like the other talks, this one was really all about the different excursions, with a little bit of general info. Most questions like "how much would a taxi to the beach cost" were answered with "about ... but I would suggest an excursion so you'll know the cost and timing and safety blah blah blah". I'll mention more about the talk in the next post as it relates to what we did. 

So many excursions looked interesting.  Rob and I discussed what we wanted to do. We hadn't spent any money on excursions yet. We heard how wonderful the sunsets in Aruba are and we love catamaran trips, so we picked two and went to the excursions desk to ask for more info. Like, what exactly do they mean by .... The staff didn't know and their computer didn't tell them anything more than what the booklet said. We picked one of the two sunset cruises and hoped for the best.

On this trip, we weren't getting the folded towel animals in our cabin. No, we were getting hide and seek with my nightgown! After a couple nights of my nightie getting manhandled by a young Filipino cabin steward, I started putting it in the drawer LOL.

At 9:00 we went to the theater for "December '63". Their show the other night had been a little preview, but not really much shorter.  This group is really good, though I gather they are a "manufactured group". One of the members was Canadian. After all the shows, the cast come out to the Entertainment Court. This is neat (though a little awkward as you walk by them just trying to get out). I approached him and said Happy Thanksgiving. He was from Brampton. Never would have known it with a name like Miguel. It was also neat to meet the cast in the buffet and elevators--although the first time I saw one of them, I didn't realize it and thought he was pretty crazy in his sequined and embroidered velvet suit jacket LOL.

After that we had to leave the theater only to wait around a bit for the Adult Game Show: "Frisky Feud". Who would happen to get chosen, but Erica, the woman from the hotel. She was pretty awesome and did not disappoint! These shows are always a hoot though there were a couple contestants that were perhaps out of their element.

We headed back to our cabin. Or back to the buffet, I don't know. Rob really liked the late night pasta bar, with made to order pasta. The pizza was also really good, though he missed getting it custom made like at Sorrentos on Royal ships. We were looking forward to arriving in Aruba in the morning!

Cruise 2017: Day 3, Grand Cayman

On the second night, the daily guide told us to turn our clocks back one hour before bed. I don't remember doing this on other cruises. I do remember being told that Cozumel is in a different time zone and to keep that in mind because the ship's clocks don't change. During the cruise we put our clocks ahead and back several times and I kind of lost track of if we were gaining an hour sleep or losing it LOL

 

Our third  day was the port of Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We were there on our second cruise, Nov 2008, so we were excited. Rob had enjoyed it the first time, even though we hadn't done anything except walk around. We weren't really interested in doing the sting ray adventure, although I hear it's the best one in the Caribbean. My aunt suggested the aquarium/turtle farm. I really wanted to go there, but Rob said no way we're we going to swim with salmonella-infested turtles.  In a Facebook group for Canadian cruisers, I learned about the taxi/bus system, which sounded it do-able, even for Mr Hesitant. We agreed to go to 7 Mile Beach. I mean, it's world famous, not all cruises stop at Grand Cayman (we've been twice on five cruises), and we'd save money for other expeditions.

We didn't rush off the ship, but didn't want to leave it too late.  We headed downstairs around 9:15. Thought the towel sign out was silly--they write it down by hand! It was nice to have a tote bag in the cabin, but I took my own (after fixing the strap Rob broke soon after we got on the ship). It zips up. This picture was at 9:37am and the tenders were supposed to start soon after the 7am arrival, but I think they didn't start until 8am. 

Nothing looked familiar. We couldn't even tell on the handy "Port Shopping Map" which dock we were at. We saw booths advertising taxi's to 7 Mile Beach so we went with the first one. We thought the person holding the placard was the driver, but no...she walked us out of the compound and to a mini bus almost full of people. Oh. We climbed on and immediately heard the discontent of the passengers. At the front of the bus was a large, burly guy; a Hulk Hogan look alike. He was the most vocal. We quickly learned his name was Kevin. He let everyone know that he had gotten the first tender over so he could get a taxi and hit the beach before everyone else. He'd been sitting in that mini-bus for at least 45 minutes! Apparently, the driver waits until the entire mini-bus is filled!  Everyone decided he should go find the driver. He walked back up to the compound and found someone. Coming back, he made a wrestler pose. Hysterical. I said something to Rob, along the lines "You can tell he's not Canadian...we'd probably sit on this bus all day waiting for it to fill".  The quiet lady in front of me snickered and glanced over her shoulder. Down the road, Rob and I were talking about the Canadian banks, and she turned around to talk to us. Her and her husband were also Canadian! We had a nice chat, they were also being frugal so we all got off at one of the further stops where there wasn't a charge to use the beach facilities. Or so we thought. The drop off point was at Calico Jacks Bar & Grill. 

There were some loungers so we grabbed two at the end that had an umbrella giving shade. It's a beach, yes, but I still want to protect my skin! We headed for the water. So lovely! I don't think we'd even been in the pools on the ship yet because they were so cold. There's nothing like the warm Caribbean water!

7 Mile Beach is no longer seven miles; it's just over 5. But that's okay. You'd never know it. 

There are lots of resorts but they're on the smaller side, compared to other Caribbean hot spots.
I noticed a man going up to everyone in the loungers and knew he was collecting a "rental fee". So we scooped up our stuff and walked a bit up the beach to "Public Beach", it looks far on Google Maps, but it was right next door.  There were little shelters, showers, parking. Next to it Is "Harbour Heights" hotel, and a small sign in the landscaping indicating for guests only. There was also a security guard seated at the walkway down to the beach. We plunked our stuff in the little bit of the shade created by their landscaping (under the tree at the north end of their property, you can see it on Google Maps) while making sure we were on the beach itself LOL. We were joined by some other lounger-refugees. A bunch of Brits. They always find the deals!

For some reason, most of the pictures Rob took of me are on an angle. Here I am testing out a BIKINI top I made!!

We walked back along the beach, viewing all the developments from the beach. No Trespassing sings everywhere. We enjoyed our beach walk, but wanted to get out to the main road at some point. Eventually, we came to Governor's Beach. It started to sprinkle just then. No problem, we were still wet and hey, Caribbean rain is warm! There was this lovely iguana statue.

As we walked towards the road, I saw this little bit of native fauna. Adorable!  We stood in a covered bus shelter, getting clothes back on, wondering what the town buses look like. We started walking back towards town, and a few potential vehicles passed up going north. Then we realized, we really should be on the other side of the road LOL. But, on the other side, you have to walk backwards to see vehicles coming towards you. And we still weren't really sure what were buses. On the other side of the road was a mini van with a sign indicating it was a bus, and it was pulled over.

 So Rob approached the driver and asked. For about $5US, for the BOTH of us, she could get us downtown to Margaritaville. In the back of the van were some Americans we had seen on the beach. The one man reminded me a lot of Larry Caputo . I would notice him a lot on the rest of the cruise. Funny how that happens with some people.
As we drove down the main road, the driver would honk. I realized that she would honk at people standing at bus stops (and a few other spots). They'd either wave and she'd stop, or shake their head. If they waved, she'd pull over. Once we got full, she stopped honking. We got close to the downtown and she drove away from the main road to approach the downtown from the "inside". At one point she suddenly braked as a car stopped in front of us. Now, understand, these minivans are "short nose" vans (not our actual van, and this and the picture above are not mine).

I was sitting in the middle of the first bench. I think Rob was beside me. Although the driver has a good view, those of us in the benches, do not. Everything got real quiet and we were certain we would hit it. The driver didn't appear to be braking hard! Once we stopped safely, everyone let out a big sigh of relief and the Americans at the back started joking about needing to get back to the ship to change their pants.
She let us out and said Margaritaville was the next block over. We walked two blocks along the main street and didn't see it. It's shown on the "Port Shopping Map"  but the maps are a bit of a joke. We walked up Cardinal Ave because I couldn't figure out how we had walked past something as significant as Margaritaville. As we turned around and headed back to the main street, I saw a small sign above an alley indicating the way. It really is up the alley, just  up Cardinal Ave from Habour Dr.
We headed in and it seemed rather tame. Found the restaurant and got seated. Rob forgot his regular glasses and couldn't see anything in the dark room. But it was nice and cool. Rather empty and quiet. And then we realized, it's Sunday morning. What if they don't serve alcohol? My main focus was the free wifi (not the greatest) but how can you go to Margaritaville and not have a drink? Indeed, it was too early for drinks and we didn't expect to stay too long, just so we could have a drink. We got a  appetizer platter.

It was mostly good; Rob didn't like the quesadilla because it got a little soggy. The shrimp were great, the tortilla chips were okay. It just seemed really pricey. After, we walked around and found the pool. A little sad looking on a Sunday morning. We had our bathing suits on, but it didn't seem right going in the pool. I don't know why. Just seemed odd cause no one was in it, and it didn't look all that great. I won't hold that against them though--we're just the odd ones who go to a famous bar...on a Sunday morning.

The kids love things from Del Sol (and so do I), so we walked up Harbour Rd again to find it. Well, they were closed. Rob was happy to save money after the expensive lunch. We headed back to the ship. At the pier, you can have a nice chilled face cloth, which felt wonderful. There are also several different waters to choose from. Orange-carrot, cucumber-mint, and I think there was another one, along with plain ice water. Tiny Dixie cups, but it was enough. Especially since they make you finish before you board. Once through security, we forgot about our towels. That night we left them in our cabin with a note saying we had forgot to turn them in. Apparently, we were supposed to return them at the gangway and get crossed off the list.

There is some great art on the Equinox. And then some made us shake our heads. The above picture describes a set of pictures next to the elevators near our cabin.

There were about five of these style pictures in a row. At first, we thought maybe there had been a competition for the children of the staff. No, the plaque above it explains them. Certainly not our style.

We went to the buffet for lunch--after all, we had only had "appetizers" at Margaritaville! They had a whole baby pig in the carvery! The buffet was really good, with lots of options that changed frequently throughout the day--Early Risers Continental Breakfast/Breakfast Buffet/Late Breakfast all happened between 6:00am and 11am. Lunch Buffet Extravaganza was 12-2:30 and Soups/Salad/Sandwiches were 12-3pm. Afternoon snacks started at 3:30. The nice thing was the buffet was never actually closed. A few things were always available. They would close off some of the stations as they changed them over, but you could still go in to other areas. I know on Royal Caribbean, the whole buffet area was closed off between meals.

We headed up top as it looked like another storm rolling in. What's that little splotch?

 

It was a little boat! Okay, that one is bigger than our "Bob". But from up top, it was tiny looking.

Love the storm clouds over the turquoise water off 7 Mile Beach.

I noticed the submarine coming up and the shuttle. I would love to try this excursion but I'm just not sure how I'd feel. If there was a short "tester" excursion, that might be good!

I'm not sure which resort this is, I'm guessing The Kimpton Seafire Resort. That was just to the north of the public beach at Calico Jack's and can be seen in one of the beach pictures near the top of this post. That seems to be as large as you get here.

The pool was very busy in the afternoon!

 

 I have no idea what these two dishes were. I think the one below is beef cheeks and the appetizer above was duck. I was really looking forward to trying the beef cheeks. The meat was excellent, however, I did not like the seasoning. I think Rob had it too and said the same thing (and he thought it was greasy, as well). The waiter offered us something else (we had only eaten a tiny bit), but I remember saying the appetizer had been plenty.

  

At 9pm, we went to the Celebrity Showtime show, "Ashlie-Amber". It's a show sort of about Whitney Houston. She sings all her songs, talks about their influence in her life, how she became a singer, but she says she's not a "cover artist". She was really good. Rob really enjoyed it. I didn't take him for a Whitney fan! She was just starting her cruise ship career, so expect to see her around!

After, was the "Silent Disco". This is a newer thing on cruise ships. You get a pair of headphones, and choose one of three channels. Then you all dance together, to your own private DJ.

They look like they were having fun. One nice thing about this ship was that if there was a gathering in the Entertainment Court, for example, there were ample ways around. Unlike the Royal ships with the Royal Promenade.
Rob had said he wanted to get out and hear more live music this time. There was often one of two bands in the Grand Foyer, and we definitely preferred one over the other (Dancing Town). But we still hadn't made it to a "club" to hear an actual show.

Not sure what time we went to bed.We had to change the clocks forward one hour. So, the hour gained was now lost LOL. But we were at sea, so who cares.