Best Private tours?

What are the best private tour companies in Aruba? We will be there in Feb. with RCCL. We have found private tour companies to usually be a better value and less crowded than cruiseline shore excursions. We have gone on several for other ports that have been recommended through these boards and have never been disappointed.

So come on CCer's - what's the most fun and reliable in Aruba?

THANKS!

Based on wonderful recommendations from ArubaLisa and others, we and another couple on our Coral Princess Panama Canal 30 Nov sailing arranged a private three-hour tour of the island with Bully (taxi 79 – bullytaxi79@hotmail.com). He was always good in responding and answered our many questions on what would be the best way to take advantage of the Coral's very short (six hours) and very early time (0700 hours) in port.

The Coral arrived early into port, about 0600. (The Coral sprang ahead one hour from EST on the first night of the cruise, putting it equal to Aruba in the Atlantic time zone.) We met Bully and his comfortable van at 0730 outside the port exit gate--he doesn't work inside the port area, but it's a short walk outside and he makes this clear in his correspondence with you before you sail. Cost is $40 per hour.

Based on our requests in our e-mail exchange, Bully put together a tour that started out going east by the Balashi Brewery and the airport to Yamanoto Point, the highest point on Aruba at 622 feet, then north to the Ayo rock formation and Indian drawings, then to the collapsed Natural Bridge and the Baby Bridge next to it, we saw the reputed largest/oldest cactus en route to a lookout point over Palm and Eagle beaches, then to the Alto Vista chapel, a short drive around the Tierra del Sol golf course to see some colorful iguanas, the California Point lighthouse and sand dunes, and then a drive along Arashi, Palm, Eagle, and Manchebo beaches with a stop to see the famous divi divi tree on the way back to the pier. The trip really took about four hours with all the photo stops, but Bully only charged us for the agreed upon three hours (we paid him for four, however, plus tip). He provided local bottled water on the tour as well as had cold washcloths for us to use and take along during our shopping at the end of the tour to combat the heat (not that hot, really, but the sun is strong.)

After walking around Oranjestad for a few minutes, it was unfortunately time to board the ship. Six hours in port really doesn’t do justice to Aruba! Aruba is very dry, so doesn't look like the usual "tropical island" but it is, indeed, one happy island.

Overall, we had a great experience with Bully. He was prompt, courteous, thoughtful, and provided a great introduction to his country. Enjoy!

Not a company, but depending on the size of your group you might want to consider booking a tour with a local taxi driver who's done tours for many posters here. His name is Bully and you can e-mail him at bullytaxi79@hotmail.com. You may wish to see our review from earlier in December posted on this board for more details.

We had a very nice tour of Aruba with Marcos of Wixtours http://www.wixtours.com/

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/scarib.html

Have a GREAT cruise!

I am very pleased that you were happy with Bully's private tour. If someone is looking for a private tour with a knowledgable Aruba born guide, he is the driver for you.

we used abc-tours.com for half day tour.

we saw what was left of he naural bridge, the natural pool, drove tot he highest point on the island, the balashi gold ruins, some stone place, the ostrich farm. The half day was amazing. We then went back tot he ship for lunch and a cab to the Palm Beach area.

The whole day was amazing--and now we are planning our fist land vacation to aruba for a week

Hi,

We are a group of five. Is that too many for bully taxi service?

S

5 passengers is just fine and he has a new van which is spacious and comfortable.

http://taxiaruba.com/new/policy.html

"Prices are based on distance with a maximum capacity of 5 passengers per taxi;"

"Taxis can be hired at an hourly rate of Awg. 72.00 / US$ 40.00 per hour;"

We'll be on Aruba in March. I contacted the outfit below. I wanted to try Blokarts and sailboarding (have one at home, but we live in a tidal area - doesn't work very well). So, for less than $90, the 3 of us will have a great, fun-filled day. My mom is just 'tagging' along. Here's the last e-mail I received from the outfit. He's taking out $60 for my mom in the 'landsailing' part of the day:

Hello Caroline,

Ok looks like a cool plan. This is how it work out good for our schedule.

We pick you up at the harbor at 10:00 am and take you to our windsurfing school. At 10:30 we have our first windsurfing lesson and put everybody on a board. 11:30 the hour of instruction is over and everybody get an hour of practice. 12:30 the windsurfing is done and everybody can just chill out for half an hour and in the mean time our guy's prepare everything for the landsailing. At 1:00 we jump in the car and go to our landsailing area and how some fun. Around 3 we return to the windsurfing school and relax and we bring you back to you ship whenever you want to. Grandma can just hang out at the windsurfing school. We have some shaded area's and a few beachchairs where she can hang out and if she want we can take her to the landsailing spot also.

The cost will be

3x B.lesson windsurfing >>150US

1 x 2 hour windsurfing rental> 30 US

4x Landsailing >> 240 US

You can get a 10% discount on the total amount and we will include some drinks as well. That's including everything; transportation, equipment for the activities, instructors,safety gear........

So just let me know what you think about it.

If you have any other questions Caroline, feel free to mail me back.

Best regards,

Wim

http://www.aruba-active-vacations.com

I just returned from Aruba Dec. 26th,2007 and used ABC-tours.com I have now used them twice once for the full day tour and recently for the half day. They have what is called the extreme jeep tours. What this mean is expect anything to happen as you are driving over very rugged off road terrain. Depending on the group you maybe the driver, however I do not recommend this. The full day tour is soooo much better than the half day.

Thank you Arubalisa for all your help.

S

We will be in Aruba on the Caribbean Princess in early February 2010 and my dw has booked an expensive excursion (178 per couple) through Princess that snorkels and visits a beach. I would like to find an excursion that spends part of a day on a beach that has refreshments available and then possibly tour the island. Are there better alternatives?