Aruba Excursions

[johnandtrishatom]

Hey Everyone,

 

I am going on the Zuiderdam cruise leaving on November 23, and one of the stops is at Aruba. We are looking at doing the Atlantis adventure that leaves at 2pm for 1.75 hours, or the Catamaran adventure that leaves at 2pm but is for 3.5 hours.

The ship gets there at 1pm and leaves at 11pm.

We would like time to walk around the city and also have dinner in the city. Is Aruba generally safe? Do shops and restaurants stay open late? My fiance is worried that she would have to go back and change and get ready for dinner at the ship before we head back out, meaning we can't hang out around the city for to long. I was trying to tell her that most restaurants there would probably allow shorts and some type of top that she could throw on over her bathing suit. Am I being insensitive? Are their nicer restaurants there?

 

Help!

[Berk987]

try going on the Aruba board and you will find lots of info.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=168

 

We were there last November 2009 with Westerdam. Not sure which Atlantis tour you're taking but we took the submarine one with our 2 kids (age 3 and 4). We're limited to the type of tours because of their age but this was a good start. Expensive but kids love it and that is what we wanted. We walked to their office and got on a submarine. They have the submarine ride in Curcao but I understand the Aruba one is better. We booked directly with the company online but will provide more info if you need it. You can book with HAL but more expensive for the same thing.

 

We were on the island for a few hours after the tour. Too hot. Really really hot. Ate lunch at some hotel which extremely bad bad service but decent food (Sheraton???) - there were a lot of Aruban business people there for lunch. Then back to the ship for dinner. Didn't do too much. Too hot. We did drop the kids off at Club Hal after dinner and walked off the ship for an hour. There were lots of stores but all closed. I'm guessing it was about 7:30ish.