Beaches very crowded Christmas Eve Day?

[cruisedancemom]

We will be one of 6 ships in port on Dec. 24, 2019. How crazy crowded will the beaches be? Any suggestions for which beach to go to with a family of 5 and still be able to rent chairs and umbrellas? 

Thank you!!

[Hatteras51]

Wow, 6 ships! I can't imagine how crazy that will be. I vacation in Aruba every year and I know how bad it gets with 4 ships. Everything will be packed. Many people vacation in Aruba over Christmas, so it will be busy before the ships pull in. All of the beaches will be slammed, and the vendors only have so many chairs and umbrellas to rent. You could try contacting Reflexions and see if they take reservations.  I believe that they have a facebook page.

I don't know if they do, but that's an idea. Whatever you do,  make sure that you get off of the ship as soon as possible if you are going to a beach. There will be less taxis working,  and the buses might be working on a holiday schedule, which means that they won't run as often.

[OCruisers]

Consider taking  an excursion to De Palm Island offered by the ship.  

There are always LOTS of chairs/areas to sit and they are included in the price as are food, drinks, snorkel gear, etc.

  

[njhorseman]

I think there are "only" three ships in port that day, Braemar, Britannia and Celebrity Summit. 

 

If you happen to be getting your information from cruisetimetables.com  they list Braemar twice and Brittania three times. That's because they count each version of those ships' itineraries as if they are separate ships. So Braemar is listed for both a 14 night Eastern Caribbean and a 30 night transatlantic because those are itineraries that passengers on the ship at that time could have booked. Britannia has three different versions of its 14 day cruise depending on where passengers embark and disembark.

 

That's the way that website does their listings so they often show the same ship multiple times resulting in over counts of the number of ships in port.

[cruisedancemom]

Oh thank you! That explains a lot! That is where I saw the info:) 3 is definitely better than 6!

[Hatteras51]

4 hours ago, cruisedancemom said:

Oh thank you! That explains a lot! That is where I saw the info:) 3 is definitely better than 6!

That makes a lot more sense. I can't imagine that they could accommodate 6 ships at the port.