harryfat1

As the ship was sailing away at 10 PM, they had a sailaway dance party on the pool deck so we went up there to check it out. I think everyone was already aboard way before 10 PM as this picture was taken at 10:15 and we were already pretty far away from Aruba so the captain must have cast off early with everyone already back onboard before 10. I didn’t see too many bars/drinking establishments near the cruise terminal so there’s not much reason for people to miss a 9:30 PM all-board time

So for tonight, there was NO entertainment scheduled by the ship at the main theater. Somewhat surprising as that was our nightly entertainment venue. Maybe they assumed people would be off the ship late since we don't depart until 10 PM so no need to set up entertainment if people are not coming. OK, guess we will have to entertain ourselves. DIY time...

After dinner, we paid a quick visit to the uncle in prison (aka shipboard photographers) as they were set up just outside of the MDR walkway past the colorful flowers. Since today’s theme was Caribbean night, the backdrop is beach-like. Not sure the cruiser that asked about the background is still around but there’s another backdrop. Carnival used to have props and 3-dimensional prop displays with their photo shoot. RCI is pretty boring with just the basic fake background. Carnival used to have clothes like wild west bank robbers you can dress up in props to make their pictures look more interesting. Will see what they have come this December as it’s been over 10 years since we have sailed with them

As it was a hot day walking around the island earlier that day, I opted for 2 scoops of “ice cream” (RCI version of ice cream/milk) as something cold for dessert. It may not taste like the ice cream back home but at least it’s cold and sweet..

Yeah, I guess Aruba’s main tourist business is still with the land-based tourists at the hotel zone with activities geared at that part of the island. The major cruise lines only started going down to the ABC islands from Florida the past few years as they built more ships, they needed to establish new itineraries to bring back repeat cruisers. So the cruise business is more of a newcomer relative to the land-based hotel business. The cruise terminal area wasn’t very exciting at nighttime. I saw videos of the free trolley, but I heard the complaint was that they cut short the trolley route and it wasn’t as good as before. By the time we made it outside, the trolley was probably done for the day by 6 PM. I was just hoping for more activities since there were 3 ships in port that day more people would be out and shops would open longer.

Oh, yeah, we came here to eat

I prefer the Voyager/Freedom/Oasis class MDR with a staircase where I can see the dancing workers. Here was the Navigator back in August: 20230810_205607.mp4 Pay particular attention to Mr. Washy-Washy in the front middle with the bright color shirt. The dude is ALL INTO IT... In comparing the 2 ships, I would definitely say the Navigator crew is much more into dancing than the Odyssey crew 20230809_205339.mp4

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Here's my wife taking a picture of me shooting a video of the dancing waiters Not my best video as I lost control of the phone for a bit but you get the vibe from it 20231227_202910.mp4

In the middle of the dining, they had the waiters do the Macarena Dance I know some people on CC hate these interruptions, but I strongly disagree as I love it as it provides a photo op and it’s something you can only get from a cruise. How often do you see dancing waiters on a regular dining establishment back home? In my opinion, this is what makes cruising so special Here is where I miss the MDR setup of Voyager/Freedom/Oasia class where they have two-story stairs and they have waiters sing and dance in the middle. With the Odyssey set up, there’s no really one center piece so you don’t know where to look. You see people waving their napkins Our waiter from Ukraine is dancing (or trying to). Other guests are joining them as well so it's not just crazy old me who like this stuff

OK back to the MDR and our table. We miss the MDR in not having been here the night before as we were upstairs at the Solarium Bistro. It is much more lively and open compared to the Solarium Bistro. It’s a personal preference thing but we prefer the MDR more than the Solarium Bistro. Never say never, but in the near future, I doubt we will go back to the solarium bistro for dinner.

Tonight's dinner theme is “Caribbean night” so we wore our more colorful shirts to join the theme. In front of the MDR in the hallway, there’s a long walkway with moving colorful flowers. We wonder if we would “blend in” with our clothes for the night… With my Hawaiin shirt, I can walk around and people will think I’m a waiter and ask me to refill their water glasses for them…🤪

Back inside the cruise terminal by 7 PM. Back to the cabin to shower and change and get ready for dinner at MDR After the shower and looked outside of the cabin and saw a ship out in the waters. Too dark and blurry to make out who it may be but it might have been the Silver Dawn docked next to us as they sailed away

You can see the Church of Scientology ship is docked adjacent to the Odyssey. As their ship is lid so they might be having people on board The North Star is up and running. From this view, it's as if someone did a connecting job of putting the Freewinds bow to the Odyssey's body The luxury cruise ship, Silver Dawn is docked beside us I really enjoyed being outside the cruise terminal in the evening taking nighttime photos of the various ships. It's not often you get to see the ships all lid up as many depart by 5 PM.

So we just walked around for a bit after that and nothing really impressive in the town so we headed back to the ship to shower and eat dinner. Maybe others will disagree but I found the Aruba cruise area to be pretty disappointing when compared to Curaaco the night before. It’s not a bad area but there’s nothing magical like lights on the bridge and the waterfront. Aruba just has a bunch of cars along the main drag.

My wife taking a picture of me taking a picture of the Rennsaise shopping mall. It’s distinctive in being pink and multi-storied. It shows up on many videos as the big shopping mall in Aruba but I was surprised it was already closed at 6:45 by the time we got there. I thought it would be more like the Rif Fort in Cuaaco with lots of activities but other than the second-story restaurant, there's not much happening there.

Scooter rental

Onward with the trip report +++++++++++++ Walking into the center of the town Here’s everyone’s favorite jewelry store in the Caribbean and Alaska as a cruise is not complete without seeing a DI in every port. Oh, is this not everyone’s favorite? At least not with RCI as they are no longer associated with DI on all their port talks so I wonder who DI is partnering with now? Carnival? NCL? MSC?

Impressive to walk 77 miles in 10 days. I don't think I can keep that pace in my current out-of-shape condition. Speaking of NYC subway, it looks like NYC is rolling out new cars for the subway:

Yes, per Wiki, the ship is used for both high and low-level Scientology training purposes. I think the fact that RCI ships only go to Aruba once a week or so with Symphony & Odyssey visiting on alternating weeks, the Freewinds can easily be out on training exercise on say from Thursday to Monday when the RCI ships are not in Aruba. So whenever RCI ships show up on a Tuesday or Wednesday, the Freewinds is back in port.

Very cute. On every vacation to a new place, we typically either buy magnets or Christmas ornaments while visiting the crazy aunt in the basement so that way we remember the various vacations of the past. For this cruise, we bought an Odyssey cruise ship ornament to add to the collection for this upcoming Christmas. We tried to find one for the Navigator back in August but since it wasn't the Holiday Season, they weren't selling them.

Interesting info on RCI food waste in this WSJ video:

Thanks for the suggestion on the bus. I had forgotten about the bus system as everyone on Youtube talked about the subway. I think due to traffic, traveling within Manhattan during rush hours might be faster on the subway but as you said, being a solo traveler, it's safer to be above ground in a bus. I will keep bus travel in mind, especially during nights or hot days as I read some NYC buses might have AC so that's better than walking in the heat. I saw this news on NYC subway stations switching to brighter LED lights as felony assault on the subway hit a 27-year high in 2023. https://gothamist.com/news/mta-to-install-bright-white-lights-in-every-nyc-subway-station Per the NYC metro website, subway and local buses are part of the 7-day pass using either the cell phone payment or buying a metro card so a regular non-express route bus will be part of the pass.

All right, we made it to the town and of course, they had shops to greet the cruisers. Many people are visiting their crazy aunts in the basement tonight (aka shopping)

Unlike Caruacao where you have a wide open area to take an unobstructed picture of the entire ship, Aruba has many obstructions in the way so you can’t get a “clean shot” of the ship. Not a fan of the Aruba terminal.area