SeaVee

"The Seashores of Old Mexico..."

Different versions by George Strait, or by Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard.

I think it was Palm Beach. We stepped off the catamaran onto the pier and directly into the open-air restaurant at the end of the pier, where we were immediately served lunch. After eating, we had about another half hour before we needed to be back on the catamaran. Some people just stayed in the shade of the restaurant and relaxed. I walked down the short pier to the beach, and walked down the beach and back. At the beach, there were a good number of people. There were chairs and umbrellas for rent, and lots of water activities. It was a pretty beach with nice white sand...but not a lot of time there.

I think you would be fine if you're on a catamaran. (Maybe not so on a "pirate boat," because the pirate boats are much narrower on the bottom than they are on the deck, and the deck is much higher, so they tip back and forth quite a bit.) The ride was about a half-hour long from the cruise ship to the snorkeling areas,...and very beautiful. No one got seasick at all even though it was a little choppy over the shipwreck. It was a very pleasant boat ride. The color of the water was just so incredibly blue and turquoise. Although all of the Caribbean water is a beautiful color of blue, the water around Aruba seemed even more so. Our guide told us that it is actually the whiteness of the sand that makes it look so blue in that area.

Yes, I just got back, and did the Aruba Sailaway Beach & Snorkel Cruise - AR06 - through Celebrity Cruises. Since Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean, I'm sure it is the same excursion. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!

The excursion was with Pelican Adventures, and we sailed on the "Pelican Too" Catamaran. It was not too crowded...the crew was nice. They served non-alcoholic drinks before snorkeling, and after snorkeling, they served rum punch. The catamaran has steps and ladders that make it really easy to climb back on the boat. The lunch was good BBQ, and after lunch you could either stay at the open-air pier restaurant, or go to the beach.

We stopped at two snorkeling places. At the first place, there were not too many fish. The second was the shipwreck Antilla where the snorkeling was GREAT!! Lots of colorful fish everywhere!! It was really amazing! The water was a little more choppy at the shipwreck site. I was glad to be on the catamaran boat, because I could see another pirate excursion boat seemed to be really rocking back and forth in the choppy water, and I wondered about those people getting a seasick! I think the catamaran provides more stability because of it's design.

Pelican Adventures picked up up right off the ship, and delivered us right back to the ship. Afterwards, we had time to shower and change clothes on the ship, then walked around town and shopped for awhile.

It was a really good day, and I would defininately recommend the excursion.