Should we rent a car or do an excursion?

[Heatherco]

Will be in Aruba on the Explorer next February with my husband.  We love exploring and beaches and shopping, etc.  Wondering if we should rent a car for the day and take off to explore on our own or if there are certain excursions we really should do instead?  Any and all advice is very much appreciated!

[davela2]

We rented a jeep at the port for the day. We circumnavigated the island and had a blast. It’s very easy to do, although sometimes you’re not actually on a road as much as a trail, but if you Google driving maps of Aruba, you can find really good maps. We got to see a lot of the island that you would not have seen on an excursion. And we were at our own pace

[jean87510]

We did the same but had a car. We had so much fun. No need for an excursion.

[chipeneezer]

I was just there last week and used Arubus.  It was super easy to find and use.  The bus station is directly across the street from the pier.   You can buy a round trip pass/card (2 trips) for $5 or an all day pass/card for $10 and ride as much as you want.  The bus stops are easy to find.  I told our driver where we wanted to go and he dropped us off in the exact spot.

 

The #10, 10A, or 10 B buses all go to all of the popular beaches - Eagle, Palm,  etc...  10 and 10A go all the way to Arashi and Boca Catalina.  You can google Arubus and see the routes.

[cb at sea]

Beaches and shopping require NO excursion at all!  Easily done on your own.  Shopping is right off the dock...and cabs are available to get you to the beaches.    Buses, also!  Much cheaper than hiring someone else to "guide" you!

 

Before you leave home, research your ports...google them, or get a guidebook.  The more you know, the better your day will be.

[calicakes]

We're trying to figure out the same.  We love to snorkel and the Aruba port day on our upcoming cruise( Celebrity Sept 13th from Ft. Lauderdale) is long. 11am until midnight.    We don't know if we should rent a car/jeep or do the bus thing.  I'm pretty sure we can snorkel from a beach.   

[Finnrox]

On 8/11/2019 at 3:32 PM, calicakes said:

We're trying to figure out the same.  We love to snorkel and the Aruba port day on our upcoming cruise( Celebrity Sept 13th from Ft. Lauderdale) is long. 11am until midnight.    We don't know if we should rent a car/jeep or do the bus thing.  I'm pretty sure we can snorkel from a beach.   

I would strongly urge you to rent a car if you want to snorkel in Aruba.  We spent a week down there last month, and snorkeled every day.  Get a car and drive up to Boca Catalina (and Arashi if it is not too windy).  If the winds are calm, Mangol Halto to the south of Oranjasted is absolutely fantastic as well.  With a car, you can hit both in a day, and you definitely don't need a jeep to do it.

[jackid]

We were trying to figure out the same thing.  We don't want a large tour group and going at our own pace sounds good so we can see more.  Which rental agencies are near the pier?

[calicakes]

On 6/26/2019 at 5:41 PM, jean87510 said:

We did the same but had a car. We had so much fun. No need for an excursion.

Who did you use and how much did it cost?  We're looking into that for our cruise next month.  We'll be in Aruba from 11am until midnight. 

[jean87510]

We used caribe car rental back in April and I think it was around 70ish. We weren't able to use them in this January 2020 cruise because they didnt want to rent for one day so we opted to try hs rentals to rent a trail buggy since we want to go to the natural pool and you cant drive regular cars there. 

[flob]

14 hours ago, jean87510 said:

We used caribe car rental back in April and I think it was around 70ish. We weren't able to use them in this January 2020 cruise because they didnt want to rent for one day so we opted to try hs rentals to rent a trail buggy since we want to go to the natural pool and you cant drive regular cars there. 

Is hs rentals the name of the company?

[jean87510]

1 hour ago, flob said:

Is hs rentals the name of the company?

Yes. 

[calicakes]

I booked with Jay's for 1 day next month( Arriving on Celebrity Equinox).  The price was very reasonable. 41.80 ALL IN.  Includes insurance, tax and pick up/drop off at terminal.  I rented a compact car because we just plan to hit a few beaches for snorkeling.  

[tamara01]

question on rental cars - for those who have done it recently.  Did they charge you just for the car or put a huge hold on your CC?  I read somewhere that they put a $1000 deposit/hold on your CC . I can't find the post now and was just curious.  Don't want that kind of hold on a card in case it takes days to come off.

[calicakes]

30 minutes ago, tamara01 said:

question on rental cars - for those who have done it recently.  Did they charge you just for the car or put a huge hold on your CC?  I read somewhere that they put a $1000 deposit/hold on your CC . I can't find the post now and was just curious.  Don't want that kind of hold on a card in case it takes days to come off.

They never mentioned a hold to me.  

[tamara01]

On ‎8‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 12:03 PM, calicakes said:

I booked with Jay's for 1 day next month( Arriving on Celebrity Equinox).  The price was very reasonable. 41.80 ALL IN.  Includes insurance, tax and pick up/drop off at terminal.  I rented a compact car because we just plan to hit a few beaches for snorkeling.  

I was looking at the website for Jay's and it says airport pickup - were you just going to take a cab to pick it up or did they mention they would have something at the pier?  Thanks for any advice.  Hard to know which company to go with when you are booking international.

[calicakes]

4 hours ago, tamara01 said:

I was looking at the website for Jay's and it says airport pickup - were you just going to take a cab to pick it up or did they mention they would have something at the pier?  Thanks for any advice.  Hard to know which company to go with when you are booking international.

They are meeting me at the pier.  I'm not sure if they are meeting me with the actual car OR if they will bring us back to the office.  Either way, the price was pretty great.  I just hope the car isn't a piece of crap. 

[Hatteras51]

13 hours ago, calicakes said:

They are meeting me at the pier.  I'm not sure if they are meeting me with the actual car OR if they will bring us back to the office.  Either way, the price was pretty great.  I just hope the car isn't a piece of crap. 

Jay's has good cars. We've used them when we vacation in Aruba. They always bring the car to our resort. 

[partygirlem]

Stopping in Aruba next month on the celebrity summit. Trying to figure out an excursion to do. Never rented a car but you all make it sound easy. We just want to go to the beach and tour the island. Any suggestions?  Can I have the website for Js rental cars. 

[calicakes]

27 minutes ago, partygirlem said:

Stopping in Aruba next month on the celebrity summit. Trying to figure out an excursion to do. Never rented a car but you all make it sound easy. We just want to go to the beach and tour the island. Any suggestions?  Can I have the website for Js rental cars. 

jayscarrentalaruba.com

 

Just came home from our cruise on Equinox.  It was super easy to rent the car.  They meet you at the gate when you leave the ship( walk out of the pier area).  They tell you where the cars are located, you walk around and they give you the car.  We got a compact car, it was large enough.  We paid the 44.00 in cash.  We had to have it back by 6pm.  That was plenty of time for us.  We went to Arashi Beach and Eagle Beach, we also went to the supermarket.  The supermarket was amazing. LOL.  We had to put 5 bucks worth of gas in the car.   

[peggy1]

On 6/26/2019 at 6:48 PM, davela2 said:

We rented a jeep at the port for the day. We circumnavigated the island and had a blast. It’s very easy to do, although sometimes you’re not actually on a road as much as a trail, but if you Google driving maps of Aruba, you can find really good maps. We got to see a lot of the island that you would not have seen on an excursion. And we were at our own pace

Where did you rent a car right at the port?  Did you get picked up and driven to the airport to get a car?  Which car rental did you use?

 

[calicakes]

2 hours ago, peggy1 said:

Where did you rent a car right at the port?  Did you get picked up and driven to the airport to get a car?  Which car rental did you use?

 

 

2 hours ago, peggy1 said:

We rented a jeep at the port for the day.