Five ships in port

[Guest cruzr44]

Is five ships a lot for Aruba? Do they all dock or will some have to anchor? Just curious, it won't change my mind.

[Arubalisa]

IMHO, for an island 26 or so sq miles, with a population of 100,000, 5 ships is HUGE.

 

From personal experience during our 12 trips to the island on land vacations, we always check to see when the ships are in town. These are the days we make sure we stay at the resort and do not plan any tours, shopping or even diving (sometimes can get away with an afternoon dive). Mornings on the beach at the resort are normal and then in the afternoon as cruise folks finish up their tours, the beach becomes populated with people from all the different ships, identified by their ship's beach towel of course :D

 

My advise is to go and enjoy. Just make sure that whatever you decide to do that day, make a reservation so you do not get shut out. IF you want a rental car or 4 X 4, reserve it now!

 

If you want to just go hang out at the beach and are content with a taxi, either be one of the first ones off the ship to catch a waiting taxi, see if you can reserve one in advance Taxiaruba.com, take a bus http://www.visitaruba.com/travel/getaround/index.html from the bus station across the street from the pier, or wait until later on in the day when there are plenty of taxis back at the pier to take you where you wish to go. If you are going to a public beach and require shade, #1- make sure that particular beach offers shade, #2- get to the beach early, first come, first served

[jmo1]

I believe that the port can handle five ships, but I'm not positive. There were three or four ships at dock one of the times I was at Aruba.

 

IMHO, Aruba can handle the crowd from five ships. That's less than 15,000 people, or 15% increase over the resident population. As an alternative example, consider the city of Auburn, Alabama on a home football Saturday, when the population goes from 50,000 to over 100,000 people. The city (about the size of Aruba) handles the crowd amazingly well. Aruba does too. That doesn't mean it won't be crowded on the streets near the cruise docks, but away from the cruise docks, the crowd density desipates well.