Aruba Review 10/17 Destiny

[pholter]

Aruba:

 

We decided to see Aruba on our own and rent a jeep through Royal Car Rental for $65 from 9am–6pm and seats 4 people. http://www.arubaroyal.com/ Sunny from Royal Car Rental drew us some great trails to take on the map he supplied us with so we could do some 4 wheeling and see the Natural Bridge on the deserted side of the island. He also circled all the points of interest we might want to try to see that day. We started off down the main road and passed the hotel zone and headed right to the California Lighthouse to take some photos. They have a lovely Italian Restaurant located next door with spectacular views- very expensive though. Use this place for your restroom stop before you head out 4 wheeling or you might be in trouble! There are also some great views from the lighthouse area of a new Country Club that a lot of folks from the ship played golf at that day. The weather really wasn’t that great in the morning, so the island really didn’t say "WOW" to us like Barbados did. We spent about 1 ½ hours driving all the trails and taking some photos and headed back into town to do a little shopping. After purchasing a few souvenirs, we were off to Iguana Joe’s for some lunch. The Calamari was very good, but the Tortilla Soup is much better in Texas. The Jerk Chicken Caesar Wraps were really tasty. The prices are normal at about $8 pp for an entrée or sandwich. Then, it was back into the jeep and off to Baby Beach. The sun came out and we had heard this was a more private beach than the hotel zone. Once again, I don’t like tan lines, so we went there. This beach is very hard to find through all the refineries, but we got to do some more 4 wheeling which was a lot of fun. A few cars/jeeps stopped to gawk at us and one guy even snapped a photo while we were trying to get some sun. We left after about an hour or so. Sunny met us back at the parking lot and we turned in the jeep about 45 minutes early and headed over to Carlos ‘n Charlies to see what was up for the evening there. The lady we spoke with said there was NO COVER charge (this will be important later). Back to the ship for dinner

 

and change our clothes for some Aruba nightlife. We first arrived at Carlos ‘n Charlie’s and the guy tried to charge us $5 each to get in and I complained- he finally let us in for free since we remembered who we had been misinformed by. We didn’t stay for long since everyone from the ship was already 10 drinks ahead of us- note to self- don’t do dinner on the ship in Aruba, head to C&C’s by about 6pm or you’ll never get a seat or be able to catch up! This was really a great move in our case, though, because we ended up trying out the "Choose My Name" bar across the main road. They were charging $9 per person to get in and we ended up talking it down to no cover there as well. They had a mostly local clientele and a fantastic 7 piece Salsa Band playing when we arrived. $9 per person would really have been a bargain for the quality of entertainment they provided. We had a few shots and a couple of margaritas and headed back towards Carlos ‘n Charlie’s—however, the music coming out from Café Bahia was calling our names, so we headed in there. It’s right next door to C&C’s and several ship folks were there dancing and having a blast. They serve drinks that are twice as strong and ½ the price of C&C’s and have live entertainment with no cover charge. I’d recommend both alternate places very highly. Ask for Yvette in Café Bahia. It was then time to head back to the ship for some more Karaoke with Michael…. The more you drink, the better we sound!

 

[vossjemi]

Thanks for the review pholter! A couple questions if you don't mind?

 

Did you book the jeep in advance? Or set up at the pier? Would you recommend doing that versus a snorkel excursion? We are still undecided.

 

Sorry to hear that getting to C&C after dinner is not good as that is exactly what we were planning on doing! Now, I don't know what to do. Sounds like you are good at getting out of cover charges! Need you to meet me at the pier on 1/17/05!!! ha. ha. So, when you got to C&C there was nowhere to sit? What did they have going on? Any kind of band or special event? How early do we need to get there to avoid cover? How far is it to walk there from the pier?

 

Ok, so that was more than a couple. hee. hee.

[pholter]

Yes, we booked our jeep in advance, but there were only 1 other ship in port when we arrived, so they seemed to have plenty for those that wanted to book at the pier. I just wanted to be safe. I think you should really consider renting the jeep and you can stop at De Palm Island and do some snorkling on your own. Do it all!

 

We went to C&C's at 5:15pm to find out about the evening and not one sole was there. We arrived after our dinner at 8pm and it was a total zoo! One giant conga line all in line to be mouth squirted with watered down tequila and dancing around on top of the bars and tables. It was obvious that everyone there was having a great time, but I'm guessing they all arrived at about 6pm to get seats or even drinks. There are about 3 Host type people that basically pump you up and make sure everyone is partying and keep you involved in the fun. The music is loud and the crowd loves it all. It's a DJ, not live bands there.

 

C&C's is pretty much the first sign you see coming off the ship- they make sure you don't miss them. It's crawling distance from the pier :) I think you can talk your way out of the cover no matter what time you arrive if you put up a stink, but I know if you get there by 5:30pm or so, there's no way they'll charge you. Maybe have an early dinner and stay for the party. You can sell the extra seats at your table :)