Service Detail

Caribbean Princess Cruise

April 3-12, 2009

Palm Beach Aruba

ARUBA: Tuesday, April 7th

Cheryl’s Travel Forum

We arrived in Aruba exactly on-time. We let the crowds exit the ship first and headed down to the dock around 9:00 a.m. NOTE: Even though they probably say this in every announcement and at each port talk, we had the announcements turned off and didn’t attend the port talks. We read the patter looking for debarkation information and found none. As we started to exit the ship, we realized that a copy of our passport wasn’t enough identification. I had to trek all the way back to the room to grab my photo ID. So, suggestion to Princess….. Make the requirements a bit easier to find on the patter. When I looked again, sure enough, photo ID requirements were listed in very fine print on the back side of the patter. Something like: 7:00 A.M. Arrive in Aruba: Bring your Princess Card and Photo ID to exit the ship in nice big bold letters for folks like me would be great :).

We left the ship…… walked through security area, to the end of the street, turned right, and about 100 yards up on the left was the bus station. Bright colorful pillars identify the building. Just find the bus labeled L10 or Route 10 and jump on. The driver will make correct change for you. No need to pre purchase a ticket. Cost for transfers $1.30 one way or $2.30 round trip to the hotel zones which includes both Eagle and Palm Beach.

You will want to know your exit before getting on the bus. The bus exits are not marked with anything other than a stop number. I had been to Aruba before, so I knew which stops to get off at, but Eagle is tricky (look for Alhambra) and for Palm Beach get off at the Radisson.

Bus Stop Signs. Just numbers. Know where you need to exit the bus at.

Number 5 is the Radisson Palm Beach Return Stop.

We walked to the beach via the public access between the new Riu (old Aruba Grand) and the Radisson Beach was more crowded than I have seen it in my previous 8 stays on the island due to two large ships in port. There were beach chairs to rent for $10.00 pp. and Ocean Floats for $5.00. If I had to do it again, I’d only rent an ocean float and use that to lay in on the sand because we spent the entire day in the ocean.

Even though the beach was crowded, there were still tranquil photo shot available.