What to do? What to do? !!

[Calebo]

I discovered your forum this morning, planning on a short read and a few quick questions. Well 3 hours has gone by. What a wonderful forum you have !!!

Now for the questions. A group of 4 of us will be in Aruba in Feb/11 ( yes, I know I'm early ) We are all in our late 50's but all are in good condition. We will be on a Holland America Cruise, so our stay in Aruba will be short, from 1pm to 11pm. After reading I'm wishing it would be much longer.

What should we do for our 10 hours? What should we see? What shouldn't we miss?
The Jolly Pirates short version snorkel trip caught my eye, but that still leaves quite a few hours, and any suggestions would be welcome.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.
Regards from Canada !!

[Arubalisa]

Tour the island for a couple of hours in the afternoon upon arrival in port. You can hire a taxi, rent a car or take an organized tour.

Following the tour head to either Palm Beach or Eagle Beach for a swim, some relaxation on the beach and then follow it up by a happy hour sunset cocktail.

At night you can choose to dine off ship at one of Aruba's great restaurants or casino hopping.

[Randi]

You do have a lot of time but it goes fast! Jolly Pirates is a great idea and it leaves from Palm Beach at 3pm until 6pm. Right where you go for the Jolly Pirate is a section of Palm Beach that you can rent a chair for $5 but perhaps you can make a deal as you are only going to be there for a short time. Depends on what you like to do as you don't have a lot of sunshine hours. Once you get off the ship there won't be a lot of time until 3pm.

Having taken a few cruises we enjoyed a change from the cruise ship food so going to a restaurant in Aruba would be a nice idea. Taking a private tour is $40/hr (price set by government) and we have two people on the BB who give great private tours, Bully and Cerry Croes.

Have fun and enjoy!