Willemstad, Curaçao

Wednesday - This morning, we came into Willemstad, Curaçao. The second of the ABC islands, which are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which we are visiting. 

We have a shore excursion scheduled this morning shortly after docking. The local time AST which is one hour ahead “ship time”. It was suggested that we disable auto time zone update just to avoid confusion. 

It’s interesting to watch the boat coming into the dock. Unfortunately, they seem to dock on the starboard side so I can’t watch from the balcony. 

Later - The tour was on a large bus with a knowledgeable tour guide explaining the different areas we drove through. Very narrow roads with tight corners and traffic. The first stop was at a small botanical garden. I couldn’t hear any of the explanations due to an inadequate sound system. So I just sort of loitered near the back of the group talking to others on the tour.

The views from the bus as we crossed the Queen Juliana Bridge were pretty good. Our ship is the one on the right. 

The second stop was at the distillery where they make and bottle Blue Curaçao liquor. We learned that they also make it in three other colors but they all taste identical. They gave everyone a sample of the blue and a chocolate one. 

The weather here is kind of boring. The temperature doesn’t change even though we are here at the end of the rainy season. We got a little bit of rain while traveling in the bus. 

We arrived back at the boat in time for lunch at the buffet. 

Oranjestad, Aruba

Tuesday - I was up early-ish (6 am) to watch our arrival into Aruba. I didn’t need to get up early as there wasn’t much to see until after 7 am. But it was nice to sit on the balcony in the 79°, which is the forecasted low temperature. 

There are clouds but it still should be a nice day. I stayed out on the balcony until we were almost docked. 

We then headed down to Johnny Rockets for breakfast (no extra charge for breakfast only). We then went to the solarium on the guess that most of the passengers were headed ashore. We decided to wait until after lunch. 

There appears to be some sort of military ship parked next to us but Bridget said that it wasn’t the Aruba flag. 

We did not schedule any excursion for this stop and plan to just wander around the port area. It looks like there are at least three cruise ships docked. That’s a lot of people wandering around. 

This is the boat that we’re on, Oasis of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. It’s large but it doesn’t feel as crowded as the last cruise which was also an oasis class ship. 

That area on the back of the boat is an aqua stage. The show last night was phenomenal and one of the highlights was a tightrope walker. About 60’ above the deck on a boat moving at 18 knots in open water. Others dived from this point into the pool. 

Total distance covered, so far, is 1272 miles or 2046 km. 

Eastern Caribbean - Day 3

Monday - Today is another sea day after passing between Cuba and Haiti last night. After coffee in the room, I headed to the solarium, an 18+ area near the front of the ship on deck 15. Much quieter with relaxing music instead of the live band around the pools. It was pretty quiet though a lot of the deck chairs were “reserved” in spite of the rules prohibiting the practice. 

The forecasted low is 79°F with a high of 80°F. Hard to complain about that. We had lunch in the main dining room as it’s open for lunch on sea days. I prefer the dining room to the buffet even though there is more choice at the buffet. Nothing fancy. Tomatoes salad, spaghetti, and an apple crumble dessert. Tasty and not too much food. We have a show tonight during our regular dinner time so I’m not sure where dinner will be. Probably the buffet. 

Later - The buffet was not great. And it was kind of crowded. The best items were the two Indian dishes and maybe the pasta. 

Eastern Caribbean - Day 2

Sunday - I was curious where we were this morning. I turned on the TV, which has a map showing our location, speed, temperature, etc., and was mildly surprised at how close we were to Cuba. The weather app even showed our location as Cuba. 

There wasn’t much to see from the starboard railing besides seeing that there is something on the horizon. 

Today is a sea day as we wander south towards our first stop at Aruba. Someplace I had only heard of in the Beach Boys song, Kokomo. Not being a big music person, I had to look the title up on Google. But I do remember the song from the late 80s. 

My son rented a casita for the day on deck 16. The shade is nice benefit. It is kind of windy up here. I had stopped in the solarium at the front of the ship and that was quiet. No DJs, no games, or live performances. 

I guess I'm fascinated that Google maps work with the wifi. The onboard Interneg was included with The Key package. I'm not sure I would've purchased it but it's nice to have. 

Those look like Starlink dishes mounted to the rail. I heard that it has been a game-changer for on-sea Internet. The speed is decent especially considering our location.