Oranjestad, Aruba

Today is Aruba.  We have been to Aruba several times in the past, and since I am still a bit sore from the fall yesterday, we cancelled our tour.

Breakfast early as the ship leaves here at 2pm.  So all the tours go out early and we needed to see how I felt.  Then we swam for one hour.

The other day, while we were swimming, a gentleman joined us to swim his laps.  While all of us were in the hot tub, we got to talking and asked what he did for a living.  He lives in New York City and is a toy inventor.  So I asked what toys he invented.  Guess which one Aiden and Gretchen.  Connect Four.  I told him we played that we our children and grandchildren.

And I also forgot to mention that they had a special tea for those of us doing multiple legs.  There are about 78 doing the entire 72 days.  But then there are some who are doing more than that.

Last night we had dinner with Jean and Harry.  They were having the BBQ up on deck 11 but we don't  go to them.  But as luck would have it, it started to rain so they had to move everything under cover.  It takes a lot of work to pull these special night together.

Some history of Oranjestad.  It is the capital of Aruba and a very important city.  It is located on the southern coast near the western end of the island.

It is a Dutch city and takes its name for the Dutch Royal house of Orange and became the capital of Aruba in 1979.  The city is named after the first King Willem van OranjeNassau - the first heir to the Dutch House of Orange.  Side note, the King of the Netherlands is now King Willem.  We were in the Netherlands when he was crowned.

Oranjestad has the largest port on the island and is capable of docking up to five large cruise ships at once.  Today we are docked in the working port along with the Carnival Triumph.  The Jewel of the Seas passed us this morning so I think they are docked right down town.  We have shuttle service to get us there.

Tonight we are having dinner in Signatures.  This is the first time this cruise that we have been able to dine in one of the special restaurants.  The show is a tenor that did one show earlier in the cruise and we heard mixed reviews so not sure we will go or not.