December 12, 2025 – Oranjestad, Aruba – Partly Cloudy – Warm – 87F

December 12, 2025 – Oranjestad, Aruba – Partly Cloudy – Warm – 87F

We are back in Aruba – no excursion today or for the rest of the cruise, it looks like. The Norwegian Pearl is here today as well.

Before going up to breakfast, I stepped out on Deck 7 and took photos both directions forward and aft.  Just an interesting perspective and the color of the Caribbean was eerie.

Another nice breakfast up in the Marketplace Restaurant.  Today, they had biscuits on the buffet so I passed on the cereal.  Biscuits and butter, the Food of the Gods.  The breakfast as always was very good and the coffee service was fantastic.  Good morning, Oranjestad.

At 9:00 AM, we met Rick Hutto and his wife Katherine in The Bistro (Ellen had breakfast and I had some coffee).  It was an interesting time – mostly spent talking about our ship lecturing careers and grandchildren. 

We decided to get off the ship – we took the ship shuttle to the cruise terminal entrance (good thing – it was quite a walk).  Near the shuttle pickup area was the Freewinds Cruise Ship, owned by the Church of Scientology.  We have seen the ship docked each time we visit Oranjestad.  

We then walked toward the commercial area, hoping to find the spas we once went to.  The phone signal was strange today in Aruba – phone service but no internet.  Because of this, I could not search and get directions to anything.  

One of the things we did see today in the town were ceramic horses and cows – I think they were here on one of our previous trips – they may be the same ones.

Oranjestad is basically Rodeo Drive of the Caribbean – every high end store in Beverly Hills is now here.  They are tearing down the gaudy Casino at the entrance to town and replacing it with condos.  There are still some rustic areas interspersed with fancy stores.  We escaped momentarily from the heat by ducking into a fancy mall.  Again, all the high end stores were here.

We came up dry on finding any spas (we did find one near the port but it was very pricey).  It was also hot and humid so we headed back to the ship.  

There was a bar just before the port entrance that had a bench with a cow (I think) on it.  It just screamed for a picture so we obliged.

It took a while for the shuttle to pick us up - we could see the bus next to Serenity in the distnce.  The problem was no shade and no seats at the shuttle stop.  We did get back on the ship and went upstairs to eat.

I had an Impossible Burger and Gazpacho for lunch and Ellen went to the Buffet and got Fried Cod but no chips.  The fish was good – I always forget to check out the buffet before ordering at the Trident Grill. A Corona completed the lunch.

We spent the afternoon in Palm Court including having tea and listening to Leandro on the piano.

During the sail away, I was able to get both our Pilot and the Norwegian Pearl in the same shot.

We got ready for dinner in the Waterside Restaurant.  Our special meals for today are a pastrami (turkey, it said although I wasn’t sure) sandwich on rye for me (very good if a bit salty) and tongue for Ellen (Ox it said) – also very good.  We both had the cream of carrot soup, which I liked more than Ellen did.  No dessert tonight.  Instead we had tea out in Crystal Cove.

We did not go to see Stephani Parker (Whitney Houston covers) because we have walked out of her shows twice before in the past - a little too much volume and riffin for us.  That's just us because the audience loves her.

I have a tickle in my throat and I wanted to start some Tylenol just in case so we went to the room a little earlier than usual.