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chalkdawg4

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Day 5 - Aruba

The WiFi still isn’t great, so no pictures until I get back home.

After sleeping awfully last night, I slept in a bit late and didn’t wake up until 9:15. For some reason, my allergies always get bad in desert climates, so as soon as we docked in Aruba, I started getting stuffy. I grudgingly made my way down to the Windjammer and grabbed some breakfast. Then my mom and I got off the ship to meet my dad at 10:30 at diamonds international since he had already gotten off the ship before us. After some shopping (most of the stores were closed because of Christmas), we went back to the ship to grab some lunch for our 1:30 trikes tour.

We booked the tour through Aruba trikes and had a blast. It was a fun way to see the island, and we loved our tour guide Ramses. He was originally from the Netherlands and he spoke SEVEN different languages.

We didn’t finish the tour until 6:30 so we were stuck with my time dining. We were happy they could fit us in, but we still missed our normal wait staff. Our assistant waiter during my time dining was pretty good, but none of us were a huge fan of the head waiter. We understand how much harder being a my time dining waiter is, so we didn’t hold it against her that much.

I stuck with the kids vegetables for my appetizer (they were forgotten at first), my mom got her French onion soup again, my grandmother and her friend got ceaser salad, and my dad got the bay scallops. He was the only one to try something new and he said they were delicious. The portion size was a bit small, though.

Then for the main dish I got another kids grilled cheese which was fine. My parents got the coq au vin which they thought was pretty good and my grandmother and her friend got the prime rib which they also enjoyed.

For desert, my grandmother and I tried the brownie. We both enjoyed it. My dad got the citrus berries cheesecake which he liked more than yesterday’s cheesecake, and my mom and grandmother’s friend got their favorite again - the apple pie.

After dinner we ran to the 9:00 show and barely made it in time(dinner took forever). The show tonight was called, Now and Forever, which just showcased the singers and dancers doing broadway songs. The show was pretty good. I especially liked the part at the end where they did a compiliation of ABBA songs.

When the show ended we went back out to Aruba and caught a taxi to ride around and look at Christmas lights. Since we only had an hour before we needed to be back on the ship, we couldn’t go to black mountain which is where they said had the best lights because it’s an hour round trip to get there. Instead we just rode around the downtown area. The lights were pretty nice, but nothing spectacular. We really liked our taxi driver, though.

We got back at 11:15 and got back on the ship. Then I just met up with friends and hung out with them until 1.

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

Loving the blog so far.  Just did Navigator to the ABC islands on Dec. 7.  

Loved the long times in port.  

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

A compliment on my blog from the infamous twangster? I’ve never felt so honored before. I like the longer port days too. Bonaire seemed a bit short today, but other than that it’s been great.

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On 12/27/2018 at 12:20 AM, chalkdawg4 said:

The show tonight was called, Now and Forever, which just showcased the singers and dancers doing broadway songs. The show was pretty good. I especially liked the part at the end where they did a compiliation of ABBA songs.

I've seen that show a few times and it's quite good. 

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Day 6 - Curaçao

Sorry for taking so long to post. The WiFi got so bad, that it wouldn’t even load this website. I’m back on dry land now, though so I can catch up.

We had already planned to get off the ship after the initial horde of people, so I slept in until 10:00 and didn’t meet my mom at the Windjammer until 10:30. We were done with breakfast and in Curaçao by 11:30. It was a pretty long walk from the ship, so we waited for a golf cart to to help the elderly ladies in our group.

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Then we walked through Rif Fort and walked through a couple of the shops. They were pretty expensive, but that’s what I would’ve expected with how nice the area was. While my parents kept shopping, I took the opportunity to take some pictures from the top walls of the fort.

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After shoppping in the Rif Fort area, we went out to some of the vendors right outside. The prices got significantly better and they had a better variety of items in my opinion. All it was missing that Rif Fort had was fine jewelery.

While we were looking through the vendors, my grandmother started to not feel very well, so my parents sent me across the floating bridge with her friend while they tended to my grandmother. Before crossing, I took a few more pictures.

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When we got to the other side I was surprised at how many shops there were. And they weren’t just your run of the mill souvenir shops - they were actual clothing stores that I’m sure the locals shopped at. They had great prices and great items. My grandmother’s friend and I had more than enough stores to all around in and waste an hour (that was with half of the stores being closed for Boxing Day).

My grandmother started to feel better, so my mom, my dad, and her met us over the bridge at about 1:30. They wanted to look around the stores too, so I went with my parents while my grandmother and her friend went off together. My parents and I ended up buying for pairs of really nice shoes for an awesome price.

After shopping, my grandmother and her friend decided they were tired and wanted to go back to the ship, so we walked them back. By the time we got back it was 3:00, so we decided to try to find a tour.

Long story short, we never found a tour. The taxi drivers were expensive and seemed uninterested and all the tour buses had already left. When we couldn’t find a tour we decided to just head back to the ship. Before going back, though, I grabbed a quick ice cream and my mom grabbed a frozen drink. Both were good.

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When we got back on the ship, we all took a quick nap then got ready for dinner. We were glad to be back with our normal waiters tonight.

I could’ve sworn I took a picture of the menu, but I can’t seem to find it. None of us can remember what we ate either. When you’re eating that much food, all of the meals seem to run together lol. So no dinner details from night 7. Sorry about that. I know one of the best parts of live blogs is hearing about the food. I’ll have the menus from the other nights, though.

After dinner, we were off to the top tier party at 7:15 in Studio B. The captain was unable to attend (I’m guessing he couldn’t come because we were leaving Curaçao at 7:30), so the hotel director, Steven ran things. My parents had met him before the top tier party and said he was incredibly nice.

He started off by telling everyone that he would have a surprise for everyone at the end. It was pretty easy to guess what that surprise was considering where we were. They passed out free champagne and mimosas while all the officers were introduced. Then the crown and anchor society head recognized the top 3 cruisers. All three of them had more than 5 years of nights accumulated. I told my parents to forget about law school; my new goal in life was to be recognized as a top cruiser.

Then came the surprise we had all been waiting for; a special ice show. I almost liked this show better than the actual one. It seemed as if the ice cast had choreographed it themselves, chose their favorite songs, and tried to do as many stunts as possible.

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After the top tier party, it was pretty much time for the 8:30 show, so we just headed to the theater. Bill Cook, a magician, was performing and he was spectacular. He was super funny and his tricks still have me confused. He also had an awesome story. He said that his dream of becoming a magician started when he was 16 and watched a magician perform while he was on a cruise ship. He told his dad that’s what he wanted to do one day and his dad told him that if he works hard enough he could make that dream come true, and so he did.

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After the show I just spent the rest of the night with my friends in the teen club.

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11 hours ago, Thetechie said:

Good to know I need to bring some money for shopping in Curaçao! What did you use for payment on the islands? Cash? Card?

Very much enjoying these!

In Curaçao many stores displayed two prices on the price tags.  One in local currency and one in $USD.  We used $USD.  Loved the shops there, not pushy or grabby trying to get you into their booth.  

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