Evening in Oranjestad, Aruba?

[jbrinkm]

Are things open in Oranjestad in the evenings? We don't depart until 9pm, so we're thinking of returning our rental car, eating dinner on the ship (5pm early fixed dining) and then heading back out to wander around the city for a little bit to see a few sites and maybe do a bit of shopping. Will stores be open? What would you recommend we try to see from, say, 6:30-8pm in Oranjestad? 

[WhoCruiser]

If you're the type who might enjoy what's commonly referred to as a booze cruise party boat I can highly recommend what Royal Caribbean's tour office calls the sunset harbor party cruise which is actually the one run by local operator Red Sail. It is probably the best of its kind I've ever been to with a very fun atmosphere and an actual full open bar to mix drinks for you as opposed to the usual barrel of generic rum punch that most of the cheaper operators employ.

[CrimsonCruiser]

There's a downtown strip area of restaurants and bars that gets jumping at night time. It's very reminiscent of City Walk in Universal Studios.

It's not too far from the port; on our recent land trip to Aruba I went to the port to stare at the ships and then walked over to the strip and it was less than 5 minutes.

And there are TONS of taxis around there too so if you're happily boozed or just exhausted from the day and don't want to navigate back on foot, you can grab a ride. generally well priced as well as the entire taxi system pricing in Aruba is government controlled.