April 8th Aruba

Today was one of the days I was looking forward to the most. We don't dock until 1pm so we had half the day on ship to find fun things to do.
 Our day started with coffee room service. I am definitely getting used to having room service for sure! We always thought why bother with room service and we would just go get coffee on our own. Well, that works well when we travel without the kids. We can get up and go in no time. The kids on the other hand drag feet and it literally takes a half hour to an hour to leave the room.
 When everyone was up and ready to go we headed up to the lido deck for some breakfast. I love the croissants on the ship. They have them under the warming lights and they are so soft and warm. I also grab some of the passion/guava juice they have. That stuff is incredible, and I can not find it here in the stores. At least nothing close enough to quench my craving.
  When everyone had their fill we grab some lounge chairs on the aft pool deck. There are still plenty of chairs left. The pool and hot tubs are all open and no one in them so we try the pool. The kids got right in and promised it wasn't bad. So I hop in for a few minutes until my body decides no way its too cold to enjoy so I head to the hot tub. The hot tubs on the ship are not really hot. They're just very warm.
 As I soak in the hot tub I try and savor the moment. Its freezing back home and I want to remember this feeling. Warm salty air, soft Caribbean music playing and plenty of sunshine. I think, this is the life and if I were a millionaire I would own a yacht and cruise like this all the time. Nah! I'd probably get board with it and not appreciate it like I do now.
 Before we docked in Aruba we showered and had a light lunch. Our excursion has all inclusive food and drinks.
 Docking in Aruba brought back memories of the last time we cruised here. Then we did the whole island tour and saw everything. This time we did the DePalm Island Tour and snorkel. The waves are a bit high so I'm guessing snorkeling will be out of the question.
Once inside the terminal building at the port we met with our guide that put us on the bus to the ferry. It was about a 15-20 minute drive to the ferry. Once there, they give you your armbands and you board the ferry to the small island. The ride was 15 minutes and very nice. The water wasnt bad here, but the current you could tell was strong.

On the island we found some chairs under umbrellas and loaded up on the sunscreen.  The waves were high and snorkeling is definitely off the agenda today. The neat thing about the beach here is that they have giant boulders acting as a barrier all around. So, the water was wonderful right on the beach. I took some pictures of crabs, fish, a pelican and an eel. We all had a great time on this beach. The food was edible at best here, and the drinks just O.K. I drank the beer and was hoping to have the local Aruba beer but they only had Amstel (dutch island) oh well- beer is beer--sometimes.

 When our tour was over and back on the buses we headed back into town but the traffic jam had our bus at a stand still for almost a half hour. Some people were getting off, as the pier was only a few block distance and there was shopping all around. So, we did that too. We saw a neat shop that was called FantaSea! No kidding! That's my travel agencies name. It was closed for the day already. Too bad I would have bought stuff! We didn't end up buying anything and we were back on board the ship by 6pm

 We were still hungry as the island food was not so good. I had a slice of pizza (One of the major food groups in my opinion!)
 The two youngest went  to bed and Mike, Courtney and I went to the piano bar which on this sailing I never saw the piano being played. There was a guy playing guitar and was not all that good. So, we headed to the Karaoke right next door for a bit.
 We kind of wanted a midnight snack so we grabbed some pizza and brought it back to the room to share.
 In all today was a really fun day. I love Aruba. It's a desert in the ocean. Its always warm and windy. The people are friendly and you do not get harassed by street vendors. I could spend a week here, relaxing and seeing all the sights again.