It's beginning to look a lot...

like Christmas!! The ship was decorated today while we were in Aruba. Professional decorators came onboard (they probably decorated a different Princess ship yesterday while it was in Aruba) and boxes of decorations were loaded this morning. It's beautiful, and we didn't have to do the work!
These photos are just of the Piazza. There are trees located throughout the ship, and I'll post more photos in the near future.

Sunset from our dining room table

We left Aruba late tonight, at 7pm, so we were still docked when we went to dinner. Luckily, the sunset was on our side of the ship.

Sand city

After a few hours in the sun, we gathered up our things and walked for about 45 minutes down the beach, first to get some exercise but also to check out the resorts along the way. I was quite impressed by this sand city, and have no idea who made it, but it took them some time!

We ended up catching a minivan bus back to Oranjestaad, where the ship is docked. Aruba's bus system is another one of those mysteries we can't claim to understand. There's an official bus system, but private buses also run, usually just ahead of the official bus, for a nickel cheaper. We don't understand it, but since it reduces our wait for a bus, we like it.

G returned to the ship but I took a little time to do some Christmas shopping. When I finally spent the $16 I had (big spenders, us!), I returned to the ship, hot, sweaty, salty and- horrors!- sunburned. I guess that palapa didn't provide the shade it appeared to. Or else the sun reflected off the sand. Mostly on my right arm and shoulder and upper back. I hydrocortisoned-up, and will wear sunscreen with TWO rash guards tomorrow while snorkeling in Bonaire. And this, too, shall pass.

Our day on a beach

Eagle Beach is a long stretch of gorgeous white sand that stretches from one beach to another. The result is that the entire northeastern side of Aruba is really one long beach, and it rivals anything in the Caribbean. There are all sorts of palapas to provide shade for no charge (a bonus in the Caribbean!), and we were able to lie in the shade of a palapa on our blue tarp.

Today, Eagle Beach had some great wave action. The waves ran in series of about 5 minutes out of every 15 minutes, and I had a blast playing in the waves.

In between the wave segments, I relaxed on our Swimways inflatable float in the water. 'Cause dirtying 18 plates at breakfast is very exhausting, don't you know. ;-)

Aruba- one happy island!!

One happy island- one happy me. What an incredible day we had on Eagle Beach on Aruba. Eagle Beach always places first or second on the Travel Channel's list of the top ten Caribbean beaches, and there is a reason for that. It is beautiful!

We went to breakfast in the dining room, and I took a tally. My breakfast alone used 18 dishes to serve, and 12 pieces of flatware (and I'm not counting what was used to prepare it). Quite a change from the one paper bowl I use at home to microwave oatmeal!

Now, today's count was a bit higher than usual. Gergely ;-), our wonderful waiter from Hungary noticed I had a raspy voice today, and insisted he serve me hot tea with honey and lemon to soothe it. So here's what my breakfast required:

Water glass
Coffee cup
Saucer for coffee cup
Creamer pitcher
Saucer for creamer pitcher
Saucer for lemon wedges
Tea cup
Saucer for tea cup
Honey pot
Saucer for honey pot
Juice glass
Saucer for juice glass
Bread plate for toast
Bowl for orange segments
Saucer for bowl for orange segments
Bowl for melon ménage
Saucer for bowl for melon ménage
Plate for scrambled egg beaters and spinach

Really.

We then gathered up our beach things (and forgot a few things- we're out of practice after four sea days), and headed to the bus station right across from the cruise pier. The #10 bus took us right to Eagle Beach for $1.30US per person. The bus system here is quite organized and runs on schedules, even better than Barbados and way better than Antigua.