It's Day 4 on our Carnival Magic Cruise and we're having an absolute blast! The last couple days have been Sea Days, but today we've arrived at our first port! Aruba!
I couldn't get Google Maps to show the cruise route, but it went from Miami, between Cuba and the Bahamas, beside Haiti and down to the small island of Aruba.
We're really enjoying staying up late and sleeping in. Sometime during the morning the boat docked and when we woke up, we were in Aruba! It's nearly noon and we haven't even left the boat yet! No need to rush off to any shore excursions for us. We're happy to enjoy the boat that's free of people! We grabbed some lunch from the buffet and pizza place, then gathered our things to go explore.
The cruise port is right next to Oranjestad, Aruba.
We descended the stairs into a part of the ship that's normally closed to guests. It's definitely less "posh" than the typical guest areas. More utilitarian for sure.
Down more stairs and back hallways.
Until we reached the lower deck and headed off the ship! All these other people have done their exploring and are already coming back on board!
Almost down the gangway.
Boom! New country! Aruba!
It's a short walk from the cruise terminal to the main streets around Aruba. That's a pretty tall ship!
Looking good kids!
As soon as you exit the secured cruise terminal, of course there's vendors with souvenirs. We're not too tempted by them, considering we've got to put them somewhere when we get home.
But I do have one place I want to go. Always on the lookout for new things to try for a taste test, and knowing international places offer the biggest opportunity for something unique, we're stretching our legs and taking a walk to a local grocery store.
Ian sees some coconuts growing on the palm trees and wants to bring one home!
Our pink girl has found a pink car that would suit her.
The four of us walked and walked in the warm Aruba weather.
82F but it feels warmer with that hot sun beating down.
And we do have a little bit of a walk ahead of us. Nearly 2 miles to get to the large grocery store I had in mind.
But eventually, we made it there!
Ling & Sons Super Center!
I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Either a small island grocery store or a full-on supermarket. It was the latter! A full-on supermarket similar to a Safeway, with a bakery, meat department, cafe and everything!
As soon as we walked in, there was even an Easter display with chocolate bunnies and other treats. Aha! Harry Potter Butterbeer Hershey's Kisses! We're doing a taste test with these and other Butterbeer items when we get home! I'll wait to buy these though. I'm certain they'll melt on the 2 mile walk back to the ship.
Further in, I found a whole lot of regular products that I could find just about everywhere. Being a pretty small island, I guess it's true that they import a whole lot of things. I did find a couple unique flavors of treats that we'll be trying later when we get back home.
And for our long walk, I think we all deserve popsicles.
And maybe even a second popsicle.
For the walk back, everyone also got a cold drink. I don't see Banana Strawberry Nestle Milk all that often, so I decided to grab that. Alli got a Strawberry Milk to go along with it. Both were good, but we liked the Banana Strawberry best.
And look at that. Ian is happy. His favorite soda ever, Mountain Dew Major Melon, just stopped being produced earlier this year back in the States. They still had it here though! And in cold cans in the cooler!
Backpacks partially filled with treats, we started the walk back to the ship.
RadioShack. Wild!
Walking around trees that have grown up and over the sidewalk.
Posing by the tourist sign that says I Love Aruba!
Time to head back to the boat.
After showing our Sail & Sign cards to gain entry into the Cruise port, we headed to the walkway to get back onto the boat. They scanned our Carnival Cards, matched our faces to the picture we took on Day 1 when we boarded the cruise, led us through metal detectors and x-ray machines for our bags, and then we were let back onto the boat.
Our room has been made up since we were gone. Looks like a puppy or something. I like that they have eye stickers now. It helps to know what animal they're going for with the towels.
After getting back on board, we wandered around the ship a little bit until it was time for dinner.
Loving this Anytime Dining. Instead of being forced to eat at a particular time, we can go whenever it suits us. The Carnival App lets us know our table is ready.
Looking good kids!
Our dinner menu tonight. The Smoked Poblano and Corn Soup was pretty tasty.
And I like that they can cook a rare steak.
Our server, Arnawa, told us that the Tiramisu is the best dessert they have on the ship.
He wasn't kidding. It was so good. I'd say even better than the 7 layer chocolate cake at brunch, but others at the table disagreed.
And Ian prefers the Carnival Melting Chocolate Cake. It's like a Lava Cake where the outside is barely cooked and the inside is all moist and gooey. Like warm brownie batter. Add in some vanilla ice cream and it's really tasty too.
After dinner, it's off to Camp Ocean where the kids will hang out with friend and play the rest of the night.
The craft project they had involved white Crayola Model Magic clay, which they used markers to color and knead, then make whatever they wanted. For this craft, they made their own island, surrounded by a blue sea.
Theresa and I found a place on the top deck to enjoy the beautiful night. One of the things we noticed is that there's not any bugs here on the ship. No mosquitos, gnats, or flies, which might interrupt a pleasant evening.
At 9:30pm, we watched at the dock workers unhooked the massive ropes that moored us to the dock, and the Carnival Magic slowly pushed away. We waved and shone our phone flashlights at the people on the land, while they did the same to us.
Tomorrow we'll be in another new port! Goodbye Aruba!
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