EASTERN CARIBBEAN CRUISE January 10 - 17, 2009 Our first foray of 2009 was a delightful cruise on the Celebrity Summit to five islands in the eastern Caribbean: St. Martin/St. Maarten, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba. A four-hour, first-class Continental flight took us to San Juan, Puerto Rico, the departure port for the cruise. Early the next morning, we arrived in St. Martin/St. Maarten, nicknamed “The Friendly Isle.” This dual-nation island is part of the Lesser Antilles islands and is only 37 square miles in size (roughly the size of Washington, DC). The d [View Full Entry]

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Tenia que despegar una vez más así fue como comienza a soñar con un nuevo viaje, con un nuevo destino, esta vez en aguas del Caribe.Consultando un poco sobre los destinos, partiría desde Venezuela en la ciudad de Punto Fijo rumbo a Aruba, una pequeña isla ubicada a tan solo 20 minutos del país de Venezuela . La aerolínea con la que viaje fue Tiara - Air . En el arribo a la isla nos estaría esperando a mi y a mi amigo Javier de Venezuela: Mariza. De la pagina couchsurfing que gentilmente se ofreció para hospedarnos en su casa en [View Full Entry]

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The day we arrived in Oranjestad, Aruba we had no expectations. We thought we’d go to a beach, but never expected the day we had. I think the reason it was so good, was not just the port itself, but the company with which we spent it! Nicole, Steph, Katelyn, and myself met up with Jimy, Humberto, and Victor (bar staff) for a day of fun in Aruba. We walked towards the downtown area where we found a fun bar and stopped for a drink. Apparently here there are no rules about serving alcohol in the morning, because it was only [View Full Entry]

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“Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take her to Bermuda, Bahamas, come on pretty mama…” We decided to get off the ship in a group today; Crystal, Gemma, Lisa, Fabrice, Jennie, Fernanda and myself. After some haggling we got on a mini bus which was going to take us around the island and show us some sights. I took some photos as we drove through the town, and we headed to the rock formation which Aruba is famous for. It was very cool, and the souvenir shop had this gorgeous donkey out the back. He he. I patted it! I bought a [View Full Entry]

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It occurs to me as I am actually enjoying my airline food on the flight from Miami to Venice that perhaps I have gotten a bit too used to shiplife. What is probably the worst food produced on this planet, actually seems to be a bit better than what I am used to eating in the staff mess onboard. As I quickly consume soggy rice and what they claim to be “chicken”, licking my fork clean I vow to appreciate everything I can about the next contract (yes! The food!), because when it’s time to re-enter the real world at the [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was another day of sun and beach. And an hour walk to the beach, in that same unrelenting sun. Everything would have been great, if my sunscreen would have been strong enough (or maybe I should've used it more often), so I wouldn''t have ended up sitting on the porch (in the shade) recovering from sun burn, and avoiding sun the entire day. And that's virtually impossible on this island. So today I'm gonna catch up on work, do a little reading, prepare other stuff for my arrival in the Netherlands (in 2,5 weeks, waaaay to soon) and post some [View Full Entry]

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Ookal gaat deze weblog in principe over mijn tijd in New York, ik voeg mijn weekje Aruba ook maar toe. En vanaf hier ga ik het in het Engels typen, dat stellen mijn Amerikaanse vrienden (ja, die heb ik) ook op prijs. So. I was lucky to arrive at JFK 2 hours in advance, due to good planning. This because my original flight was cancelled. I got added to a previous (2 hours earlier) flight, together with 10 other people. If you were 15 minutes late, you had to wait an entire day to go to Aruba, so I guess I [View Full Entry]

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Por Favor... Realize that I write these things in the early morning without any sort of proof-reading or spiellchaker....and to make matters worse I cannot delete entries eaning my errors will taunt me for the rest of my days. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this matter, Jon [View Full Entry]

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Aruba is an island which is part of the "West Indies". It is 20 miles long and 6 miles wide, has 101K inhabitants, and is located 17 miles from Venuzuela and 40 from Colombia. Aruba is an autonomous state within the Netherlands (under Dutch administration and support). An oil refinery keeps the economy strong and Aruba is the world's largest exporter of aloe (once covered 2/3rds of the island). The official language is Dutch, English is widely spoken, and nearly all Arubans also speak Papiamento. We didn't eat any ostrich (there is an ostrich farm on Aruba). [View Full Entry]

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We are going to Aruba in three weeks. My question is besides the most obvious, the beach, booze, casinos, what is there to do in Aruba? For example, are there any tourist type sites and/or attractions? Hoping that we have a great time there. We are flying on US Air from Syracuse, NY (SYR) to Aruba (AUA). [View Full Entry]

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