Taxi vs Public Bus

We want to go to from the cruise terminal to Arashi, stay for a bit and then to Eagle Beach then back to the cruise terminal. I initially thought the bus is what we would do BC it's cheaper, but I'm not so sure. Briefly looking at Aruba's taxi rates, it seems like it'll be very close in cost but with the bus we will lose a lot more time. We have 5 ppl, and are splitting the costs by 2. So if I looked at the chart right, it's $20 to Arashi, $15 back to Eagle and maybe $10 to the cruise terminal? So $45 total? Do those rates sound correct?

We may have two additional ppl join us, are there larger van style taxis that'll carry 7?

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OK, does anyone know if there would be taxis available to take back from Arashi and Eagle beach? Or would I need one to wait/return at a later time?

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Do yourself a favor and take a taxi! ;)

Taxis by law can only carry a maximum of 5 people.

Your price estimate is close if not correct.

If you take a taxi to Arashi, pre-arrange for the driver to return to pick you up. Make the arrangements BEFORE you get into the taxi to have them take you to the beach.

To save some money you could take the bus from the cruise terminal to Arashi Beach and then the bus from Arashi to Eagle Beach. From Eagle Beach to return to the ship you could then take the bus or a taxi.

OK, that sounds like a good idea. I think we'll do the taxis. The way we're splitting it, the cost should be fairly close either way. Thanks for the info!

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Aruba Lisa is right on!! I too would suggest a taxi.

Don't worry too much about getting scammed in Aruba, they are very nice people!

Enjoy Aruba!

We took taxis right from the pier. It was $25 to Arashi, $15 to Eagle from Arashi and $15 from Eagle to the cruise ship. The taxi we took parks right inside the docking area, as soon as you walk off ship to the left. When we came back he dropped us off 10 ft from the ship. It worked out great.

Thanks all!

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In many ports you can get a taxi at the pier for a couple of hours at a flat (agreed upon) rate.

Is that true of Aruba? Anyone have experience with this? Due to some mobility issues DH has tour buses just don't work comfortably for us.:confused:

We were last in Aruba many years ago. At that time we decided to take a bus from the nearby cruise terminal. Not sure if we went to Eagle Beach or not, but it was close and we were in a clean modern bus. That experience was fine, but our later explorations to the town of San Nicholas was a whole other story. We rode a much older school-bus. We made many stops as locals used it to head in that direction. In the end we did not hang out in this town as contrary to the mention in the guidebooks of the time was not the sight of a boutique experience. Not having been back to Aruba since that trip I can't speak about current travel experiences.

How far is the downtown shopping are from the pier? And what is the approx taxi cost? The excursion I was thinking of will drop you downtown afterwards and you are responaible to get back to the ship.

How far is the downtown shopping are from the pier? And what is the approx taxi cost? The excursion I was thinking of will drop you downtown afterwards and you are responaible to get back to the ship.

It depends on which berth your ship occupies, although none of them require a taxi from downtown.

98% of all American ships are berthed where two closest ships are in the photo, and the building to the right with the orange barrel tile roof is on LG Smith Blvd, which is now the main drag of the downtown shopping district.

LG Smith gets rather congested at times, and the locals try to avoid it when a cruise ship is in town, I believe that your tour guide is trying to do the same (and drum up some extra sales for his countrymen!) by not dropping you AT the cruise port.