Car rental?

My husband and I are going to Aruba next month on the Carnival Vista! We've never been to Aruba, but my parents travel there often and suggested we rent a car and drive around the island our selves. Has anyone else done this? Are there car rental companies at the port-and should we reserve in advance?

Thanks!

Reserve in advance, they meet you at the port, you return it to their office and they shuttle you back to the port. Try Royal, also you may want to consider a jeep.

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My husband and I are going to Aruba next month on the Carnival Vista! We've never been to Aruba, but my parents travel there often and suggested we rent a car and drive around the island our selves. Has anyone else done this? Are there car rental companies at the port-and should we reserve in advance?

 

Thanks!

We stopped in Aruba on Wednesday, July 26, while traveling on the Adventure of the Seas. We were in port from 8:30AM thru 10:30PM. A representative of Royal met us just outside the fence with our name on a card. We rented a Hyundai Sonata. It was $87. We used a credit card and kept the vehicle until 7:00PM. He was there to meet us at 7:02PM. We received the car with 7/8 tank of gas and we spent $8 on 2 gallons which pretty much filled it up. We bought the gas at a Citgo adjacent to the port. I would rate our experience with Royal an A.

We drove to Ling & Sons grocery store and purchased a 30 quart Styrofoam cooler, a bag of ice,11 individual drinks of various kinds and 2 cans of Pringles for $24 US. We brought around 6 bottled waters from the ship with us. I would rate the Ling & Sons experience an A.

We drove to Arashi Beach sightseeing the Palm and Eagle Beaches areas on our way. We parked in the asphalt lot and walked out and did not find any of the Palapas Covers available. We hopped in the car and drove about 40 yards down the road to the unpaved area where around 8 more Palapas were located. The one nearest the main section of Arashi was available. This worked better for us because we were parked adjacent from it. There were 2 portalets nearby. My sons and I walked up to the chair vendor to see about getting chairs for us. We asked about getting 5 chairs and he said $7 each. We pointed to where we were and he said we couldn't have chairs there. We turned to walk away and he said to wait that it was $2 more per chairs because of some county such and such tax. I said fine. Then he said it was $50 total. I asked about the $2 more, not $3 and he seemed confused. I did not care. The $5 was going to be his tip anyway. They actually brought the chairs down to us. And said to come get them when we were through with them (yeah like that was happening). The chairs were wicker and very comfortable. The beach area was not crowded where we were because of the gap of about 40 yards between the 2 areas. Up at the more "main" Arashi beach area was much more busy and densely packed. We had nobody near us at all. The water was beautiful and clear and very refreshing. There were one or 2 rocks that you could see clearly. We walked out a great distance and I was able to kneel in the soft powder like sand. Looking back to the shore, you could see the California Lighthouse in the near distance along with lots of Cacti. We spent almost 6 hours here. A wonderful day. We drove back up to Oranjestad and stopped at a Wendy's that we had seen earlier for something light. Warning: they tried to overcharge us (actually the clerk did) and went back up and asked about it. She was overcharging us by about $5. It was $35 for the 5 of us to get a sandwich of some kind. Orginally, the clerk charged us $40. When I questioned another person about it after we ate. She conversed with the manager and we received $5 back. I checked the conversion that Ling & Sons used earlier (Ling also showed US prices in addition to Aruba prices for all of their items right on the shelf and that was very helpful) to verify the math and it was close. It is one of those principle things, not the money. I would rate Arashi an A. Wendy's a gets a C+ for trying to rip us off and for the nasty cherry soft drinks.

We did some driving up to the old Arch Bridge that had fallen years ago. Compared to Curacao the rocky side of Aruba was not as pretty as Curacao. We had been here 20 years ago and our memories of that part of the island were fuzzy. We saw lots of large dogs while driving around the island. Also, be aware that the road past the airport is under construction once you pass the airport headed up to Baby Beach. A somewhat slow go.

One thing that concerned me about Royal is that they require you to enter all your credit card information online ahead of time tor reserve. Having had our credit card information hacked not once but twice while we were traveling I am very reluctant to do that. If we do go ahead and do it, is there a space while reserving that you tell them you want to pick up the car at the cruise terminal?

One thing that concerned me about Royal is that they require you to enter all your credit card information online ahead of time tor reserve. Having had our credit card information hacked not once but twice while we were traveling I am very reluctant to do that. If we do go ahead and do it, is there a space while reserving that you tell them you want to pick up the car at the cruise terminal?