sailawayward

We were on the same cruise, as well. It's sad to hear that you had such a different experience than we did. We had dinner at Pinnacle Grill the first night of our cruise because we figured we could bypass the embarkation madness of the main dining room on the first night of sailing. We used that as part of the HIA dinner promo and saved Tamarind for our last night. The food in Pinnacle was fantastic. We thought about having lunch there during the cruise but we never got around to it. We never felt like the MDR was understaffed any time we were there. There were only 2 of us and we had the early assigned dinner time when we didn't already have reservations in the specialty restaurants or when onshore. Our assigned servers were Marvin and Saursana and they were both very attentive and each took a sincere interest in our experience. We were surprised how much we connected with them. We did walk-in lunch in the dining room when we could during sea days; and the service was very good, just not as personal as dinner. The staff at the buffet and throughout the lido food areas were working really hard to keep the passengers moving, so we didn’t really wait excessively in line for anything. From our experience, passengers were very accommodating & polite to one another. We thought all of the food onboard really was delicious (except for the gluten-free cookies which were just gross and luckily those were never offered again). The fruit was especially fresh. Considering how busy the ship was, tables were cleaned and made ready for new guests very efficiently. Our dinner at Rudi's was incredible, and the service with Najib Ben and Roice made it such a lovely experience. Since I'm gluten-free I thought the options for Morimoto dinner were very limited, but we still loved the dinner. Tamarind is the best on the ship, and Amy really pampered us.

We were on the same cruise, and we definitely sailed in a circle on our way to Aruba. Considering how much time we had after leaving Curaçao, we could have done several. I thought I saved a screenshot of the ship's navigation map on our cabin's TV after we arrived in Oranjestad but I guess we never took an actual pic. The most activity from the sea seemed to be during our turn around Haiti on Day 2 and even that was mild (to us, anyway).

We were on the same cruise and were lucky enough to have Amy as our server for the Morimoto dinner. We really enjoyed getting to know her. We asked if she could be our server when we returned to Tamarind for our last dinner on the ship, and she really pampered us. It was so nice for her to be part of our last dinner onboard. We made sure to include her in our review. Amy was the best!

5147 is not obstructed, but it does share a door with 5145 if that matters to you.

boarding passes are loaded in 'my wallet' on the navigator app but they won't appear until you're days away from sailing. you can always take a screenshot and store on your phone. not sure how much easier you expect things to be.

the navigator app was designed as a hub while using it onboard, so it can be a little wonky when using offshore especially way in advance of a sailing. depending on your device, it may be helpful to delete what is currently installed and re-upload a new version. each passenger has his/her own mariner number, so one can log in separately and still have access to the same booking. my husband and i have our own logins based on our assigned mariner numbers.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise! https://www.cruisetimetables.com/oranjestadarubaschedule-06feb2024.html

You may receive better advice on this thread if you're able share the date and the disembarkation time for your arrival in Oranjestad - also when 'All Aboard' time will be for your sail away. If your ship excursions are already sold out, it sounds like your sailing is very soon; so securing reservations for activities on shore may be just as challenging. There are plenty of vendors for excursions you can book independently. Knowing if anyone in your party has accessibility issues will be helpful, too. Personally, I'd recommend renting a car especially if you can divide the cost with the other couple. Would give you much greater flexibility. If you're not renting a car and want to include Eagle Beach, you'll need to decide how you want to get there and how you're returning to the ship. There are other threads on here to help you regarding the buses and/or the taxis, depending how you decide to go. If Eagle Beach is the priority, then you can see how much time you have left; but including other areas like the Arikok Natl Park, for instance, would be difficult to impossible depending on how much time you actually have. There's retail therapy in Oranjestad as well as Fort Zoutman, the Aloe Museum and the Pepe Margo Distillery close to the pier.

The Online ED-Card Aruba helps verify that all the necessary steps are taken in order to board an inbound plane to Aruba.

How fortunate we were able to get the $400 onboard spending and the canvas bag with our very first cruise.

never cruised before until this past June on a 14-day cruise on the Rotterdam and was a 1-star mariner before boarding. we booked the cruise on our own and were told that all new passengers were 1-star mariners.

you are wrong.

it's a tub with a shower curtain.

Every passenger begins as a 1-Star Mariner. Welcome aboard!

I don't think the room stewards would be the ones delivering drinks to your room. That would be done through room service, but I can't remember what restrictions may apply since we only ordered coffee with breakfast to our cabin. You can always get drinks from any bar and bring them back to your stateroom and it would go toward your daily limit.