ABC & Labadee? Easy as 123 & 4

This post is specifically for anyone traveling to the ABC islands & Labadee with kids, or at least a very energetic 7 year old boy who keeps going & going & going!

I had a difficult time finding the specific island information I needed for our just completed 9 night Southern Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, so I thought I’d share my experience with others.

We’re a party of 3, plus Oma!

Here’s the Aruba portion (the other portions can be found under their respective ports of call:

ARUBA

In Aruba we exited the ship & walked to the end of the port area, which seemed like a long walk (10 minutes). We walked to the first main street & then I asked for directions to the public bus station, which was literally across the street from where we were standing. Aruba busses look just like regular city busses in the US.

We crossed the street & noticed there were lots of people waiting for the bus. There was a little window from where you could buy a bus pass, but it was closed (a sign on the window said they’d be back in a few minutes). But before the window reopened, the bus appeared. So we hopped on & paid on the bus. It was $10.50 (US $) for the 4 of us which breaks down to about $2.62 per person.

The bus driver was my kind of guy. He put the pedal down & we were off, taking turns faster than any bus driver I’ve ever seen!

Shortly thereafter, he called out “Palm Beach” & we jumped out. We walked along a side street to access the beach & ended up directly in front of De Palm Pier.

As we were walking, we were immediately approached about chairs. At first we thought these were just random people, but they were legit beach vendors. We got two chairs for $15 (US $). We were originally going to ask for the chairs to be placed under the free palapas, but after we noticed how far back they were, we decided to pay $25 (US $) for a very large umbrella in the front row. At the end of the day, we agreed that it was money well spent.

We spent the next several hours building sandcastles, swimming & snorkeling (nothing to see).

My mom & I had lunch at Bugaloe’s on the De Palm Pier. The pier had bathrooms ($1 US), a gelato shop & a few other stores.

About an hour & a half before we were scheduled to be back on the ship, we packed up & walked back to the bus stop - same place we were dropped off, opposite side. After 15 minutes, no bus. After 15 more minutes, still no bus. Several other people were waiting for it too. Our backup plan was to catch a cab, but fortunately the same thing that happened at Mambo Beach in Curaçao happened again - a random white van drove by going in the opposite direction & called out of his window that he’d take us back for $2 per person (US $). We (& several others) raced across the street & jumped in. He dropped one person off up the road & then swung back around towards the ship. It took us longer to get back to the ship than it took to get to the beach as he didn’t drive as fast as the bus driver & because traffic was more congested. We were back on the ship with about 1/2 an hour to spare.

If we had to do it all again, I would go to Arashi Beach versus Palm Beach. Although I haven’t been to Arashi Beach, it sounds like you can snorkel at Arashi, which we would have loved.

Overall, we had a nice day in Aruba. I thought I would enjoy it the most, but I think both Bonaire & Curaçao have it beat!

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Enjoyed reading your port reviews.

We went to Arashi beach in October. Loved it. Less crowded than Palm beach.

Thanks so much Arzeena! I would love to hear more about your experience at Arashi - bathrooms? food? cost of chairs? I read that there’s a snack shack there now? Please tell me more!

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