Aruba tour recommendation

[emenheiser]

We have never been to Aruba and have heard it's a great island to tour. We would like to see the island, but also spend some time on one of the great beaches. I've found a 1/2 day 4 x 4 tour ( 2 choices Baby Beach or Natural Pond) for $75 per person and a full day 4 x 4 tour for $95 per person. I'm not sure if I want to spend most of the time we're there on a tour and was wondering which of the 1/2 day tours is better? Can you access either Natural Pond or Baby Beach on your own? Is there a local tour operator you could recommend? Can you rent a car and tour on your own? Thanks so much for your suggestions!

[Arubalisa]

If you have never been to Aruba, I suggest a guided tour. A guided tour will give you a background of the island and you will know exactly what you are seeing.

 

The Natural Pool is difficult to get to on your own. A 4 x 4 vehicle is a must. ABC Jeep Tours has a half day trip which includes a stop at the Natural Pool http://www.abc-aruba.com/jeep_safari_half.html

 

A half day tour is sufficient if you wish to spend time at the beach.

[emenheiser]

Thanks so much! The tours offered by ABC aruba look great! I also found a private tour operator name Madi who does the same tour for $50 per person. Would you know anything about her? I've read her reviews on trip advisor and they are 95% positive.

[Arubalisa]

I have heard good things about Madi as well with the exception that she is difficult to get a hold of.

[GypsyOBRN]

My husband and I decided to go with Jolly Pirates in Aruba because of the positive message board reviews and also from a positive review from friends that spent a week in Aruba for their honeymoon. We were in Aruba from 8am-530pm and booked the Sail, Snorkel, Swim and Swing from 9:30am-2pm on our own. We could of booked something similar through the ship but it didn't include the BBQ and was shorter for more money. We spent $50.00/pp because we pre-booked online and got a 12% discount. There are bathrooms on the boat as well as shade.

 

Our morning was off and on raining but that made for many beautiful rainbows in the skies of Aruba... we saw 5 different rainbows that day some doubled, very pretty.

 

We took a taxi to the Holiday Inn, and followed the direction sent to us by Jolly Pirates when we booked. It was easy to find and the taxis were plentiful when we got off the ship. It was $6.00/pp each way so $24.00 round trip for us as a couple. It was also very easy in the hotel area to get a taxi back, we did a little shopping when we got off the boat and then headed to the front of one of the hotels and there was taxis already waiting there for fares.

 

We felt that most of the people that were on our ship were there just for the open bar or for booze cruise. We found a few families with children but the Shipwreck Antilla snorkel spot was very overcrowded with three other snorkel boats and quite rough for young swimmers. My husband and I were kicked, pushed and ran into more times then we could count at this site. Because of the rough area and the overcrowded we were disappointed in the shipwreck site, and this is one reason we went with a cruise snorkel experience. We saw very little fish and very little of the ship wreck itself. We were both relieved we were good swimmers and didn't bring our children with us.

 

The second site they took us to was along a sandy beach, Boca Catalina. This was much more calm area. We were instructed that we did not have to wear a life-vest here and neither of us did. Only one other snorkel cruise here so the water was not at all crowded with people and we were able to enjoy ourselves at this site. The gave us about 45 in the minutes in the water to snorkel and it flew by. We saw many beautiful fish and sea life here.

 

The last stop of the day was Malmok. It was the best of the three site for snorkeling. Calm clear water in a beautiful area, we were the only snorkel cruise there and by this time our ship mate were well on their way to being drunk so many of them didn't even go into the water, which was a shame because this was very beautiful area of Aruba and an awesome snorkel site. They allowed about 45 minutes in the water then made us all comeback from lunch.

 

Lunch was mediocre at best. Small piece of chicken, small piece of ribs, honestly it was pretty bad. Maybe they think everyone would be drunk on their open bar by this point and wouldn't notice, but we only had two drinks by this point and they are watered down so we noticed.

 

After lunch was served, they opened the swing. We were not there for the swing, but we could see people, mostly drunk, having a swinging good time. We were disappointed that we were not allowed to go down the other side of there boat (they have two ladders) and go out snorkeling again. The crew would of obviously had to watch both the snorkelers and the swingers but there were plenty to do both. We noticed that half were down in the cabin of the boat having there own BBQ lunches, with much more than what they fed us, and enjoying some drinks themselves, unknown if alcohol made it to there cups.

 

This is the only negative review I have ever done here at cruisecritic so please no bashing because you had a great time on Jolly Pirates. I am sure with different crew or different people on the boat our experience would of been different. We are not against having a party and a good time, after all, this is vacation. We were just disappointed that were booked a snorkeling cruise to some beautiful sites and ended up on a booze cruise that could of been anywhere.

 

There is shade on the boat in the back but that is also where they tell the smokers to go so if smoking bothers you and you need shade, I would think twice about Jolly Pirates. One other experience we had on Jolly Pirates was the bathrooms were dirty, disgusting places.

 

We didn't hate our experience, it just was disappointing. Looking back on our cruise, Jolly Pirates was not close to the highlight, we would not recomend them unless you are looking to drink and cruise around a beautiful island. We would not have wanted to expose our pre-teens to what they will experience later in the lives at parties. Next time in Aruba will higher a taxi driver to take us out to Malmok and come pick us back up.

 

We do have some beautiful pictures of the cruise, rainbows and Aruba in our webshots. Click on the link in my signature.

[ortgev]

If you have never been to Aruba, I suggest a guided tour. A guided tour will give you a background of the island and you will know exactly what you are seeing.

 

The Natural Pool is difficult to get to on your own. A 4 x 4 vehicle is a must. ABC Jeep Tours has a half day trip which includes a stop at the Natural Pool http://www.abc-aruba.com/jeep_safari_half.html

 

A half day tour is sufficient if you wish to spend time at the beach.

 

Hi Arubalisa,

 

thans for posting, we are planning to book with them

[bug18]

Does Madi have a jeep? If not what type of car?

[coffeyk]

I got back yesterday and used ABC for the full day tour. It was great and would highly recommend them. Thanks for the recommendation Arubalisa.

 

I would not attempt Natural Pool on your own; crazy! We also had 45 minutes at Baby Beach.

If you have never been to Aruba, I suggest a guided tour. A guided tour will give you a background of the island and you will know exactly what you are seeing.

 

The Natural Pool is difficult to get to on your own. A 4 x 4 vehicle is a must. ABC Jeep Tours has a half day trip which includes a stop at the Natural Pool http://www.abc-aruba.com/jeep_safari_half.html

 

A half day tour is sufficient if you wish to spend time at the beach.

[fsusuper]

I'd like to hear from someone who has used Madi. She has great reviews on Trip Advisor, but this is the first time I've seen her name on Cruisecritic. Thanks! fsusuper

[kathy59]

This is our first time to Aruba. We are considering the Crown Princess sponsored Scenic cruise, lighthouse and semi-sub excursion or the shipwreck & island drive excursion. Has anyone been on either/both of these excursions? Would love to hear your experience. Thanks!