Rent a car or day at the beach followed by shopping and dinner?

[Heatherco]

Hi there!  We will be in port from 8am to 9pm next month.  I am torn between renting a car and touring the island on our own or just going to Reflexions for a relaxing beach day followed by some shopping and dinner.

 

If we rent a car will we wind up spending a lot of time sitting in traffic?  We love to explore on our own, but I have heard the traffic can be bad and do t want to spend the day being frustrated.  

 

Which would you do?

 

Thanks!

[Heatherco]

Anyone?😊

[neverlosespirit]

22 hours ago, Heatherco said:

Hi there!  We will be in port from 8am to 9pm next month.  I am torn between renting a car and touring the island on our own or just going to Reflexions for a relaxing beach day followed by some shopping and dinner.

 

If we rent a car will we wind up spending a lot of time sitting in traffic?  We love to explore on our own, but I have heard the traffic can be bad and do t want to spend the day being frustrated.  

 

Which would you do?

 

Thanks!

We are going in May and I was just researching Reflexions. I was thinking of doing the beach and then shopping/dinner. Some cruise-mates are there now on the Epic and they are enjoying Reflexions.

 

I have a friend who went to Aruba a few years ago on a cruise, and she did say the Island is lovely to tour but that it's mainly desert in the interior? They did a Jeep tour and she quite liked it. She didn't mention any severe traffic. 

 

If you go to Reflexions, I would love to hear your review once you are back!

 

[Heatherco]

1 hour ago, neverlosespirit said:

We are going in May and I was just researching Reflexions. I was thinking of doing the beach and then shopping/dinner. Some cruise-mates are there now on the Epic and they are enjoying Reflexions.

 

I have a friend who went to Aruba a few years ago on a cruise, and she did say the Island is lovely to tour but that it's mainly desert in the interior? They did a Jeep tour and she quite liked it. She didn't mention any severe traffic. 

 

If you go to Reflexions, I would love to hear your review once you are back!

 

Will be happy to let you know if we go to Reflexions!

[jean87510]

On 1/17/2020 at 5:19 PM, Heatherco said:

Hi there!  We will be in port from 8am to 9pm next month.  I am torn between renting a car and touring the island on our own or just going to Reflexions for a relaxing beach day followed by some shopping and dinner.

 

If we rent a car will we wind up spending a lot of time sitting in traffic?  We love to explore on our own, but I have heard the traffic can be bad and do t want to spend the day being frustrated.  

 

Which would you do?

 

Thanks!

Rent a car. Pin places you want to visit on google maps and download. The "real natural pool" is not an option with rental car. Traffic is not bad. We used Waze on the island which was great for traffic. 

Last time, we went to snorkel at boca catalina, Philip's garden for the animals, a beach bar near the lighthouse and out to the gold mines where the other "natural pool" is. We had a great day!

Tomorrow we will stop on our cruise in aruba and we are renting a dune buggy type vehicle and going to the real natural pool. And hopefully other cool places like baby beach.

Of course we have only been to aruba 3x in the past all on cruise ship days. We've rented cars all 3x. With a map downloaded and Waze app, you will have no problems with traffic. The app helped us avoid any traffic as it does for me in the states.

I love day passes and some places its good to relax at but honestly Aruba has so many interesting sights, it would be a shame to waste a day. And you are so lucky you have a long day!

Edited January 20, 2020 by jean87510

[Heatherco]

8 hours ago, jean87510 said:

Rent a car. Pin places you want to visit on google maps and download. The "real natural pool" is not an option with rental car. Traffic is not bad. We used Waze on the island which was great for traffic. 

Last time, we went to snorkel at boca catalina, Philip's garden for the animals, a beach bar near the lighthouse and out to the gold mines where the other "natural pool" is. We had a great day!

Tomorrow we will stop on our cruise in aruba and we are renting a dune buggy type vehicle and going to the real natural pool. And hopefully other cool places like baby beach.

Of course we have only been to aruba 3x in the past all on cruise ship days. We've rented cars all 3x. With a map downloaded and Waze app, you will have no problems with traffic. The app helped us avoid any traffic as it does for me in the states.

I love day passes and some places its good to relax at but honestly Aruba has so many interesting sights, it would be a shame to waste a day. And you are so lucky you have a long day!

Thank you so much!  We will probably stick with car rental.  Very excited!

[neverlosespirit]

On 1/20/2020 at 9:06 AM, jean87510 said:

Rent a car. Pin places you want to visit on google maps and download. The "real natural pool" is not an option with rental car. Traffic is not bad. We used Waze on the island which was great for traffic. 

Last time, we went to snorkel at boca catalina, Philip's garden for the animals, a beach bar near the lighthouse and out to the gold mines where the other "natural pool" is. We had a great day!

Tomorrow we will stop on our cruise in aruba and we are renting a dune buggy type vehicle and going to the real natural pool. And hopefully other cool places like baby beach.

Of course we have only been to aruba 3x in the past all on cruise ship days. We've rented cars all 3x. With a map downloaded and Waze app, you will have no problems with traffic. The app helped us avoid any traffic as it does for me in the states.

I love day passes and some places its good to relax at but honestly Aruba has so many interesting sights, it would be a shame to waste a day. And you are so lucky you have a long day!

This is great advice. I had not thought of using Waze on the islands. 

Question, did you have to bring your own snorkelling gear or can you rent it?

 

Thanks! 

[jean87510]

18 minutes ago, neverlosespirit said:

This is great advice. I had not thought of using Waze on the islands. 

Question, did you have to bring your own snorkelling gear or can you rent it?

 

Thanks! 

We use our own. We did use Google maps today for the natural pool. We rented a dune buggy from hs rentals. It was a great day but long when car only goes to 35!

 

My suggestion for snorkeling is Mangel Halto. Go to the right and find sand bar. Then snorkel to the left past the rocks. Best snorkeling in Aruba. No amenities though. Bring your own snorkeling equipment.

[neverlosespirit]

4 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

We use our own. We did use Google maps today for the natural pool. We rented a dune buggy from hs rentals. It was a great day but long when car only goes to 35!

 

My suggestion for snorkeling is Mangel Halto. Go to the right and find sand bar. Then snorkel to the left past the rocks. Best snorkeling in Aruba. No amenities though. Bring your own snorkeling equipment.

Great advice! Appreciate it very much!! Glad you had a fun, if slow, day 😄

Edited January 21, 2020 by neverlosespirit

[Hawkgirl23]

On 1/20/2020 at 8:06 AM, jean87510 said:

Rent a car. Pin places you want to visit on google maps and download. The "real natural pool" is not an option with rental car. Traffic is not bad. We used Waze on the island which was great for traffic. 

Last time, we went to snorkel at boca catalina, Philip's garden for the animals, a beach bar near the lighthouse and out to the gold mines where the other "natural pool" is. We had a great day!

Tomorrow we will stop on our cruise in aruba and we are renting a dune buggy type vehicle and going to the real natural pool. And hopefully other cool places like baby beach.

Of course we have only been to aruba 3x in the past all on cruise ship days. We've rented cars all 3x. With a map downloaded and Waze app, you will have no problems with traffic. The app helped us avoid any traffic as it does for me in the states.

I love day passes and some places its good to relax at but honestly Aruba has so many interesting sights, it would be a shame to waste a day. And you are so lucky you have a long day!

Bringing back an old post - Do you recall which company(s) you rented vehicles from? 

[jean87510]

3 hours ago, Hawkgirl23 said:

Bringing back an old post - Do you recall which company(s) you rented vehicles from? 

I believe they no longer rent those dune buggies.  It was HS rentals.  I believe we rented the car from advance or avis in 2019.  Honestly, rent the car.  It was not an enjoyable time getting to the natural pool for the selfie and you need an atv or the dune buggy.  

[Auntiemomo]

On 1/21/2020 at 5:49 PM, jean87510 said:

We use our own. We did use Google maps today for the natural pool. We rented a dune buggy from hs rentals. It was a great day but long when car only goes to 35!

 

My suggestion for snorkeling is Mangel Halto. Go to the right and find sand bar. Then snorkel to the left past the rocks. Best snorkeling in Aruba. No amenities though. Bring your own snorkeling equipment.

How do you use google maps and waze on your phone without using data?  

[jean87510]

8 hours ago, Auntiemomo said:

How do you use google maps and waze on your phone without using data?  

here's a couple of hints for Google maps.

[Ugaaucruisers]

Can you rent a car near the port?  Thanks!

[Cruises are us]

There is some great information on this thread.  But, most of it is "pre-Covid".   Has anyone rented a car recently (since the restart) and what has your experience been like?  What car rental company?  Prior to arrival or when you get there?  What are the "not to miss" places on Aruba?

Thanks so much for ANY info!  

[rhcpchika1]

These were my questions as well 🙂   

[amypintx]

We were in Aruba last summer (not on a cruise) and rented a car from Sixt near the airport (don't know if they'd pick up at the cruise pier or not). We used the maps.me app and loved it. I downloaded the Aruba info before we went and marked the places we wanted to checkout. It had great gps navigation even while my phone was on Airplane mode. We enjoyed checking out the old natural bridge, the Bushiribana Gold Ruins, the Ayo Rock Formation, and the Casibari Boulders.

[mitsugirly]

I second the mapsme app. It will work even when you don't have service and won't use data. Just make pin marks on the places and go. 

 

We have been here multiple times by cruise ship and multiple land vacations. It's one of our favorite places to go. There's so much to see there. Check out my blog (listed below) and you might get some ideas. I have tons of pictures. 

[consmarci]

Do not use Royal car rental. They never showed even though we had a confirmed reservation.  (March 13, 2022) I would not trust them. No apology or offer to make it right when we finally reached them.