Eagle Beach

[fsjosh]

13 minutes ago, cruisinlawn said:

restrooms at Passion's?

yes, a set right by them. 

[alwayscruisinlovers]

Does any one know if public buses or cabs will be available on march18 2024 cause i read somewhere it is a national Holiday in Aruba? Thank you!

[cruisinlawn]

On 12/15/2023 at 3:41 PM, TTEllis said:

She can take a taxi. It sounded like she was traveling with Family. I always take the bus because it's cheap no stress and plenty of room. No crawling into the back of a 4 wheeled sardine can. City bus big seats many empty plenty of room to set your backpack down on. Very open no hurry. City Bus for me every time. 😎😎

TT..we plan to take the bus from main terminal to Eagle. Does the bus stop at Eagle as it heads north towards Palm, OR, do we have to do the loop to the north and then hop off as the bus is heading back south towards town?

 

Also, in doing so either way, when we do need to jump off, will the bus stop be on the beach road or back out on the main hwy?   TIA. Enjoy!

[cruisinlawn]

21 minutes ago, cruisinlawn said:

TT..we plan to take the bus from main terminal to Eagle. Does the bus stop at Eagle as it heads north towards Palm, OR, do we have to do the loop to the north and then hop off as the bus is heading back south towards town?

 

Also, in doing so either way, when we do need to jump off, will the bus stop be on the beach road or back out on the main hwy?   TIA. Enjoy!

EDIT...I do see that the bus route runs along the beach road, though do correct me if I'm wrong.   I believe it would be the L10a bus

[EMc&DrS]

We were just at Eagle Beach on February 21. Our ship, HAL Rotterdam, had arrived in Aruba the night before at 9:30 PM, so our plan was to get off the ship early ahead of the crowds that were arriving on Carnival Horizon and RCL Odyssey of the Seas. We thought we'd take the bus as has been recommended on this thread, but when we stepped off the ship, there were taxis waiting just feet from the ship. (Apparently, only some of the drivers have the credentials to pick up and drop off right at the ships).  We opted to save time and the long walk and spent the extra few dollars to jump right into a cab. For $15 we arrived at the beach by 7:30 AM--less than 15 minutes after stepping off the boat.

 

We arrived at the area near Passions where all the palapas are located. To our surprise, all but 2 or 3 of them near the road had already been claimed--although most were empty. Turns out, people staying at the hotel across the street (which was at full capacity) arrive at the beach at 6:30 AM to claim their palapa for the day. They hang a bag from a hook and leave a few items on the table, and then they return to the hotel and don't come back until after 9 AM.

 

Our palapa for the day (Passions is on the other side of the trees to the right):

 

 

We also quickly found out that the nice chairs seen in the pic are for hotel guests only. We had to visit a hut on the beach where a lady was able to rent chairs to cruise passengers. Ours looked like old chairs that had been discarded by Carnival--exactly the same chairs we've had on their cruise ships, but with some holes and tears in the fabric. This nice lady dragged two chairs what seemed to be 100 yards through the THICK sand to our palapa in the back corner of the beach. I believe we paid $10/chair and I gave her a tip for her effort. I found out later that there was another man who rented chairs for that area, but he wasn't even on duty when we got there. He figured out we had rented from the other lady and was fine with that. A short time later he came by with security and they were removing people from palapas who were not hotel guests or who had not rented chairs. They didn't bother us. In the end our spot was fine. Although our view looking straight ahead was obscured, we could just look to our right to see the ocean.

 

We were a short distance to Passions, and after a long wait there for drinks around 1 PM, we enjoyed the strongest Long Island Iced Teas we've ever had! 

 

I recommend arriving early if you can. The beach was almost exclusively ours for the first 60-90 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had no problem getting a cab back to the pier. We had only walked a few feet when one stopped to pick us up. This driver took us to the same spot just feet from the gangway to our ship.

 

 

Edited March 3 by EMc&DrS

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 3/3/2024 at 11:04 AM, EMc&DrS said:

A short time later he came by with security and they were removing people from palapas who were not hotel guests or who had not rented chairs.

I thought the beaches and palapas were public, and therefore free and first come first serve.

[EMc&DrS]

2 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I thought the beaches and palapas were public, and therefore free and first come first serve.

They are. I shouldn’t have said they removed people from the palapas. They did take their chairs away leaving them sitting in the sand. There are certain chairs/loungers on the beach exclusively for the hotel guests. Cruise passengers have to rent loungers from one of the sellers, and those chairs are different.

[dizzsunshine]

Do people leave their things at their rented seats no problem?

[EMc&DrS]

3 hours ago, dizzsunshine said:

Do people leave their things at their rented seats no problem?

Lots of the hotel guests had left stuff in their huts, but I don't know if there was anything of value. We have a small portable safe that we bring. It holds our cash, IDs, and phone. It has a wire attached like a bike lock would have. The wire fit perfectly around the center pole of the palapa.

[Hatteras51]

Resort guests usually go out before dawn and claim their spot on the beach. The rules vary by resort,  as to how this is handled. At our resort in Aruba,  you have to stay in your chair until 7am, when the security guard checks you in. Then, you are allowed to leave for a certain amount of time.  If you are not back in the allotted time, security can remove your stuff and offer your palapa to someone else.  Even though the palapas are public,  the chairs are owned by the resorts. Cruisers can either rent a chair from a vendor or sit on their towels.  Palapas are very hard to get because the resorts are full, especially this time of year.  I usually recommend that cruisers go to one of the vendors who rent chairs and umbrellas because they usually have a lot more availability.  The main thing is to get to the beach early.  There are a lot of cruisers competing for those spots. A taxi will get you there a lot quicker. 

[Hatteras51]

On 3/8/2024 at 12:32 PM, dizzsunshine said:

Do people leave their things at their rented seats no problem?

I wouldn't leave anything of value unattended.  Things do go missing from time to time. There are several different security devices available to take when you travel.  I have a KYSS bag that has worked great for me. When I want to go in the water or on a walk, I secure it to my palapa.  It also works well as a large purse/ carry-on that I take on the plane and put under the seat.

[grimpil]

If all the palapas are taken do they have umbrellas for rent?

[Hatteras51]

3 hours ago, grimpil said:

If all the palapas are taken do they have umbrellas for rent?

There is a vendor at the resort to the left, the resort called LaCabana.  There used to also be one to the right of Amsterdam Manor,  but I don't know if he is still there. 

[fsjosh]

12 hours ago, grimpil said:

If all the palapas are taken do they have umbrellas for rent?

There was someone renting umbrellas just to the south of the palapas in January. 

[thewynn]

I really like this Passions area idea. We cruise the end of May and our ship gets in at 1pm. There are 2 other ships in port that day. Between them and the resorts I wonder if it is even worth trying this area? My wife has mobility issues and we can't be walking up and down the beach looking for a spot. I'm hoping by the time we get there that the passengers from the other ships are starting to head back, but I hadn't thought about the resort guests.

Last time we were in Aruba our taxi driver to us to the southern part of Eagle Beach and we rented some chairs. It worked out pretty well but we had gotten there early so not sure how it would be mid-afternoon.