Day 5 Orangestead, Aruba
Azura arrived earlier than scheduled as the port was to have four other cruise ships visiting today. This meant that the ship cruised past all the hotels on the XYZ side of the island at 05:30 while it was still before dawn.
We left the ship early to begin our walk about. As we left the secure area around the quay local customs officials were randomly searching cruise passengers. The town was very busy at 08:30 with a traffic jam up the street along by the quayside.
There is a wide choice of shops and souvenir stalls along this road and then one block inland is Main Street where there are more shops. We walked through the Renaissance Mall under the hotel of the same name and on Main Street we saw our first Aruba tram. These are battery powered and as you can see this street has been pedestrianised for the trams.
This is a free service that runs for the cruise terminals down Main Street to the edge of town and back again, with a tram every 10 minutes or so. Note after a round trip, everyone has to leave the tram at the cruise terminal to make way for the next group of tourists.
After window shopping and riding the tram we went for a drink, I had a bottle of the local beer – Belashi. No wi-fi was available at Iguana Sams and we met the grumpiest bunch of people in a restaurant/bar. Too early in the morning for them? Further up the street I tried to buy some memory cards for my camera (just in case I do see dolphins and shot a lot of images) but $50 plus tax as compared to £16 in the UK didn’t tempt me.
Getting back on board after passing into the secure area was made more complicated by the queues of fellow passengers of all the ships and more searches by customs helped by sniffer dogs.
Lunch was chicken fajitas and salad in the buffet restaurant, the Venezia. Rather than lay by the pool at the stern I went back into town to try and find the street art that I had passed earlier in the day.
The town was even busier than in the morning and the queue to enter the secure area even longer, the downside of having so many ships in port at the same time.
For the first time this cruise we had passengers missing as we all heard their names called out over the PA system to call reception urgently if they were onboard. The latecomers came at 16:45 to cheers of their fellow passengers using them to hurry up. This was a little later than the advertised departure time of 16:30.
Once clear of the port the ship headed out back across the Caribbean and into our first rain squall, so no more dolphin watching for a while.
For dinner I stuck with sirloin steak (and extra mushrooms) followed by Summer Berry Pudding. Over dinner I discovered that we should have gone to Mojito Joes for a drink as they had free wi-fi. What a change from Curacao where there was wi-fi everywhere either in bars or from the local council.
Day 6 At sea transit to Amber Cove Dominican Republic
The ship sailed through rough seas in the night as went into a strong head wind generated by a low crossing the Caribbean. Waves were estimated at four metres and the wind as a Force 8.
After a late breakfast it was time to walk the Promenade deck. The port side was in the shade and starboard was in the sun. We stuck to the shady side as it was less crowded.
Once the sun was on our balcony we went for a late lunch in my favourite Azura restaurant- Olly Smith’s Glasshouse. I had fish and chips and Linda the ‘choose three’ menu.
Back on our balcony the waves had moderated slightly according to the update channel on the TV. With the breeze cooling us down from the Caribbean sun. I was back on dolphin watch again.
In the early evening we were off the coast of the Dominican Republic and we could see planes taking off and landing away in the distance over the island.
Later we passed around the Eastern side of the Dominican Republic and we watched another beautiful Caribbean sunset.
Tonight was our second formal night and here we are queuing for dinner at 20:30 at the Peninsular restaurant.
This formal night didn’t have a menu from Marco Pierre White but I did get Lancashire black pudding as a starter, sirloin steak (again) followed by cheesecake.
Footnote – I was sad to read in the cruise newspaper that George Martin had died yesterday.