A Day in Aruba

Aruba was our first and very favorite island!  

We got off the ship bright and early.  We should have brought cash for taxis, but we assumed cards would work.  They did take cards.  However, cash is king in Aruba so bring cash for your visit.  We had a nice taxi driver that told us all about the island.  He spoke 4 different languages and said I'd be hired in a heart beat to teach English in Aruba.  I told him I only spoke English.  He assured me that everyone wanted to learn English there.  He warned us about staying safe on the other islands - Bonaire and Curacao.  We had zero safety concerns on any island and then the other islands warned us about Aruba.  haha.

Kevin planned all of our excursions and thought we'd love going to a resort for the day.  I loved having a destination to go to and not have to wander around to find fun things.  Some people opted for the bus rides from the port to the resort drop off through Carnival.  That would have been more expensive and long lines.  The taxis are the way to go.  We got dropped off at the De Palm Island resort pick up spot.  We got our wristbands and hopped on a ferry boat to the island.  The water was so clear.  The wind was strong and everything was gorgeous.

Kevin surprised us with a private cabana rental for the day!  It was amazing.  It was right on the water.  Shade and sun.  And you'll never believe who our neighbors were.

Welcome to Aruba!

Giant iguanas!!  They were so friendly and so curious.  We had the best time watching them.

And flamingos!  They were friendly and fun.  We joked that the flamingos were Leo sized.

They walked around right next to our cabana all day.

We all took turns in the hammock.

It's hard to explain how large these iguanas were.  Probably 3 ft long.  Maybe longer.  They never came too close to us.  They just wanted to sun themselves on the rocks.

Snorkle gear came with the cabana.  The kids got right into the waves to hunt for fish.  There were SO many cool fish, crabs along the rocks and birds flying overhead.  There was something cool to see at every angle.  I didn't snorkle and still saw tons of fish and creatures.

We walked over to the snack shack for fries and the restaurant for tacos at lunch time.  All food was included.  Look at Fletcher on our cabana deck.  It was such a cool location for the day.

Aruba is windy this time of year so the water was a little wavy.  No one minded one bit.

I could have watched these flamingos all day long.

Leo loved the kid zone water park.  The had a nice first aid station when we needed bandaids as well as a gift shop.

Team snorkle.  Except they said SCUBA all day long.

De Palm Island was so cool!  Flamingos on all sides of the islands.  Cool attractions for the whole family!  Our advice is to get on one of the first ferries to the island and return on one of the first ferries back to the big island of Aruba.  Bring cash for taxis.  Put on lots of sunscreen!  It's so windy that you don't realize you are getting roasted.  Whoops!

We headed back to the port and did some shopping.  Aruba has a really nice indoor shopping area.  The vendors are not agressive like they are in Nassau.  Everyone was nice and friendly.  We all found fun souvenirs.

Thanks for an amazing day, Aruba!  Back to the Carnival Horizon.  Our room was on the side facing the ports.  The kids and I loved hanging out on our balcony watching the cruise ship passengers come and go at the port.  Especially the ones running to make the final boarding time at the end of the day.

Carnival Horizon Favorites

Happy Friday!  I'm so excited to reap our favorite things from our cruise to the ABC Islands on the Carinval Horizon in June.  We had a blast!  This is our third Carnival cruise.  We loved the bigger ship, the 3 ports and the food.  We stayed in the Family Harbor and the lounge across the hall from us with food, ice cream, drinks, games and comfy couches was such a treat.  As usual, Kevin planned every single detail and found every perk/deal that he could to make our vacation extra great.  We had the best time.

We drove from Southern Indiana to Miami!  That was a long haul of 18+ hours.  We had three rounds of flights get changed/cancelled so we opted to drive and guarantee we got to Miami on time.  Since we were staying in a suite, we took advantage of all the perks - early boarding was great!

We stopped at every Buc-ees we could.  The Beast Burritos were so good.

We navigated all the toll roads, construction and parking garages and had no problem getting on our ship early.

We had to do some strategic packing for this trip!  We had hotel bags for the two nights of road trips to get to Miami, our cruise was 8 nights and then we had one hotel stay on the way home.  So I packed everyone for 3 different trips.  Our cruise closet was colorful and fun!

Leo mastered the soft serve ice cream machine while we were still docked in Miami.  Those cones were definitely a highlight of his vacation.

Matching pjs.

The weather was lovely on our whole trip!  We encountered a little rain here and there on our drive and at sea, but our port days were perfection.

My cruise bag with a bag charms of all of our ports - Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao.

The Horizon was the largest ship we've ever sailed on.  More restaurants.  More pools.  More fun!

Leo was really into trying new food this trip.  He tried and LOVED Caesar salad.

I spotted a walrus at our hibachi lunch reservation.  Leo says "War-lus".  Don't correct him.  All of the restaurants on the ship were yummy - BBQ, hibachi, sushi, Italian and the coffee shop.

Leo wasn't the only one mastering the soft serve machine.  Impressive ice cream tower.

Dressing up for dinner!

Kevin found a deal for us to get the drink packages.  Mocktails for everyone :)

Our ship had some really cool things like the Skyride.  Fletcher and Kevin loved pedaling around the tippy top of the ship while we were at the port.  The views were incredible.

Mini golf.  XL chess.  Basketball court.  Exercise equipment.  Pool tables.  Track and more.

Leo was pretty convinced he needed this singing, Carnival cruise ship tail hat.

Sunset movie on the deck with drinks and popcorn was so much fun!

The Family Harbor lounge was such a treat!  It was across the hall from our room and they served breakfast, snacks, ice cream drinks and late night snacks.  We didn't have to walk all over the ship for drink refills or snacks.  It was so handy.

The kids LOVE LOVE LOVED hunting for rubber ducks around the ship.  They ended up finding 82 different creatures.  Tiny Jesus, Bigfoot, flamingos, 3D printed things and more.

One of our formal dinner nights!

Waiting to board our ship!

Kevin loved the coffee machine across the hall!

Leo adores the Grinch.  Their kid water park was really fun.  The kids really enjoyed the water slides.

We had a blast and can't wait to cruise again.  We all agreed that a 5-7 day cruise is ideal and that an 8 day cruise felt a tiny bit long.  But we had two sea days before and after our three islands.  We loved having three stops and also loved going to such cool countries.  Goodmorning Miami!  We took full advantage of the suite perks again and did the early exit process.  We left our room at 7:20am and were leaving the parking garage in our van at 8:00am!!  It was unreal.  We kept all of our luggage with us, walked straight off the ship, zoomed through customs and couldn't have been happier with the suite perks.

We had two long days of driving to get back to Indiana.  We saw a rainbow or two on our way home and were so thankful for some fresh travel memories together as a family.  Check back next week for a recap of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.  Let me know if you have any questions about Carnival or the Carnival Horizon ship.

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