DECEMBER 20: THURSDAY: ARUBA!!

I had a hard time sleeping last night and didn't fall asleep until 4:30am only to swear that I had just laid my head down and the alarm went off at 6:30am. Port day consisted of a time from 8-4pm so it was time to rise and shine! Thank goodness it was going to be a lazy day at the beach...and by lazy for me, I mean lots of snorkeling and swimming of course.

We woke up to Trixie and Cookie hanging out on the t.v., which probably meant that I was being scolded for staying up too late last night.

We headed upstairs for breakfast and I jumped in line for the Blue Iguana Cantina breakfast burritos.

YUMMY! I really wish they had other options for the tortilla shell other than wheat or jalapeno. Some of us would prefer just a regular shell.

Everyone gathered their things in the room after breakfast and we were released onto the island a few minutes after 8am.

Of course we stopped for pictures!

They always have the prettiest costumes here! Sakari loves them! Especially the "bird feathers"

Since we are sharing ship photographers pictures, I'm going to share one that came up on my phone of Kendra with the elephant towel animal the night before. I'm not sure if she purchased it or not.

So what did we have planned for today? I absolutely LOVE Aruba! We have been doing (almost) 2 week vacations here over the last 2 summers and pretty much have been everywhere and done everything. There's so many beaches and things to do and everything here is right up our alley! But what do you do when you've pretty much done it all? Well, we head back to one of our favorite beaches (that's fairly close to the port).

I personally love Boca Catalina, which is the next beach over from Arashi. Arashi is very beautiful. Think of white powdered sand, gorgeous water, decent snorkeling, and a beach restaurant with drinks and food. They do have restrooms, but will charge $1 to use them (unless you are buying food and drinks). We have personally not had to pay to use them yet. Boca Catalina is a beach that is very small, up on a hill with a small entrance to the water but great snorkeling. However, no restrooms or vendors here...which is why we come here a lot when vacationing because we bring our own drinks/food.

Since we were with extended family, Arashi was the plan with a snorkel excursion over toward Boca Catalina and maybe a little past since the last time we were there in August, the starfishes were EVERYWHERE....hundreds.

Also, we have a dear friend that lives in Aruba (originally from the US) and we couldn't wait to see her once we got in to port. She usually works on the days the cruise ships are in and we knew we'd find her at the port somewhere. We had talked just prior to us cruising and she knew to expect us. Sakari just loves her to death and couldn't wait to see her again!

We were off the ship and....she was no where. My heart was broken. The hubby went back inside to see if he could find her but no luck. We decided to go ahead and stand in line for a taxi. Now Aruba has a weird law that they will not allow more than 5 passengers in a taxi or car. This means that large families are pretty much screwed and forced to take more than 1 vehicle. It doesn't matter if it's a taxi van either. Only 5 people! I find this ridiculous and have no idea why they have this rule.

A couple in front of us (2 people) ask if we were willing to share a cab with them and I miscalculated the amount of people and told them that we already had a group going. When it was our turn...of course we were denied for having 5 1/2 people. 😞  Now I wish we would have shared the cab with them and split the cost.

We zoomed off to Arashi and Kendra came a little bit after us.

Click the following link to read our day at Arashi and Boca along with snorkeling:

Off we went and we were pulling back up into the turn around area at the port and we noticed our Aruba friend walking across the parking lot. We rolled down the windows and was yelling. At first she couldn't tell who was in the van and gave a friendly "hello" wave...and then the minute that I opened the door after the van stopped, Sakari jumped out and went running into her arms. We were so happy to catch up with her and see her...I mean it's been a whole 3 months since we had seen her last. 😉

This is what happens when the wind is against your back and you have long hair and it's beach hair to boot!

We got smart and turned around facing the wind...ok, now I can see.

Sakari got an update on her tortoise our friend gave her last time we were here but at the last minute we didn't have all the paperwork needed to transport it back to the states (next time) and she sends Sakari pictures of her all the time. She was the size of a quarter when we were there months ago and now she fits in the palm of your hand. Sakari named her Leah and all she does is talk about Leah back home.

Unfortunately, we had to say our goodbyes with our promise to return again soon to stay on the island and visit with her and hang out. We had originally talked about coming for another land vacation for Christmas here and staying at a house next to our friends. But, Christmas time is outrageous to stay in Aruba and that's how we ended up on a cruise instead. Last time we were there she gave us a guided personal tour of the places we shouldn't adventure to on our own (the National Park and along the treacherous terrain of that area and beaches) and we had a fabulous time all day visiting the park, swimming, going through the multiple caves...and of course searching for that cactus with the flowers that you can eat.

Back to the ship we went.

Back on the ship and straight to the shower we went. We made it out just in time to watch us pulling out of port. Goodbye Aruba...until next time. We'll miss you.

There is a tree in the middle of the water (I'm assuming on a sand bar but it's under water)

Do you see it?

One thing I like about getting your pop at the bar at the pool area is that they will give you a can of pop and a glass of ice.

Sakari decided to head to the kids club ONLY because they were having "free time" which meant that she could create things...things with rubber bands...things that she could wear. So, she was only there from 4:15-5pm and then signed herself out and back to the room.

We decided we wanted dinner early tonight and the great thing about having the Carnival Hub App is that you can request a table from your phone. It will pop up when it is time to head there. If you go to the dining room and request a table they will put you in the system and give you a beeper. You can only go so far with that beeper and not the entire ship. With the phone app, you can be anywhere and they will notify you.

The lights in the dining room change at times and it's real pretty.

Dinner

This cold soup is DA BOMB! They seem to have a different kind each night and they are amazing! My favorite is the strawberry.

They came around with some drinks to buy (while I was in the restroom I might add) and the hubby decided we needed a drink. They were YUMMY! They came in a souvenir cup.

CHEERS!!!

DESERTS

Now this time at the dining room, the messed up our order x2. Eventually, it was corrected and the food was good.

After dinner, Sakari wanted to go find her a lanyard to use for her keycard instead of carrying it all the time...then, of course, she had to find her ship ornament to add to her collection of about 20+ ships now.

She decided she just wanted to go back to the room and draw on her phone so we told her we were heading to the casino for a little bit and we would come back to the room to grab her for the 80's deck party. 

Off to the casino we went and had a little bit of luck here and there and I ended up walking out $86 richer than I walked in with.

Around 10:00 pm we headed back to the room only to find her stripped down and fast asleep. Hmmm, should we wake her? How fun would she actually be if she's half asleep? Yea, I guess we'll leave her and it will be an adult night. I texted Kendra and told her to COME ON! (She LOVES the 80s) 

We danced and had a great time! Mike the CD is awesome and gets the crowd pumped up! He came dressed up as....none other than Richard Simmons. They handed out glow sticks and wands. I made sure to collect a few for Sakari since she was missing out. 

We shook all night long....and waited on Kendra to arrive.

And then we started something...without Kendra because she still hadn't shown up.

Then it was time for some footloose. Now Kendra has taught me this dance and we do it when we go out dancing...it's such a fast paced song and there's a little bit of foot slapping and I can tell you that the dance we do has a lot more to it than the way they had us doing it this night. I just realized I was so busy trying to learn the way they did it that my video was pointing toward the floor once the dance started. LOL  But eventually there were a few of us that were able to catch on and do the dance. The hubby gave up on this dance after a while.  Meanwhile...Kendra is laying in bed not able to move from her sunburn....and missing it all.

Then came....THE THRILLER! Now I was on NCL once and they had actual classes that you could go to, to teach you this dance, and then on their 80's night, everyone did the dance and it was so awesome! This time, they taught us on the deck step by step. It was fun and hilarious but we caught on. Even the hubby was having fun. Still no Kendra. Don't worry, I was sending her updates on everything she was missing out on. I mean I might as well rub it in right?

Then I watched Lorilei run upstairs with the guns...I knew they were about to shoot something and started filming only to catch the end of it.

The deck party was over with by 11:30 pm, but they were having an after party at Ocean Plaza and it was a live band singing 80's songs. They were pretty good. Richard, I mean Mike made his appearance and then off he went.

They didn't play long and then it was all over. I guess the fun was coming to an end and we headed back to the room.

Our towel animal for the night.

I have to say, this is the FIRST CRUISE that I have ever been able to keep my towel animals. I see people post pictures of them all together at the end of the cruise and I always wonder how they manage to keep them. My room stewards have always confiscated them every day. It's like they think they're gonna run out of towels on the cruise or something. But this time...I got to keep all of them but the first 2 I think it was.