Port 26 Aruba

by Ed · March 2, 2022

Bon bini!

Early in the morning Feb 28th, 2022, we quietly glided into port at Aruba for a two-day stay. For an advertised 8:00 AM arrival we actually arrived around 6:40 AM. I thought a 7:00 AM alarm would be adequate. Nope. Fortunately engine noise woke me at 6:45.

Another overcast morning squished hopes of a nice sunrise, but the sun did sneak a ray or two to help the sky’s color!

While the sky woke up (and us, too) we realized we don’t recognize this port anymore! These two buildings weren’t here before. The fencing around the port with concertina wire on top wasn’t here before and rather than looking like it protects the port, it looks like the condos are a penal colony, a minimum security prison.

After breakfast we went on deck 5 to survey the port. The only thing we recognize in this photo is the Royal Plaza on the far left. Everything to the right of the Royal Plaza, including the Renaissance Hotel & Casino on the far right is new since we were last here!

Here’s my gratuitous and now requisite photo of Insignia in Aruba.

We have a neighbor already in port. A little google search informs us this is a ship for the Christian Church of Scientology. Who knew?

A lot of work has been put into the port! This cute terminal building is for the slip behind ours. Our building is not so cute, as you can kinda see two photos up.

There is now a nice walkway to get out of the port area, and of course it is lined with little shop stands. We learn today is a national holiday for Carnival, so many shops and restaurants aren’t open. There should be more activity tomorrow.

Traffic is light, and the directions are clear!

Here’s the choke point. But we end up using an open gate on the left rather than the turnstile.

A new set of shops has been set up, but they are off to the side of our exit from the port, and it only appears a couple of shops are open today. Not worth exploring.

On the north end of the new shops is this interesting “tree”! Cute!

Around town there are several blue horses. These are all in different poses, so it’s clear when you see a different photo that it is a different horse. (Other cities have the same animal in the same pose painted differently to set it apart from others.) This is part of a project called Paardenbaai (Horse Bay) to recognize the importance of livestock in the history of the development of Oranjestad in the 1800’s. When brought to the island the horses would be pushed overboard from a ship and a lead horse is counted on to lead the other horses to swim to shore.

We arrive at the one sight we recognize from our previous trips. This is the Royal Plaza.

L.G. Smith’s Steak and Chop House is a new restaurant in town. Clearly this cow had met a lot of visitors based on the amount of paint that has been rubbed off! And L.G. Smith is Lloyd G. Smith – the waterfront street that is usually named “Front Street” on many islands is actually named “L.G. Smith Street.” That’s the road you see in the photo.

Lucy’s is another new place. It is large and airy, right on the waterfront. But what caught my eye is the name: Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant. We want to show this photo to our room steward, Lucy!

We have to cross a bridge that we don’t remember, and see this sight below us. This is not just a drainage ditch. We head across the road toward the Renaissance Hotel, and notice…

…a boat coming out of the Renaissance Hotel! So we scurry in to the hotel to see what this is about.

We find the little loading area, and a line of people waiting. The previous boat was empty, so this line is surprising!

Near the line of people we find this sign – Renaissance has its own private island that these boats transport the guests to visit! Wow!

Continuing our journey of “the new” we see this new marketplace. As we walk through and around it we realize this is a property of the Renaissance Hotel! There are dozens of restaurants and bars and stores here. There are more stores and restaurants still being built out. And there is a “It’s 5 O’clock Sonewhere” bar in the center of the marketplace.

There is a long building surrounded by a temporary chain link fence. We finally find an entrance to the building telling what it is, and then an opening in the fence allowing this photo. This is the Parliament building for the Aruba government! Again, nothing we remember from before.

Nearby is this statue of Henny Eman, the first Prime Minister of Aruba.

The clocktower and walls of Fort Zoutman now house the historic museum of Aruba. This we remember!

A wide plaza sits in front of the Aruba Government building. A single ramp zig zags up to a beautiful sculpture of three men around a piano.

I had to look this up: The three men in the statue are Juan Chabaya Lampe, Rufo Wever and Hubert Boi as they composed the Aruba national anthem “Aruba Dushi Tera”.

This shot shows the keyboard and the manuscript they are composing.

I can only assume this is the Hall of Justice. Any guesses why? I couldn’t find a sign, but this shares the corner with the Government offices.

This beautiful church is the Protestant Church. This photo almost looks like a drawing, doesn’t it?

There is a trolley line that runs from the cruise terminal shops up the primary shopping centers along Main Street. The trolley is free! But don’t count on it being fast, and don’t count on it getting you back to the cruise ship for a 5:30 PM all-aboard cutoff since it stops at 5:00 PM. We saw two different cars running.

This is Main Street

A new sign is revealed to us!

There is even a passing lane in case two cars encounter each other!

Like Bonaire, the architecture of Aruba celebrates Dutch designs, but a little more elaborately!

This is the backside of the Royal Palms!

This is the National Archeological Museum.

It has its own horse!

And has a traditional boat patrolled by a rooster! The yellow and green building in the background is the museum, and the red building behind the museum houses the offices.

More stores being renovated with beautiful facades!

This store has a little different architecture with the columns and beams near the center of the facade rather than on the perimeter like most of the others have.

And another horse eating out of Joy’s hand! (There are at least four other horses we saw that I didn’t photograph.)

Sadly, there are also many examples that look like this. Once beautiful home fallen to decay.

As in other ports of call, we found a handful of beautiful street art.

On this one I’m not sure what the cook is holding in his hand.

This one is striking in the appearance of an etching.

We thought we found a Hard Rock Cafe still here, but discovered they closed when COVID hit, and they have not reopened in Aruba.

I have to add this little fella. He was hungrily feeding on the centers of the cactus blooms. I’m not sure if he was getting nectar, bugs, bloom, or water.

At the end of our first day we returned to our ship to find this ship had arrived – the Norwegian Epic. The second morning our exit route from the pier was modified to push us and the Epic’s passengers into the middle of the cluster of stores. Surprise!

At the end of our second day we see this behemoth in between Insignia and the Norwegian Epic. The Carnival Magic arrived and potentially 3,600 passengers descended on Oranjestad – all as we tried to get back to our ship. We were salmon swimming upstream!

Carnival Magic – 3,690 passengers. Oceania Insignia – 277 passengers. A big difference, eh?

From our veranda I spotted this to photograph. I’m not sure how I missed this when I was in front of it, but I think I was distracted trying to not get swept away by the wall of people coming off the Magic.

As our dock lines begin to be released, we observe the Carnival Magic’s bridge crew gather to watch us leave. It’s interesting that three are masked and one is not. I wonder who is that person and why do they feel so empowered?