Year 4, Day 342, “Living the Dream”. Monday, 4/07/2025. The Wellington – Day 6 of 11 day trip to the ABC Islands – Day 4 of 8 night Southern Caribbean cruise on Adventure of the Seas. – We are in Oranjestad, Aruba from 9am to 11pm. It has been five years since we have been to this port. Last time was 3/8/2020 – 3/9/2020. This was right before they shut down cruises due to covid. https://deestimes.com/aruba/ Now we are in another historical period with the stock market dropping quickly due to the tariffs? Will it tumble into a bear market? That is a drop of 20 percent or more from a recent high. After breakfast, we headed off the ship. We went on a four-hour excursion ‘Kukoo Kunuku Party Bus and Beach tour’. We had booked this excursion in advance for $95.98 for both of us. No refreshments were included in the excursion.
The Logos Hope ship was docked near where we were meeting our excursion.
Logos Hope is the world’s largest floating bookfair. It remains in each port for about two weeks and opens the gangways to thousands of visitors each day. Future ports of call for the Logos Hope are:
• Oranjestad, Aruba 13 Mar 2025 to 8 Apr 2025
• Willemstad, Curacao 8 Apr 2025 to 1 May 2025
• Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 29 May 2025 to 17 Jun 2025
• Castries, Saint Lucia 17 Jun 2025 to 1 Jul 2025
• Roseau, Dominica 1 Jul 2025 to 14 Jul 2025
• Kingston, Jamaica 18 Jul 2025 to 20 Aug 2025
• Montego Bay, Jamaica 21 Aug 2025 to 15 Sept 2025
• Freeport, Bahamas 18 Sept 2025 to 1 Oct 2025
• Nassau, Bahamas 2 Oct 2025 to 20 Oct 2025
• Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis 24 Oct 2025 to 30 Oct 2025
• St Johns, Antigua and Barbuda 30 Oct 2025 to 10 Nov 2025
The party bus drove away from the main island road and onto the smaller streets to local neighborhoods. There we saw the businesses and homes of the local residents. These party buses are very loud and must annoy the peace and quiet of these residents.
Our first stop was at the Alto Vista Chapel. The drive up to the chapel is a long winding road lined with crosses marking the stations of the cross.
People come from all over on good Friday to do the Stations of the Crosses here. The fourteen stations are
1) Jesus is condemned to death.
2) Jesus is made to bear his cross.
3) Jesus falls the first time.
4) Jesus meets his mother.
5) Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross.
6) Veronica wipes Jesus’ face.
7) Jesus falls the second time.
The women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus.
9) Jesus falls the third time.
10) Jesus is stripped of his garments.
11) Jesus is nailed to the cross.
12) Jesus dies on the cross.
13) Jesus is taken down from the cross.
14) Jesus is placed in the sepulchre.
The first chapel was built on this site in the 1700’s. That chapel was torn down and rebuilt in 1952. 75 percent of the population in Aruba are Roman Catholic. We got off the bus and took some pictures of the local flora and the church.
Our excursion was a lot of fun, but the party bus had no seat belts and open windows.
We passed the Aloe factory. The Divi Dvi trees were in the field along with the Aloe plants. Divi Divi trees are Aruba’s natural compass. They always point in a southwestern direction due to the trade winds that blow across the island from the north-east. Schools here teach Papiamento (the local language), Dutch, American, and Spanish.
Our second stop was the California Lighthouse. The restaurant was closed, but there were local vendors selling drinks and souvenirs.
It is a hot, humid, windy, and overcast day. By the end of the day my hair is a tangled greasy mess. After the lighthouse, we drove past stores. Then we went down along the Palm beach area past the Ritz Carlton, the Marriott, and the casinos.
We were dropped off at a beach for two hours. Well considering it was cloudy, and breezy. We decided not to stay at the beach. We took a taxi back to the ship.
We have a Caribbean night menu in the main dining room.
Here’s a detailed video of our balcony stateroom 9244.
The Ice cream station was closed in the evening.
The bike was free.
The last thought for the night is “The power of stupid people in large groups is so true”. Lol.
Adventure of the Seas Day 4 Cruise Compass – Oranjestad, Aruba.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: https://amzn.to/3RSvc4y All Mighty Pacs Laundry Detergent, Free Clear for Sensitive Skin: We always use All Free and Clear liquid laundry shop. Just recently we have started buying the pods for traveling. It is great for for using laundry machines in hotels. When you have to purchase small packages you have to buy real perfumy stuff most of the time. Allergic reactions have been a problem in the past. This stuff is great. Clothes come out really clean with no perfume odors or skin irritants.
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