Orangestad, Aruba February 1, 2009

We planned no shore excursions for Aruba because we knew the shipped docked right in town and there was plenty to see and do.

We awoke to the announcement that we were docking. Our stateroom, on the starboard side, faces out to sea at most ports, so we couldn’t watch the docking process from the balcony.

It had rained heavily earlier and the streets were very wet, big puddles were everywhere. While we were ashore, it was cloudy; but the skies cleared as the day progressed.

We went ashore at 8:30 and walked around town separately. I bought a few small items and Jim bought me a Sony digital camera and a memory card and a blackberry charger for himself.

All signs in Orangestad are in English only even though Aruba one of the three islands in the Netherland Antilles and the official language there is Dutch. We met in the upper level of Burger King after awhile. Jim went back to the ship while I piddled awhile longer before returning to the ship about 12:30. In the meantime, I bought a tropical outfit to wear for Island Night.

After lunch on the ship, Jim called home andI sat in a deck chair on Deck 7 and listened to part of a novel on my Nano.

In the evening, Jim watched the Super Bowl and I listened to more of my novel.

The evening’s entertainment was comedic magician Jeff Peterson. The clueless cruise director, Paul, kept messing up the entertainer’s name, saying “Stevenson” instead of “Peterson”. Nobody seemed to notice.