This trip report was written by Holly, who sailed the Disney Wonder on January 20, 2019 on a 7 night Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico. You can start the trip report from the beginning by clicking here.
Day 6: Aruba
For our visit to Aruba, we decided to do a UTV Tour with Around Aruba Tours.
“Experience the wildlife of Aruba through an exciting UTV adventure for two. This extreme tour is both an adventurous and exhilarating ride through the island’s rugged dessert and coastline. It is the best way to explore Aruba; a 4-hour ride led by an expert tour guide who will take you to: Philip’s Animal Garden (the island’s largest exotic animal sanctuary), Alto Vista Chapel, Baby Bridge, Bushiribana Ruins, Natural Bridge, Arikok National Park, Shark bay, Andicuri Beach, Three Bridges, Black Stone Beach, Conchi Natural Pool, Ayo Rock Formation. Experience the thrill of driving your own 4×4 UTV while exploring Aruba’s rocky coastline. Tours include complimentary non-alcoholic beverages, free entrance to Arikok National Park. Free pickup and drop-off from and to your accommodation.”
We got off the Wonder at 8:30 a.m. so we could meet our tour guides outside the main port gate promptly at 9 a.m. There were two other ships docked and it was also Betico Croes Day, a national holiday. There was lots of traffic and crowds that day due to the holiday. The weather was sunny and very breezy.
Our Around Aruba tour guides walked to us a van parked a few blocks away and drove us to Phillip’s Animal Garden where we paid for our tour, fed the animals, and used the bathroom before we set off on our UTV tour.
It should be noted that Aruba’s climate is more like the desert than the tropics and driving on the unpaved paths kicks up a lot of dirt and dust! Around Aruba Tours provided a scarf to wear around your face and mouth. Based on other reviews I read about this tour, I purchased these eye protection goggles to keep dust out of our eyes. When we put them on we looked a bit silly, but we were glad we had them to help us see clearly and safely. The tinting on these wasn’t too dark and we were able to wear our eyeglasses underneath them. I packed some water and snacks from the ship and we also wore long sleeved shirts, long pants, and shoes we didn’t mind getting dirty. The tour guides provided a brief training on how to drive the UTVs and made sure everyone was comfortable operating one.
Here are the pictures from our tour. We delighted in driving around the rocky, rugged coastline! This tour is not for the faint of heart – the terrain is very rugged and we went up and down lots of steep hills. The views were breathtaking!
After we returned to the ship we ordered a late lunch of room service. I watched the sail away from our balcony and took these action shots:
Our dinner that night was in Tiana’s Place with the Mardi Gras menu, which we enjoyed. By the time we made it to Deck 4 for our evening walk, it had gotten quite windy (about 40mph) which would make for a slightly rough evening of cruising.
Tomorrow would be our last day at sea before arriving back in San Juan.
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Up Next: Day 7 – At Sea
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