Saturday, July 1, 2017

Welcome to Aruba!

Today we finally hit land in Aruba. We had planned an excursion, but cancelled it before we left Nashville. It was going to be a hike, but we decided that perhaps a hike in the million degree weather might not be a great idea – for me anyway. Anyhow, here we are – hello Aruba!

Since we were getting off the ship, we decided to take advantage of everyone else getting off and spent some of the morning in the Rainforest Room. Then it was time for lunch and we decided to get off the ship. We did, and walked to the mall area where there was a Starbucks (and free wifi). Apparently lots of other people had the same idea, as there was quite a crown at the Starbucks.

We didn’t get a drink, because the flies were also quite abundant. Once our phone batteries were down, we decided to head back to the ship. Did I mention it was rather warm? It is quite windy in Aruba, which helps, but it is also quite sunny. And I am not exactly a fan of sun and heat.

Anyhow, we were the only ship in port – except for one that was docked next to us. That ship’s name was “Freewinds” and is the Scientology ship. We looked to see if Tom Cruise (who supposedly has a house here but doesn’t go in it because it’s haunted) was around, but we didn’t see him. I did watch as people came and went, and wondered about the poor underlings who work like dogs on the ship (I watch Leah Remini’s show).

Anyhow, once we got back on the ship, we returned to the Rainforest Room for a bit before dinner. Now about dinner …

I’ve already mentioned that George and Sylvia’s son Maxx works on the ship. He joined us for dinner on night one. And I mentioned our other dining companions Debbie (I caught her name tonight) and Dude (missed his name) have a niece who works on the ship and they ate at Palo on the first night and mentioned that she might join us for dinner.

Anyhow, when Molly and I arrived at our table, Debbie, Dude, and niece were already there, as well as Sylvia and George, who mention that Maxx will be joining us too. Now this is all fine, except we have a table for six. And now we have eight.

So, we all squeeze in and our poor servers Zoltan and August try to scramble to get everyone dishes and silverware. Molly is squished next to Dude and I get a dinner show of the server’s butt as he serves the people at the table next to us.

Basically, Molly and I are not super-excited about our dinner arrangements tonight, so we order very quickly, eat very quickly, opt out on dessert, say our goodbyes, and exit dinner. Our servers seem sad, as they are very nice, and are concerned about our experience. It was awkward and unfortunate for all – except maybe Debbie and Dude who seemed nonplussed at having to squeeze in.

We stopped for ice cream and headed back to the room, where we discussed dinner for a bit. I know – it seems petty, and I think we would have felt differently it Debbie and Dude seemed the slightest bit aware about the inconvenience. I’m all for them eating with their niece – but it seems they would have tried to figure out a way not to mess up the table for everyone.

Anyhow, tomorrow is another day. We’ll be in Curacao, and we actually have an excursion!


The view of Aruba from our verandah

Two cows having a chat ...

The ship you don't want to cruise ...
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Blessings today include: quiet time in the rainforest room; walking about in Aruba; kind servers at dinner; catching up on blog posts from June 10-17

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