I’ve got 2 more stops to share from my Carnival cruise on the Breeze in January, so today we are getting off the ship in Aruba! Â I took a lot of pics to share, so figure I might as well show you around the island, as we saw it o our excursion. Â We opted for a bus tour around the island and it was very interesting and informative.
If you missed them, you can catch up on my earlier cruise posts of the Carnival Breeze ship, excursion to  Grand Turk, swimming with the dolphins in Punta Cana DR, and all about the food! It was a fantastic experience and I’m so grateful I got to be a part of it.
As our ship docked at the port, this is the view we saw of Aruba.
Once we met up with our bus, we drove through the downtown area, taking in these colorful buildings.
The downtown area has  lots of shops and restaurants and I noticed big name hotel resorts are on Aruba too, so they have tropical holidays covered.
You can’t miss this huge I Love Aruba sign in the downtown area.
One of our first stops was this huge rock formation, called Casibari. Â You could climb to the top, but we decided not to do that and we explored the surrounding area and got a good view of the top from there.
I took the time for a photo pop on the rocks. It was a sunny day in Aruba, perfect weather and I kept forgetting it was January.
From where we were, we could see the very top of the rocks and the people who had climbed up there using the rock stairs.
There was a cute restaurant with outdoor seating where we were parked and it had a set of stairs which allowed us a great view of the rock formation mountain.
There were also swings nearby which immediately took me back to childhood. Â I loved swinging on swings as a child and could swing for hours, back and forth. Â It was fun to relive that fun time!
Next stop was the aloe factory. They grow aloe here and make a lot of products that are exported out to other countries.
We all know the healing aspects of aloe and how beneficial it is to skin.
This tropical climate is perfect for growing aloe plants.
We got a tour of the factory that produces the aloe products and got a glimpse of part of the island industry.
We arrived back in the downtown area and had time to sit by the water a bit and enjoy the cool island breezes.
I enhanced this photo a bit, but isn’t this beautiful? Â It’s what you imagine the islands to be about.
It was late afternoon and the sun was sinking lower over the water.
We sat on these pallet benches and enjoyed a nice conversation with a young couple from the States who had planned a last minute trip to Aruba and said they had really enjoyed their week here.
It looks like there is plenty of shopping in Aruba.
And I spotted a Sherwin Williams on the island to. Â Nice to know that you can get paint wherever you may go!
We watched the sun slowly going down over the town and water and saw a most glorious sunset with pinks and corals and golden hues.
Our Carnival Breeze ship was all lit up and waiting for us when we returned from our day excursion. It was always a welcome sight to see and we loved getting back on board! Â Hope you enjoyed this small tour of Aruba island life.
lots of dutch influence in the architecture, wasn’t there?
Yes, for sure, it’s a Dutch owned island.
Those pink buildings looked like a beautiful birthday cake!
I’ve never been to Aruba but have considered it since Marriott has a time share property there and we are owners. One thing I have heard is that it is always windy. Did you find that to be true? The water looks gorgeous!
HI, Kim, it was breezy when we were on the dock by the beach, but nothing too crazy. We enjoyed that area and I think staying in a resort would be fun.
Hello Rhoda,
I enjoy reading your blog, but I think another post on this same trip from January is beating this subject to a pulp. I don’t mean any disrespect but how many pictures of the same tourist spots and food can you post before it becomes monotonous.
HI, Rose, this post is a look at just Aruba and I didn’t share all of these pics or information in my other posts. I did a recap, but not the whole story. I thought a look at each port stop would be interesting to my readers.
Rhoda –
Thank you so much for sharing your cruise pictures on your blog. I have thoroughly enjoyed the cruise trip through your pictures. It was very interesting to learn that they grow Aloe in Aruba. We went on a cruise last year for our anniversary and we are hoping to take another cruise later this year. We just might look into this itinerary that you chose!
Thanks so much!!! 🙂
Marilyn C.
Thank you, Marilyn, so glad you enjoyed!
Hi Rhoda,
I loved seeing the pictures of Aruba. The last time I was there was there was in 1980 and before that 1972
I can’t believe the development that has taken place since there. On my first trip it was virtually a desert island! And you know that rock formation? Well there were no stairs back when I first visited it and my friend and I climbed up without ropes or handholds!
Thanks for posting such great pictures.
Gail
HI, Gail, sounds like a lot of changes over the years. I imagine that is the way a lot of those islands are, making changes and catering to the cruise business and travelers coming in.