Cruise Ship Diaries Part 8

ewAruba is a constituent country still ruled by the Kingdom of Holland and based in the southern Caribbean sea, along with Curacao & Bonaire they are collectively known as the ABC islands. It is a small island only measuring 20 miles from northwest to southeast and was my first port of call in the Caribbean but everyones biggest complaint was tiny amount of time we acutally had in port. We would offically dock at 6am and all aboard time was 1pm for a 2pm sailaway, and thats a 1pm all aboard if your a crew member and as such you also have to wait until the gangways are clear of guests before you can get off the ship yourself. These people were on vacation and most of them were not getting up at 6a.m in the morning!

De Palm Island, Aruba (Above)

All the above meant you would be lucky to get more than 4 hours ashore in Aruba if you were a crew member unless you were a videographer! Going ashore with the guests and filming them on their excursions was a big part of the job and that enabled me to get off 'work' and still have time to enjoy the port before all aboard! It also allowed me on a few occasions to be late back to the ship past crew all aboard time as I'd just tell security I was working and running late as I'd be back in my work polo shirt by then, one of the perks of the job! But becaues of this reason I never had an offical day off from filming in Aruba till my last cruise simply because I got to do and see more for free on the ships excursions than I would have otherwise.

After a bit of research there isn't a whole lot to do in Aruba other than water sports and head to the beach and within a few weeks I'd covered most of the key tours of the island. Over half the island is actually barren desert more akin to the middle east than the Carribean, there was an ostrich farm to visit for a good photo op, the Casabari rock formations and the California lighthouse near Arashi beach on the north tip of Aruba as key places to visit.

Closer to the port area are the usual tourist trap 'souvenir' shops which can more than double their prices the day cruise ships are in port but most people headed to Eagle or Palm beach for the few hours they had to enjoy the luxurious sandy beaches and crystal clear waters.

One of my favouite places to visit was a little island just off Aruba (about a 20 minute boat ride away) called De Palm Island, it was a private island that you had to book that was fully inclusive for food and drink once you where there and we had a half day tour lasting about 4 hours.

Because it was private, the island was not massively overcrowded and within that 4 hour window, bar getting a few shots of the guests as they arrived and left I was largely left to myself, which meant leaning how to do underater filming!

In the days before small cameras and Go-Pro's we had regular video cameras in giant heavy water proof cases, it was a regular full workout just walking around with this bit of kit! Once we'd tested it without the camera in it, in the crew pool and learned not what to do I was ready to try filming underwater. Take into account prior to working for Princess I had never been in the sea outside of England as a kid, let alone snorkelled or scuba dived in my life. To be fair I didn't have to do underwater filming but it seemed like such a wasted opportunity to be if I didn't try it.

Ironically just like the early Go-Pro's the battery life was for shit in the small Sony camera we had and despite all the various levers and hooks to operate the camera all you really needed to do was make sure you had the camera lined up right for the record button and the zoom button, and even then the best bet was to keep the camera as wide as possible. After a few terrible attempts at filming I was able get myself on a helmet dive your which took away the having to swim part of filming that I was still struggling with.

You would climb down a ladder and then the diving helmet would be placed over you head and weight would help you down the ladder to the ocean floor where you would be guided along a route and stop to take pictures. This was great as it gave me steady shots, and most importantly I could see properly as I could still wear my glasses and my head stayed completely dry.

This excursion also showed me how idiotic some of our guests could be as they mostly lie if they are ill when they come onboard the ship on their health declarations and they also do not fully read the terms and conditions of the excursions. For the helmet dive tour there was a medical wavier that you have to sign (which is standard for any underater activity) and once we we were ready the tour guide asked if anyone had any previous medical issues? A large gentleman (with a chest scar) said 'oh i had double by pass earlier in the year but...' Yes, not suprisingly that will disqualify you from going diving!!! This leads to a big scene with him ranting about how we've wasted his day in Aruba and he would have never booked the excursion if he knew he couldn't do it, refunds, compensation etc, the whole nine yards as they say in the states!

The full blown todler style meltdown this old fella had clearly shows why he probably had several heart attacks in the first place!

I loved Aruba and because of the short amount of time we had there, I always made sure I was working which meant I could maximise my time there. You have to remember that work in Aruba generally meant some kind of water based filming for an hour or so and the rest of the time was sitting on the beach with free drinks and food before heading back to the ship to sleep if off for the afternoon and waking up that night to edit.

Next time on the cruise diaries - Welcome to Escobar country...Colombia!