Arruba, Curacao, Panama combination
 

My wife and I would like to visit Arruba, Curacao and Panama City. I have been looking into cruises and find that Holland America has a 10 day trip that includes stops at those two islands and brief visit to the east side of the canal. I would prefer to not be on a ship and have time to visit those islands for more than a day. Maybe fly to Arruba or Curacao and base out of one of them and take a day trip to the other. And then get to Panama City for a couple of days and fly home from there. Anyone have any thoughts on how I can accomplish this? I see that there are some flights from the islands to Panama City so I guess that part is doable. Thanks for any suggestions.

To get between Aruba and Curacao you will need to fly. There are flights on DAE or Insel Air for around $143 p/p. It's about a 20 minute flight on the smallest air plane I have ever seen. A day trip would not be advisable due to the air schedule. It would be just like on a cruise rushing around trying to see everything in a few hours and having to pick and choose what to see/do before you had to fly back. I would spend a few days on each Island.

Not sure about how to get to Panama, but it would probably be easier to find a flight from Aruba than Curacao. I would check with a travel agent and have them set you up with a tour pacakage to visit each Island and have them figure out the air transport to each one of them. It will probably be easier than doing it on your own.

did a quick search. seems Copa Airlines will fly aruba to (pty) panama city in 3 hours for $800. other airlines will take 17-30 hrs.