I'm 21 years old and going on Premier's Seawind Crown cruise in June. I'm interested in learning
which of the excursions are fun and worth the money.
I'm not a big swimmer, but I'd like to try something
new (like snorkeling), and I definitely want something fun and something I couldn't find in the
States! Also, we're getting to Aruba a day early to avoid stress and hassle. Which hotels are reasonably priced and have good restaurants? I figure we will only be in the room one night so we don't need total luxury, but I would like to be in a nice area (no slums). Feedback from anyone who's been on this cruise, or who's been to Aruba, is much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Andrea: My husband and I just returned from a cruise on the Seawind Crown and had a wonderful trip. Most of the people on the ship are in the forties and up except for a lot of younger South American passengers. You will have an opportunity to snorkle. I can't put my hands on the list of the different excursions at the moment, however, I can tell you to take the Jeep safari trip on Barbados and the catamaran on St. Lucia. I snorkled while on the catamaran excursion and it was really wonderful -my first time. Curacao and Caracas were our least favorite stops. We chose the town trips in both of those areas and they were not very interesting. In Curacao we did the Island tour and Seaquarium tour. Also offered was a Panoramic beach tour, ostrich encounter and a trolley train of the city. I probably would have chose the beach tour. In Caracas we did the El Hatillo Artesian shopping tour which was supposed to be in a little village 1 hour above the city of Caracas. This turned out to be a longer trip and not very interesting. We were just turned loose in a small village to shop in whatever stores we could find and finding a bathroom became the main issue and hard to do. There was a German village tour offered which sounded nice, but lasted about 8 hours including 2l/2 hours each way. Several people said that they liked the Exotican Caracus city tour where they went to a glass factory and saw other parts of the city. Aruba has many motels. La Cabanna is the one that Premier Cruise lines use to extend your vacation and is an all inclusive. There are others including Holiday Inn and Best Western you could get the 1-800 number for. I believe that there is an Aruba tourism web site you could try also. We did not stay in Aruba, only did a 2 l/2 hour tour of the island before we flew back home on Sunday. The island itself is not very pretty. I has a natural bridge on the far side of the island and then there are beautiful beaches on the other side of the island where all of the motels/hotels are located. I hope you really enjoy your trip. Which deck is your cabin on? The ship is old and small but has great food and a "quaintness" about it. The shows at night are not "great", but the young people who sing and dance are quite good. Debbie, the cruise director, is very good at making the entertainment fun. Please try the bingo. I won the Jackpot on the last night of the cruise of $1000.00. I was so excited. Write me back if you have questions I have not covered. Good luck. Judy