Christmas Cruise to the South Caribbean

Introduction

I’ve long wanted to visit Aruba and Curaçao, and so when I received a last minute “free” cruise offer on Carnival Magic, it didn’t take much convincing.

Itinerary:

• Miami departure
• Aruba
• Curacao
• Amber Cove
• Miami return

Booking the Essentials

Landing a Free Cruise

Once you start getting casino offers from Carnival, they tend to come pretty regularly. In this case, I had a “last minute” offer for a free cabin on an 8 day cruise aboard Carnival Magic. I still had to pay fees, taxes and gratuities which came to a total of about $300.

Flights

To get to Miami, I booked direct flights in American Airlines domestic first using Alaskan miles.

• CMH to MIA: 15k Alaskan + $18.10
• MIA to CMH: 15k Alaskan + $18.10

Ironically, I think this cost less than had I used American miles.

Although the common areas were a bit dingy, the room and staff were all very nice. Upon arrival, I ordered a regular cheeseburger to use some Hyatt credits for dinner, and they unexpectedly upgraded me to a double with bacon. Also, the room had huge windows and a view of planes taking off across the street. I’d never seen a spinnable wheel like this at a Hyatt, but I think it encapsulates the stay, a little beat-up but with free candy energy. I’ll take it!

The Cruise

The Ship

Aruba

Overall, Aruba was a great port. As you walk off the boat, you can head to beaches, to resorts, or into town. If you need a ride, there’s solid tourist infrastructure, and you can snag one for just $5. Something for everyone.

I spent the day walking northwest along the coast from the port to Eagle Beach and back. This is purported to be a world renowned beach, and it has a lot going for it: very soft sand, calm waters, wide beach, lots of amenities and rentals.

The beaches just north of the port had about as many iguanas as people, plus a few dogs and an owl, so I call that a win.

Curaçao

While my time in Aruba felt like one big beach, in Curaçao we debarked directly into the town of Willemstad. There was a ton to do in the immediate area, a professional baseball stadium, nature walks and a fort converted to an open air mall.

From there, I walked across the Queen Emma pontoon bridge into the town’s tourist center featuring lots of restaurants, shops, art and a floating market. I particularly liked the murals, architecture, and itty bitty pedestrian draw bridges throughout the city.

Later in the day, I came back across the pontoon bridge and explored more of the neighborhoods further back from the port. This neighborhood felt like a place for locals with some boutique hotels and AirBnbs.

Amber Cove

Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic was a bit of a bust. The cove is essentially a walled compound, with guards, surrounded by a barbed wire fence, with shops and a water park in the middle. There is no beach access and despite there being a public beach about 100 yards away, it’s probably a 2-mile walk out to the highway and back to get there, and the water quality isn’t great.

If you can escape the compound, San Felipe de Puerto Plata is just 7 miles away. The city dates back to the 1500s and was one of the first European settlements in the New World. By all accounts, it sounds like it is full of interesting things to see and do.

Unfortunately, getting there can be challenging, especially on a budget. Taking a taxi costs $40 each way, clearly a captive rate. Worse, I have seen reports, likely overblown, of cases where you don’t always arrive at your requested destination, instead getting delivered to a tourist trap with a kickback scheme. Tours from the cruise ship seem expensive, and also sound like kickback schemes, but I booked one anyway. Unfortunately, it was canceled last minute when not enough people signed up.

So instead, I spent some time bird watching with the shiny new binoculars I bought as part of a Chase/Backcountry.com deal. In Amber Cove, there is a big hill with a bar, water slide and zipline near the summit. Two or three quiet paths lead to the top. One overlooks a large marshy field with a few cows and lots of birds, making it a nice place to watch for wildlife.

Miami

Back in Miami, they kicked us off the boat on Sunday at 8am and my flight wasn’t until 730pm, so I decided to try out the “Luggage Hero” app to find a place to store my luggage while I wandered around South Beach.

If you’ve never used it before, Luggage Hero finds random places where you can drop your bags at standard rates, payed through the app. Usually these places are hotels so they’re already taking bags. My attempt to use it was mostly successful although the app had the hours of operation wrong and I ended up needing to wait 30 minutes before the small indy hotel they sent me to had someone staffing guest services.

Last year Amex added biannual $50 Resy credits to the Amex Gold. As an Ohioan, there aren’t many places I can use these locally, but South Beach is another story. With only a week before losing the credit, I stopped in the Havana Beach Cuban restaurant on Ocean Drive. The food was tasty, the service friendly, and the animatronic Santa Claus was out of this world.

Since the credit was expiring, the server got an extra big tip. Of course, it would have been even bigger had I not mistaken the question “did you want *the* fries with that” as an offer of the default included side selection (it came with fries on top) and not an $8 upsell of additional fries. But hey, that’s South Beach, and somebody’s got to pay for Santa’s coconut rum.

Summary

This trip was definitely worth it to visit Aruba and Curaçao. In the future, I’d probably fly there instead of going by boat. I imagine it would make a great way point on the way to or from South America.

Total Cost

• Flights: 30k Alaskan miles + $36.20
• Hotel: 8k Hyatt points
• Cruise: ~$300.