Enchanted Princess Day 8 - Aruba | Inaugural Sailing | November 2021 | Solo Travel

Hello Travelers, I am traveling solo on the brand new Enchanted Princess cruise ship for her maiden voyage with paying passengers. This is day 8 of our ten day journey, where we are visiting Aruba. I went on the Helmet Dive, De Palm Island Beach & Meal shore excursion. We all climbed on the bus and went off to the area where this group stages some of their tours (if indicators of the group of dune buggies in the parking lot were correct). There, we all got on a small boat to take us across to De Palm Island. This is a fairly long video, so here are the sections: 1:12 Port to the De Palm Island tour dock 2:22 Arrive on De Palm Island 3:02 Beginning of cabanas 3:25. Children’s splash zone 5:05. Waterslides 8:17. Flamingos 9:33. Restaurant 12:45. Helmet dive excursion 14:22 Snorkeling 16:30. Return to port 17:50. Sail away time-lapse Once there, you can go and reserve the various activities they offer. The helmet dive was just one of several options they have there. The Gift Shop is one of the first buildings you encounter, and in addition to trinket and clothes, there is an excursion counter where they can help you book anything of interest. At the front cashier, you can also rent a locker (well worth it). The lockers are $5 and they also take a $10 deposit which you get back when you return the key. On their website, you can rent their cabanas. All of them were already booked when we arrived. The person I talked to there said that if you are going to be on the island, you should reserve the cabana at least a couple of weeks prior. Their website is: https://depalmisland.com/. I booked my tour through the cruise line, but it looks like you can reserve different things from their site as well. As I had booked the helmet dive, the tour guide on the bus gave me an additional wrist band, which indicates to the bartenders that they cannot serve us alcohol before we go on our dive (for safety). Once the dive is done, you can remove the wristband. The island was an all inclusive—with a bar where you could order drinks, and a buffet set up in a restaurant at one end of the island. The helmet dive was really fun. The helmets are quite heavy—75 lbs out of the water (but only around 15 lbs once submerged). So you walk in the water in front of the dock and the guy (who also is in charge of your air while you are under water) picks it up with a hoist and lowers it onto your shoulders. While it feels substantial at first, as you walk further down into the deeper water (you are walking the entire time, not swimming), the weight is much less. There are hand rails on the path you are walking, and you must keep a hand on them at all times. They have various items sunk (an airplane, a bus, a jeep) on the ocean floor and coral has grown on them forming a reef. The fish flock to these areas, and they are swimming among you as you walk. They do not let you take photos or video of the dive. Instead, they will have you stop at certain designated areas and take your picture, which you can then purchase after if you choose. At one point, they have lawn chairs affixed to the sandy bottom, and you sit in them and hook your legs around the legs of the chair or you will float away. (There are two divers accompanying and guiding all the people on the dive). The divers then start handing you creatures—a sea cucumber, a very robust hermit crab (they are careful how they hand them to you so you aren’t in range of his claws), and finally a sea urchin. Then they guide us each into a jeep for more pictures. Finally, the path takes you back up to the dock where they use the same hoist to remove your helmet. The whole excursion took about half an hour to give you an idea of how long you are under water. The photo package was $39, and they give you a USB drive with your photos on it (they had some difficulty with their computer, and gave me a drive with everyone’s photos on it). FYI, you can wear your prescription glasses while you have the helmet on—I include a picture of one of the guests doing just that. If you have long hair—you might want to put it up. When he settles the helmet on your shoulders, it can trap your hair. After the helmet dive, I had some lunch and then went snorkeling. The water was really clear, and there were so many fish! It was a nice relaxing day, and I’d totally do it again. Please like this video and subscribe to my channel to make sure you don’t miss future content. I have more videos for this cruise, as well as future cruises. Thanks for watching! Solo Sue Another Day and Other Dollars by Bonkers Beat Club, Backyard Stories by Sum Wave, and Broken Trust by Hallman courtesy of Epidemic Sound | www.epidemicsound.com #itscruiseday #cruiselife #letscruise #cruisenews #cruiserestart #cruiseupdates #SoloTravel #SoloSueTravels #SoloSue #PrincessCruises #EnchantedPrincess #InauguralSailing #MaidenVoyage