poker in Aruba

[frank white]

I recently went on a cruise and one of the stops was the beautiful island of Aruba. the wife and i did some "duty free" shopping in the early morning and then had some early lunch before heading off to the beach. our boat didnt leave port until 11pm so i planned on playing around 6:00 and staying for four hours and then hop in a cab and get back on the ship before it leaves. i start to take a tour of the casinos and ask around and i was told which places had poker rooms. anyone who has been to aruba knows that after 2 hours in the sun there, you need to take a break, so i went for a walk to check out what limits were spread and how the games looked. it turns out that the poker rooms don't open until 7pm. i am instantly bummed out. i am used to the foxwoods/vegas world of poker going 24 hours a day. i ask a blackjack floorperson what time a full table would get going, and he tells me that they get enough players for a full table around 8 or 9. this was a total letdown. i headed back to the beach to lay out in the sun for another hour. did some swimming then got some more sun. i ended up not even playing because i would have missed my ship if i stuck around. has anyone gotten a chance to play in aruba? i can't be too pissed off that i didnt play cards while in paradise, at least i got a good tan and got to swim in beautiful clear and WARM water in early march. that cant be done in boston harbor, revere beach, or cape cod during this time of year.
-frank