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The invitation to join one of the best luxurious catamarans on the island for a dinner-cruise catered by Le Dôme, was irresistible. On a Thursday night the Palm Pleasure left the de Palm Pier on Palm Beach with a collection of media personalities on board, writers, photographers and two TV crews.
Aruba's press circles are small, we all know each other well, only never have any time to talk to each other. We frequently meet at press conferences where everybody talks, but us. Then we read each others' ruminations in the paper.
The de Palm Pier is home to Kokoa, a popular beach bar and the Lazy Lizard, an entertaining shopping spot. It's a good place to hang. We congregated and waited for the signal to board, discussing the latest dish: the ministers, upcoming hot potatoes, new restaurants.
Boarding turned out easy, as the catamaran is practically glued to the pier, and I was given a gentlemanly hand across, by the cruise director.
On board we were treated to a tall flute of champagne as the crew of three loosened the ropes of our catamaran. The Palm Pleasure has indoor and outdoor seating, both the areas are formally set for dinner with linen, silver and glassware. Then the Captain is perched on the middle of the boat and the kitchen nestled at the bottom in one of the huge hulls. This dinner-cruise is no plastic plate ordeal, where you have to hold your barbecued chicken down in the wind.
I talked to Janine & Reo of de Palm Tours & Werner of Le Dôme. They all report wanting to create a unique guest experience beyond practical, mundane considerations. They wanted to use their flair, make the effort to offer a novel experience. Indeed it was.
While we were cruising, standing around the decks in small clumps of people, chatting and sipping a plate of hors d'oeuvres circulated bearing melon and prosciutto, cream cheese flavored with herbs on toast. The Palm Pleasure was hugging the coastline in the direction of the lighthouse, a forty-minute leisurely sunset spectacular, to arrive at Boca Catalina, a cove just a shell toss away from the sunken German freighter off Malmok beach. The Palm Pleasure is a very stable vessel thanks to its two hulls, displacing deep water, thus is sails quite a distance from shore where the ocean floor lies further.
The deck hands fished a rope out of the water with ease, as we anchored off the coast. The sun just set in the West and a moon, a full moon, was rising in the East over tall palm tree tops. As we were gently rolling in the waves, the Le Dôme-trained waiters served a three-course delicious dinner. As an appetizer to go with our fresh dinner rolls and sweet butter, a smoked Salmon platter with onions and capers. The main course gave us a choice: filet of grouper, lobster sauce, or filet of lamb in wine, accompanied by a bouquet of string beans wrapped in bacon, and a baked potato.
It feels good to be sitting under an amazing celestial canopy, on comfortable chairs, with a group of people you really like, dining, sipping wine, with nothing else to think about but the motion of the ocean, the evening breeze, the houses across the bay, some lit, some dark. Le Dôme on the Ocean promised an Aruba from a different perspective and delivered.
The dessert, a Bavarian custard drizzled with wild berry sauce, was followed by coffee and tea. Then the rope was tossed back in the water and we took up cruising again, this time against the wind, back to the Palm Beach pier. The ride is exhilarating. Similar to an amusement park experience, only with a wine glass in your hand. The waiters kept the drinks flowing and we flocked to the nose of our boat to watch it plow the water efficiently. 
We didn't want to say good-bye when we docked. Which is a sure sign that a good time was had by all. Except the crew of Le Dôme which had to unload the entire boat content, tables, chairs, kitchenware to allow the Palm Pleasure to leave on its scheduled snorkeling cruise the following morning. This is indeed work, says Werner. But we wanted to do it for our guests. We get bored when our list of projects dwindles.
Janine says Le Dôme on the Ocean is offered once a week on Thursday, and is booked via all de Palm Tours locations at the resorts. The price per person is $90.50. and it includes the cruise, dinner and bottomless drinks. It sells out regularly, so hurry up and make a reservation.
Superb Belgian cuisine goes hand-in-hand with hot Latin rhythms. The best of both worlds is captured in the new and exciting Le Dôme goes Latin! dinner-and-show package. What's not to like about a sumptuous three-course dinner at Aruba's top French-Belgian Le Dôme Restaurant, a cab ride to the lovely Crystal Theater, a welcome drink, a match-play coupon for the Crystal Casino and the rave-review Let's go Latin show for just US$ 75 per person?
Next to the daily catering of 200 servings on our boat trips for 