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Aruba
Phoenix Trip Report
Arrival: May 20, 2000
Sent in by: DStger1044@aol.com
At 2:30 AM , on Saturday, May 20th, my wife and I awoke in our home in
Southeastern Massachusetts and began our eleventh, and much anticipated,
vacation in Aruba in the last 15 years. Leaving our car at the Logan Express
shuttle lot in Braintree, we hopped the bus to Logan International Airport in
Boston. Our flight on American Airlines to Miami was smooth and uneventful,
and we then hopped another AA flight into Queen Beatrix Airport in Aruba.
Upon arrival at Queen Beatrix we marvelled at the extensive rebuilding and
additions which have been accomplished, and the much improved efficiency
within the baggage complex. After speedily clearing Aruban immigration, we
crossed the street to the Econo
Car Rental Agency. This was a model of
efficiency, not only was our vehicle ready and waiting, but the paperwork was
accurately filled out in advance as I had made an internet reservation
several weeks ago. I highly recommend and would use again without any
hesitation, the services of this agency and its friendly, knowledgeable
personnel. After an uneventful ride through the Cunucu, we pulled into the
driveway of our hotel, The Aruba Phoenix timeshare resort and rapidly checked in.
The front desk staff were very
helpful and attentive and soon we were in our room unpacking and heading out to the beach.
Our room, Studio 108 in the Villas, was just about perfect. Its appointments and amenities
were more than sufficient with a large kitchen, cable TV, telephone, AC, and excellent
furnishings. This resort is a beautiful facility with villas located in three floors
oceanfront and just to the rear of a 14 story tower with outstanding views. Aruba Phoenix
provides an outstanding fitness center with knowledgeable attendants, who aren't afraid to
offer sound advice on using their equipment, its clean and exceptionally equipped. The
pool area is nicely laid out and landscaped and includes a hot tub, which at times was not
exactly very hot, but nothing to really worry about. The only drawback we found on the
beach was, at times, a exerchanging amount of seaweed in the water and the fact that the
water is really kind of shallow for swimming, otherwise the huts are nicely spaced with an
abundance of grown palm trees for shade. Towel facility is adequate with plenty of clean
towns and is now being managed by De Palm Tours and is very efficient, Kayaks and floates
are available here for daily rental at a very reasonable price. The restaurant, The Sunset
Beach Bistro, was adequate and reasonably priced. However, the quality of the food was
just OK, the service on the other hand was very good, staff at breakfast very friendly and
provided excellent service. The deli/marketplace provided convenience food at very
reasonable prices, as well as coffee, homemade sandwiches and pastry priced reasonably
also.
As we have been to Aruba so many
times, our only exploring was a trip to Baby Beach. As usual, Baby Beach was just as beautiful as
ever, although we did find that because of all the publicity it now receives, it seemed to
be quite crowded with people snorkling around the edge of the reef, but all it all its
still an exotic place, with crystal clear water and white sand. On the way
out from Baby Beach, we stopped
at Rogers Beach, a travel
magazine photo type location with its palm trees, white sand, turquoise waters, and an
assortment of Caribbean painted fishing craft. Beautiful view until you turn
your eyes to the right, to the ugliness of the Coastal Oil Company refinery
which is operating again and ruining the beauty of this area of the island.
I have spent the last four months
researching restaurants on Aruba, and set
out a plan for dining at several new locations and returning to a couple of
the old ones. On Saturday, we were kind of beat from our long day of travel
so we went next door to the Wyndham and dined at the Cafe Bacci. Dinner hear was really
great, service excellent, and the busy location in the lobby of
the Wyndham was only a slight distraction to our enjoyment of this outstanding Italine
cusine. After dinner, we went to the Kokoa Pier bar
for a
couple of Amoretto's. On Sunday, we had breakfast at the Phoenix and lunch at The new
beach restaurant at the Radison called Gilligans. Its a real cute
spot with even the wrecked boat sitting out front of the property, food was
good and very plentiful. After lunch we checked out the new Radison. We were unable to
identify much of the property having stayed there as recent as 5 years prior, they have
spent mega-bucks on this place, and former vacationers to the Island will be amazed at the
changes, especially the pool which is now a series of pools streching for several hundred
feet through the gardens. Dinner that evening was at Madame Jeanette, outstanding food,
high quality service, goopd menu, and terrific ambience. I highly recommend this place, so
much so that I violated my Aruba dining policy of eating at the same place twice and
returned for another outstanding dining experience. We had breakfast the rest of the week
at a variety of places including the beachside deck at the Wyndham, the Sun Restaurant at
the Costa Linda ( this place has really gone down in quality for breakfast), The lobby bar
at the Holiday Inn, and the Radisson hotel breakfast buffet, which was good but not very
warm. Lunches were at the Wyndham, Hooters
and the Phoenix restaurant. Our other dinners were at El
Gaucho (fabulopus) Toni Roma's (out of steak at 8 PM) , Paparazzi, where our
waitress informed us they were not making pizza on that day, as we left, the manager
chased us down and assured us we could have pizza (excellent by the way). Our final dinner
in Aruba was at L'Scala. Terrific food, strolling musicians, great service; a truly
wonderful evening.
Our flight home from Aruba to San
Jaun was uneventful. However, our American Airlines flight 1218 from San Jaun to Boston
was anything but dull, as we had to divert to Bermuda to remove a Latin passenger from the
plane who had apparently overdosed on prescription drugs and was causing a considerable
problem for the crew. This wasn't bad enough, while we were on the gound in Bermuda,
another pasenger decides he is going to start drinking vodka from a paper bag he brought
on the plane in his carry-on. Fortunately, the steward confiscated the booze without much
of a hassle and we were on our way to Boston arriving several hours late.
Once again, Aruba provided us with a
terrific vacation experience and lots of
wonderful memories, and remains, even with the increased pace of development, truly a
paradise.
DStger1044@aol.com
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