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Aruba Phoenix Trip Report
May 20, 2000 through May 27, 2000
Sent in by: Justin and Margaret
My wife and I traveled to Aruba for our honeymoon. It was our first trip to
Aruba, so everything we experienced was new. Please keep in mind that these are our
opinions only, so please go to Aruba and experience things on your own! I'll try to make
this as detailed as possible. I enjoyed reading
detailed trip reports as I was making out honeymoon plans.
Flight In and Arrival
We flew Delta from Phoenix to Atlanta, and then on to Aruba. The flights
were right on time, and the service was very good. Check in and connections
went without a hitch. The only drawback was the cost. $945 per person
round trip. We arrived in Aruba at about 3:00pm local time.
We stepped off the plane and headed for baggage claim and immigration. We
waited about five minutes to get through customs, and our bags were waiting
for us when we got to the carousel. Overall and excellent experience. Fast
and friendly, no delays!
Rental Car
We decided to rent a car for the entire week, and I'm very glad we did. I
know a lot of people like to use cabs and busses, and I'm sure it works
great for them. However, I know we would have spent just as much in cab
fare as we did for the car. As for the busses, they looked like they ran
frequently, but looking at the hot and sweaty people crowding the bus stops
made me glad I had an air conditioned car at my beck and call!
We rented from Econo,
and I made the reservation on the Internet several
months ago. They gave me a great rate of $162 for the week for a Toyota
Tercel with air and automatic. After we had picked up our bags, we walked
across the street to the rental car area. There was no line at Econo, and
the woman that helped me was very friendly. She had us on our way in just
a few minutes. The car was actually in pretty decent shape, and we had no
problems with it on our trip. However, she never asked for my drivers
license, which I thought was strange. The car was also on empty when we
picked it up, but that was not a big deal.
Hotel
We stayed at the Aruba Phoenix Resort. I booked through RCI on a timeshare exchange.
There was a very short wait to check in, and everything went smoothly. We had a studio on
the fifth floor of the tower, with an
incredible view of Palm Beach, the other resorts, and the California
LightHouse. We spent every morning on the balcony eating breakfast and
enjoying the spectacular view. The room itself was very nice, and included
plenty of closet space and a fully equipped kitchen. They had maid service
every day, which I haven't had at other timeshare resorts I've stayed at.
The beach in front of the Phoenix wasn't the best, but it was perfect for
lying out, looking at the water, and relaxing. It was a bit shallow for
swimming, and if you ventured too far, you'd be in the seaweed. But you
could jump in to cool off if you needed to without a problem. The pool area
was also very nice. The Phoenix has two small pools and a Jacuzzi. Also a
perfect spot for soaking up the sun, relaxing, and taking a dip to cool off
if need be!
The Phoenix also has a deli/market, a bar and a restaurant. The restaurant
is perfect if you don't feel like going anywhere to eat, and the service and
food is adequate. The deli/market was well stocked. We bought some
groceries there the first day, but never tried any of the sandwiches they
had. Overall, they had what you needed.
We enjoyed the Phoenix very much, and it suited our needs throughout the
week, however, like anything, it's not perfect, and we did have a few
problems. First, I found the service to be more matter-of-fact than
friendly. People weren't rude, but then they were not attentive either.
Our phone broke the second day we were there, and it took three days to get
a new one. In fact, after two days I ended up unplugging the phone and
taking it to the front desk, hoping to speed things up. The lady there gave
me a very dirty look for that one! The Phoenix also had a "guest laundry".
It's on the third floor in what appears to be a housekeeping area. The desk
told us it was a guest laundry, the sign on the door said it was the guest
laundry, but every time we tried to use it, the housekeeping crew were
washing hotel linens in the two machines available. Finally, another guest
just took out the hotel towels and put her laundry into the machine, so I
did the same. Oh well! At least I had clean undies!
Weather
From what I understand the weather for the week was typically Aruban: warm
and windy. It did rain for about ten minutes on Thursday, but we were in
the water snorkeling, so who cares! As for the wind, yes it was windy. But
we didn't really get sandblasted, and the wind does keep you cool. No big
deal at all.
Restaurants
Yum! This was my favorite part! I've eaten at many fine restaurants in my
travels, and Aruba ranks right up there with the best. We had wonderful
means just about every night.
El Gaucho: As advertised, a very good
steak. I had the churasso, and my
wife had the mixed grill, both were very good, and huge! We had a conch
appetizer that was also delicious. We shared a pitcher of sangia as well.
The total came to $88, which included an extra tip over and above the added
service charge. I thought that was very reasonable. In addition, we had
7:30 reservations, and didn't have to wait at all. I've heard the horror
stories about waiting in the smoky cigar bar across the street, but we
didn't have to.
Papiamento: Very, very romantic. We sat outside by the pool. It was
beautiful, and the weather was perfect. We shared an appetizer, and then I
had the Mahi Mahi. Everything was served on a hot stone, which was
interesting, but the food was only fair. My Mahi Mahi just o.k. My wife
had chicken and shrimp which was better, and came with a terrific spicy
papaya sauce. The service was way too formal for my taste. I like
happy/friendly, not yes sir/no sir. But, that's their style, and it must
work for a lot of people because the place was busy. We shared a great
coconut mouse dessert. We also had a bottle of wine, and the bill came to
$160. In my opinion, it was not worth the money.
Gasparito: A home run!! If you go to any restaurant in Aruba, go here.
Apparently the place is an old Aruban home that doubles as an art gallery.
Anyway, it was the very best of everything. We started with the warm
ravioli for an appetizer. I believe it was filled with barracuda, and it
was awesome! My wife had the seafood Keshi Yena. It was absolutely
terrific. I don't know if all Keshi Yena is made like this, but if you go
to Gasparito, try it. I had the goat stew (had to try it). It also was
very, very good. We also shared two desserts. I don't remember what they
were, but they were also fantastic. The service at Gasparito was also top
notch. Very friendly, very attentive, in a word perfect. The total, with a
bottle of wine, came to $90 with a well-deserved extra tip. YOU MUST GO
HERE! Best food; best service, best value.
Flying Fishbone: If I had to choose between Flying Fishbone and Gasparito,
I couldn't! Flying Fishbone was probably the most romantic place I've ever
eaten. It wasn't crowded when we got there, so we chose our own table. We
sat right on the beach, two feet from the beautiful Caribbean Sea. We
watched the sun set, and it was spectacular. What a way to have a meal!
First we shared the "East Meets West" appetizer. It had salmon in it,
seaweed, and other yummy stuff. It was excellent. My wife had the duck,
and said it was also excellent. I had the lamb, and it was the best lamb I
have ever eaten. We had two crème brule's for dessert, which were also very
good. We shared a bottle of wine, and took our two after dinner drinks to
the couch by the ocean where we sat for another hour and talked. We just
couldn't leave. Anyway, the entire evening came to $138 with an extra tip.
Well worth every dollar! The restaurant is in Saveneta, and it took us
about 25 minutes to get there from the Phoenix.
Three Little Birds: Yet another excellent meal in Aruba. As you may know,
this place is located on top of a building in downtown Orangestad. I
actually enjoyed the urban setting, and the view of the other buildings.
The mood inside was romantic as well, dimly lit with a waterfall. We shared
the goat cheese and honey appetizer. I hate to sound like a broken record,
but it was excellent. We had the chateaubriand (did I spell that right?)
for two. The beef was very flavorful and tender. We had a very tasty
apple/caramel tart for desert, and shared a bottle of wine. The total was
$118. Service here was also very good. I'd go back!
La Trattoria e Faro Blanco: We ate here on our last (sniffle) night in
Aruba. The restaurant is located up by the California LightHouse. I'd
heard mixed reviews about this place, but decided to give it a try because
of the setting. Of course we sat outside and saw the best sunset we saw all
week in Aruba.. Truly spectacular! We started with the mozzarella, tomato,
and basil appetizer. It was very good. I had the lagasagne, with I enjoyed
very much. My wife had the gnocchi, which was also very good. We shared
the chocolate cream puffs for desert, and you can't go wrong with that.
Total with a bottle of wine and extra tip was $95. The sunset was
priceless.
Bar.com: Went there several times to have a drink and use the Internet.
Every time we went they were closed. Apparently they are open from 4:00pm
to 10:30pm. We finally hit them when they were open, and spend a few
minutes e-mailing friends and making them jealous that we were in Aruba.
Also checked my stocks, which were all down! I think the Internet cost was
five dollars for ten minutes, but don't quote me on that. Anyway, it wasn't
very expensive.
Salt and Pepper: Went here twice. Once
for after dinner drinks and a cigar
(my wife fed our left over El Goucho to the
local dogs, and she's still in
trouble for that!) And once for lunch. We had several tapas for lunch, and
they were all good. I enjoyed this place very much, and would go back.
Kokoa Beach Bar: Went there twice during
the day for lunch. Had a
hamburger the first time, which was good. Then we both had pizza the second time, and
liked it as well. Of course the location at the end of De Palm pier and the frozen drinks
are always good! We went at night once for drink and the crowd was younger and very
strange. Also, the loud dance music sucked. Service all three times was just o.k, and not
friendly at all.
Iguana Joes: Ate here once for lunch. It's a clean, fun, tourist place.
Nice view. We had a hamburger and jerk chicken sandwich, and both were
good. Drinks were good too.
Charlies Bar: You gotta go here! It's an old bar in San Nicholas, and has
been there since 1941. It's decorated with all kinds of stuff people have
left behind. I didn't have anything, so I'm sending something down! We
drank way too many Balashi beers, and ate lunch. My wife had fish, and I
had the peel and eat shrimp. Both were excellent, but the kicker was the
sauce. They have an extremely spicy salsa/relish called "Honeymoon Sauce". It
was awesome. Don't eat if you don't like spicy food, because it did have a good kick. We
even bought a bottle to take home, but I broke it the next day. I'm in trouble for that!
The bartenders were just about the
friendliest people we met all week. We had the best time chatting with
them, eating and drinking. Make sure you go behind the bar and get your
picture taken with them if you go. It's a great memory. Don't know how the
two of us spend $62 at a bar for lunch, but we did!
Also had lunch at the beach bar at the Hyatt. Nice lunch, even better
drinks. The "Arubarittas" were the best frozen drinks we had all trip. Too
bad we didn't find the place until our last day.
Activities:
Parasailing: We went parasailing with Aruba Adventures for $40 each. My
wife had never done it before, and had a great time. You spent about ten
minutes in the air, and as you can imagine, the view was spectacular.
However, the two guys who picked us up in the boat didn't say one word to
us, and played gansta rap on their stereo the whole time. We've heard our
share of mother- f----rs, and s-t's in our day, but I found it inappropriate
when your hauling tourist around on your boat. Oh well, still had fun!
Kukoo Kunuku Bus:
If you'd asked me if spending several hours on an old
school bus full of maracas-shaking drunk people was fun, I'd say YES! We
had a great time on this trip. The bus picked us up at our hotel at around
6:00pm, and I knew we were in trouble. People were hanging off the bus
screaming at us, so you couldn't help but have a good time. Had our
champagne up by the lighthouse, and then drove to the Minister of Protocol's
house for dinner. His son gave us a tour and was very funny and
entertaining. Why they let 50 drunken tourists in their home every night is
beyond me. Dinner was rubber-chicken banquet circuit decent, and the
two-dollar drinks were flowing like water. The bus took us to three bars
after that, and we drank, danced and partied at all of them. Had a blast!!
The final stop was at Carlos and Charlies, but it was so packed they let us
have an extra free drink at Café Bahia or Bahia Café (whichever). We met
some great people and had a great time on this trip. Age range was 20's to
50's. I recommend it. Also, discovered that Café Bahia has excellent
drinks! Went back for more the next night!
Jolly Pirates Snorkeling: We chose this trip because some people at our
hotel tried it and loved it. So did we. They took us to three snorkeling
sites on this old pirate ship looking boat. The best was the German
freighter wreck. I've done a lot of snorkeling, but never like this. The
wreck was fascinating, and awesome. I felt like I was watching Titanic or
something! The water was a little rougher than by the shore, but I had no
problem swimming in it at all. The crew was fun and great. The BBQ lunch
was good, and we met some really nice and fun people in the trip. They also
had a fun rope swing on the boat. I'd recommend this trip.
Horseback Riding: Everywhere we go, the wife has to get on a horse, so I go
with her. We chose Rancho Damari
because we got a discount, $55 each for a private ride. For my money, this was a great way
to see the other side of
the island. You don't have to drive, and the horse does all the work. Our
guide was Rafael, and he was friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, my wife
got a crappy horse, so I had to switch with here halfway through, or she
would have been very disappointed. The ride was great. We got to canter
and gallop, and that was exciting. I'd never galloped before, but it wasn't
too hard at all. We rode to the Natural
Pool. Let me just say that I love
the Natural Pool. Some people say
it's just a hole with water in it, but to
me it was so much more. I loved sitting in there looking at the fish, and
watching the waves crash over the rocks. It was really a neat experience
for me! I saw a girl climb up the rocks and almost get knocked off by a
huge wave, but fortunately all she got was wet. I could have stayed there
all day, but we had to go eventually, and galloped back to the ranch.
Casinos: Tried a lot of 'em, lost at all of 'em. But then, what did you
expect? The Hyatt's was very nice and Vegas-like. Holiday Inn's was not
fancy, but fun, and had a sports book. Crystal Casino downtown was also
fairly ritzy. We liked the Wyndham casino the best. It was next door to
us, my wife won money there, and they had all the games we like to play.
Plus, their minimums were a little lower at some tables.
Baby Beach: We drove
to Baby Beach near San
Nicholas for the day at one
point so we could check out another beach. We loved it. Baby Beach was
great for swimming in snorkeling. The water was crystal clear, neck deep in
spots, and calm. Spent a wonderful day here. Baby Beach was much
better
for swimming than the beach in front of the Phoenix. Some people say the
view of the oil refinery ruins it for them, but I didn't care. I just look at it as part
of the local scenery. Besides, the refinery has a neat history.
Butterfly Farm: We had an hour or so to kill before we had to catch our
plane, so we visited the butterfly farm across from the Phoenix. It was
beautiful. It was really neat walking around amongst the fluttering
butterflies. And I hate bugs! We paid $10 each for an informative 30-minute
tour. It kind of reminded me of high school biology class. It was a lot of
fun.
One note: we shopped for groceries at a market called Food Giant. We
bought wine, some Cuban cigars, and some breakfast and snack food. The
total was about $60. I found this very inexpensive. The market was also
very clean and well stocked.
Departure
This was the worst part of our trip......because we had to leave. We turned
our rental car in at Econo
quickly and with no problems. We even left it
with more gas! Walked across the street to the Delta check in, and there
was a small line. We probably waited about 20 minutes to check in. The
line for Aruba Air was 50 times as long, with only one check in station.
Glad that wasn't me. We went through Aruban immigration in about 10 second, then waited
ten minutes to get through airport security. Going through U.S. customs in Aruba was key.
We picked up our bags, and only waited about five or ten minutes to get through with no
problems at all. Much better than having to do it in Atlanta. We got to the airport early,
just in case, so we waited about an hour-and-a-half for our plane to leave. We boarded on
time, but left a little late because the flight crew was having problems with Aruban
immigration. Go figure. We still got to Atlanta on time, and our connection back to
Phoenix was on time as well. REALLY HATED TO LEAVE!
Final Thoughts
We used Anneke with the Aruba Concierge Service to make our restaurant
reservations in advance. Every reservation was made when I wanted it, and I
got the table I wanted as well. It was only $5 per reservation, and well
worth it. I enjoyed not having to worry about that on our trip.
We also got and used the Aruba Advantage Card during our trip.
Overall, we
saved money with it, but the places that took it seemed unhappy when we
pulled it out. We saved 10% on our rental car, about $20 on the horseback
riding, and about $10 on the Kunuku bus. Worth the investment.
Unfortunately, the Kokoa Beach Bar would never except it, even though they
are listed as a participant.
I would have also like consistency in the service charge at restaurants. Some charged 15%,
others didn't. It was a pain sometimes to determine if I need to leave a full tip or not.
We almost always left a little extra on top of the service charge...but I certainly didn't
want to end up leaving 30%!
Overall, Aruba was everything I wanted and expected in a honeymoon. Great
weather, great beaches, great food, great people. We couldn't have picked a
better place to go. I just wish the airfare were more reasonable so we could go back. That
was the only major drawback. If you're thinking of visiting Aruba for the first time, go!
You'll be glad you did, we were!
Please e-mail me if you have any questions......
Justin and Margaret
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