Divi Divi Trip Report
January 17 - January 22, 2001
Sent in by: Tara & Mike
Arrival/first impressions: We flew TWA out of Logan in Boston with
a stop in San Juan. Everything was enjoyable and smooth - no delays or hassles. Customs in
Aruba was a BREEZE - it took all of five minutes tops. We used our birth certificates and
driver's licenses and had no problems. The airport was extremely empty (it was a Wednesday
afternoon) and was new and clean. There were plenty of taxis - the ride cost $14.00 to the
Divi. The ride to the hotel area is very unimpressive and it looks as if you're in a
third-world country. Until you get to the resort….
The Divi's beach and water: PURE PARADISE!!! The Divi exceeded all
our expectations and we are very difficult to impress and analyze everything to pieces.
The beach and water were our biggest priority in a resort and the Divi's were fabulous.
The beach was wide, white, clean (except for cigarette butts which disgusted us and
hopefully others) and postcard-perfect; and the Caribbean Sea was a gorgeous shade of
blue-green. The water was colder and wavier than we expected, but that didn't deter us
from spending ample time swimming and enjoying water sports. Another word about the waves:
they are quite big for what we expected the Caribbean to be like. They are much smaller in
front of the other resorts up Eagle Beach
and then they become almost non-existent. The water starts out shallow with a sand bottom
and then it gets deep fast. But there is ample room to stand and catch the waves or to
swim farther out. Compared to the other resorts, the Divi's beach was the BEST - although
the beach gets incredibly wide up Eagle Beach.
The beach is still gorgeous up there as well, but there was something about the Divi. It
was one of the few resorts with restaurants/bars right on the water and we
thought that was great. That didn't take away from the tropical, "barefoot
elegance" feel of the beach at all. There were lots of huts on the beach although
many people put towels on them to reserve them and then didn't show up for an hour or more
(which irritated us when we wanted one for shade). We are usually very active vacationers
but we opted to just enjoy the beach, swim, windsurf (which was SO hard but fun!) and just
enjoy the scenery.
The weather: It seemed around low 80s with partly/mostly cloudy
conditions on average. We thought this would be a drag but it turned out to be perfect.
The sun is SO hot and strong that if it stayed out even twice as more as it does, people
would be scorched! Even though the sun peeks in and out a lot, the temperature is just
perfect.  Little to no humidity either. We have great tans and experienced slight
burns at the beginning. We only saw a few light sprinkles our last day which were so light
to the touch and they lasted for about five minutes or less. The tradewinds were perfect -
I was nervous we wouldn't like them. They are so slight and cooling. Occasionally the wind
picked up a bit while we were there and there were some dark clouds - perhaps a storm
offshore. But again - none of this really affected the weather overall.
Food/drink: The drinks were great and we loved all the bars and
bartenders. Panch at the Sandpiper (near the Casitas) was great, as were Eric and Dino at
the Pelican Bar. They had a great selection of liquors and tried to keep everyone's cup
full. They had a daily drink special that was good, especially if you don't know the names
of a lot of Caribbean drinks. The food was good overall, except they could use a little
more variety at the buffets. They tend to serve a lot of meat in sauce that was boring.
But they did make an effort and what lacked in variety was made up for in service. We
really liked the grilled pizza and sandwiches at the ___ Bar. Breakfast was delicious and
they had a lot of seafood selections that I enjoyed. One night they put out shrimp scampi
(the shrimp were huge) and prime rib that Mike enjoyed. I am a seafood lover and there was
plenty. The Red Parrot was inconsistent - one night it was outstanding - the next, kind of
half-decent. But for some reason, you don't get that upset about it as you would in your
home city. It's just not important and the people are just so nice. We don't go on
vacation for the food anyway - we want a quality resort with great ambiance. We ate at the
Tam as well and the food at the Divi edged them out. Paparazzi had good appetizers but the
entrees were mediocre.
All-inclusive vs. not: Since this was our first all-inclusive, we
didn't know if we would feel like we'd really get our money's worth. Well we loved it and
will probably do it every time we vacation. We are not huge eaters or drinkers but it was
SO great to know you could go to the food area or bars anytime - no wallet or worries -
and help yourself. We ended up drinking more than we expected because you just can't beat
strawberry daiquiris as you relax on the beach. We drank more during the day and just had
one or two at night. We did a price evaluation (estimating breakfast for two w/tip at $25,
lunch $25, dinner $50 and drinks $50 per day), and we definitely feel the all-inclusive
was worth it. We estimated high for the Caribbean prices keep in mind. We probably
would've budgeted much more (and not have had as good as a time) if not on the
all-inclusive - like drinking in our room and having a bagel for breakfast - but we feel
that wouldn't have been in the true spirit of vacation.
Ambiance/people: The ambiance was true "barefoot
elegance." The property is gorgeous, lush and well maintained and is not tacky one
bit. The pools looked nice (although we never went in) and the grounds were tropical  and inviting. We'd occasionally see
iguanas near the bushes and grass and there were some flies around the eating areas but it
wasn't a huge nuisance. There was a mix of people at the resort but was mostly older
couples (50s-70s) and middle aged couples, some with kids. But there were VERY few kids
overall. There were also couples in their 20s (we are in our late 20s) and we liked the
age mix. We did not want a rowdy, spring break-style resort and the Divi is far from that.
We met a lot of nice people from all age brackets. The entertainment at night was good and
people danced and had a great time.
The rooms: We stayed in room 355 in the Casitas. We felt the
Casitas were a great choice. We were literally five steps from the beach which was
wonderful. The Casitas are like your own little house on the beach and they are angled
toward it. The room was nice - a typical room in our opinion - clean and simple. We loved
the location of the Casitas since they were more private (away from the main area where
the buffet area and bars are) - at least ours was (the Casitas do start closer to the main
area but we were farther away). We loved being near the Sandpiper Bar - the smallest bar
that is casual with chairs facing the beach (and two TVs at the bar for a dose of
reality). The poolside rooms were extremely nice as well- they are an Mediterranean style
design that was very attractive. You could see the water from their balconies although
they are a lot farther from the beach obviously. The oceanfront Lanai rooms were very nice
too since they are the only rooms at the resort that directly face the beach/water (as
opposed to facing on an angle with limited view). We thought the Casitas were the best
overall and will stay there again.
Overall comments: The Divi did everything right and is the perfect
vacation. We are very picky and thought the beach was perfect as was everything else. We
did not do any tours or sightseeing because we couldn't pull ourselves  away from the Divi. We are beach and water lovers so we swam, sunbathed,
went "body boarding" (they give you these body raft things that are great to
ride the waves with) and windsurfed. We rode bikes into town one day and picked up some
great deals on beachwear. But we missed the Divi's beach so much and if it wasn't for the
incredible bargains, we would've regretted wasting that time in town!! There is just no
need to do other things there if you are beach lovers like us. We would've taken a snorkel
cruise (we did regret not snorkeling…next time I guess) or seen the Natural
Bridge, but other than that, Aruba is not a pretty island in general. The
beaches are what make the island so attractive. There was no  way we would've felt like missing a day at the beach for a
jeep tour. But that's just our preference. A We are eager to travel to more islands but
have a feeling Aruba and the Divi are going to be hard to beat. Our vacation was the
perfect combination of our "wish list" and we can't seem to stop thinking of the
wonderful time we had. Feel free to email us with questions at anytime.
Tara & Mike.
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