Our family (two adults and an
18 and 21 year old) made our first trip to Aruba June 14 - 23rd. Traveling from the
Pacific Northwest was a LONG trip, but American Airlines was great! I definitely enjoyed
the extra leg room they provide in coach, along with the adjustable headrest on each of
their seats. The food was decent (as far as airline food goes) and the staff was very
friendly.
We spent our first night at the Marriott Resort staying in two standard,
no view, rooms for $170.61 each (including tax). The rooms were spacious with nice
balconies. One of the rooms had two double beds, and the other room had a king size bed.
The Marriott is currently renovating its guest rooms.
We did notice some noise the first afternoon that we were there. There appeared to be some
drilling and hammering going on nearby our rooms, however since we were out and about
during the day it didn't disturb us and it was very quiet at night and in the early
morning. Our rooms had not been updated yet (there was a hole in the upholstered
furniture), but the rooms were clean. The front desk staff was courteous and very helpful.
Breakfast on Friday morning was at their La Vista Restaurant. The restaurant staff was not
very friendly (I ate there again during the week and felt the same about the lack of
friendliness of the staff on that occasion too). Seating is very tight, so when you go to
stand up, you are practically with the next group. Since I chose to eat their breakfast
buffet (which was very good, however a little expensive at $15.00 per person), I was
getting up and down a couple of times and felt that it was disturbing to the other guests
I was seated beside.
On Friday we checked into our timeshare villa at the Marriott Ocean Club. The units are
very nice although not as large as our home resort in Palm Desert. The kitchen and master
bathroom are noticeably smaller in Aruba than Palm Desert. The kitchen is well equipped
(including toaster, blender, coffeemaker, microwave, etc.). A hairdryer was located in the
master bathroom. We missed having laundry facilities in our individual unit, but washer
and dryers were available at no charge on each floor. We requested an upper floor (the
facility has 6 floors) and we were given a room on the 3rd floor. It worked out great -
because we were the last unit before the ocean front units. We had a nice view of the
ocean and the pool area. We were able to use the outside staircase to go to and from the
pool rather than having to use the lobby elevator. Our first night was interesting in that
we were awakened at 4 am to the sound of the fire system alerting us to evacuate the
building because a fire had been detected on our floor. It turned out to be a
malfunctioning alarm, but it made for an interesting night. DePalm tours has a tour desk
in the lobby. Barbara was great in helping us plan our activities. I was less impressed
with the concierge service. They were able to make all of our dinner reservations for us,
but they were not very friendly when I would talk with them. The housekeeping staff,
bellman, front desk staff were very friendly. It was also next to impossible to get bar
service at the pool and beach area, maybe this is something they do not offer ??? although
at the other vacation club resorts I have stayed at, bar service has been available. I was
also disappointed that the happy hour specials were not available at the pool bar at the
Ocean Club. You had to go to the bar at the Marriott Resort to take advantage of the daily
specials.
The beach in front of the Marriott Resort is beautiful. White sand, warm water, and calm
sea. There was a little more "seaweed" and debris in the water in front of the
Ocean Club. There were ample lounge chairs and palapas available for shade any time of
day.
Activities - We rented a full size car from Alamo for the entire eight days ($272.00). We
used the car daily and were very glad we did not need to rely on the bus system or taxis
for our transportation. We spent one day driving to the De Palm Island Ferry and then on
to Baby Beach
for snorkeling. I have snorkeled in Hawaii and the Caribbean and was a little
disappointed. Maybe we were just there on an off day, but the water was cloudy (with sand,
and also a little rough) and there didn't seem to be a lot of fish. The blue parrot fish
around DePalm island were beautiful, but the water was quite shallow near the dock and
made snorkeling difficult. DePalm Island is currently pretty torn up. They are planning to
have the construction done around the 1st of August when the price will go up to $49.50
per person and the island will become all-inclusive. I am glad that we only paid $8.00 per
person. My husband and I spent one afternoon touring the north end of the island (California
lighthouse, Tierra del Sol Golf Course, Alto
Vista Chapel, Church of Santa Anna, and the Natural
Bridge). We took the Kukoo
Kunuku Party Bus - crazy people. If your idea of a good time is to be on a
wild and crazy bus with about 50 inebriated people this tour is for you. The bus ride was
a lot of fun. I am not a "bar hopper" but our two kids loved it. The evening
starts out with a ride to the California
Lighthouse and a champagne toast, then it is on to a private (and very
beautiful) home for a nice dinner. I was told the home belonged to the Minister of
Protocol, but I am not sure who the owners actually were. We then visited two
"interesting" places - La Rhonda and U Wanna Beer. Our busload of people were
the only clientele at both of these establishments, so I am not sure if they are owned by
the company or not. The final stop was at Carlo's and Charlie's in downtown Oranjestad. A
VERY noisy and packed bar. The Kukoo
Kunuku staff was great - very friendly and joined in with all of the fun. I
don't know how they keep it up every night.
The boys spent one morning golfing at Tierra del Sol and had a
great time. The girls spent a couple of hours at the Mandara Spa enjoying the Aruba Spa
Sampler which included a foot bath, salt glow, and a 50 minute massage - delightful! We
took the Jolly Pirate Snorkeling cruise to three different snorkeling sites. Two sites
could easily be reached by car (Arashi Reef and
Malmok Reef),
neither of them was very impressive, but the snorkeling at the Antilla shipwreck
was great. The water was VERY rough (we were at this site around noon) but the fish were
beautiful and plentiful. The BBQ lunch, served on board ship, consisted of chicken
skewers, ribs, coleslaw, pasta salad, watermelon, and a roll. There was also an open bar
for the entire cruise. My only complaint is there were a lot of people (50-60) which made
things a little crowded. I was also surprised the crew didn't spend more time visiting
with the guests. They tended to visit among themselves instead. Fortunately I am an
experienced snorkeler because not much instruction was given or assistance provided to
beginners. We noticed the Mi
Dushi sailing ship in the same vicinity - with a lot fewer passengers (@25)
so I might recommend this cruise instead. We signed up with DePalm tours for their ATV
tour to the Natural
Pool. We had a great time. You must be 16 years old to be able to drive one
of the ATV's. You are picked up at your hotel by a member of the Rancho Daimari and they then
take you to their ranch located in the center of the island. Our guide, John, was very
friendly and our group was only 12 people so it was a nice size. Some of the riding is a
little challenging, but it was a lot of fun - one of the highlights of our trip. In
addition to stopping at the Natural Pool,
we also made a couple of other sightseeing stops. The ATV ride lasts @ 2 1/2 hours, but
the whole tour including transportation to and from the ranch takes @ 4 1/2 hours. We had
planned on during this tour so I packed a pair of jeans and a backpack. You get VERY dusty
on this ride. We purchased a visit Aruba card, but since we did not use Economy
rent a car, and since we had the tour desk make our reservations, we only
used our card once and that was for $2.00 off at Adventure
Golf.
Dining - We ate most of our breakfasts and lunches either in our villa or at the pool bar.
All of the Marriotts we have visited do a great job with sandwiches and fries. Our dinner
choices were based on recommendations from the different bulletin boards. We made
reservations one day in advance at each of these places, however during this time of year
(and eating at 7:00 pm) we would not have had trouble walking in to be seated at any of
these places without a reservation. Here are the choices we made. I will also include the
cost of our meal (for a family of four) which usually included drinks (for four), but no
coffee and just an occasional dessert: Tuscany's (at the Marriott) - excellent Italian
food and service. Especially good were the Caesar salad, cheese ravioli with pesto, and
the penne pasta with chicken. ($125.65)
El Gaucho
- great tenderloin filets. The garlic sauce and steak sauce they bring to serve with your
beef were also very good. You can split a 16 oz tenderloin for an additional $5.00 or an
additional $10.00 if you would like to split the entire meal (corn on the cob, and rice or
potatoes). This worked out great for my daughter and I. She ordered a bowl of soup, shared
the excellent garlic bread, and then requested an extra plate ($5.00) to split the steak.
Service was very slow. (Had a difficult time finding the place!) ($119.00) Chalet Suisse -
the mixed grill ala maison was very good. In fact, my tenderloin here was tenderer than my
steak at El
Gaucho. The chicken Milanese was also very good, however two fish dinners we
ordered were not very good. (Coming from the Pacific Northwest we are used to good fish!)
Service was very slow and unfriendly. The chocolate mousse dessert was wonderful.
($163.10) Avallone's - very reasonably priced Italian restaurant. The staff was extremely
friendly and very willing to accommodate our requests. We were able to order our pasta
with our sauces on the side, allowing us to try a variety of sauces. I was particularly
fond of their garlic and oil sauce, my daughter especially liked their carbonara sauce.
The salads were delicious. The owner, Tom, gave us a tour of his garden. ($89.65)
Flying Fishbone - for atmosphere this place can't be beat, however neither of the catches
of the day were very good. The two choices were red snapper and barracuda. Both were
chosen as entrees and I would not recommend either of them. We also talked with a couple
who had been there the night before us and they were also disappointed with their seafood
entrées. The lobster and shrimp entrees that we ordered were good. Service started off
good, but by the end of the meal it was hard to get the attention of our server. We
requested a chocolate mousse for dessert ($9.50), according to the menu it was to be
served with Aruba Ponche, but that never arrived. ($190.50)
Driftwood Restaurant - excellent seafood. Scallops, shrimp, lobster were all great. We had
many different servers so we were never quite sure who was in charge of our table. This
would definitely be my choice for a seafood restaurant. ($142.90)
Madame Jeanette's - excellent food. Three of us ordered the surf and turf - steak and
lobster or steak and shrimp. The roasted potatoes that came with the meal were delicious.
Excellent service and a very nice atmosphere. I would highly recommend this place.
($147.80)
** I was really glad we were not part of an all-inclusive program since I enjoyed getting
to try a number of different establishments. There are many other economical places that
you could also choose to dine at.
General Information - One of
the first trips we made was to Kong Hing Supercenter. Here we loaded up on snacks and
beverages for the kids as well as some breakfast and lunch items. We also tried Ling
& Sons, but liked the selection at Kong Hing better. We packed a
collapsible cooler to take with us so the kids could load it up with beverages to take to
the beach and it also worked out well to take refreshments on our trip to Baby Beach.
We packed our own snorkel gear and we were glad we had. It was provided on a couple of our
tours, but I would have been a little concerned about the cleanliness of the equipment.
The weather was great with temperatures in the low 90's during the day and low 80's at
night. The trade winds blow constantly which once you get used to it is nice since it
makes the temperature bearable.
We took some cash with
us, but used very little. We put almost all of our charges on our Visa, thereby earning us
some frequent flyer miles. At most places, except the supermarket, prices are given in US
dollars.
Hope you have found at least some of this information useful. I know I enjoyed reading
other trip reports as I was getting ready for our visit. There is a lot of useful
information that can be found on the bulletin boards.
I hope you enjoy your stay.
Natalie Olsen
