cwbrile

My fiance and I are planning a honeymoon to Aruba the first week of September. Trying to find a reasonably priced hotel and avoid huge crowds. From what I understand, Palm Beach is the resort area we want to avoid, so I have narrowed it down to Bucoti Resort and Manchebo Resort. Also, are we going to be close to shopping/restaurants or will we need to rent a car to get to those places. Thank you so much for any suggestions...

ejcrowe

Well they're two different classes of resort. If you have the money, stay at Bucuti. If you don't, stay at Manchebo. They're right next door to each other and share the same lovely stretch of beach, but Bucuti is just nicer.

cwbrile

Thanks for the response. Sounds like the only real difference is room quality. We are just having trouble deciding on if Bucuti is worth the extra cost. Are we still in walking distance of restaurants/shopping?

shirleyk

Aruba has a wonderful public bus system if you decide not to rent a car. Actually, small compact cars can be rented for under $200 in September. But you can use the public bus system and go into town to do shopping. Once in town you will see many restaurants. You can also take the bus to the "high rise hotel" area where there are many, many restaurants. Around the area you are thinking of staying in you will find a few restaurants within walking distance. Manchebo has two very nice restaurants, Bucuti has one, there is one in the casino (a sports bar), Pizza Bob's is right there, and there is one or two in Costa Linda and one in Casa Del Mar. If you walk over to the Divi Complex (10 min. walk) you will find Mulligans and Windows in Aruba - two very nice restaurants. You can walk over to LaDome also - a ten minutes walk. Cabs are also very easy to use to get to a restaurant not on the bus line like Madame Janettes or El Goucho. Hope this helps.

cwbrile

Thanks for the recommendations.
Restaurants are almost as important to us as the beaches!

what are your thoughts on manchebo vs. bucuti? Is bucuti really worth the extra money or should we save a few dollars and put it towards the restaurant bills??

ejcrowe

What makes something "worth it" to one person but not to another? It's really a personal call. Again, I'd say that if you can easily pay for Bucuti, I'd suggest that it's worth it. If Manchebo is the one that better fits into your budget, go for Manchebo. Only *you* can decide if nicer rooms are worth it to *you*.

For me, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Our budget is so tight that we'll be lucky to get in our usual trip to the Caribbean this summer, so we'll be cutting costs every which way we can in order to get there. But in the past, we've been fortunate enough to be able to book pretty much whatever category room or resort that we chose.

A lot of people advocate for blowing the budget for the honeymoon, as it's a once in a lifetime kind of trip. Part of me agrees with that, but the other part of me cringes at the thought of young marrieds starting their lives together in debt because they took a trip that was way beyond their means.

Whichever place you decide, you'll have an amazing time simply because it is your honeymoon.

Lmaev

My husband and I stayed at Bucuti in Dec 2007! We took cabs at night to go out. Its about 10 minute ($8) cab ride to the Palm Beach area where alot of the restaurants are. We also cabbed it to Flying Fishbones which was a $35 cab ride each way but totally worth it. Taking a cab at night is not a big deal. They are usually waiting outside Bucuti or the front desk will call you one. The beach at Bucuti is INCREDIBLE and BEAUTIFUL!! We would never stay in the high rise area (Palm Beach) after staying in the low rise area (Eagle Beach). The Manchebo and Bucuti share the same beach. We walked by Manchebo a couple of times but not in it. The only thing I noticed about Manchebo is that the doors to the hotel room are out in the open. Almost like a motel. I am not implying or saying the Manchebo is a motel just using that as a comparison.

shirleyk

I have not stayed at either hotel. We own timeshare near there and go a couple of times a year, that is why I am so familiar with the area. You could go to www.tripadvisor.com and read the reviews of both hotels from people who have recently returned. That might help you decide. These two hotels are right next to each other on the same gorgeous, and I mean gorgeous, beach.