Oceanbreeze,
That was several years ago. However, because of what happened, we haven't been back. Our friends who have been to Aruba a number of times - and loved it - refuse to go back there now.
Our mattress was on top of wood. No sleep number bed! The beach and pools are beautiful, but our bedroom was the size of my master bath and the bathroom was smaller than my closet. We were not in the Aruba Tower and maybe that's where you need to be?? BTW, we ate lunch there most days as we were around the pool. But we did have a car and went to different restaurants at night.

Thanks for clarifying, Knowing. Sounds pretty awful.

Knowing, it sounds like they have done some serious rennovating since your stay. We were in the Bonnaire tower, and the Curacao tower is currently closed for rennovation. I am sorry you had such a bad time there, but I think many improvements have since been made.

Knowing,

Some of the rooms closest to the breakfast area were not nearly as nice as the ones we had in The Aruba Tower. I only know this because my inlaws stayed in that section of the hotel because it was less of a walk to the pool and beach.

As for the island itself, I find it way too Americanized and not all that pretty. I really prefer islands like St. John, Anguilla,Nevis, and parts of Jamaica. That being said, Aruba is an easy place to have a family reunion since it typically has very good weather in the winter months, and many excellent restaurants.

We couldn't have had a better experience than we had at the Radisson in October. We had booked a deluxe ocean view room, but (because it was our honeymoon) they upgraded us to an 1,100 sq ft suite.

The room service was very good. Twice a day they cleaned and replaced all the towels and glasses.

The grounds & beach were nicer than the other nearby hotels. The two large pools were also great - one of them seemed to go on forever. We liked having restaurants and shopping within easy walking distance of our hotel.

Does the Manchebo have balconies? We spent a lot of time on ours. I particularly liked it in the mornings.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I've booked the Radisson for this coming February (President's Day week). We're really looking forward to it. I'll be back with an update of our experiences.

Hey, Catherine....That's great!
When do you arrive?
Did you get direct flights?....presume you are in Brooklyn! B-)

Great news, I think you will love it.

OceanBreeze1-
We arrive in Aruba on President's Day...but we're not flying direct since we're flying free with frequent flier miles on Delta through ATL.

Yes, we're in Brooklyn! It's freezing cold here and we can't wait to sit in the sun...