Aruba Trip Report 04/01/06 - 04/05/06
Apr 6th, 2006 | 03:23 PM
#1
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Joined: May 2004
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Aruba Trip Report 04/01/06 - 04/05/06
This is a copy of a trip report I submitted to the aruba-bb.com bulletin board.
We had a GREAT time! This was our second trip to Aruba.
HOTEL: Marriott Stellaris Resort (Marriott points -- yea!)
AIRLINE: Delta (Frequent flier points - yea again!)
DATES: Saturday, April 1 - Wednesday, April 5 (oh, well, at least we got to go for 4 nights!)
APRIL 1 - We left Atlanta at 4:30 and arrived in Aruba at 9:15 Arubian time. (This solved the problem of adjusting to daylight-savings time; it was already "Atlanta daylight savings time" in Aruba, and we adjusted while we were there. I highly recommend this to everyone every time there is a time change!)
Arrived at the Aruba airport and for the first time ever, we rode in a taxi in Aruba (the last time we rented a car). This taxi driver was determined to get us to the Marriott in record time and get back to the airport for more customers, and he did get us there in record time (I think at or just under 20 minutes). My husband and I were hanging on to the sides of the taxi, thinking that any minute we were going to have a wreck, but we got there safely.
After checking into our room, we went to Champion's at the Ocean Club for nachos. Very good -- just what we needed. We then made our $2.00 donation to the casino.
APRIL 2 - I was awake before daylight (watching it turn from dark to light at the beach is always a wonderful way to start the day). We were able to get a palapa. There were never long lines for palapas. We were usually 2nd in line (we would walk over to the towel hut between 6:30 and 7 a.m.) We enjoyed watching the jet skiiers, boaters, wind surfers, and parasailing people.
NOTE: We left our palapa (with towels, beach bag, books, magazines, etc.) around 11:15 a.m. and went to each lunch by the pool. We then walked around a little bit. When my husband went back to our palapa a little before 1 p.m., someone had MOVED OUR THINGS and this lady was sitting under our palapa. My husband said he's sorry, but we had reserved that palapa for the day. The lady was very rude to him and said she didn't know anything about reserving palapas; she moved her chair (which was really OUR chair) and got our little table we had put under the palapa. She said she would move, but that she wouldn't move very far. She moved right beside our palapa. My husband got another lounge chair for us and moved our stuff back. When I got down to the beach, all was well.
We spent the rest of the day going between beach and pool (oh, decisions, decisions!)
We ate at Tuscany's at the Marriott that night. The meal was very good; total for 1 salad, 2 entrees, 1 lemonade and 1 diet Coke was $72.00.
Contributed another couple of dollars to the casino.
APRIL 3: Another day at the beach and pool (no palapa drama today, though.) So far, we haven't left the resort. This was definitely a vacation for relaxing.
We decided to rent a speedboat, and the lady at the Red Sail Sports desk inside the Marriott lobby helped us reserve one. We asked our driver how fast the boat could go, and he showed us, and it was VERY FAST. We love to go on fast boats; we wore t-shirts so we wouldn't get burned, and our shirts were soaking wet from the ocean spray by the time we got back. We rode the boat for an hour, going up and down the coast. The lady at the Marriott lobby asked us if we wanted to go to Venezuela on our boat ride. I said, "Isn't it dangerous to go to Venezuela right now?" She said yes, and so we politely declined.
That night we took at taxi to El Gaucho's. This taxi driver was great! And so was El Gaucho's. We had been there on our last trip, and we definitely wanted to go again. It did not disappoint us -- great food, great service. I think dinner was around $50 (1 salad, 2 entrees, 1 diet Coke, 1 water).
Then we took a taxi back to the Marriott. This taxi ride (although a different driver than the one from the airport) also was a wild one -- the driver kept screeching up to the person stopped in front of him, and he would flash his lights at that person. Then he would veer to the right of the person, and then there would be a staredown! My husband and I kept our eyes to the front, not wanting to get involved in this game! But, to his credit, he did get us back to the hotel. Okay, so now we're 1 for 3 in taxi rides.
APRIL 4: This was another day of beach/pool, beach pool. We walked down to Moomba's for lunch. Husband had fajitas, I had Mexican wrap -- both very good.
We also walked every day to the lazy river pool at the Surf Club. We had been told (by someone on the phone at Marriott) that we were allowed to use the pool, and no one ever said anything to us about it. When we were in the pool, there weren't very many people in it. I LOVE lazy rivers -- I told my husband we needed to search out every lazy river pool everywhere and visit it!
That night we walked down to the Pelican Nest for dinner; the dinner was fine, but the service wasn't that great. We probably would not go back there. Afterwards we walked around and then headed back to the Marriott. Dinner was about $45 (2 entrees, 1 diet Coke, 1 water).
We were done making contributions to the casino.
APRIL 5: We were (as usual) outside by the pool by 6:30, and we got in 6 hours of pool/beach time before went upstairs to get ready. We checked out at 1 p.m., got a taxi, and got to the airport in plenty of time for our 3:15 flight back to Atlanta. This taxi ride was great. So we ended up 2 for 4!
FINAL THOUGHTS: We usually prefer to stay in quieter places, not right "in the action," but we really liked the Marriott. It was fun watching everybody on the beach taking their lessons in wind surfing. We would definitely stay there again, although I get the impression that we were very fortunate that the crowds were down while we were there and that usually it would be harder to get palapas, chairs, etc.
The people of Aruba were extremely friendly, as they were the last time we were there. Everyone went out of their way to treat us wonderfully.
We met lots of people from Atlanta, several people who live a couple of miles from us, and even one person who is in my son's history class! It is definitely a small world.
As we said over and over again (while we were under an umbrella, under a palapa, in the pool, walking the beach, looking for shells, walking in the shops, floating in the lazy river, etc.), "LIFE IS GOOD."
_________________
Sherry
We had a GREAT time! This was our second trip to Aruba.
HOTEL: Marriott Stellaris Resort (Marriott points -- yea!)
AIRLINE: Delta (Frequent flier points - yea again!)
DATES: Saturday, April 1 - Wednesday, April 5 (oh, well, at least we got to go for 4 nights!)
APRIL 1 - We left Atlanta at 4:30 and arrived in Aruba at 9:15 Arubian time. (This solved the problem of adjusting to daylight-savings time; it was already "Atlanta daylight savings time" in Aruba, and we adjusted while we were there. I highly recommend this to everyone every time there is a time change!)
Arrived at the Aruba airport and for the first time ever, we rode in a taxi in Aruba (the last time we rented a car). This taxi driver was determined to get us to the Marriott in record time and get back to the airport for more customers, and he did get us there in record time (I think at or just under 20 minutes). My husband and I were hanging on to the sides of the taxi, thinking that any minute we were going to have a wreck, but we got there safely.
After checking into our room, we went to Champion's at the Ocean Club for nachos. Very good -- just what we needed. We then made our $2.00 donation to the casino.
APRIL 2 - I was awake before daylight (watching it turn from dark to light at the beach is always a wonderful way to start the day). We were able to get a palapa. There were never long lines for palapas. We were usually 2nd in line (we would walk over to the towel hut between 6:30 and 7 a.m.) We enjoyed watching the jet skiiers, boaters, wind surfers, and parasailing people.
NOTE: We left our palapa (with towels, beach bag, books, magazines, etc.) around 11:15 a.m. and went to each lunch by the pool. We then walked around a little bit. When my husband went back to our palapa a little before 1 p.m., someone had MOVED OUR THINGS and this lady was sitting under our palapa. My husband said he's sorry, but we had reserved that palapa for the day. The lady was very rude to him and said she didn't know anything about reserving palapas; she moved her chair (which was really OUR chair) and got our little table we had put under the palapa. She said she would move, but that she wouldn't move very far. She moved right beside our palapa. My husband got another lounge chair for us and moved our stuff back. When I got down to the beach, all was well.
We spent the rest of the day going between beach and pool (oh, decisions, decisions!)
We ate at Tuscany's at the Marriott that night. The meal was very good; total for 1 salad, 2 entrees, 1 lemonade and 1 diet Coke was $72.00.
Contributed another couple of dollars to the casino.
APRIL 3: Another day at the beach and pool (no palapa drama today, though.) So far, we haven't left the resort. This was definitely a vacation for relaxing.
We decided to rent a speedboat, and the lady at the Red Sail Sports desk inside the Marriott lobby helped us reserve one. We asked our driver how fast the boat could go, and he showed us, and it was VERY FAST. We love to go on fast boats; we wore t-shirts so we wouldn't get burned, and our shirts were soaking wet from the ocean spray by the time we got back. We rode the boat for an hour, going up and down the coast. The lady at the Marriott lobby asked us if we wanted to go to Venezuela on our boat ride. I said, "Isn't it dangerous to go to Venezuela right now?" She said yes, and so we politely declined.
That night we took at taxi to El Gaucho's. This taxi driver was great! And so was El Gaucho's. We had been there on our last trip, and we definitely wanted to go again. It did not disappoint us -- great food, great service. I think dinner was around $50 (1 salad, 2 entrees, 1 diet Coke, 1 water).
Then we took a taxi back to the Marriott. This taxi ride (although a different driver than the one from the airport) also was a wild one -- the driver kept screeching up to the person stopped in front of him, and he would flash his lights at that person. Then he would veer to the right of the person, and then there would be a staredown! My husband and I kept our eyes to the front, not wanting to get involved in this game! But, to his credit, he did get us back to the hotel. Okay, so now we're 1 for 3 in taxi rides.
APRIL 4: This was another day of beach/pool, beach pool. We walked down to Moomba's for lunch. Husband had fajitas, I had Mexican wrap -- both very good.
We also walked every day to the lazy river pool at the Surf Club. We had been told (by someone on the phone at Marriott) that we were allowed to use the pool, and no one ever said anything to us about it. When we were in the pool, there weren't very many people in it. I LOVE lazy rivers -- I told my husband we needed to search out every lazy river pool everywhere and visit it!
That night we walked down to the Pelican Nest for dinner; the dinner was fine, but the service wasn't that great. We probably would not go back there. Afterwards we walked around and then headed back to the Marriott. Dinner was about $45 (2 entrees, 1 diet Coke, 1 water).
We were done making contributions to the casino.
APRIL 5: We were (as usual) outside by the pool by 6:30, and we got in 6 hours of pool/beach time before went upstairs to get ready. We checked out at 1 p.m., got a taxi, and got to the airport in plenty of time for our 3:15 flight back to Atlanta. This taxi ride was great. So we ended up 2 for 4!
FINAL THOUGHTS: We usually prefer to stay in quieter places, not right "in the action," but we really liked the Marriott. It was fun watching everybody on the beach taking their lessons in wind surfing. We would definitely stay there again, although I get the impression that we were very fortunate that the crowds were down while we were there and that usually it would be harder to get palapas, chairs, etc.
The people of Aruba were extremely friendly, as they were the last time we were there. Everyone went out of their way to treat us wonderfully.
We met lots of people from Atlanta, several people who live a couple of miles from us, and even one person who is in my son's history class! It is definitely a small world.
As we said over and over again (while we were under an umbrella, under a palapa, in the pool, walking the beach, looking for shells, walking in the shops, floating in the lazy river, etc.), "LIFE IS GOOD."
_________________
Sherry
Apr 6th, 2006 | 08:14 PM
#4
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,805
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Sherry,
I'm glad you liked Aruba, the people are so friendly.
We also ate at Pirates Nest despite the bad reviews
we had a problem with a booking at El Gaucho, they reserved a table the day after we would have left Aruba - inspite of us standing by while our concierge reserved the table for that evening.
What to do? hang around for a hour an a half for a restaurant that screwed up a booking but didn't apologise?
Sorry, but I don't think so!
We were staying at the Bucuti, so we headed back to the hotel and decided to try the Pirate's Nest - we ordered the specials and found them to be equal to most meals we ate on the island.
Best meal and service was Le Dome.
If we do go back (and it might be early June )I have a long list of restaurants to try - El Gaucho isn't on it, Le Dome - we will visit again
I'm glad you liked Aruba, the people are so friendly.
We also ate at Pirates Nest despite the bad reviews
we had a problem with a booking at El Gaucho, they reserved a table the day after we would have left Aruba - inspite of us standing by while our concierge reserved the table for that evening.What to do? hang around for a hour an a half for a restaurant that screwed up a booking but didn't apologise?
Sorry, but I don't think so!
We were staying at the Bucuti, so we headed back to the hotel and decided to try the Pirate's Nest - we ordered the specials and found them to be equal to most meals we ate on the island.
Best meal and service was Le Dome.
If we do go back (and it might be early June
)I have a long list of restaurants to try - El Gaucho isn't on it, Le Dome - we will visit again
Apr 7th, 2006 | 08:50 AM
#5
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
I'll be heading to Aruba next month for the first time. I am interested in renting a speed boat. There are four of us in our group. Did they have boats to accommodate a group of that size. How much did it cost you to rent your boat? Thanks.
Apr 7th, 2006 | 12:52 PM
#6
Original Poster
Joined: May 2004
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It was $180 for one hour, and it was for up to 6 people. The cost was the same whether we had 1 person or 6 people. It also would have cost the same whether we drove it or had a driver. Some excursions are per person, but this was per boat.
If you decide to do this, make sure it is a speed boat if that's what you want. We've done boat rides before where it was a long, sloooow ride, which is nice, but not what we were expecting.
If you decide to do this, make sure it is a speed boat if that's what you want. We've done boat rides before where it was a long, sloooow ride, which is nice, but not what we were expecting.
Apr 7th, 2006 | 11:58 PM
#7
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 735
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A very nice and accurate report! We were in Aruba 2 years ago. We stayed at the same resort. No complaints! It is a very Americanized island, IMHO, but a nice trip anyhow. Glad you could go and get away! I can't go until school is out....
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