I'm leaving for Aruba shortly, and was told by someone who was there years ago, that they were pretty sure they accept U.S. dollars there. Does anyone know if this is true?

I've been to Aruba 7 times (and it is the most wonderful place on earth) and the whole island does accept U.S. Dollars. Some of the menus and such have the prices written in Florins (Arubas currency) but still accept dollars. You do sometimes get their currency as change though. Enjoy your trip!!!

Thanks jumpbighead. I will bring more cash with me.

We travel to Aruba a couple of times a year and only bring a small amount of cash. We use our credit card for almost everything. Car rental, groceries, restaurants, hotel bill. The only time we use cash is for tipping and gas for our rental and a very few small restuarants want cash.

I'm traveling to Aruba in August. We are interested in traveling to Venezuela. I understand there is no ferry service. Any suggestions??

Q - It would be better to post this as a new question snce not many will see it here.

Lois - Bring a supply of dollar bills which you will give out like halloween candy.

Thanks for the info. I did bring those singles, and did go through them and then some..........

We enjoyed the week there, and found a couple restaurants we enjoyed. Hadicurari [sp?], which is a fairly new place, right next to the Marriott Surf Watch, out by the water, was very good, and very reasonable. We enjoyed sitting out on the sand at Simply Fish, and would go back to both places if we return.

I couldn't get over how much the area has changed since my first visit there 12 years ago! It was a little sad to see things so built up, both in town and along the shoreline.

I was just there myself, and I was surprised at how little need you have for actual Aruban Florian/Guilder for transactions. In fact, the only place I used it was in a pay phone in the airport. Every purchase I made (even at convienance -sp?- stores) was converted to US dollars. All of my CC purchases were run in US dollars- no exchange fees!!

[one small caveat here is that some places the clerks are NOT good with conversion and can short you a dollar or two and getting that back may be hard. I suggest to future readers to go to Ling and Sons IGA off LG Smith and get one of their handy conversion cards to help]

For money conversion, check out:

http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

Their 'CheatSheet' is helpful.

I am from Aruba and they pretty much accept credit cards almost everywhere here, but it's always good to carry some cash just in case! And US dollars are accepted everywhere on the island..
Greetings

We are now back from our visit there, and as previously stated in the above replies, there was no problem using American dollars. Credit cards are accepted almost everywhere, but the local stands and flea markets don't usually accept credit cards, so some cash is necessary if you wish to shop there.

I was a bit disappointed to see how much more built up the island is now, from when we last visited about 12 years ago. We had been told, at that time, that there were regulations on how much building was to be allowed.