We love Aruba, in fact we are getting married there this summer. It is reliably good weather; we have gone the last 2 Septembers. Eagle Beach is amazing. We stay at Bucuti & will every time we go there- fabulous staff & Tara Suites are awesome. Dining is very good- El Gaucho, Madame Jeanette's, Flying Fishbones. We find it to be romantic and are looking forward to going again.

Aruba is anything BUT cheesy.

I would suggest you try looking at the Tara Suites at the Bucuti.

http://www.bucuti.com/en/rooms/tarabeach.php

If your agent compares Aruba to South Beach, I think its time to find a new travel agent! I have been to Aruba and basically every other caribbean island. I was married in the caribbean, and I consider myself very knowledgable. I would personally not go to Aruba for my honeymoon. Also, I hated teh constant hot wind while I was there. Felt like I was in a freaky movie or something. I would just pick the place YOU MOST WANT TO GO. after all its your honeymoon. Roll the dices on hurricanes and purchase trip insurance for peace of mind.

I found the beaches in Aruba reminded me of being on a beach in the U.S. I have never been to South Beach, but found Aruba very Americanized. We have travelled a fair amount in the Caribbean and I would recommend either St. Lucia or Barbados for a honeymoon. Anything St. Lucia and southward is less likely to get a hurricane and this includes Aruba, but there is still a chance.

Aruba has a few cheesy bars and I'm sure a few drunken college students, but not half as many as the media would like you to believe. Is it a beautiful island? I think so but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The shopping in Oranjestad is fine for me; there are small shopping kiosks where you can get your standard stuff like t-shirts, etc. and there are stores totally at the other end of the spectrum for fine clothing and jewelery. I've never been to South Beach so I can't compare but the shopping is fine for us. Can say the same for the restaurants; Aruba offers everything from KFC, Subway to fine dining and everything in between. For a honeymoon, the Bucuti gets high marks but I also read reports from other honeymooners who have enjoyed just about every other resort Aruba has to offer. Having said all of this, Aruba obviously isn't for everyone (as you can see by this thread) but it is a solid, wonderful vacation destination for many others. Keep us posted on your choice.

I've been to Aruba twice in the past few years with my DH. We're in our early 30's. I love Aruba because of the constant breeze, the boardwalk in the high rise area and being one of the safest islands in the Carribean. I've been to 6 other islands in the Carribean. If you decide to honeymoon there, I'd stay at either the Hyatt or the Radisson. I would not compare the shopping there to South Beach though. It's definitely a more upscale island compared to other islands, but not compared to South Beach. I would go with your original plan to St. Barts. It's your honeymoon...if St. Barts is where you want to go, go and enjoy! happy marriage!

I understand the comparison of Aruba to Miami in terms of large hotels. Personally, I do not care for Aruba as I prefer my islands lusch, tropical and with intimate inns vs high rise hotels.

I have never found Aruba to have a very distinct personality.

Re safety, I do not this is a concern. Use the same common sense you would anywhere and you will be fine.

Avoid spring break and summers if you want to have fewer kids and teens. I always plan trips to hedge my bets in this regard.

Kissy - where do you stay in Grand Cayman? I have been to Aruba twice and loved it but am always considering new and different places.

My husband and I stayed at the Tamarijn this past January and it was pretty nice - I was disappointed in the shopping downtown and you will not find college kids and cheesy bars. There is a great place in St. Lucia called the Lareda - I'd look into that for a honeymoon!!! Good Luck!

When we've gone to Aruba its been in the summer and then there are a good amt. of college and HS kids and of course there are a good # of bars to cater to them. In fact as we were taxiing to our hotel thru downtown you saw a large # of "kids." I think most of them had breakfast at around 1400 too. . Shoping was pretty good I thought. Cheers.

Elisa -

Have you considered chartering a private yacht in the Grendadines? We did this a couple of years ago and the luxury and intimacy were wonderful. You'll meet the yacht in St. Vincent's where the first Pircates of the Caribbean was filmed and then off to visit islands like Bequi (we dove and I saw my first sea horse) and Mustique. And then to my favorite - Tobago Cays to snorkel and then swim to shore. Can spend an afternoon on a deserted beach soaking up some rays. Meals are gourmet and tailored to your tastes. And the captain and crew provided are all about 'you'. We charted the 'Sea Nymph' who is based out of St. Thomas'. The owners DJ and Laddie have expanded and now have a number of charters available. Much more affordable than you might think - especially with meals and drinks inclouded. If you have additional questions, feel freel to email me at [email protected]. We did our first cruise with them in the Virgin Islands and loved it so much that we did the Grenadines with them later that same year.

Aruba is very windy! All the time!

Hi Lolo12
I haven't logged on in a while so sorry this post is so late. We stayed at the Marriott on 7 mile Beach. the hotel was very nice, but the beach was very small. The Westin was beautiful further down the beach, but there are also many, many condominiums that you can rent. Not sure what the island looks like after Ivan. Maybe someone has been there recently?

Thank you for the great advice.
I did NOT go to Aruba. After looking at pictures and reivews of the "upscale" hotels in Aruba on Trip Advisor I decided it wasn't my kind of place, especially for a honeymoon. I couldn't get excited about a single place to stay there. Some people asked why I didn't consider Europe. We couldn't consider Europe because my husband needs to be connected to the stock market for work. As such, the time difference wouldn't permit us to travel to Europe. So we ended up at the Grand Velas Resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. wwww.grandvelas.com. IT WAS LOVELY! The resort exceeded our expectations. THERE WAS NOTHING CHEESY ABOUT IT and it got the best traveler reviews on Trip Advisor. Its a gorgeous, contemporary resort. The grounds are lush with colorful flowers and the multi-infinity pool looks like it jumped off the pages of a luxurious travel magazine cover. We loved it. The food was incredible and the service was outstanding. We actually only ate dinner in downtown PV (which isn't very nice) one time. Plus, it was all-inclusive. I never thought I'd like that, but this place was top notch. They have top shelf liquor, French, Italian, Gourmet Mexican, and fusion restaurants. It also has a 5 star spa which is incredible. It really was impressive. I would go back. I know PV doesn't sound upscale -- and I didn't know what to expect, but this resort certainly was posh.

I wanted to go to the Mayan Riveria, but it was too risky with the hurricanes. I hear the beaches aren't as nice in PV, but it didn't matter because the weather was beautiful and the resort was amazing. I don't know if I would have enjoyed PV as much if we wouldn't have stayed at the Grand Velas. I think it may be nicer than the Four Seasons in PV--at least that's what many people who stayed at both places were telling us.

Hi Elisachristina,

Thanks for the feedback. it does sound as though you managed to find the perfect place for your honeymoon

But do I understand this correctly? It was your honeymoon (hopefully a once in a lifetime event) and you couldn't visit Europe because your DH had to stay connected to work?

Will you ever have the time to visit Europe?

I wish you all the best in the world.

We traveled many years ago to Bermuda for our honeymoon in late October. The weather was warm enough to go swimming. We may have had a brief shower during the day but overall the weather was great. Bermuda is a beatiful island. If I was you, I would check out The Reefs.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post again about your honeymoon. I'm delighted that you found your own perfect spot. Maybe you can save St. Barth for a future vacation.

Hey, I must admit that I worked a few hours on MY honeymoon, too.

Not all of us are retired or trust-funders; we love our (new) spouses, but if you have a job with a high level of responsibility then taking 14 days off is incredibly difficult. Don't presume to judge situations you know nothing about.

My husband also worked a bit, too; together we probably worked about 10 hours in 12 days, tops. We both came home tanned, relaxed and had gorgeous new paychecks in the bank waiting for us.

newlywed_in_2007

I take it that your post was a response to mine? I however at least have the manners to name the person that I'm responding to.

I don't have a trust fund and at the age of 42 I'm certainly not retired.

I've been married for over 24 years (we married young, on my 18th birtday actually) so you can certainly ensure that I love my husband, we have even in our spare time managed to raise 3 children.

We both have high pressured jobs for a large computer security company but still manage to take 2 whole weeks a year to chill and relax. Yes we are unusual but then we're Brits and 2 weeks isn't an unusual vacation period in the UK.

We feel that we work hard enough to justify that and have never had problems asking for the vacation time.

I feel that a honeymoon is such a special time and will (hopefully) never occur again - isn't that a time that sould be so special and savoured?

So! who is judging situations they know nothing about here?

We went to Aruba on our honeymoon way back in 1992. Honestly, I was not smitten. I remember flying over it as we were about to land and seeing fast food restaurants and thinking hmmmm.....it's just not what I had in mind but my husband planned it so what could I say?! It is not particularly "pretty" as someone else said. The terrain is rough and almost desert-like. I had been to St. Martin a few years earlier and thought the terrain was much prettier. I am not well-travelled so I can't highly recommend another place but just wanted to share my recollections of 15 years ago.
PMCW