honeymoon pictures and Aruba review!
pics
Aruba was soooo beautiful!!! Girls who are going there you will love it. I was so confused as to where to book. The Riu looked amazing, so did the Occidental, and the Marriott..We went with the Marriott. They have an option (kind of like a hotel within a hotel) called the Tradewinds which is AI. You are on the 8th floor, food and drinks included, own little beach area. It looked cool, but it was more expensive, and we wanted to go to a lot of restaurants, so we opted not to do it. I was happy with our decision, but it is is expensive there, so next time I might try the AI. Either way you, the Marriott was SUPERB and exceeded my expectations. The pool is stunning, especially at night. It has lights in it that change color...sooo beautiful at night. you can see in the pictures. we loved night swimming. The food at the Marriott was the best ever! They have one restaurant where you eat right on the beach. So we watched the sunset and had a great dinner at Simply Fish (part of the Marriott). sooo good. service was great,...live music...and my feet were in the sand. Aruba has a place like this called Flying Fishbone. We wanted to go there, but since we had the same thing at the hotel,we skipped Flying Fishbone.
Marriott also has Ruth's Chris...omg soooooo good!! DH never went to the one in NY, and he is a huge fan now. It was really good..maybe even better than the NY one. Our server there was greaaaaat. Friendliest people. Also in the Marriott was this bar Champions. We ate here twice. The buffalo chicken sandwich was kick asss. Cool bar too. The breakfast buffet was one of the best. They had a great brunch on Sunday too. Swim up bar in the pool was nice. BEach was gorgeous. What I liked about the Marriott (but also didn't like) is it is the last hotel on the strip. GOod thing is not too crowded. Bad thing you are isolated from everything. There are a lot of little bars and restaurants and shopping across from the other hotels (Riu, Hyatt, etc). We walked the whole strip on the beach and it was nice to check out the other places. The Hyatt looked gorgeous. The pool area was sooo nice. They had birds and swans. Beautiful. Very tranquil. Marriott's beach looked the best though.
Activities:
You need to do the ATV tour. WOW!!!!!!!! We did a full day one. gorgeous views. I was terrified at parts. You go up some big cliffs. We got stuck on one and couldnt move. IF we went forward we would have fell into the ocean. hahaha thank god our tour guide helped us. TheNatural pool was beautiful. We went in some caves, saw gold mines, baby bridge, baby beach...best day for dh and def ranked up on my list too. dont miss this.
another must do...JOLLY PIRATE!!!!!!! very cheap too. like 50 a person for 3 1/2 hours. You go out on a pirate ship and snorkel at two spots. You see a shipwreck from WW2...so cool and such beautiful fish. Then there is a rope you swing into the ocean. The crew is awesome. They were taking people and doing flips into the ocean. Also, open bar. Drink the pirate booty or something like that.. yummmmy. really fun trip
I dont recommend De Palm Island. COMPLETE RIP OFF. It was like over 200 and it blew. It's all you can all you drink, but the food isn't anything special. You can snorkel and go on a banana boat, but other than that nothing special. We were bored and not happ. We enjoyed playing bball there. haha there was no where on the beach to sit. If we wanted to do the sea trek or snuba it was more money, and it was all booked. not fun, but dh got wasted and silly.
Restaurants!
You need to go to MAdame Jenettes. The ambiance is unbelievable. It's like inside and outside...there is a tent and lights everywhere. great live music...yummmmmmmy food. this was our favorite place.
El Gaucho- soooo good
Screaming Eagle- was ok...our least favorite place
Paddock was a cute little place downtown by the shops and flea market. we had breakfast there. really good.
we loveeeeeeeee aruba and can not wait to go back!!!
Aruba was soooo beautiful!!! Girls who are going there you will love it. I was so confused as to where to book. The Riu looked amazing, so did the Occidental, and the Marriott..We went with the Marriott. They have an option (kind of like a hotel within a hotel) called the Tradewinds which is AI. You are on the 8th floor, food and drinks included, own little beach area. It looked cool, but it was more expensive, and we wanted to go to a lot of restaurants, so we opted not to do it. I was happy with our decision, but it is is expensive there, so next time I might try the AI. Either way you, the Marriott was SUPERB and exceeded my expectations. The pool is stunning, especially at night. It has lights in it that change color...sooo beautiful at night. you can see in the pictures. we loved night swimming. The food at the Marriott was the best ever! They have one restaurant where you eat right on the beach. So we watched the sunset and had a great dinner at Simply Fish (part of the Marriott). sooo good. service was great,...live music...and my feet were in the sand. Aruba has a place like this called Flying Fishbone. We wanted to go there, but since we had the same thing at the hotel,we skipped Flying Fishbone.
Marriott also has Ruth's Chris...omg soooooo good!! DH never went to the one in NY, and he is a huge fan now. It was really good..maybe even better than the NY one. Our server there was greaaaaat. Friendliest people. Also in the Marriott was this bar Champions. We ate here twice. The buffalo chicken sandwich was kick asss. Cool bar too. The breakfast buffet was one of the best. They had a great brunch on Sunday too. Swim up bar in the pool was nice. BEach was gorgeous. What I liked about the Marriott (but also didn't like) is it is the last hotel on the strip. GOod thing is not too crowded. Bad thing you are isolated from everything. There are a lot of little bars and restaurants and shopping across from the other hotels (Riu, Hyatt, etc). We walked the whole strip on the beach and it was nice to check out the other places. The Hyatt looked gorgeous. The pool area was sooo nice. They had birds and swans. Beautiful. Very tranquil. Marriott's beach looked the best though.
Activities:
You need to do the ATV tour. WOW!!!!!!!! We did a full day one. gorgeous views. I was terrified at parts. You go up some big cliffs. We got stuck on one and couldnt move. IF we went forward we would have fell into the ocean. hahaha thank god our tour guide helped us. TheNatural pool was beautiful. We went in some caves, saw gold mines, baby bridge, baby beach...best day for dh and def ranked up on my list too. dont miss this.
another must do...JOLLY PIRATE!!!!!!! very cheap too. like 50 a person for 3 1/2 hours. You go out on a pirate ship and snorkel at two spots. You see a shipwreck from WW2...so cool and such beautiful fish. Then there is a rope you swing into the ocean. The crew is awesome. They were taking people and doing flips into the ocean. Also, open bar. Drink the pirate booty or something like that.. yummmmy. really fun trip
I dont recommend De Palm Island. COMPLETE RIP OFF. It was like over 200 and it blew. It's all you can all you drink, but the food isn't anything special. You can snorkel and go on a banana boat, but other than that nothing special. We were bored and not happ. We enjoyed playing bball there. haha there was no where on the beach to sit. If we wanted to do the sea trek or snuba it was more money, and it was all booked. not fun, but dh got wasted and silly.
Restaurants!
You need to go to MAdame Jenettes. The ambiance is unbelievable. It's like inside and outside...there is a tent and lights everywhere. great live music...yummmmmmmy food. this was our favorite place.
El Gaucho- soooo good
Screaming Eagle- was ok...our least favorite place
Paddock was a cute little place downtown by the shops and flea market. we had breakfast there. really good.
we loveeeeeeeee aruba and can not wait to go back!!!
