Official ARUBA thread.

Bonbini Aruba!!

Does anyone have any reviews to share? Pictures?? Restaurant recomendations? Anything thats a MUST DO???

Please share. I cant wait to go!!!


Im staying at the Radisson.

What a great idea - I am staying at the Hyatt. My brother just went there in May and he recommended the following:

Chez Mathilde
El Gaucho
Flying Fishbone

I have a list at home so I will add to this tonite.

We are going there for our HM. I want to see pics!!!

I am not going to Aruba for my honeymoon but have been there many times!!!!

You have to eat at El Gauchos and make sure you and hubby go on the Ku Ku Kuckoo bus... I can't spell it! It is sooooo much fun!

Also if you like to snorkel... Go on the Palm Pleasure Catamaran.. It takes you to 3 differnent places to snorkel:
1. one w/ lots of shells
2. one w/ a shipwreck
3. one w/ a beach area
They also have fun music and great food on the catamaran.

I LOVE ARUBA!!! You will have the BEST time!

I will be going to ARuba December 10-15, at the RIU aruba grand, I'll write a review afterwards to let everyone know how it is

Im going in 17 days!!!!

We have a timeshare at LaCabana....looking forward to laying by the pool/beach, drinking some frozen goodies, and eating at all the fabulous restaurants.

Since I did a lot of research before booking our HM I can tell you about a few all-inclusives. There's the Divi Mega, the Divi Tamarind, and at the Manchebo you can purchase an all-inclusive plan. BUT everything I read about Aruba said *not* to stay in an AI b/c there are SO many great restaurants you would miss out on throuought the island.
I do understand wanting to go AI, tho..that's what we were originally looking to do.
From all the reviews on tripadvisor.com that we read, it seems that the AI food isn't that great -the Divi had very mixed reviews as far as the food goes. For our HM we want everything to be great..not worried about how the food will be (even though it may be fine, we just don't want to have to think about it)
The Manchebo is supposed to have good food, but the rooms weren't as nice seeming as some other places (again, not bad..but we wanted to go all-out for our HM). I think if we go again we may stay in one of these places, tho.
hth!

My Aruba Review (this is based on an FM I sent someone a long time ago and I've been meaning to expand and post for everyone else for months, enjoy!!!):

FH and I went to Aruba in August. Here's what I have to say about it: there are 3 main places to stay it seems. You can stay in town, which is quite bustling (not what we were looking for but that's where the shopping is, and more bars and restaurants too). You can stay on Eagle Beach, which we drove past - it's beautiful - that's where the low-rise hotels are. You can also stay on Palm Beach, also beautiful - that's where the high rise hotels are and that's where we stayed. The advantage to Palm Beach is that there's a strip of hotels and across the street, and very nearby, are lots of restaurants, so you don't have to go far to have lots of dining options, and you don't really need a car (though we had one for a day). We didn't have to travel much and didn't really go into town, which is exactly what we wanted (we just wanted to relax on the beach).

At the Radisson, we had a garden view room. We spent so little time there that I don't think I would've noticed the difference if we had gotten an ocean view. And, the gardens are nice to wake up to too. We were there last week - the summer's their low season; I think the high season's in the winter, when it's cold here although they have great weather year round (80-90 with zero humidity). Our room was $250/night, but you all should know that the local taxes amount to almost an extra $50/night - this was a bit of a surprise to us as we knew they had a high tax but didn't think it was quite that high - it's about 20%, so you should factor that on top of your room cost to stay accurate budget-wise.

I think that if you can afford it, don't go all inclusive because there are a lot of great restaurants in Aruba - unfortunately, many of them are pricey because the island is a desert island and they don't grow anything. It's like dining in Manhattan for every single meal. But I must say not all the most expensive places we went to were worth it. I would definitely skip Simply Fish - it's copying Flying Fishbone, where you eat on the beach (very romantic), but we went to both places and Simply Fish made us both very ill so I wouldn't recommend it. And the side dishes were like catering hall side dishes and when you're paying that much, I expect more. So definitely go to the real thing (Flying Fishbone) instead. FH and I also ate at Smoky Joe's - good food and delicious deep fried Oreos - yes, it sounds gross, but they're amazing!!! Gasparita/o was also really good, as was Sunset Grille at the Radisson. I think those are my faves. And, actually, Tomato Charlie's is pretty good for pizza too - esp. if you like Chicago-style thin crust (different from NY, but still quite tasty).

Like I said above, the nice thing about the Palm Beach area is that it's a strip of hotels on the beach side, and more hotels and a bunch of restaurants on the other side of the street, so you can walk to a lot of places, which saves cab fare. And, there are a few great cheap finds for lunch and brunch and such (Salt & Pepper, Tomato Charlie's), and some great cheaper dinner finds like Smokey Joe's.
This may also be true of Eagle Beach, but we literally just drove past and I was looking at the beach side so I'm not sure about that.

Once we decided to stay away from town, we looked at 3 hotels, all of which were Palm Beach hotels, and we had the hardest time deciding because they seemed very similar on paper. We considered the Hyatt, the Marriott, and the Radisson, which is where we stayed. The Radisson and Marriott usually charge the same, and the Hyatt's a bit more expensive. We ended up going with the Radisson because we were trying to save some $, and the Marriott was building a new timeshare building and we wanted to be away from the construction noise. Oh, and the Hyatt doesn't have real balconies and we wanted one, but we ended up not really using it so in the future, this won't matter for us. The irony of our choice is that we were next door to the Allegro, which is being gutted and redone, but to be honest - we didn't really hear it. You could if you listened for it, but the ocean and wind do a good job of covering it up. The Radisson is several buildings spread out with gardens and waterfalls and tropical birds in between - the landscaping is gorgeous. The main building has an open air entrance and just a few shops. It has two pools, and the best beach - I think they comb it through more often so there are noticeably fewer rocks when you take a walk down the beach. The Radisson also has MANY more palapas, which is important if you go during the high season because I hear it gets ugly trying to get one of these when the hotels are packed, and the Radisson has so many more, it's probably less of a problem. We walked through the Hyatt and decor-wise, this was our favorite. Their pools were very cool - they connected by staircases and it looks liked ruins. The Hyatt also had more stores, a swim up bar, and a waterslide. It felt more like a really nice, themed Vegas hotel (think Paris, or the Venetian), and I kind of wished we had stayed there because I like that more than the quiet but beautiful gardens of the Radisson, but that's just me. The Radisson is quieter and spread out (the other two are just one main building each) which feels more resort like so I guess preference will really depend on what you're looking for and what you like. The Marriott is supposed to have the biggest rooms and the biggest balconies - the lobby's very nice, and they also have a swim up bar (as you can tell we were sad that the Radisson didn't). But the Marriott is also the last hotel on the strip, so it's quiet, which is nice, but it's also a longer walk to the restaurants... and the Hyatt and Radisson are very centrally located, so again your preference will depend on what you want.

If we get a chance to go back, we'll probably try out the Hyatt, unless we go in high season, in which case we'll stick with the Radisson. But honestly among these 3, you can't go wrong - they're all very nice and Arubans are also very nice so you get tremendous service.

I've tried to point out some differences I noticed and I hope they're helpful - it was so hard for us to figure out the differences when we were looking so I hope this is helpful.

One last thing - car rentals - force them to let you make a reservation or go through your hotel. The local budget office was like, oh you don't need a reservation for tomorrow, we have plenty of cars. And then tomorrow, they were out because that was the day the cruise ships arrived (which I'm sure they knew about the day before). Very annoying - thank god for the accommodating people at Economy Car rental.

Feel free to FM me if you have any Q's. Sorry for taking so long to share my Aruba experience with you ladies.

yes, thank you ladies! i'll be there next week and i'll definitely report back on places i like:) we're staying at the Hyatt but i'll make sure to check out the other hotels also because i was decided between:

- hyatt
- radisson
- marriott
- tara suites at Bucuti Beach Resort

Great review! Thanks soooo much

All that info was so helpful!
Thanks ladies... We are going may 07 and im soo excited ( i might be more excited for the Hm then the weddin itself!)
ok ok both equally hahaha

hi girls..i wish i was in aruba now.. i havent thought about it in a long time.. i need the sun!!

question - do you need to make reservations for restaurants now??? i heard some places are hard to get resevrations??

i bought the dine around card for 3 nights, and what to go to nice places the other 3.. i just dont want to be stuck getting a bad dinner time if it is busy..

thoughts?? thanks!!

We love ARUBA and have been there twice this year. That's where we got engaged. You need to go to:
1) Madamme Janette's (AWESOME and ROMANTIC). BEST!
2) El Gaucho
3) Amazonia
4) Aqua Grill
5) Flying Fishbone
6) L.G. Smiths
7) Chalet Suisse
***THe food is too great to go ALL INCLUSIVE****

You need to go on some tours. Def do SNUBA. IT was amazing. The Natural POOl is a must see. The ATV'S are great. Enjoy the beach, it is just amazing. You are in a great loacation because you are right on the strip.

**Also bring a credit card because it is easier to charge everything b/c of the exhange rate. Although most places except American dollars.

We are leaving July 16th for our honeymoon we wanted to know what is the best time for reservations at the Flying fishbone and other outdoor romantic restaurants. So we do not miss the sunset I read the sunset time was 7:10pm is 6:40 enough time or should we make it for 6:30.

We went there on our honeymoon last year. One place that is hardly mentioned that is a must do is The Pirate's Nest. It offers on the beach dining in your own private cabana. The waitstaff will take pictures at sunset and you get your own private menu. It was the most romantic night we had.

I would also recommend going to Baby Beach. It takes a while to get there but it is well worth it. The water is so warm and there is great snorkling.