Aruba experts

mrsrutkowski

Hey everyone,

I just booked a 1 year anniversary trip to Aruba. We are debating about whether to go AI or not. I'd love any suggestions on 

1. Where to stay

2. Where to eat if we don't do AI

3. What excursions or places shouldn't be missed 

Thank you!

KatWAG

Some people might disagree but I hated Aruba. H and I also went for our one year anniv. trip. First, there are very few AIs in Aruba. I think the big AI is called either Rio/ Ria. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency. It was a nice hotel, but the restaurants were crazy expenisve and not good. Also, you have to wake up at 6am to reserve chairs on either the beach or the pool. (we went in Aug, so a slow season, and still had to do this)

I found that Aruba had basically no culture. Almost all the restaurants are major chairs. We literally had Domino's pizza one night for dinner.

We had 2 fancy dinner at Passions and Barefoot. They are basically the same restaurant, just different locations. Passions had a better atmosphere and Barefoot had better food.

We went deep sea fishing, which was fun. You are supposed to be able to keep what you catch. But our crew gave us a real hard time us keeping the mahi mahi and tuna we caught. They clearly wanted it. We also went scuba diving over an old German war ship that wrecked. But the water was too rough to really enjoy. I dont know if that is normal or we were just there on an off day.

We originally picked Aruba since we would be traveling during hurricane season, But I really wish we had gone somewhere will a little culture. There was literally NONE. 

A little tidbit, if you are flying out on a weekend, make sure you get to the airport at least 3+ hours early. You will go through both Aruba and USA customs before you board your plane. I saw tons of people miss their flights. The airport doesnt have AC, and you spend most of your time waiting in security lines outside in the sun.

Maybe consider Puerto Rico?

JoanE2012

KatWAG said:

Some people might disagree but I hated Aruba. H and I also went for our one year anniv. trip. First, there are very few AIs in Aruba. I think the big AI is called either Rio/ Ria. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency. It was a nice hotel, but the restaurants were crazy expenisve and not good. Also, you have to wake up at 6am to reserve chairs on either the beach or the pool. (we went in Aug, so a slow season, and still had to do this)

I found that Aruba had basically no culture. Almost all the restaurants are major chairs. We literally had Domino's pizza one night for dinner.

We had 2 fancy dinner at Passions and Barefoot. They are basically the same restaurant, just different locations. Passions had a better atmosphere and Barefoot had better food.

We went deep sea fishing, which was fun. You are supposed to be able to keep what you catch. But our crew gave us a real hard time us keeping the mahi mahi and tuna we caught. They clearly wanted it. We also went scuba diving over an old German war ship that wrecked. But the water was too rough to really enjoy. I dont know if that is normal or we were just there on an off day.

We originally picked Aruba since we would be traveling during hurricane season, But I really wish we had gone somewhere will a little culture. There was literally NONE. 

A little tidbit, if you are flying out on a weekend, make sure you get to the airport at least 3+ hours early. You will go through both Aruba and USA customs before you board your plane. I saw tons of people miss their flights. The airport doesnt have AC, and you spend most of your time waiting in security lines outside in the sun.

Maybe consider Puerto Rico?

We were looking to book a vacation in the coming months and were strongly considering Aruba until we heard this is common at most of the resorts.  I want to relax, not have to worry about getting up at the crack of dawn to stand in line to get a chair.  Needless to say, we're not going to Aruba.

mrsrutkowski

Thank you for responding - we already booked it so we're definitely going and hopefully it will be a great experience! Hopefully the next responses will be good experiences...eek!

AllyIdo

Yeah I disagree! Love Aruba!

We stayed at the Marriott Surf Club. Loved the lazy river. Jolly Pirates snorkeling trip cannot be missed. It looks like a pirate ship and you can swing out into the water. Also be sure to take one of the jeep safari tours. That was a blast!
Sunset on the dock at The Hyatt. Dinner at Madame Janette's. Enjoy!

JoanE2012

AllyIdo said:

Yeah I disagree! Love Aruba! We stayed at the Marriott Surf Club. Loved the lazy river. Jolly Pirates snorkeling trip cannot be missed. It looks like a pirate ship and you can swing out into the water. Also be sure to take one of the jeep safari tours. That was a blast! Sunset on the dock at The Hyatt. Dinner at Madame Janette's. Enjoy!

We looked at the Marriott Surf Club and read the reviews on tripadvisor.  All I kept reading was how hard it was to get chairs around the pool and on the beach, you still had to get up early and the chair tags were a joke.  I'd love to go to Aruba, but I just can't deal with that nonsense.

OP - How did you book it if you didn't pick a place?  Did you just book airfare?  If there was no issues with the beach/pool chairs, we would've stayed in the high rise area and would not have done AI....we would've tried new places for dinner each night.

cruffino

I've been to Aruba a few times, staying at Marriott surf/beach club each time. I agree that it seems to be without culture, but it's grown on me a bit.

What helped is that we rented a car and drive all over the island to get a better feel for it. Theres a cool national park that you can drive through (get a jeep or suv) and get out and see caves and really beautiful rocky coastline.

The beaches, water and sunsets are lovely. Food is mediocre, but not horrible. Overall, I'm sure you'll have a great time.

mrsrutkowski

Yes we just booked airfare so far bc we had delta vouchers to use. So now we're looking for where to stay. Thanks for those tips!!

KatWAG

AllyIdo said:

Yeah I disagree! Love Aruba! We stayed at the Marriott Surf Club. Loved the lazy river. Jolly Pirates snorkeling trip cannot be missed. It looks like a pirate ship and you can swing out into the water. Also be sure to take one of the jeep safari tours. That was a blast! Sunset on the dock at The Hyatt. Dinner at Madame Janette's. Enjoy!

I also went on this. And I think you need a bit more context. Jolly Pirates is treated like a booze cruise. Yes, you stop and snorkel a few places and they have ropes that you can swing off the boat. But I feel like its main pruposed is to drink and dance, which is fine. I wish I had known that going in. I didnt love it when the captain got on the loud speaker and told me to "shake it."

Hokie05

We went the the Radisson a few years ago, and would recommend it. You can sign up for a palapa the day before starting at 4PM (unless they changed that to a different time), so you don't have to wake up super early to get a spot at the beach. There were lots of restaurants within walking distance to the Radisson, which was nice. We did rent a car for a few days to explore the island. Also did a half day Jeep tour, which we really enjoyed. If you decide to do a Jeep tour, be sure to wear clothes that you dont mind getting dirty. We also did a snorkel sailing trip with Mi Dushi, which had great reviews on TripAdvisor, but I felt so sea sick that I'd skip that if I had it to do over. When we were there, the Radisson had a 2 for 1 drinks happy hour every day, which we took advantage of, to help save money, and there was a manager's cocktail party one night of the week too. Sunsets in Aruba are gorgeous, so that's something to look forward to!

AllyIdo

Re: Jolly Pirates... We didn't have this experience. Yes you could have drinks on board but it was not a "booze cruise" for us at all. I'm sure it depends on the time of year and crowd.

AllyIdo

Re: Marriott
We never had a problem getting chairs on the beach. We did see people lining up to reserve chairs at the water's edge but there were no issues
getting chairs a row or two back. Beautiful views all around, didn't know why people were so obsessed with the front row!

Giaspo

We loved Aruba. Stayed at the Marriott Surf Club. Ate our way though the island as there are a ton of amazing restaurants. My H is a foodie and this was a priority for us. If you're debating AI versus restaurants, I'd say don't book an AI but know that it isn't the cheapest island. The only excursion we did was a snorkeling trip; other than that we ate... And sat in the sun... And ate some more. Good luck and enjoy!

jleon12lsu

We LOVE Aruba! We stayed at the Riu All-Inclusive and loved it but there are plenty of non AI resorts. They also just opened a Ritz Carlton. As for restaurants, we loved Barefoot, 2 Fools and a Bull, and this little pizza joint downtown called Pizza and More. A snorkeling excursion and a jeep excursion are a must. We saw the MOST breathtaking sights that we will never ever forget. We plan on going back time and time again!

Stucker052811

We honeymooned in Aruba 2 1/2 years ago and we LOVED IT!!!  We stayed at the Bucuti Beach Resort and it was perfect. Exceptional service, great breakfast, and most of all plenty of lounge areas and beach space!  We never had a problem finding chairs on the beach and always had our own space. We loved the romantic, relaxing, and low key vibe of this area.  I know the other side of the island is a bit busier and has more nightlife, but that wasnt what we were looking for. Plenty of day tours, snorkel trips, jeep trip, sunset sails, etc. We didnt mind not being all inclusive because we like to venture out and try new restaurants.  Have also been to Mexico and Hawaii and Aruba has by far been our favorite!!  We will go back for sure!

rf1583

I second Bucuti! I much prefer staying on Eagle Beach in the low rises as it's quieter and less crowded. The beach is amazing! I don't recommend all inclusives in Aruba only because there are so many great restaurants to eat in! Actually I highly recommend the Romantic Dinner for 2 at Bucuti. It's a 6 course meal and you can watch the sunset. The food was delicious too!

Tulips29

We were in Aruba last year for the first time and absolutely loved it! We stayed at the Marriott Stellaris (the one next door to the vacation club) and it was amazing. Yes, there were people lining up for the beach chairs at 6/7 am, but we didn't let that worry us. We were able to get a beach chair when we woke up. It wasn't the front row like someone else mentioned above, but it was still fine and on the beach. The days when we didn't get beach chairs, we got chairs by the pool, which is by the beach as well. 

Excursions:

We did the ABC tour of the island, which was amazing and we highly recommend it! You drive a jeep (my FI was the driver for our group since no one else wanted to drive) along with a few other people and the tour guides stopped at numerous places which were all scenic, gorgeous and some historic. We didn't do any of the snorkeling stuff because we've done it at other islands, but heard from people who did those things that they enjoyed them.

Restaurants: 

We explored a number of restaurants, including the one at our hotel. The hotel's restaurant (buffet) had a different theme each night (Italian, lobster night, etc) and they were all fabulous. Their breakfast was amazing as well. We did find a great place on the beach about 10-15 mins walking from our hotel that serves breakfast food called Scott's Brats. It was cheap and good for breakfast. Passions on the Beach was a disappointment for us, didn't enjoy the food and it was overprices. Taste of Belgium was near our hotel and had delicious food. Zeerover is a bit of a distance from the hotel strip, but was worth a trip. They serve whatever they catch that day. We also had dinner at a few other restaurants (can't recall names) that were all not too far from the hotel (the area where everyone walks around behind all the hotels) and they were all good as well. Aruba isn't cheap, so be prepared to spend on restaurants.

Hope this helps

lawsrw

I've take annual vacations to Aruba for half of my life (15+ years) and it's absolutely wonderful. All of the locals are so nice and welcoming and you can't beat the weather, even during the rainy season. The Hyatt, marriot and radisson are all great but if you want a more private, honeymoon-style experience, the Divi is lovely and located on the low rise beach so the sand and water are much nicer. Also, I wouldn't waste your time eating at hotels (unless you're at an all-inclusive of course) - the food is mediocre and very overpriced. You may as well eat amazing food if you're going to pay tourism-driven prices; the best restaurants are: Hostaria da vittorio, Madame jannette, sole mare, screaming eagle & flying fishbone (in that rose based on my many years of experience there). Moomba beach is a great spot for a happy hour drink on the beach at sunset, it's a mix of locals and tourists and just has a great, low-key vibe. In terms of activities, bring champagne to the lighthouse to watch a sunset or spend an afternoon at baby beach. If you're an active pair, go to the parasailing beach to take windsurfing or parasailing lessons, or just go sit on the beach there and watch all of the parasailing live! If you like to gamble, the Hyatt is the best casino (for winning and ambiance) - they have a great house band that plays throughout the night. Best of luck!