We just got back from our 10 night HM in Aruba and wanted to write a review to help some others that may be considering it.We stayed at the Occidental , which was All Inclusive. It was definitively worth it to do the AI as the mixed drinks around most of the island were around $9 each. It was also nice to go on vacation and not have to budget each meal/drink. We did do a few meals off the resort. We went to Senor Frogs which was awful. The food was like bad bar food and drinks were not that great either. Hard Rock Cafe was a safe bet and Casa Tua ( pizza) was really good as well. Nightlife: The Tatoo boat was not worth the pice of admissio. They serverd "dinner" which can only be described as low-grade dog food. Sure, the drinks may only be $3 at most, but they make you buy tokens for them and if you have tokens left over, you can ONLY cash them back in while still on the boat at the gift shop ( and the people at the shop mysteriously disappear near the end of the night so there is less of a chance of getting any $ back for them). The Kukko Kanukko ( sp?), on the other hand, was a GREAT time ! You go on a party bus to 3 different bars and the 1st drink at each bar is free. They also served dinner, which was actually good. Rancho Notorious horse back riding: This was fun. We did the 1 hour country ride. The guide was funny and informative.Now for the resort. I wish I could say I saved the best for last. The resort itself was really nice. The customer service, on the other hand, was horrid. First of all,unless you are staying in an Oceanview or Royal Club room, you can forget about towels. Each morning around 7am the house keeping comes around to clean the rooms and collect the towels. You will be lucky if you have towels by 7pm. We had to call down almost every single night to get towels. One night we came in late and actually saw the lady delivering them at 10 pm ! We thought it was an isolated situation. but when on an excursion with some others room our resort, we found out that it was a problem for everyone ( except if you paid extra for an upgraded room). When we checked out we asked the kid at the front desk what was up with the lack of towels and we were told that they do not have the facilities to wash them at the resort so they have to send them out each day to be cleaned...and the only have a 1 day supply. All in all we LOVED Aruba and would go back in a heartbeat...just not to the Occidental ( unless they got more towels and fixed their customer service)If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to page me on the Sept 09 board
