ARUBA for a week in early december: Share your tips

[99steak]

- South west is obviously the best but which area is exactly good in the south west if you are going with kids, wife and mother-in-law as baby sitter?
- is it worth booking all inclusive or just the hotel and do everything else separate?
- High rise hotel, low rise hotel or airbnb apartment or apartment style hotel?
- best restaurants (some hidden gems, 1 splurge and some normal)
- activities and places to sea
- whats the night life like?

Please share experienced Aruba experts.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JustinCruise]

My favorite vacation spot in the world!

Wife and I going again for our 5th anniversary in 2019


Willie gave me a lot of good advice before my last trip there so im sure he can chime in

 

[JustinCruise]

Beautiful beaches, beautiful water, much cleaner and safer than other tropical areas


You don't want all inclusive. Too many great restaurants around.

We stayed at Hyatt regency last time and loved it. It's super nice and has perfect location for tons of restaurants and shops.

 

[JustinCruise]

We really liked

Barefoot
Madame Janettes
Amore Mio


I highly recommend the "around aruba" atv tours. It was a blast and beautiful sights and actually quite the adventure. Tour guide was great.

 

[michael777]

Joran Andreas Petrus van der Sloot

 

[Betallsports]

- South west is obviously the best but which area is exactly good in the south west if you are going with kids, wife and mother-in-law as baby sitter?
- is it worth booking all inclusive or just the hotel and do everything else separate?
- High rise hotel, low rise hotel or airbnb apartment or apartment style hotel?
- best restaurants (some hidden gems, 1 splurge and some normal)
- activities and places to sea
- whats the night life like?

Please share experienced Aruba experts.

Thanks in advance.

a lot of us have spent time there, so you should get great reviews.

better off Staying in the palm beach area ( not in the south west )

I tell everyone that goes to check out Madame Janette. You will need to make a reservation, and ask to seat Outside

I'm not a big all inclusive guy because I'm not a big drinker. Most of those places are Avg at best when it comes to food.
Guess you can't screw up Breakfast ... but Dinners suck

marriott aruba surf club probably has a better value than the ocean Club
your best bet would be to try to find a timeshare ( redweek )

My main pick for Hotels is the hyatt regency, it's closer to the beach and their small Casino is nice

 

[PoundFoolish]

never been, but I am also going in december. can't wait.

 

[JustinCruise]

a lot of us have spent time there, so you should get great reviews.

better off Staying in the palm beach area ( not in the south west )

I tell everyone that goes to check out Madame Janette. You will need to make a reservation, and ask to seat Outside

I'm not a big all inclusive guy because I'm not a big drinker. Most of those places are Avg at best when it comes to food.
Guess you can't screw up Breakfast ... but Dinners suck

marriott aruba surf club probably has a better value than the ocean Club
your best bet would be to try to find a timeshare ( redweek )

My main pick for Hotels is the hyatt regency, it's closer to the beach and their small Casino is nice

Hyatt regency is my pick too

Good advice on madame janettes. Sitting under the cover can get really hot

 

[Willie99]

Palm Beach Area, I would suggest the Divi Phoenix, especially if you can get into the new section. If you have kids, they have one bedroom and two bedroom suites with plenty of room. At least two full baths, a full kitchen, and you're right on the beach. Way more room than your typical hotel room.

I have stayed at the Hyatt, awesome place, probably more money than the Divi for a standard room. Everyone who stays at the Marriott loves it, again I would look for a suite as opposed to a standard hotel room.

Do NOT NOT NOT do an all inclusive. There are far too many awesome restaurants to enjoy and the island is very safe to travel, I would never lock myself into one hotel, not in Aruba

best restaurants

Flying Fishbone, simply amazing, but a 30 minute ride each way so you want to do it the day you rent a car. Make reservations early, ask for a table in the water. No shoes, water just above your ankles.

Azzurra in the Playa Linda, great Italian experience. Share a "Spaghetti al Formaggio Parmigiano", pasta cooked in a whole parmigiano wheel at the table. They usually have an appetizer special with burrata mozzarella and italian meats which is really good, another great dish to share

If you're looking for a romantic evening, I have two recommendations.

Carte Blanche, make reservations from home as they only take 14 people per night at it's a 3.5 to 4 hour ordeal. An amazing experience with great food and wine pairings

BLT is the Ritz Carlton, one of the very best steakhouses I've even been to



If you rent a car, drive to baby beach for a day, bring your snorkel stuff and pack food and beverages. Then drive to the CA Lighthouse for the sunset, plenty of small unique beaches all over the place

Sunset catamaran always cool, I prefer a mid-sized boat for the best sailing experience and comfort

Let me know if you have any questions

for us, the nightlife was usually about drinking and / or the small casinos, but we fell asleep early because of all of the fun in the sun

My favorite vacation destination

 

[kidman232]

Willie, whats a vaca run you down there?

 

[99steak]

Willie thanks for the great tips.
Thank you Justincruise and betallsports as well.

Going to look into all your tips. Will follow up next week.

Thanks again guys.

5 days or 7 days better for the size of the island and the things to see, activities etc?

 

[Willie99]

7 days, you're fling to Aruba, the longer the better, learn to relax and enjoy the sun and the beach and the water

The beauty of Palm Beach, a/k/a the high-rises, is the beach. Water Temp is perfect, and it's like a big bay with no waves. We just take our drinks in the water and bullshit all day, You can pack cheap floats, have them pumped up at the hotel and then give them to somebody when you leave. The kids won't get out of the water, and all the resorts have pools. Lots of water activities

 

[Willie99]

Willie, whats a vaca run you down there?

Our two bedroom time share is for two weeks every other year. It sleeps 8, 6 with privacy, and we invite two couples to join is each week. It costs us about $ 1,200 the years we go for maintenance fees.

Renting a time share probably runs about $ 250 to $ 500 a night, depending on the season. Peak season is like November through March, September is the cheapest

Hotel rooms on the beach at the resorts we're talking about probably average $ 200 to $ 650 a night (the Ritz Carlton is the $ 650 . We love staying on the beach, makes it easy to go to our rooms for drinks and snacks, and you have use of your hotels chairs and such. You can stay across the street from the beach for a lot less, maybe as low as $ 100 per night. You can always use any beach on the island, but hotels do reserve their chairs and such for their guests only.

If you don't mind not being on the water and you rent a car, check out VRBO for private properties, wide range of prices.

We go to the grocery stores and buy food and liquor, so we make our own breakfast and lunch most days and we make our own drinks all day long. Then we go out for a nice dinner every night

If you choose to eat out, food can run from a low of $ 50 per day per couple to $ 200 per day per couple. Our dinner usually runs $ 100 to $ 150 per day per couple, with a few times north of those numbers

Activities? plan on doing one or two if you like that stuff, maybe $ 65 per person

A lot depends on how much you like to drink, and if you buy your drinks at the bar(s) or BYOB to the beach

Car rentals are reasonable, $ 200 or so per week (I would suggest you rent an all wheel drive jeep, so you can explore the island)

 

[99steak]

Willie,
Is the Divi Phoenix is palm beach adults only? When i search on expedia with 2 kids, nothing comes up. I can only find rates when i search for 2 or 3 adults?

 

[Willie99]

No, it's a family resort, trust me, they even have a kids pool

Divi has 4 (maybe 5) resorts in Aruba, I think one might be all inclusive but not the Divi Phoenix

 

[Betallsports]

Willie,
Is the Divi Phoenix is palm beach adults only? When i search on expedia with 2 kids, nothing comes up. I can only find rates when i search for 2 or 3 adults?

No way it's Adults Only. They have this huge Kids club there

 

[99steak]

No, it's a family resort, trust me, they even have a kids pool

Divi has 4 (maybe 5) resorts in Aruba, I think one might be all inclusive but not the Divi Phoenix

I tried booking the Palm Beach location with 3 adults and 2 kids but nothing comes up for a week in late nov/early december. Maybe all their suites are fully booked.

 

[Betallsports]

I tried booking the Palm Beach location with 3 adults and 2 kids but nothing comes up for a week in late nov/early december. Maybe all their suites are fully booked.

if you could do Dec 1st to the 7th I found this, https://reservations.travelclick.co....1510589421-299072924.1510589421#/datesofstay

 

[99steak]

if you could do Dec 1st to the 7th I found this, https://reservations.travelclick.co....1510589421-299072924.1510589421#/datesofstay

I can only get the studio with queen bed and sofa bed there. Was looking for 1 bed room or two bedroom suite as per willie's recommendation.

 

[Betallsports]

I can only get the studio with queen bed and sofa bed there. Was looking for 1 bed room or two bedroom suite as per willie's recommendation.

Yeah guess they are sold out