Been to Aruba?

[BriarfoxinWA]

DH and I are wanting to go someplace special for our 20th wedding anniversary next year. One of my co-workers spends 2 weeks in Aruba every year for the past 12 years and just loves it.

Thought I'd check with my DIS friends and see if anyone has any suggestions on where to stay & what to do!

 

[Cass]

DH and I are wanting to go someplace special for our 20th wedding anniversary next year.

More special than Disney??

Seriously though, I have been to Aruba and LOVED it, the beaches are gorgeous and the hotels first class. There was not too much to do though, we just relaxed on the beach, did some water sports, worked on our tans, went horse back riding.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Yeah I know there are not many vacations more special than Disney! I just don't think I could stand to do it without my DS's.

Anyone have experience renting a timeshare from a private party? I was just browsing Redweek.com and they have lots of Aruba listings for very reasonable prices. I'm just a little worried about shelling out a lot of $$ and not having it work out.

 

[GJM]

I love Aruba, great beaches, food, and the weather is great. We pretty much just sat on the beach or by the pool. It was a very relaxing vacation!

 

[bigolive9]

We went on a cruise for our honeymoon that had a day in Aruba. We loved it so much. We went on a jeep excursion that went around one side of the island, with the natural bridge and a lot of historical stuff. The water on this side of the island is very rough and you cannot swim in it. The other half of the island are gorgeous beaches. My husband now wants to retire there. Talk to a travel agent and get some more information, or read one of the Frommer's guides. It really is a beautiful island, and we would definitely go back in a hearbeat.

 

[pogopossum]

dw and i were there for a week 21 years ago, and we loved it. we snorkeled on an excursion that the hotel had set up, it included a tour of the refinery. an older couple that we met at the airport and was staying in our hotel rented a car part of the time and took us sightseeing all over the island, be sure to look for the goats in the middle of the island, we found a beach to swim at on the windward side that was not crowded at all and playing in the waves was so fun, after playing in the calm water at the hotel beaches. snorkeling and diving is excellent right there by the hotels, there are even shipwrecks to dive close by. we have always planned to go back, it was such fun.

on our last day we went down the beach toward the residences, and after snorkeling, an aruban family that was BBQing at the beach invited us over for ribs and grilled bananas, it was great and they were so friendly. the people were friendly everywhere we went.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Count me in as loving this place! We went there on our honeymoon. I'd love to go back at some point. Gorgeous beaches, LOTS of shopping, and the natural bridge is something to see! We spent several hours with a cab driver that showed us around. I'm ready to go!

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Thanks for all the replies! I may try to twist my coworkers arm and see if she'll let me rent her timeshare for a week next year!

 

[jan/cape]

We love Aruba! We went with friends for the first time in April of '04. Dominican Reoublic last April. Going back to Aruba next year! We stayed all inclusive which was very nice. We mostly relaxed though 1 day we went para saiing. Another day we rented a jeep and went sight seeing on our own. We have a lot of funny stories from self guided sight seeing trip. The 'packs' of goats on the way to the natural bridge. We also went to the speedway race track.found that accidentally. Gentleman there was nice.
I just love Aruba

 

[figment52]

dw and i were there for a week 21 years ago, and we loved it. we snorkeled on an excursion that the hotel had set up, it included a tour of the refinery. an older couple that we met at the airport and was staying in our hotel rented a car part of the time and took us sightseeing all over the island, be sure to look for the goats in the middle of the island, we found a beach to swim at on the windward side that was not crowded at all and playing in the waves was so fun, after playing in the calm water at the hotel beaches. snorkeling and diving is excellent right there by the hotels, there are even shipwrecks to dive close by. we have always planned to go back, it was such fun.

on our last day we went down the beach toward the residences, and after snorkeling, an aruban family that was BBQing at the beach invited us over for ribs and grilled bananas, it was great and they were so friendly. the people were friendly everywhere we went.

I don't think those were bananas but probably plantains. Plantains look like bananas but actually have a different flavor and are common on the island.

30+ of us went to Aruba in 2001 and had a blast. We stayed at the windsurfing school resort a bit up the coast from the Marriott, near the lighthouse. The beaches were beautiful but and even though we went in "high wind" season it was great. The windsurfers liked the wind but the rest of us hardly noticed it. Except for about 1/2 mile near downtown, traffic was minimal. We rented a car and went all over. Great restaurants too. Good nightlife. Casinos too, if you are into that.

The people on the island were great. They are a happy, lovely , friendly people. English is spoken widely and the US $ is readily accepted, even in the grocery store.

 

[JimB.]

Great place to visit. It's gotten (IMHO) a bit of a bum rap the last few months over the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. I'd go again anytime.......

Oh yeah.....

It's reallllllllly wwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnddddddyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the time. 24/7/365

 

[DrCavin]

Count me in as loving this place! We went there on our honeymoon. I'd love to go back at some point. Gorgeous beaches, LOTS of shopping, and the natural bridge is something to see! We spent several hours with a cab driver that showed us around. I'm ready to go!

The Natural Bridge WAS something to see... It fell into the ocean a few months ago

A great website to get info is http://arubatourism.com/ There is a bullentin board similar to DIS, where people post/answer questions.

Aruba is a nice Island, it has steadily gotten more commercialized over the years. Many "American" restruants are now on the island. The food is fabulous on the Island, try to eat at places that are native to the Island.

 

[lynetteSC]

Aruba is our FAV island ... it is so different from one sid eto the other. When we were there, everyone was so friendly. Everyone spoke enough English to get us where we needed to go ... VERY clean island! We felt VERY safe and the bus transportation that circles the island is SUPER! We stayed at the Marriott and I can't say enough wonderful things about it.

 

[pogopossum]

sad to here about the natural bridge, and yes i remember the wind, and those divi divi trees.

i do kinow about plantains and maybe it is possible that they were plantains, but everyone around talked about grilling bananas and no one ever called them plantains, so i was just following their lead.