Arriba Aruba

 Hotel: Renaissance Marina (a Marriott property)

Aruba is a great place to travel to in the Carribbean because it has beautiful weather, lovely places to visit, clear blue water, and a great mixture of cultures, so you can experience many different things in just a few days. The island is about 20 miles away from Venezuela so there are many people who have moved to Aruba from South America so that latin flare is definitely felt all around. The language, called Papiamento, is a mixture of Dutch, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and African. Most of the hotels are located in the capital, Oranjastaad, which is where we stayed.
 
Our hotel was nice because it was in the middle of the city within walking distance to most of the nightclubs, restuarants, and shopping. The Renaissance mall is actually in our hotel and that is where all of the high end stores are located, such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Ferragamo, Carolina Herrera, Ralph Lauren, etc…
 
The hotel lobby was asthetically pleasing, as was the bar. The pool is rather small, probably because most people go to the private island that the Renaissance owns. Boats come into the hotel lobby every 15-20 minutes to pick guests up and take them over to the private island, which is really nice. It is about a 15 minute ride to the island, and the ride is enjoyable for the most part unless the water is choppy and you get splashed, which happened to a few people…
 
The private island is only for Renaissance Marina and Ocean Suite guests which is nice. The island has a beach that is for adults only and another for families. The family friendly beach is called “Iguana Beach” because there are amazing iguanas of all sizes living on the island. They are very docile creatures and are used to seeing and interacting with the people who come to the island every day. The other side of the island which has the adult only beach, called “Flamingo Beach”, has a beautiful flock of flamingoes that just hang out on the beach…
 
We mostly stayed on the family friendly side because it was closer to the bathrooms and food. There is a bar and place to get food, which was really nice and there are tables for those who want to sit and eat, or you could take your food back to your beach chairs. The island was clean, but you could see that guests sometimes just left their trash behind…
 
The water is clear blue and you can see tropical fish swimming right next to you, which is amazing…the water is also really shallow so you can swim out and not worry about it getting to deep. I loved the water and being able to swim out and not having to worry about waves because they had built a rock barrier which prevented the waves from being too crazy…
 
My only complaint was that the island was right next to the airport so you could hear the planes coming in and leaving the island…which is really loud and annoying when your trying to relax and enjoy the sun. The noise gets really bad in the afternoons when most flights come into Aruba. Other than that, the island is great and I loved being able to go there.

There are several excursions you can set up through your hotel as well. We went to De Palm island which is the only other private island other than the Renaissance island in Aruba. It was all inclusive for the day, and although is was beautiful and you could snorkel, I don’t know if it was worth it. We did get to see the famous blue parrot fish and some other lovely tropical fish while snorkeling, but the beach was very rocky to the point where you didn’t want to wade in because of fear of cutting yourself. There is a water park on the island which was fun for five minutes. The buffet lunch was really good and you sit and eat in this covered terrace and you can see the fish beneath your feet throught the wooden planks while you eat which is cool. They also have a bar and grill, so we tried to get our money’s worth through food and drink. Next time I would rent a car and drive to Baby Beach to spend the day.
 
If you like to gamble, Aruba is a good place to go. Most hotels have a casino. Aruba also has a pub crawl that’s called the Kukunuku Bus, but we are too old for that. Some people say it’s a blast…
 
Overall, Aruba is a fun place to go and visit. I would definitely recommend it to people who are interested in sun, relaxation, and friendly people. A perfect trip for 4 or 5 days.