A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

We decided to go to Aruba in the beginning of the month for a few days. We flew jetBlue direct from Logan, which now goes out of terminal E (I can’t tell you how many people were confused by this – check your gate before you check your bags!) We arrive, go through customs and jump onto our De Palm bus that will be taking us to the hotel. It’s sprinkling when we get on the bus, but by the time we get to the hotel it has stopped.

The Radisson has made some upgrades to the furniture since the last time we were here. We have been to Aruba over a dozen times, and have stayed at the Radisson a handful of times before – it’s a lovely property. The location is great,  near the other high rise hotels (The Westin (which was just bought by the Riu), the Occidental, the Hyatt, the Riu, Playa Linda, the Ritz and the Marriott). There is a movie theater, a large shopping mall and a bunch of great restaurants in the area.

The hotel has 3 towers, and we are in the tower farthest from the lobby. When we booked the room, it came with a $50 resort credit and a $25 spa credit (only used on massages or facials, 60 minutes or more).

We found it a little odd that the shower didn’t have a  fixed shower head, only a detachable hand held shower head.

The area outside the elevator bank is simply decorated.

The hallways are very cool – they are blasting the air conditioning.

The view outside of our window, the Riu hotel.

The property is quite scenic.

The pool area.

Here is the map of the property. You can reserve a beach hut/palapa ahead of time for a fee for the week. Otherwise, they open the towel hut at 4pm and take reservations for the next day (complimentary). They put out chairs at 3pm and people are actually starting to line up at around 2:30. It just depends on how important it is on where you sit on the beach. We went up at around 3:15 and were still able to get a hut closest to the ocean. While the beach was full, we never had a problem getting a chair etc. While you’re waiting in line, you talk to other people and sometimes pick up some good tips. This year, someone in line told us about Player’s Choice, a travel agent that specializes in trips to Aruba. The gentleman told us that he got the same package that jetBlue offered, for the same price, but through player’s choice hwas able to get breakfast AND lunch included.

A schedule of events for the week. They have a bunch of activities to participate in, exercise classes, morning runs, and BINGO (for an additional fee).

It’s late afternoon by the time we arrive, so we head to the pool restaurant, Gilligan’s for a bite to eat. Of course, the first thing I do is order a frozen drink!

We have the chicken finger plate for lunch – the portions are decent and the food isn’t gourmet, but hits the spot.

We also had the chicken quesadilla. Lunch runs around $30 – I guess there goes our resort credit 🙂

Aruba gets busy around Christmas, so we are beating the rush. Most of the people here have very young children or they are over 65.

The fun part about the hotel is that they have birds all around the property.

Meet Lola.

From what her caretaker says, she likes women better than men, she is quite the chatterbox, and she doesn’t like when you leave (she squawks!).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65015475@N02/11375993316/

The hotel offers (at an additional price) a bunch of options for water sports. This year, they added paddle surf boards. Check out this crazy water sport!

And what trip would be complete without the Aloe man?! He walks the beach every day selling his aloe beverage.

Tags: aruba