Tamarijn All-Inclusive Resort

November 3-10, 2001 by ArubaRed & ArubaJoe

Our first trip to Aruba was spent at the Tamarijn All-Inclusive Resort June 6th-13th and it was awesome! The purpose of this specific trip was to do a whole bunch of relaxing and the Tamarijn provided us with that.

Very briefly about our flights…we flew on American Airlines out of Rochester,NY into JFK in NY and then straight through to Aruba. Our flights there and coming home were excellent. As a matter of fact…we were upgraded to Business Class on the way home from Aruba. That was a perfect way to end a perfect vacation.

We decided to rent a car for the week since Economy was running a great deal…$145 for the week. We couldn’t pass it up even though we knew we probably wouldn’t be using the car much. Actually, I think we only used it 3 times! When we arrived at the Tamarijn, we were pleased to find out that Lisa Cusson honored our request of staying in the 2100 block…our room was 2111…perfect, perfect, perfect! We had a really nice wide beach that wasn’t crowded at all and it was only a 2 minute walk from the Bunker Bar (which we visited many times a day!) Our room was on the bottom floor, so our sliding glass door went right out onto the beach…pure heaven. Our room had a crank out window on the one side of the sliding glass door so we could listen to the ocean at night. Only the 2100-2300 block have these windows. We thought the food was good…especially the buffets. The breakfast buffets were awesome! The tropical drinks were great…my favorite was the Zoom and my husband’s favorite was the Hurricane. They are not stingy with the alcohol! We had the Mega package so we could go next door to the Divi Resort. We didn’t use that resort as much as I thought we would…we liked the layed back atmosphere at the Tamarijn better. To get floats for the ocean, you have to walk to the Divi. It’s quite a walk unless you hop on a golf cart. There’s always activites and entertainment going on at both the Divi and the Tamarijn…it was a lot of fun!

We went on the Kuku Kunuku bus one night…that was fun. But, make sure you eat first because the dinner they take you to is yuk! ArubaLisa and Jerry invited us on an island tour in a jeep all day Sunday. They showed us the entire island! Thank you ArubaLisa and Jerry! The ride to the Natural Pool was a riot!

We went into town shopping a little…you can get some good deals at the flea markets across the street from the mall if you want souveniours.

We originally had a couple other things planned like a snorkel cruise, but, we never wanted to leave the beach! We chose to just lay on the beach and float in the ocean…relax, relax, relax. And yes, we got some of the notorious carrot oil tanning lotion for our sunbathing…it is really nice stuff! We got excellent tans. We bought some at Ling & Sons grocery store…it was much much cheaper there than at the resort. The weather was excellent…91 degrees, partly cloudy and windy everyday. Thank God for those tradewinds! Without the wind, you would definitely fry right up!

All in all, we loved the Tamarijn and plan on going back there next year. It’s not fancy, but, it has a relaxing atmosphere perfect for young couples, older couples, or families. We saw a little of everyone there. The rooms aren’t fancy which we already knew, but, our room was always kept clean with plenty of towels. You definitely want to request certain areas of the resort because some of the blocks don’t really have any beach area in front. If you have any specific questions about the Tamarijn, feel free to e-mail me. I have pictures of the different areas of the resort if anyone wants ideas on which area to stay in.

One last note…
HOLD ON TIGHT, ARUBA…WE’LL BE BACK!!!

ArubaRed & ArubaJoe