Aruba Grand / Manchebo Beach Resort

September 19-27 / September 27- October 4, 2003 by Amy~® and Mike

Flew USAir from Minneapolis to Aruba - had a connection through Charlotte, NC - all of the flights were on time and we got into Aruba a little before 3pm. Also the first time we’ve ever flown in on a Friday and getting through the Aruba airport was a breeze - no lines for anything and got our luggage within minutes.

Picked up our rental car (new 5-door Kia Rio) from Jansen Rent A Car at the airport as usual and were on our way to the hotel within minutes! We rent from Jansen every year - we just love them (great service and rates!)

Aruba Grand

Stayed in our favorite lanai room like we do every year. Check-in was quick - only took a couple of minutes. The bellmen welcomed me with open arms (again!) when I got out of the car - they remember me every year. The Grand is in the midst of remodeling their top 2 floors of the tower (floors 7 & 8). Not sure exactly what they’re doing but it looked like a total overhaul of the rooms complete with new balcony doors. Our lanai needs new balcony doors - when we checked into our room, I found the door ajar - tried to close it and tried to open it….wouldn’t budge. I called the front desk and they had maintenance over to our room within 15 minutes. He wasn’t able to fix it right away but came back the following day and fixed it by putting in a new door on the opposite side.

Manchebo Beach Resort

Spent our second week at the Manchebo. We had requested several different room numbers that we liked but didn’t get a single one. Apparently, the hotel was full. The room we got was okay but the ground floor patio was right next to the major walkway to the beach, pool, and bar - not very private. Needless to say, I met a lot of people in the morning while sitting outside drinking my coffee and sharing my fruit with the iguanas (LOL!!) The Manchebo also surprised us with a welcome back/happy anniversary fruit basket with fruit, fruit juices, and a bottle of champagne (complete with champagne glasses) - very nice touch!

Bucuti Construction

We stayed next door at the Manchebo but could still hear some construction noise while we were on the beach. Not overly bothersome but there were days…….

Marriott Construction

All I can say is that it’s BIG and it’s going to be even BIGGER - they’re only working on one tower right now with plans to build 3 more. The new tower already dwarfs the existing Marriott in size. I will never stay there (too many people for me!)

Wyndham

A friend of ours traveled with us the first week and stayed at the Wyndham. She had registered for Wyndham By Request requesting an upgrade and wine & cheese in her room upon arrival. She didn’t get the best room when she arrived but they did switch her to a better room on the 15th floor with a view of the pool and water the following day. The wine & cheese never arrived even after she called about it. I believe by day 2 or 3 she finally received it except….they delivered an Amstel Light and peanuts (oh well!) The hotel did look full though - their beach was packed every day and she did stand in line one day at 7:30am for a hut. Over at the Grand where we stayed you could get a hut any time of day (which I love!)

Restaurants

We ate at some of our favorites (Gasparito, Madame Janette’s, El Gaucho, Que Pasa, Salt & Pepper, Rumba, La Dolce Vita, Charlie’s Bar) and tried a few new ones this year (Marandi, Tabasko, Ventanas del Mar, Mango’s, Linda’s for breakfast). I have posted some reviews in the Restaurant Review section: www.restaurantsaruba.com

We even ate at Rumba twice this year because we enjoyed it so much and also enjoyed meeting the owner, Stefan, and his wife. Also was glad to see Chef Marc at Mango’s - another great dinner! A couple of other nights we did the cheap meal thing…..take-out pizza at Pizza Hut with Gouda cheese - took it back to our hotel, sat on the balcony and enjoyed it with a good bottle of Chilean wine.

Tranquilo

I’ve been on this snorkel cruise before with Captain Anthony and Roy but it’s so good that I couldn’t pass it up again. Plus we were able to book a lot of friends on the trip so we had the entire boat to ourselves with the exception of a German couple who didn’t speak English (and none of us spoke German) so it was very hard to communicate. This year, after the regular snorkel, then the drift snorkel, followed by the wonderful Dutch split pea soup, we had 2 special treats. The first was a decent view of the Venezuelan mountains because it was so clear out that day, and the second, was to have our boat joined by 2 fun-loving dolphins as we were sailing away from the reef area. They were playful - darting back and forth from the sides of the boat, to the front of the boat, jumping up from time to time - they just made my head spin trying to get a photo so I finally gave up and just enjoyed watching them. Sue’s husband Gerry was lucky enough to get a few shots that actually turned out pretty good considering how quick the rascals were.

Balashi Brewery Tour

Is this place EVER OPEN??? We’ve tried for years to go there for their tour of the brewery and it’s always closed without a soul in sight.

Helicopter Tours

Just started these tours a couple of months ago and they’re located in the marina area near the Renaissance Hotel. The company that runs it is from Olympia, Washington and the pilots are American. We did the full island tour but there are 2 other tours: beach only and sunset tour. The view was incredible and the pilot does a great job of setting up photo ops for you. I highly recommend this if you want to see some spectacular views especially on the other side of the island. Only area we didn’t get to see was the end near Baby Beach and Rodger’s Beach because it’s too close to the oil refinery which is restricted air space. Had a fantastic view over the Antilla shipwreck - could see the entire ship and where it was split in two!

Ostrich Farm

Another new attraction. We just happened to stumble upon this as we were driving to the Natural Bridge with a friend. We went back the following week and took the tour which is $6/person. They said they will soon have a restaurant set up that offers ostrich burgers, etc. and the meat will actually be flown in from Curacao - the ostriches at the farm are for breeding and education only. We took our private tour and were able to feed the ostriches and go into a pen and pet their soft feathers. We also learned a lot about their mating habits, how large they get, egg hatching process, etc. (their brain is actually smaller than the size of their eye - who knew?? LOL!) The eggs are so hard that our guide had me stand on one and it didn’t break (whew!) - the eggs almost feel like porcelain. We were also able to hold the baby ostriches who were just born a few weeks ago. They also have black-bellied sheep from Africa there, too. There were a couple of babies just born days ago and we got to hold those as well. Very educational day and hands-on tour.

Nightlife

Okay, we just don’t make it much past 11pm anymore - sad, isn’t it? But we did go out one night after dinner with Sue & Gerry and our friend, Melissa, to U Wanna Beer. Had been there before but had a hard time finding it at first and ran into Choose A Name which was HOPPING to say the least (it was Friday night). Finally ran into U Wanna A Beer which is just a couple blocks off the square behind the Renaissance. We were the only Americans there and it was great - cold beer and drinks at good prices and live music. There is an outside patio, too, which is nice if the music is too loud. Word of caution - they have black lights which they turned on when the band started playing and my sundress that I was wearing suddenly became transparent….so outside to the patio we went - LOL!!

3rd Annual Aruba Forum BB Party

Happy Hour at Amsterdam Manor and sunset sail with Red Sail Sports!!! This was, of course, the BEST party!! We had $1 drinks at the happy hour along with some snacks provided by Amsterdam Manor. Then at 5:30 everyone went to the Red Sail pier for the Red Sail Sports sunset cruise. Had a HUGE ship with plenty of room for dancing near the bar (drinks were included) and it was just one big party with music, drinks, and a lot of great people! Even had some local "celebrities" at the party: Melvin (webmaster at aruba-travelguide.com) and his girlfriend MAria, Richard (webmaster at aruba-bb.com) and his wife Karen, Chef Marc from Mango’s, and Stefan from Rumba. I can’t wait until next year….this is an annual event now and I look forward to it every year!

Odds and Ends

The weather is normally hotter in September but this is the first time I’ve ever felt it really HOT! The trade winds were just not blowing as much - it’s usually very, very windy and this year it was just breezy. Days at the beach were great but if you were downtown….hot, hot, hot! Had a few sprinkles on a couple of days during our time on the island but it never lasted more than 15 minutes or so.

The water on Palm Beach was the clearest I’ve seen in years - could even see puffer fish and sergeant majors off the end of DePalm Pier by the Kokoa Bar just by looking into the water.

Rodger’s Beach - always have to go for a dip in the water here at least once per trip. Once again, not a soul in sight while we were there!

Kokoa Bar (pier near the Aruba Grand) - great service, great COLD beer, great light lunches, and just steps from the Aruba Grand (great location!) - can you tell that I just love this place?!?

We got together with Sandra again this year who posts on the BB’s. She was gracious enough to invite us over to her house for lunch so that I could meet her beautiful Boxers! Plus, I got to meet each and every one of her kitties, too. Had a great time playing tug of war with the Boxers (they won!) and had an incredible lunch of Columbian food (probably the best lunch I’ve ever had on the island!) I was admiring a small cactus that was in her yard with bright red berries on it and she showed me how to bite off the end of the red berry and suck out the juice/pulp - it was actually really tasty (so now if I’m ever lost in Arikok Park I’ll know which cactus to look for if I need something refreshing - LOL!)

Also had a fantastic grilled dinner with John T and his wife, Sandy, who we met last year and who were staying at the Aruba Beach Club. John even made flan for dessert - these guys really know how to do dinner! Thank you John and Sandy!

I am sure I’m forgetting to mention something so please feel free to email me if you have any questions. We covered a lot of ground in our 15 days!! Lots of beach days and lots of days running around the island.

Also like to say a big thank you to the following people for their friendship and generosity: Melvin & Maria, Leo (Jansen Rent A Car), Sandra, Chef Marc (Mango’s), Stefan (Rumba), Sue & Gerry, Doug & Dan, John & Sandy, and all of the new friends we met at the Aruba Forum happy hour party and sunset sail (too numerous to mention but I loved meeting everyone and hope you join us again next year!) We’re already planning trip #10 for next year! And I’m already missing those Amstel Brights and Polars and shrimp and Mahi-Mahi and...

Regards,
Amy and Mike