Tamarijn Aruba

December 22 - December 31, 2003 by Andrea

We has a magnificent vacation in Aruba.
So here's my report trying to be brief and to the point.

Flights:

UsAirways.....Uneventful and on time Boston to Philly to Aruba. Smooth flights and we all slept. Uneventful and early Aruba to Charlotte to Boston on New Year's Eve and the airports were absolutely dead! 7 minutes from USAir ticket counter at AUA to gate 5! Amazing. On all of our flights, to and from, the planes were only half full and we were able to spread out!

Car:

We rented our vehicle, a Toyota Tercel from Tropic. We only put 45 km on it during the entire vacation. Good car, good price and great customer service from Hans, owner of Tropic. When we filled the tank at Coastal, the cost was $6. We did very little driving.

DePalm Island:

We had a gift certificate and went on the 28th of December. Never never would I pay $65 pp for here. We only went because it was a freebie. It rained most of the time we were at DePalm. Breakfast in one word "terrible". Burned croissants, stale bagels, cereal that was soggy while still in the individual boxes, the coffee was good though! The reef there is a mess/non existent. There were quite a few folks there and one man had a net and kept catching one of the giant blue parrot fish and bringing it to the sun deck for all to see. I was horrified. Eventually one of the DePalm staff (after my begging) confiscated the net and the fish remained in the water. That poor fish was probably in and out of the water at least 5 times. Left DePalm at 1 pm as we were cold (it was still raining) and lunch looked no better than breakfast. (ribs, burgers, salads) We used to be frequent DePalm Island visitors when it cost $8 and was less "commercial".

Alhambra Casino:

We think that we did better than breaking even for the week. Every night from 7 - 9 pm are 50 cent craps and $3 blackjack. We finally learned craps and enjoyed playing it for short money. Some nights we lasted at craps til after ll. I enjoyed the Yahtzee machine, Penguin machine and Battleship. All nickel machines. No earth shattering wins, but I was ahead most nights. Paul played craps a lot more than I and also had some time on Yahtzee.

Weather:

One the 28th it was overcast and rain on and off. 31st was somewhat overcast and while we were waiting on the tarmac to leave, it started to sprinkle. Lots of waves, nice refreshing breeze on most days and there was low humidity. My glasses did not fog once!

Tamarijn:

We have stayed at many resorts in Aruba and prefer our timeshare at La Cabana.
That being said, we enjoyed the Tam. We have stayed there before and this trip, we were not disappointed. We were in building 1800 and were happy to find queen sized beds instead of doubles. The 1800 building has not yet been renovated, but there are now hair dryers and irons/ironing boards in the rooms. The first 3 or 4 days we had a small beach in front, but the waves later in our stay caused that small area to disappear. The waves were so huge that the surf was spraying the front row of tables at the conucu outdoor restaurant . The beach area near the watersport hut in front of Divi Village was deeply eroded. The beach area to the left of the bunker bar was deeply eroded.

The boys had no problems finding girls to "chill" with. Also too, these 17 yr olds had enjoyable times doing arts and crafts. We had to laugh as these kids were really getting into making beaded stuff. The little kids were much better and more patient than the teens and showed them just "how to do it". The boys also wind surfed during 4 days. Kevin lost 2 pair of contacts and then his glasses over a period of 9 days. I was a very unhappy parent and he was pretty upset and quite visually impared!

The food at the Tamarijn seemed better than in prior visits. Breakfasts consisted of buffet of all of what one would expect and were adequate. The croissants were very good. We had dinner at Paparazzi 3 times and twice at Palm Court. All the meals were good. The Palm Court has new grilling tables where food can be grilled while you sit. The waiter told us that it may begin in late January. I bet it will be HOT sitting there outside in the heat with a grill in the center of the table.

The cocktails were fine and we drank more virgin drinks than liquor.

Promenade Restaurant:

We drove to San Nicholas on Christmas Eve and had dinner at the Promenade. Our waiter, the big guy that used to work at French Steakhouse, was obviously having a bad day. He was rude and flip. The meal was delicious but we were put off by his attitude. We have been to the Promenade a few times before and had always had wonderful food and service. As I said, he may have been having a "bad day". We were in and out of the Promenade in 70 minutes. After dinner, we drove around the neighborhoods in San Nicholas and enjoyed the Christmas decorations. Cannot say that I'd hurry back to the Promenade as the waiter was really nasty towards us. Oh well, I guess we all have our moments! Maybe it was PMS.

Fireworks:

My ears are still ringing. The way the Arubans celebrate the new year is noisy . Many folks and businesses buy long (and I mean long) strips of firecrackers. They lay them out in parking lots and light them. It has a domino effect and the particular strip will shoot and bang for upwards of 10 minutes. It is unbelievable and I can only assume very dangerous. The noise from the 28th til our departure was deafening from mid morning til the wee hours. When we first heard it, we were sitting on our balcony overlooking the water. The firecrackers were lit in the Dutch Village parking lot. We had no clue as to what was going on and felt somewhat panicky. After the initial scare we then realized these were just firecrackers and not a political uprising. There were many displays of aerial fireworks too each night and those were very enjoyable.

Sunsets:

The sunsets were beautiful. Not as good as Clearwater Beach, Florida (just my opinion)

So that's it.
Happy, Healthy and prosperous New Year.

Andrea