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Aruba Beach Club - May 10 - May 17, 2003
By Michael Richman
We recently returned from our first visit to Aruba having spent a glorious week at ABC (5/10-5/17). For those not wanting to wade through my overly long journal/ trip report, here’s the reader’s digest version: IT WAS AWESOME! Next, to address those negative people out there who feel anything positive said about Aruba is a conspiracy perpetrated by the powerful timeshare owners lobby to increase the value of their investment, hogwash! We had the time of our lives and loved everything about Aruba and cannot wait to go back!
Saturday 5/10- Paula and I got to the Cleveland airport at 4:30 for our 6:45 AM flight. We were flying United and were the first in line for check-in. We breezed through that and through security and had 2+ hours to kill before our departure. Our flights were delayed in Cleveland and Chicago due to bad storms but we still managed to get to Aruba only about 30 minutes later than plan. The airport process was quick and we hopped a cab to Aruba Beach Club. Our unit was everything we had hoped for! Facing the water on the first floor we were a few steps to the beach and a few more to the water.
It couldn’t have been more perfect. The cell phone guy arrived exactly as planned and went over the phone rental, features and answered questions. I highly recommend Rent-A-Cell to anyone considering renting a phone. I made most of our dinner reservations in advance and our first night was at Pirates Nest for the Honeymoon dinner on the beach. Our reservation was for 6:30 hoping for a great sunset. The sunset was lousy but the dinner and whole experience was wonderful. We just loved the printed menus with our names, the champagne and the leisurely meal and attentive/pleasant staff who seemed bent on making it a special evening. The evening cost us $90 which included tip that I added on top of the included service charge. After dinner, we wandered over to Ahlambro casino and deposited a few dollars to boost the economy, a theme we repeated throughout the week.
Sunday, 5/11- I was up too early and surprised to find a storm outside, waves crashing over the rocks. It didn’t last long and a bit later I took a walk down the beach, then running till I got to the high-rise area. I was excited to see the area and planning ahead, I had taxi fare not wanting to reverse course and hike home. The high-rise area has a resort feel to it with its beautiful grounds, glitz and buzz of activity. We prefer to stay in the low-rise area for all the opposing reasons. It is quieter and has less of a “big resort” feel to it. We just love being able to walk out our door and be so close to the beach and water. Unfortunately there are only a handful of units like this and it would difficult staying any place else. Each day would start with me putting our towels out to reserve our chairs and shade and then some form of exercise that always included a walk along the beach. In trying to be somewhat cost conscious, nearly all of our breakfasts would be cereal for me, English muffin for Paula. Lunch today was at Manchebo sitting outside near the beach. We both ordered chicken sate’, the first of what would be many times ordering this dish. Food was great. Drinks also good and the setting on the deck near the beach, also very nice! Dinner was at Madame Janette’s. In a word, fantastic! The food and service was great. I had a snapper dish with white asparagus. Paula had beef tornados, which were excellent, and we split an appetizer and dessert. With a few drinks and tip, bill came to $109. We would highly recommend MJ and can’t wait to come back! After dinner we went to the Marriott to look around and try our luck at the casino. A few more bucks for the economy.
Monday, 5/12- I was up early and worked out at the health club at ABC while Paula slept. One of the timeshare owners told me ABC got new equipment this past week. How fortunate for me! I found it a great place to try to work off what I consumed the day before. After breakfast, we headed into town on the bus for some shopping and exploring. The area was bigger than I expected with lots of neat shops. Unfortunately that meant it was going to take way longer than I planned with Paula feeling the need to talk to every jewelry store employee on the island! J She decided on a very nice turquoise bracelet and earrings at Noble Jewelers. Though everyone was nice, I was somewhat disappointed with the high-pressure tactics at most stores but it was their slow season and everyone needs to eat. We had lunch at the Paddock. Both of us had sate’ which was excellent. Two pork tenderloin skewers each with French bread, a few drinks and the bill came to $25 not including tip. That was enough to earn me a free tee shirt with our Aruba Plus card. We headed back via bus but messed up getting off a stop too early and had to walk ½ mile. The heat of the day nearly killed us both. Oh well, so our first bus experience wasn’t quite flawless! J We enjoyed the rest of the day in our beach chairs at ABC but did walk over to Pega Pega for a drink (too early for happy hour though). We watched the sunset from our beach chairs before cleaning up for dinner. It was a good one but a little cloudy.
Dinner was at Tabasko for BBQ and we took a taxi for our 7:30 reservation. We could have ordered from the menu but I had read the BBQ was good and wanted to try it. Set around the grill was a choice of salads, rice and baked potato with a cook offering ribs, chicken, fish and shrimp.. I enjoyed the food. It was not elegant dining, but I like rolling up my sleeves and getting involved with my food, not Paula’s cup of tea. J The setting outside on the patio with soft white lights and a very good singer was very intimate. We shared a large bucket of sangria and lingered there for almost 3 hours. With coffee and a shared dessert (caramel crème, sort of like a flan and excellent) the check totaled $67 not including tip. We both enjoyed the evening very much.
Tuesday, 5/13- Today was our jeep tour. We were picked up in the morning and shuttled to the Wix office where we began a journey through the island that we will never forget. I had made arrangements with Christian at Aruba-Experts and Marco at Wix for a private jeep with air conditioning. We are both adventurous but not young and both long past any thrill one might derive from too much heat and eating sand! Forget anything negative you have heard about Wix. They did a wonderful job accommodating our request (for an extra fee) and I highly recommend both Wix and Aruba-Experts. The jeep tour took us to the lighthouse, Alta Vista Chapel, Baby Bridge, natural bridge, gold fort and the natural pool. The ride from the natural bridge to the natural pool was awesome. I had been looking forward to going way off road (I own a jeep at home). The rough terrain, up and down hills without trails was much more “off road” than I expected but I loved it! Personally, I would not rent a jeep and do this on my own. Its dangerous and the jeeps got pretty beat up. Several times one of the jeeps got stuck and needed assistance. It is a lot of fun with a tour group and with someone who knows the route and what they are doing. We had purchased the half-day tour but were given the option of staying on for the rest of the day, as we would miss out on baby beach and some snorkeling there. We opted out as it was already 3PM and we had other things we wanted to do that day.
Dinner was at El Gaucho. I almost cancelled it both of us being exhausted from the day and a little drunk from happy hour at our pool bar. But, after watching another wonderful sunset sitting on our chairs at ABC we got cleaned up and headed to dinner. I am so glad we went! I know some people have written it is not as good as it once was and some have had bad experiences there. We loved it! Our table was ready upon our arrival though the place was packed and some people waiting at the cigar bar. The roving musicians came by to play a song for us. We ordered the Gaucho steak and scampi and shared both dishes. The scampi was good but the steak was unbelievable! It was perfectly cooked and served with a caddy of sauces. I loved the garlic sauce and homemade steak sauce. The pumpkin soup was good and we also shared a pitcher of sangria and dessert. The bill, including service charge was $98 to which I added extra for the very special evening.
Wednesday, 5/14- The week is half over already and we are dreading seeing it end so soon. Today we have a car rental and had planned to some exploring around the island and see some of the things not included in the jeep tour. But, having spent all day in the jeep yesterday, plans changed! The day started badly with Jansen messing up the arrangements for the rental. They called and said the car would be at Manchebo. At Manchebo they said it was waiting back at ABC. At ABC, they said no, no car here. I called again and they said the car is at CDM. No car there. I called again and they said rent one from Toyota in the CDM lobby, which we did. Lost an hour but was very pleased with the car and Toyota Rental’s service. Having to be downtown by 11:30, we did not have time for Linda’s Dutch Pancakes, another disappointment. In town, I had arranged to surprise Paula with “Touch A Tiger”. How often do you get to pet a 600-pound Siberian tiger? She loved it but we now know why they call it a once in a lifetime experience. You don’t get 10-15 minutes, you get 30 seconds and once you realize you paid 25 bucks for 30 seconds, you wont do it again in this lifetime! Still, a good experience. She got her picture taken with the tiger and we had more time to shop! We managed to find Gold Town, a store frequented by friends of hers who come to Aruba often. There she fell in love with a gold bracelet and got a great deal. Leaving the store, it was raining or misting. It felt great and cooled us off and lasted only a few minutes. The rest of the afternoon was spent on our patch of sand watching the water and reading. We swam some and used our floats but the waves were too fierce and it took everything I had to paddle back to shore. Dinner tonight was at Fishbones. Our table was on the side facing the sunset at the water edge. Feet in the sand. A very nice setting and place to watch the sunset except for the big boat docked blocking our view!
A waitress said we could not switch tables as the table I wanted was reserved for someone. That made sense until another waiter moved a couple from another blocked table to that table! I was ticked. Oh well. Not going to let that ruin a great evening. We each had a drink and a glass of wine (free with a coupon I found in a flyer). Paula had the lobster tail and I had one of the fish specials. Both were very good but dessert was excellent. We shared a crème brule which they split into two cups. The coffee is served with a tray of cookies and fresh fruit. The crème brule was the best we have had and we order it quite often. Our waiter was very nice, very busy catering to a lot of tables and taking pictures for people like us that asked. From our table we saw fish just below us in the water, and a crab and eel getting washed in and then out with the waves. Very cool. The bill came to $108 including tip. We enjoyed the setting and evening very much but will probably try some of the other sunset dining options before returning. After dinner we made a deposit at the casino at the Wyndham but only after winning some and then giving it back.
Click here for the second part!
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