La Cabana & Renaissance

August 11 - 21, 2005 by Andrea & Paul

Aruba Forum Profile: andrea

Flights

Boston to San Juan to Aruba on 11 Aug were early and uneventful. The breakfast omelet on the Boston to San Juan leg of the flight was rude and disgusting, but hey they still serve food! Return flight on Aug 21 was nonstop and was also a bit early departing Aruba and early landing in Boston. Food was actually a pretty tasty chicken and rice dish. Crying child Boston to San Juan in the row in front of us. It was annoying and frustrating and there was nothing the parents could do to console this child to stop or quiet the crying. I suspect the kid was sick/ear difficulties. We put our earphones on and turned up the music and tried to block out the crying. The parents of the child were overwhelmed!

Accommodations

3 nights at Renaissance Marina Tower room was clean, cozy and quiet. The Renaissance private island was wonderful and pleasant. We had a nice room @ Renaissance 2 nights prior and 1 night post timeshare (room 1402) and it was just perfect. Small, but perfect. I would stay again at the Renaissance Marina! Parking was across the street at the Ocean Suites/Seaport Marketplace parking area. A short walk or a shuttle ride back and forth from hotel to car.

We spent 7 nights at our week 33 unit @ La Cabana 326. Superb location dead center in the middle of the resort with a fabulous view. Water aerobics was always fun and fast each morning. Housekeeping was good and everything about the Lacabana BRC was good in our opinion. Even the parking was great! We did not eat or drink at any of the restaurants/bars at Lacabana.

Auto Rental

Tropic - Hans and his coworker Denis were terrific and efficient. Good prices and good vehicles (toyota yaris).

Snorkeling

Snorkeled a few mornings at Arashi and found it to be equal or better than Baby Beach and/or DePalm. We saw a small brown spotted moray, octopus, tons of trunkfish and many other types of fish that we have rarely seen at Depalm or Baby. Lots and lots of sea urchins and we were thoroughly entertained and enthralled.

Casinos

2 visits to the Marriott Casino with not much luck. Other visits were to the Alhambra and to the Crystal and the Wyndham. Most nights were unprofitable, but eventually we did well at the Alhambra. We came home with more $ than we started with !

Cellular Phone

Paul and I purchased a Nokia bare basic model phone from the Setar Teleshop for about $74 and added in about $30 of calling minutes (over 2 hrs peak time or over 3 hrs off peak). We were assigned a phone number and will add more minutes to the phone in December. No reactivation is required. As long as minutes are added once every 12 months and there is phone use, the phone number stays active. The minutes do expire every 2 months. We bought enough to last for our 10 days. We bought the phone instead of renting it as we usually get to Aruba 3 times a year and economically it made more sense to own, rather than rent.

Fun stuff

We sunned and swam, we ate, we sunned and swam, we slept, we sunned and swam, we ate, we hosted our own happy hours at our timeshare unit balcony and I became an excellent mudslide maker!

Grocery store

Made only 1 trip to Lings and spent less than $70 for some basics. Club soda, milk, muffins, breakfast and lunch foods and wine.

Restaurants

Aug 11 - Eleanora's Crazy Grill, dinner was chicken and ribs combo, inside dining although outside was available but we needed air conditioning, so we ate in. Price for 2 chicken and rib combos was $30. Sangria EXCELLENT but we were stupid and ordered a "pitcher" and the price was $36 for the pitcher but we did split it with our dining companions. DELICIOUS a definite MUST DO and dress was very casual. (shorts, tees, birkenstocks) tip extra.
Aug 12 - Alfredos, dinner was sausage and ziti for paul and ravioli for me, good food, excellent garlic bread, good prices, $34 including diet soda for me and coke for Paul. Visit Aruba card accepted. Dress, very casual shorts and tees again! Gratuity added in, we left a bit more. There were 6 of us that evening.
Aug 13 - Tulip, Wonderful service, wonderful food, salads delicious and all had grouper except for me and I had Keshi Yena. Paul's and my bill was $34, no drinks just ice water. Very causal again. Tip extra. 4 of us that evening.
Aug 14 - Madam Jeanette’s. Delicious -Service wonderful ambience and great company (8 of us), Paul had rack of lamb and I had caesar salad and then lobster ravioli. Our portion of bill was about $55 including tip. Dress---I wore a summer shirtdress and Paul a polo shirt and docker shorts. Delightful garden seating.
Aug 15 - Nos Conucu and had no difficulty finding it thanks to arubaAmy's directions. Food good-not great. Prices cheap. We'd go again. Both Paul and I had a Balashi and then goat stew each. It was GOOD. Barnyard animals were milling about and it was interesting. Not overly wild about the service. Dinner for the 2 of us was $21 including the stew and Balashis and then we added on a tip. It is definitely a place where one would want to bring the kids as it is very very "barnyard-like". I would go again and would eat goat. Dress---we wore shorts and tees. Our travel companions were not overly impressed with the "rustic" setting.
Aug 16 - RIO Steakhouse. Again another WONDERFUL place and Visitaruba card accepted for 10% off. I had chicken and veggies on skewer. Paul had tenderloin. Bill came to $40 including the 10% discount but then 10% Service added in. We did leave more tip. Steak wonderful. Chicken wonderful! I wore a short set, Paul polo shirt and docker shorts. Our friends had the churassico and we all agreed this place is way better than El Gaucho and French Steakhouse.
Aug 17 - Eleanora's Crazy Grill. Chicken and rib combo, no sangria pitcher this time but did have iced tea. The bill about $30 and then tip. Food fabulous and the atmosphere terrific. While we ate inside a raging thunderstorm was happening outside. Dress shorts and tees. I could have eaten every night there and we had the pleasure of meeting and speaking at length with Eleanora and Helena. Everyone shoukd try Eleanoras!
Aug 18 - Old Fisherman. Paul had grouper and I had a seafood rice combo and it was good, not great. Prices have gone up a bit but we did enjoy our food and company. Our bill was about $30 plus tip and dress very casual. (thank you sherry and murray for my birthday dinner there)
Aug 19 - Gasparitos. Menu pricey (IMO) and the only fish served that day was barracuda. I ended up eating only a salad and a mushroom appetizer as there was nothing else on the menu that interested me. Paul ordered a T-bone steak and what was not bone was fat and or gristle. Our dinner companions had Gasprito Chicken and said it was good but not great. Dress was short set for me and polo and docker shorts for Paul. Bill was $40+ not including the tip. Cross that place OFF our list. The manager/hostess (owner?) was snotty and was quite disinterested when my husband tried to send his steak back for a more palatable piece.
Aug 20 - Rumbas WONDERFUL and DELICIOUS! This place surpassed MJs for presentation and prices and taste. All in our group sans me had grouper and I had a shrimp and scallop and linguini dish. Salads were out of this world! Our bill was $71 not including the tip. Marissa aka Mafalda joined us and we all had yummy desserts. Dress was short set for me and docker shorts and polo shirt for Paul.
Aug 21 - Sbarro pizza slice @ airport cold, thick uncooked crust, $7, no tip :-) This was our breakfast @ 10:45 @ airport pre US Customs