Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort

March 12 - 20, 2005 by Sara

This is the seventh trip my friend Sue and I have taken together but the first to Aruba. It's our one week out of 52 where we're nobody's wife or mother so we always have a great time. Left from snowy Chicago - O'Hare Saturday morning and arrived in Aruba around 3:30. The customs line moved quickly - didn't even have to use the far right lane - but the luggage was a long wait.

Cell Phone

After we picked up the bags, we headed to the Digicel booth where I had reserved a cellphone from Fast Phones for the week. They had it boxed up and ready to go with my name on it. This was really a great accessory for the week. We were able to call back to the states and check on our kids at any time. We also used the phone to make reservations, re-schedule dive trips, arrange transportation from some of our local friends and of course take the occasional call. US calls cost 19.5 cents per minute which isn't too bad. Anytime we needed to add time to our account we would just dial up the number on the back of the phone and Presto! we were good to go. We dropped the phone off at the same booth at the airport on the way home. It couldn't be any easier!

Amsterdam Manor

Check in at the A.M was smooth as silk. We had a Superior Studio reserved. This is the one bedroom with kitchenette and huge bathroom with Jacuzzi tub. Sue had called the week before and asked if the King sized bed could be changed to two twins. When we checked in, they saw the note and immediately sent housekeeping and two bellboys to change out the bed for us. They were super nice! We were pleased with the services at the Amsterdam Manor. My only complaint was a lack of ventilation in the toilet room (it's in its own little closet in the bathroom). It was pretty musty smelling and we didn't even have any men peeing on the floor! The room is billed as "partial ocean view." Yes, we could see the ocean - but had to peek through the palm trees as we were on the first floor.

Mango's Bar

We hit happy hour beginning at 5 p.m. Filo was everything I had read about and more! He never let your glass or bottle sit empty and always had good advice. Over the week, we spent many happy hours hanging out with him and the other bar flies. One of the best things about the A.M. is the international clientele. Each night we would visit with new friends from Sweden, Germany, and Holland. Oddly enough, there was a group of grad students from the University of Iowa staying at the A.M. at the same time we were there. Nothing like traveling 2000 miles to meet some folks from 8 miles away!

The Arubabus

This was the coolest thing! We're not big car rental people for various reasons so resign ourselves to spend the bucks on taxis. With a $2 round-trip bus ticket we could go just about anywhere! We went downtown, to the grocery store, up north to the restaurants. You can't be in a big hurry but hey - we're on vacation!

Dining

Wow - the week went fast! We didn't have time to try all the restaurants I had on my list from the board! We only did breakfast once and that was the continental buffet at the hotel. It was good but you can't really mess up fresh fruit, toast, juices. We also had lunch at Mango's a couple of times and it was really good. It was nice to order sandwiches from the beach bar and have them delivered to us.

On Sunday, we discovered that most of the downtown restaurants were closed for lunch and ended up at the Paddock (or the Spotted Cow as my friend calls it.) We were pleased with the specials. I had a delicious garlic celery soup that really hit the spot! We also had lunch a couple of times at Iguana Joe's. Good food and good drinks. The ribs and fajitas were really good.

One evening we tried Texas de Brazil. The salad bar is crazy with over 40 items and the garlic mashed potatoes were delicious. The meat that the men bring around on the sticks was also quite tasty but we had overdone the salad bar and didn't really feel like we got our money's worth out of the meal.

We also went to El Gaucho's for the churrasco steak. Yummy! The food was really good but the atmosphere was kind of loud.

The last steak place we tried was Tango's. Again, I was very happy with my filet mignon and loved the live music. We chose to sit outside but I could still sneak a peek at the couple performing the tango inside. The prices at Tango's were very reasonable.

For the seafood side, we went to the Driftwood. I had a delicious grouper and the price was very good. Sue chose the stone crab special and was disappointed in the amount of crab she received for the price. The restaurant did try to make her happy though so I wouldn't cross them off my list.

The absolutely BEST food we had on the island was at the Old Fisherman. This was recommended by Clive Paola our dive instructor. It's located right behind the bus station. We were the only non-natives there so I took that as a good sign. I had a fantastic Mahi-Mahi fillet with all the sides for only $12.00. I wish we would have gone here earlier because we definitely would have returned. The fact of the matter is that we never had a bad meal anywhere. That's pretty good for 8 days!

Excursions

Sue and I have been dive buddies for the last few years so we always try to do some scuba diving. After checking with Rodale's Diver to Diver recommendations, we set up an advanced open water course with Clive Paola, Dive Aruba. Clive is a one-man show with a small boat and he doesn't take out more than 7 divers at a time. We prefer this type of service over the cattleboat mentality of Red Sail. Unfortunately, I had some problems with rough seas and made the decision to bail out of the diving course so I wouldn't have to stress during my vacation. Sue completed her advanced certification and was very pleased with the personal service Clive provided. I would recommend him to anyone looking to dive in Aruba.

On Tuesday, we hooked up with a friend of some friends and went to Carlos 'n Charlies for a little dancing. Normally, we avoid the teeny bopper, Spring Break crowd but we actually had a lot of fun dancing. Wednesday night, the Kukoo Kunuku bus picked us up for a good time. We were happy with the excursion. $59.00 covered a good meal and five drinks. Unfortunately, we just weren't in the right mood. We enjoyed ourselves but didn't get too wild and crazy. I would recommend the trip to friends though. On Friday, Sue and I had arranged to go four-wheeling with one of Filo's "cousins" Beto. We ended up on a private tour and visited the Alto Vista Chapel, the gold smelting ruins, the Natural Bridge, California Lighthouse and all points in between. I think we were out for about 5 hours for $60 bucks. It was really fun because we could stop when we wanted and ride like we wanted to and not just play follow the leader like we saw many others doing. There were a lot of local people trekking around too in honor of their Flag Day.

Heading Home

Alas, the time came to head home. We packed up and checked out of the A.M. around noon and headed to the airport. At the airport, we checked in our bags (for the first time) and arranged to get bulkhead seating for the return trip. Then we hopped a taxi back to town to have lunch and dink around for the next couple of hours. This worked out really well for us. By the time we returned to the airport, we just had to pick up our bags, do the customs thing, wait about 15 minutes and board the flight. No complaints!