Aruba Beach Club

April 22 - 29, 2006 by Corrine

Aruba Forum Profile: Corrine

Saturday, April 22th!

Our sixth trip to Aruba! Up at 4 am, cab came at 5am. It was sad, a last trip on Song, the cheapy Delta subsidiary. Our Delta pilot requested to cut ahead of me in line at X-Ray security. I told him I was so happy to see him, of course he could cut! Our flight left on time and we arrived early. Yippee! Unfortunately, it took forever for the bags to come out and even longer at Budget.

The car rental area was a zoo, with all the Easter vacationers dropping off their cars and the rest of us picking up. Some people were complaining loudly about this, but we kept our cool. Stopped at Lings for food and stuff and off to Aruba Beach Club. I discovered I had no idea where ABC is, as I always stay at LaCabana.

After hitting LeDome Restaurant three times, we pulled out the map and saw it was BEHIND the casino! Our room wasn’t ready and there was no bellhop, you had to lug your stuff into the member’s lounge yourself. By now, husband had steam coming out of his ears. We went to the Tortuga Bar, where Andre served us excellent Miami Vices. After awhile, we were like "what room?".

It was super windy. We went to Elenora’s for dinner. I had Paella and Steve had chicken and ribs. Dinner for 2 with drinks, coffee and dessert was under $50, along with enjoying the Eagles in concert on the flat-screen. It was very strange that Elenora’s and Aruba Destiny were both totally empty on a Saturday night.
The restaurant in the Mill was closed.

The next day, Sunday, was extremely windy again. We got a hut at 7:30am no problem and enjoyed our real New York bagels brought from home. But the water was very wavy, which I don’t mind, but had a very strong current. I got pulled out a few times and had to swim parallel to shore until there was a breach in the water. We went to the pool in the afternoon which was good because jelly fish had arrived at the beach! That night we had dinner had Madame Janettes. I had the Lobster Thermidor, which was very good, but Steve’s steak Gianni Versace was to die for! Dinner for 2 was about $100.
We went to Moombas for a drink but the crowd was very young and the music LOUD. We checked out the Marriott Surf Club – what a beautiful place! Then into the Casino, where we lost.

The next morning, we went down to the beach and the water was super rough again. We packed up and went to LaCabana, since I had my membership card with me. The water was very calm up here, got to float around, aah……

At night was our BB Party. I was great meeting everyone! We really had some laughs! Dinner at Passions was wonderful. I had the Coconut Shrimp – delicious. Again, dinner for two was around $100.

Tuesday, we had breakfast at Linda’s Pancakes. Yum! While Steve had the Bacon Pancake and I had Pancake with banana and strawberries, I plan on getting one plain next time. They are SO good, they don’t need the toppings. It was shopping day, went to my favorite T.H. Palm in the high rise area, where we got shirts and a stained glass Margarita. Shopped downtown, nothing great, jewelry that I liked was very expensive. We tried going on Mainstreet, very different shops, and found an excellent children’s store where we bought a baby gift.

Then on to Que Pasa. What a nice place with original artwork. I had steak with pesto, walnuts and red wine sauce (YUM!) and Steve had ribs. We had Aruban coffee and of course, the chocolate crème brulee. (double YUM!) We got to meet Peter, who is a really nice, funny guy! Dinner was a little under $100 for two.

The next day we were up early for the ABC Jeep Tour with Liz and Charlie. Also in our Jeep were people from Rome, whom I enjoying talking to. This is a LONG, tiring day! While we enjoyed the sights, nothing beat that ride to and from the Natural Pool! Why didn’t someone tell us about this?? We were all hysterical laughing, while praying we don’t die! The people from Italy loved it! Liz & I never made it down to the Natural Pool – it looked like too much work! Unfortunately, at the caves, one of the jeeps blew the clutch and we were stuck over an hour while a replacement was sent. While this is natural, no one was mad, it was galling that the bar there charged $8 a drink, even w/o alcohol! One man had 2 kids, it cost him $16 for 2 drinks. I thought the company should have picked up the tab for our drinks, but that is JMO. We finished at Baby Beach and dived in to cool off. We didn’t go anywhere that night, but I did finish one of the best books I have ever read – Kite Runner. Oh, and the weather was perfect – a bit overcast which was great for the tour.

On Thursday, the weather was perfect! We spent the day at the ABC beach and went to Marandi for dinner. We watched a beautiful sunset and had an excellent meal of Japanese Pork and Surf and Turf. Dinner with drinks and a crème brulee was about $110. They will be moving to the Que Pasa building, when Que Pasa moves to the old Bononoo’s. I will be very sad to see them go!

Friday was another beautiful day at ABC. We met some nice people from Mass. At night we went to the high-rise area again. Very crowded, yikes! Shopped a bit at the Marriott and tried Salt & Pepper. Tapas are a very cool idea, you can try a variety of food. The beer batter is delicious! We got 2 free sangrias with our coupons! Excellent, very light and fruity! We tried the Sopranos Piano Bar, but it wasn’t our thing, very mellow and the piano player was playing Lynard Skynard! So we went back to Que Pasa for more Aruban coffee and chocolate crème brulee and chatted with Peter. I am trying to convince Peter that some of us New Yorkers are nice people!

On Saturday, we got up early, thinking we could have a leisurely breakfast at Villa Germania, recommended by so many BBers. It was almost not to be! Hubby locked the keys in the rental car! Budget took almost one hour to come and open the car!! I now had steam coming out of my ears. I can’t see what took so long! We rushed to Villa Germania (traffic was light due to the Queen’s B-Day). Our excellent waiter, Michael got our order quickly and had us out the door in a half hour. Thank you, Michael!

Lines at the airport were horrendous! There must be a better method to do this! Our luggage was thrown in with a couple of other flights in the luggage room, and no one could find their stuff. Then we lug it to US Customs, where supposedly the computers were down. I was wondering if they were on lunch break. I did meet a nice lady from Jersey who had saved a tiny puppy and was bringing her home. Bandita was her name and I believe the story was in Aruba Today. The puppy is still small and sickly but doing much better. Lucky Bandita!

All in all, it was another great trip. There were no bugs and no rain, just some wind at the beginning of the week. All our meals were delicious. We enjoyed meeting some of BB friends, especially Amy, Liz, Amy B (and spouses) and Peter! ABC is very different than LaCabana. Both have pluses and minuses. ABC is right on the beach, has friendlier guests and staff (now I know what you guys mean by people saying Hi all the time!). Tortuga Bar and Grill was very good! LaCabana has a nicer pool and much more amenities, computer lounge, bellhops, organization and calmer water. It was nice to try something different. Next year, it is back to LaCabana, as I will have 2 teen-age girls with me and they like the hustle and bustle. Oh, and Steve came home down $100 at the casinos! At first he liked Seaport, then preferred Alahambra! We are definitely hooked on Douwe Egberts Coffee now!