Our first trip to Aruba was almost exactly 24 yrs ago (honeymoon), and we stayed at the Concorde Hotel. I can imagine that there were many people who were very unhappy when the then towering hotel was built. We fell in love with Aruba, because of its quaintness and charm. The weather and people were just spectacular. I'll have to say our only dissatisfaction, and it was small, is that we would have enjoyed a few more restaurants and a tad more places to shop.

Now, I'll have to admit that Aruba has just about outgrown us. It's still a fabulous place to vacation, and there's enough to do there now, that my teenager loves it. I know, for many people, maybe even most, they'd embrace all the wonderful additions to the island. My husband and I prefer fewer amenities which would bring fewer people. I think after my teen is not vacationing with us, we may try one of the other nearby islands. It makes me sad to say that, because Aruba is our first love, but like so many things, it has outgrown us. What we find to be too much, others are looking for on vacation, so I'm sure it's more than an even tradeoff for Aruba.

I'm another person in awe of the Riu. My husband and I will definitely make at least one trip to Aruba, sans kids, and stay there. The view from the back balcony off the lobby is breathtaking. We saw it just at sunset..and all I can is WOW. We took some pictures, and I jokingly told my husband I was going to send them to our family and tell them that's where we stayed. My teenage son even said that he was going there for his honeymoon..haha Okay, that'll be a few years off, but it really was gorgeous.

We just returned, and although we didn't visit Baby Beach, the part of the island we saw (high rise area, new shopping area and downtown) was very clean and well taken care of. The people were absolutely as wonderful and welcoming as always. We didn't rent a car this trip, but even when we have, I've never been through the red light district nor have I seen the homeless. I'm not saying that it's not there, of course, it's just that I haven't seen it.

On the other hand, if we were looking to spend several months out of a year there, I'd have to go with the new more built up Aruba. I couldn't imagine having enough to do, for weeks at a time, with things back the way there were 25 years ago. So, for us, on a week's vacation it's a bit too built up and getting a little too crowded, but for a permanent vacation home, I'd want all the new shopping and entertainment that's coming to the island.