Aruba Trip 06/26 – 07/10

[MikeM]

What a wonderful 2 weeks spent there. I miss it already and can’t wait to get back next year. Direct flight from Boston on Jet Blue arrived in a little over 4 hours. Watched some TV, until there was no service, then a couple of movies and before I knew it we were there. There were 9 of us going this time, 4 adults and young adults, 18-22. We breezed through customs and I was happy to see that the Duty Free store is open before you exit the airport. I will be taking advantage of this next year.
Got to the Condo and was able to check in and get to the room with no delays. Then it was off to the store for a few essentials, Balashi and some other less important items. My wife was able to pack all of our breakfast and lunch foods in our suitcases for this, including several bottles of alcohol. She was going crazy the night before we left weighing all the bags to make sure all of them were underweight and did any necessary juggling of items. As a side note on this, my wife came up with a suggestion that the airlines should let you have more weight according to the length of your trip.
Many of the days were just spent lounging by the pool and relaxing. Met a couple of nice families from Missouri and Conn. We spent a few of the days with them drinking and laughing. They have a couple of pictures of the Balashi pyramid that we created by the pool and when I get them I will post them. I was able to get in a round of golf as well.
July 4th was a surprise there. I was not expecting anything to be going on but there was a Happy Hour followed by an all you can eat Prime Rib dinner at the Divi Sea Breeze and the night was capped off by sitting on our rooftop deck watching the fireworks between the Tam and Divi.
We all did the snorkeling on the Jolly Pirates. We had an awesome time. The crew was great and the snorkeling was awesome. Also we did the KuKu Bus and that it always a great time. I was bummed to find out that Brian, a.k.a. Big Papi, no longer works for them.
The ladies took a few days to do some shopping downtown and my buddy and I took advantage of that as well. Up to Iguana Joe’s we went to entertain our livers in a couple of Hurricane Joes. It makes it easier to handle when they come back and show us what they bought.
Dinners were good. We went to Smokey Joes, ribs were great, TGI Fridays, Tomato Charlies, Iguana Joes. The adults went to Giannis and Sole Mare. Great food there. My friend and his wife went to Madame Janette’s and they raved about everything there. We will be going there next year for sure. We did go to Senor Frogs, young adults’ choice. It was nice to experience but I won’t be going back anytime soon. The food was okay but those waiter’s with the whistles got annoying very quickly…
The weather as usual was great. A little rain a couple of day, damn those 10 minute showers. Although the Friday before we left was cloudy then broke for a few hours and then some more rain.
Got to the Airport 3 hours before our flight on Sat. Pretty much breezed though both Customs and security. Got to the terminal and heard the announcement that the Airport was closed. No flights in or out. Come to find out that some guy opened a security door and then instead of doing the right thing by staying there waiting for security to show he bolted. We actually ended up boarding our flight on time due to a flight on Curacao was not there yet. We boarded and then sat at the gate for another hour. The tower would not release us from the gate. So we got to Boston about 30 mins after we were due in. Nice job by the pilot to make up some time.
So that was my trip. Next Trip in August of 2011.

[Andrea J.]

thank you for posting your trip report.

[cpjones]

Nice report.....

[lindon]

Thanks for the report. Can't wait to have a Balashi

[Love Aruba]

Nice report, and thanks for posting. These reports make me sad, because I want to be back in Aruba sooooooooooo bad!
I am glad you had a great time.
Pat

[ptp2010]

very nice. Sounds like you had a great time!

[ctinker001]

You mentioned a Duty Free store before exiting the airport in Aruba....is that store in the part of the terminal where arrivals come through? If so..where is it? Do you pass it going to customs?

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by ctinker001

If so..where is it? Do you pass it going to customs?

DUTY FREE @ Queen Beatrix ARRIVALS

[Arubaduba]

warmed my heart hearing about your trip! We just rented a second week at the Renaissance 49 & 50! Happy Happy!!

[amarg]

Thank you so much for your trip report. I'm going for my very first time in September and love reading others comments and reviews.

One question-your wife packed all your breakfast and lunch foods in your bags? Can I ask what kinds of things she packed and would you suggest doing that over buying groceries in
Aruba? We are staying at a TS with full kitchen and I'd planned to buy food there and didn't even think of packing it from home or know what we are allowed to bring into Aruba.

I assume it was all packaged dry goods?

Thanks again!