Back home.

[drivr]

Long post sorry.

Well we are back home from a short 4 night stay in Aruba. We flew out of Boston 8am Wednesday May 6th morning and we were landing at the Aruba airport around 4. Our flight was late getting in but Bully was waiting outside hold a sign with our name on it when we walked out. We had a great short ride to our resort with Bully explaining places and things along the way.

We stayed at the Manchebo Beach Resort, room 23, ground floor. The room was nice, king bed, desk, 2 sitting chairs with table, pink tile floor, LCD TV, safe, microwave, fridge and coffee maker. It was very clean and a little musty but from what I have read I expected that. Airing it out took care of that problem quickly. We had a great view from our patio right on the beach. A few things about our resort. We chose not to do an all inclusive but you can at the Manchebo if you desire. Along with the price or our room there was a $150 food and drink credit that I did not know about until we checked in so that was a nice surprise. There are 3 restaurants in the resort and we tried all of them and there were no disappointments with anything we tried. The fish tacos at the Pega Pega were great. The do include the 15% service charge for all meals and drinks. The folks who work in the restaurants there and at the resort were amazing, friendly and extremely helpful.

I was a little paranoid about leaving cash and our passports in the room safe after reading a few horror stories here and we did have a problem but not from anyone entering our room, our safe malfunctioned. We got back to our room one night and I went to the safe and it would not accept our combination. Not knowing enough about these types of safes I was very worried and contacted the front desk. The hotel cannot open a safe they have to call in someone from the maintenance company for the safes and he has to open it using a device that sticks to the front panel and is controlled by a PDA. According to him there are no master combinations for these safes. I actually felt better about that and the hotel security was there with us the whole time. Their security patrols the grounds of the resort 24 hours a day and it was a nice thing to see.

The beach: Manchebo has a very large and wide beach. We walked a great deal while we were there and are pretty sure that for the low rise area it was the (in our opinion) the best beach. there were plenty of shade "huts" and the beach attendant was always there when you needed him. As for the whole topless thing, yes there were some women going topless but neither I nor my wife thought it was a big deal. Those who were going without were not flaunting or drawing attention to themselves they were just sunbathing.
The general area: We wandered around a bit by our resort, visited the Alhambra Casino, and yes we walked to the Hard Rock to get a drink and T-Shirts. I Can’t say much because we basically stayed around our resort and on the beach.

The Spa. We did do the 1 hour relaxing massage at the Spa de Sol. It was nice. Now that was my opinion and I am not big on that sort of thing. The wife used different works like heaven, utterly relaxing, amazing.. You get the idea.

Is it me or are there 2 taxis for every tourist?

Going home. hated that.

Overall, would we go again? Already planning it and we would definitely stay at the Manchebo again.

[Sunny Beaches]

Thanks for your time & posting. We'll be at the Tam. 6/6 to 6/13. Oh & bty my wife would be using those phrases!

[jollypirates9394]

any extra activities?

[drivr]

we had lots of plans that died on that sunny beach and we don't regret not doing them at all. just gives us another reason to go back.

[debrn]

Thanks for your update. We are headed to the Manchebo in June so it was interesting to read your report. We have Bully picking us up too. If you don't mind my asking, how much was the cab ride to the hotel? Can't wait to get to the beach. It all sounds great. Thanks.
Debbie

[drivr]

$17 bucks is the set rate for the ride from the airport to the Manchebo.