How I Spent My Late Summer Vacation.

I woke up, I went downtown and then I hung out in front of the drugstore.
Oops sorry………….that is from Cheech and Chong’s Sr. Mary Elephant. J

Aruba Sept 6 – 15, 2007

Air
American Airlines to AUA via NYC on the 6th Sept.
To Boston via SJU on the 15th Sept.
All flights uneventful, on time and smooth.
We were very fortunate to have good seats and calm skies.

Auto Rental
Rented thru Tropic (Hans is wonderful) less than $210 for the duration.
We got the car (Yaris) full of gas and filled it prior to returning to Hans.
Used about $25 worth of gas and put on maybe 150 miles.

Accommodations
Used our Bluegreen points and stayed at LaCabana BRC 1st 2 nights in a studio, 224B.
Then moved to a 1 bedroom 132C for the remaining 7 nights.
Our friends used an Interval getaway and were in 339B for their stay.
All units clean and quite accommodating and comfortable.
Housekeepers were excellent and were tipped generously.

Weather
Hot, humid, sunny with a stiff wind all days.
1 day (Wednesday morning?) had steady rain from 10:30 – 1. Cleared nicely and sun prevailed.

Mosquitoes and Flies
Only encountered flies early one morning while sitting on the patio at LaCabana.
Another gazillion flies at Amsterdam manor on Thursday 6th late afternoon at happy hr.
A gazillion mosquitoes at Bingos restaurant on Sunday the 9th.
We were eaten alive at Bingos
Asked the waitress and owner for OFF spray but they had none.
The sheets of fabric softener that we rubbed on ourselves did not suffice.
Madam Janette had some mosquitoes…..but OFF was provided at each table for the patrons.

Eagle Beach
Water temperature in the high 70’s, maybe 80/81.
Clear. Pretty calm most days.
Plenty of chickie huts for the Lacabana folks.



Crowds
None. Island was very calm and sleepy.
Airport was surprisingly quiet too, lines long, but moved swiftly.

Restaurants
I forget which night we went where………..but here is a recap and pricing.

• Buccaneer………..5 of us, we all had mixed salads, 3 sodas, 5 merlot and we had either the grouper or the mahi mahi. The bill was $145 and a 15% was added in. We added in another 10%. Good food. Aquariums very entertaining. Wait staff attentive and friendly.
• Madam Janettes…..5 of us. 2 grouper dinners, 2 rack of lambs, and I had an appetizer of lobster ravioli and split a ceasar salad with Paul. 2 glasses of wine, 3 iced coffees. $152 and we added a tip. Large orders of augratin potatoes and creamed spinach. Wait staff attentive and friendly.
• Bingos…..5 of us. 2 french onion soups, 3 fish soups, 5 chicken or beef Bingo brochettes. 4 glasses of merlot and 2 chardonnay. Bill was about $110 and we added a tip. Soup good. Mosquitos terrible. Wait staff unfriendly.
• Tulip…….4 of us. 4 mixed salads. 2 mixed grills, 2 chicken sate’ 2 merlots and 2 diet cokes. Hostess very unfriendly and almost hostile (viola?) Wait staff nice. Total price was about $88 including the discount for visitaruba plus card. We added a tip.
• Promenade…..5 of us. We all had the “tapas night”. $28 each.

We had smaller portions of filet mignon, shrimp, seafood puff pastry, escargot,
avocado salad…numerous glasses of wine. The bill was about $210 and I think
a service charge was added in, we chose to tip a bit more. We had the same
waiter as we have had in the past. “Luchio”. Sometimes jovial, sometimes
moody. At this dining experience he was both J. The San Nicholas location of
Promenade has been permanently closed for a few months now.

• Rumba…..5 of us. A couple of us had chicken cordon Bleu, others had fish dishes. Few glasses of wine flowed and the bill was upwards of $175 and we left a tip.
• LaCascada. We dined here on Friday night and enjoyed cheap balashis. The dinners were delicious. 3 of us. A bacon wrapped shrimp dish, a deboned chicken dish and a strip loin steak. All delicious, all served with small side salads and baked potato. Yum. $42 for the 3 of us………..add the tip and it came to $50.
• One night Paul and I were so tired and “sunned out” we had Ben and Jerry’s for dinner. Oh yum. $4.85 each for 3 scoops of B and J.
• All dinners delicious. There were no “worst meals”. Only complaint was mosquitoes at BINGO and unfriendly staff there AND unfriendly and seemingly hostile hostess at Tulip. I found it easy to ignore the unfriendly and hostile. We are all entitled to off nights I suppose.

Casinos
Nuts! Had a very unlucky time at every casino. We visited Key Largo, Alhambra, Cool Casino, Crystal and Marriott. The only place where we did ok was playing craps at Alhambra. The winning craps night at Alhambra did nothing really for the overall bottom line. Oh well…………I am glad that we only play enough that we can afford to lose.
No craps at Key Largo.
Cool Casino at Riu is small, but nice. Great ventilation. Very attractive place.
I played what I thought was a penny machine there. I had it up to 10,000 credits and then proceeded to play more credits per line and wound up with 0. Later I found out it was a nickel machine. Oh no, I thought I had $100 in it and it was really $500. How many ways can I be stupid?!

LaCabana BRC updates
The annual meeting was on Monday the 10th. The proposed resolutions passed 3:1 margin. Approx. 17,000 votes cast.
We saw the model rooms showing the forthcoming renovations. The rooms could not be shown until the voting was confirmed and the renovation assessment became official.
I swear that the rooms are glorious. Very high end and very fine sturdy and comfortable AND beautiful furniture. Kitchens are awesome. Yes there will be a dishwasher in each unit. The Jacuzzi tubs will be history and the new shower will be lovely with a nice sit down bench and an area where a portable tub for babies and preschoolers can actually have a bath. The fabrics are subtle and handsome and durable. Everything is lovely, very lovely. The draperies are gorgeous and really make the room look larger.
The lack of the Murphy bed is not missed IMO and the replacement bed will be near the windows/patio/balcony. It is a queen sized bed with a handsome headboard.
The floor tiles are not smooth and therefore are not slippery when wet. The tile color is a light brown/taupe color . The grout will not be white, but will be more of an off white.
Counter tops are granite and will be sealed annually.
During our stay at Lacabana BRC, we spoke numerous times to a few of the board members. (Marty Doctrow, Willie Mosconi, Randy Pozniak). All of the board members that we spoke with were very forthcoming and very upbeat and positive.

I am really PO’d that Lacabana still charges 5% to cash traveler’s checks. Insulting to all of us. Another gripe……$2 for a load of wash and $2 for the dryer that gives only warm heat………..took $8 to get a load of tees, tanks, sox and undies dry. To give you an idea the same load in the dryer at my house would be 40 minutes.

Aruban Resort and Casino at Eagle Beach
Formerly Lacabana Villas.
Boy, the new owners (Gillman group) have got huge plans for there!
The model units are lovely and furnished nicely although not as upscale as the BRC, but very very nice nonetheless. Another pool will be added. The former Royal Cabana Casino will be completely renovated by Jan 09 and is slated to be the largest casino in the Caribbean.
I suggest everyone take the tour and see the “plan”.
One of the salespeople, a guy named Terry seemed rather slick………….nice enough and he reminded me as a game show host. GO…..see the model and take the tour.
They claim that they’ll have shuttles to the beach, a set up of a straw market style shops, a zero entry pool with sand surrounding it, an adult only pool and a family pool, a few restaurants on the property, fixed weeks with bonus weeks……………I hope that they can fulfill the promises they make. As I say, the head salesperson is like a gameshow host, or maybe a used car salesman. J


Bulletin Board Gatherings
I forgot to attend. I was in total vacation mode.

Stroopwaffles
Brought home 5 packs of stroopwaffles for the nieces and some of my swimming lesson kids. Oh yum. $2 per pack at Lings. I should have bought more.

Calico Kitty
I befriended a gorgeous young female calico kitty @ lacabana BRC..
I called the ARA AND the Animal Shelter to arrange for this beauty to be spayed and put up for adoption. No one returned my calls.

andrea j.

clearwater beach Nov 22 - Dec 6
aruba~ jan 8 - 22 lacabana brc
clearwater beach~ feb 1 - 28

WELCOME home Andrea & Paul. Real nice trip report. I can't wait to see the models of the Aruban Resort and Casino.

3 weeks in Aruba Dec. 16, '08 - Jan. 9, '09
Aruba since 1985

Seems like you had a great time.One question,the past few years in October when we are in Aruba the water seems to be cloudy,how was the water.
Thank You, and welcome back
Danny0

I can only speak for the water out in front of the Lacabana BRC (eagle beach)
and it was crystal clear every day except on thursday afternoon....somewhat murky.
Folks on the plane seated near us from AUA to SJU, said the water at Palm Beach at Playa Linda was very murky for the entire week, except for thursday.
How weird is that?!?!

and Liz............... i do not even want to think about the special assessment they will be charging for the renovations and construction of the new Aruban Beach Resort and casino. i am betting it wil be a couple of thousand. OUCH


All new owners of Aruban Beach Resort and Casino will not be assessed a special assessment............only the owners that were Lacabana Villa owners.

folks we know bought a 1 bedrooom week 36 5th floor facing the pool with the waterfall. they bought the unit for $7500, fixed week, with 3 bonus weeks added in annually. the bonus weeks can be used anywhere that is"interval"
and the fee is pretty low. the catch is, that only 1 bonus week annually can be used in aruba.

these folks that we know bought directly thru the Aruban Beach Resort sales dept.
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addendum***** added in sept 17 at 7:40 am
the lacabana villas are still being marketed by the timeshare resale places on island. some folks we met did make the trip to inquire about purchasing one of these resale units. purchase price for a 1 bedroom week 37 was about $4000 and the timeshare resale place told the prospective buyers that the assessment would be between $2000 and $4000.

and
the deal at the Aruban Resort and Casino is that the first year's maintenance is free and if you do not use your unit in any particular year the resort gives you $500 credit towards your maintenance fee.

andrea j.

clearwater beach Nov 22 - Dec 6
aruba~ jan 8 - 22 lacabana brc
clearwater beach~ feb 1 - 28

Andrea, What are stroopwaffles??

Sounds like you had another great time. (but a few senior moments ) as I do. As far as the water between Eagle beach and Palm beach go, last year the water was crystal clear on Eagle beach and cloudy on Palm beach. When we go back in Nov. we are staying on both Eagle and palm beaches. Maybe I'll log the clarity of the water while I'm there. I'ts good to hear that MJ's is still going strong, will be eating there in Nov. Was surprised to hear about Bingos wait staff. I ate lunch there last year, sat at the bar and had a great time. (no mosquitos). Tulips was another story !! Service was almost non existant, had to keep looking for the wait staff, food okay, they must have a management problem. P.S. I retired this year , but the honey do list only got longer !!!! 51 days untill

stroopwaffels are a cookie like confection that is out of this world.

they are round 2 thin wafer like cookies with a thin filling of caramel. the first taste i get is almost like a ginger snap cookie, but no where as strong............then the caramel taste kicks in.

the dutch sit a stroopwaffel on top of a steaming cup of coffee.....................then eat the gooey sweet thing.
(google stroopwaffel)

lings and supercenter have them for about $2 (pack of 10)

andrea j.

clearwater beach Nov 22 - Dec 6
aruba~ jan 8 - 22 lacabana brc
clearwater beach~ feb 1 - 28

re: tulip
and the hostile hostess......this is not the first time that she has been, should i say rude and unhospitable towards us. it has not been enough to deter us, but it is well noted that she has a real hostile attitude. our waitress was excellent.

re: bingo
the wait staff seemed to think that we were being silly to ask for mosquito repellent. we did put some on before we left lacabana for bingos, but did not put enough on. the wait staff apparently have never had an "off" request before. shame on us for not bringing it with us.

we felt that the girl that waitied on us was being rushed and in turn trying to rush us. she was unfriendly toward us and i think it had to do with a party of 6 that was quite boisterous, drunk and annoying that were seated at a nearby table. they kept this waitress hopping. these loud drunken folks put a damper on our meal and affected our server's attitude.
the food served was very good though.

the front steps were under construction and very treacherous. (i am guessing by now that they are repaired). the waitstaff girls, were helping patrons in and out of the front door to the patio/porch. that first step was quite steep and the whole set up was treacherous.

andrea j.

clearwater beach Nov 22 - Dec 6
aruba~ jan 8 - 22 lacabana brc
clearwater beach~ feb 1 - 28

I would love it if you would create a log of the water and post a thread on it when you come back. We are staying in Eagle Beach next year for the first time in 5 years. We are doing that for a different experience, but also because the water in March on Palm Beach was terribly cloudy and made me very sad.

Quote:

I thought I had $100 in it and it was really $500. How many ways can I be stupid?!

You deserve more than just "one" whack in the head for a boner like that one!!! What did your dh say? Well...I suppose that doesn't matter...just paying him back for forgetting your clothes the last time you went to Maine! Welcome home!

My Mom and I just had the discussion today about the water clarity on Palm Beach...For them in August, like it was for us in September and December, if you have the opportunity to get out there early say between sunrise and 8 a.m. you will have the opportunity to see some very clear water. Once the watersports operators start their day...it is all downhill from there.

Aruba Bound! ~ Hoosier Kitties ~ Our-Cruises ~ Blogging to Aruba
When Will Dh Take Me Back to Aruba?