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| My Aruba Story Share your trip reports and special Aruba experiences. |
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12-18-2011, 04:04 PM
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#1 (permalink) |
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 37
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~Leaving in 11 hours!!~
I haven't been saying much on here in like, oh... 2 years probably but we are leaving for a Christmas stay (Dec 19 - 26) at the Renaissance Marina Tower in oh, about 11 hours from now... house and pet sitter arranged, bags are packed, passports in my purse, and *hopefully* nothing was forgotten. Even if I did forget something, who cares... I will be enjoying my white (sands) Christmas in Aruba!!
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12-20-2011, 01:28 PM
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#2 (permalink) |
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 37
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Day 1- Dec 19th
Yesterday we woke up at O Dark 30 to drive 100 miles to the Columbia SC airport...
Why?? Because when we booked the tickets it was like 200 dollars less per person to fly from there instead of Charleston... Anyway so we got there as the Delta counter was opening, checked in no problem (no upgrades though  ) and grabbed a croissant and coffee as we waited. Had to wait for them to de-ice the wings.... took off like 40 minutes late but it was a pretty uneventful flight other than that. Landed in E34, because of the delay in SC we had to practically run to A3 to get the Aruba flight... But all is well because we made it and were on our way to paradise!! Landed in Aruba, breezed through immigration, our luggage was some of the first off and we made it to the taxi line in record time!!! We had a hilarious driver who talked and joked with us the whole ride, wish I could remember his name. We got to the Renaissance Marina tower and didn't have to wait in line to check in because Aaron is Platinum with them. Got to our room and HOLY CRAP, THANK YOU RENAISSANCE, they upgraded us the a HUGE suite on the 6th floor.... Change and went downstairs to the VERY HAPPY happy hour at BLUE... wow it's been a long time since we have been to the islands or else those were crazy strong drinks. Talked to the concierge a bit and she made some ressies for us for the week then we stumbled over to our dinner ressie at L G Smiths. I skipped wine because of the Aruba Aribas I had just had and opted for the Spinach Salad (good but too much vinegar on it) and Ribeye (amazing but I always forget my medium and the medium in the islands seems to differ a lot, I need to order things med rare here). Aaron had Beef Carpaccio (he LOVES it there) followed by Lamb Chops (med rare and perfect). Our server was great and very attentive. We capped our dinner off by sharing the Marscapone Tart which is so amazing!! After we walked our dinner off a bit in the casino and the resort area we headed up to the room, changed and went for a nice swim in the infinity pool off the lobby. We were so exhausted we came back to the room, opened the patio door to get a little sea air and breeze and called it a night. What an amazing first night in Aruba!!! |
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12-20-2011, 04:29 PM
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#3 (permalink) |
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Aruba since 1979
Moderator 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: renaissance island, eagle beach, amsterdam manor/passions beach bar, Hung Paradis, alto vista chapel, madam janettes, big porch at B55
Posts: 13,258
Images: 80
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welcome to aruba!
we are across the street at the renaissance turned into an awesome sunny afternoon
__________________
Please, I'll have a Grande' decaf Mocha Latte' with a shot of liquid tranquilizer. |
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12-20-2011, 09:56 PM
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#4 (permalink) | |
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 37
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Quote:
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12-20-2011, 10:28 PM
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#5 (permalink) |
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 37
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Day 2-Dec 20th
I woke up super early and Aaron was still sleeping so I decided to crawl back in bed and sleep in...
When we finally got up at a lazy 9 am we grabbed Starbucks, decided to skip real breakfast and hopped the boat over to Renaissance Island. We laid in the soft rain, partial sun until 11 then we had some lunch from the hut there. I had the Jalapeno Steak Sandwich and a Strawberry Smoothie. Aaron had the Tuna wrap and some water. Sad to say the food was pretty terrible. The steak part was about 1/3 gristle and fat. I should have opted for the club sandwich.. oh well. Aaron's tuna was really dry and tasteless. The fries and smoothie were good and we shared the fries with the birds which did not get us happy smiles from the people around but oh well... The sun started peeking out a bit so we lay there and let our food digest and tanned a bit. After that we went snorkeling a little in the rain then laid out some more when the sun the sun came back out. We enjoyed a few balashis and jungle juice drinks then called it an afternoon. We like sitting in the back of the boat on the way home, even though you get soaked. So after the boat ride we slogged upstairs to shower and change. We walked around the mall, Aaron convinced me not to buy a new Coach bag (for now...) then headed over to the grocery store. We picked up some cheese, salami, crackers, chips and cokes for the room. We headed back to the hotel, dumped the stuff and hit the very happy happy hour again. We drank way more watermelon coolers than we should have then stumbled off to walk the city a bit. We discovered that the festival was canceled for tonight for some unknown reason so we walked over to Renaissance Marketplace. We had a donut at Dunkin, some coffee at Starbucks, shopped a bit then headed over to the Seaport Casino and killed a few hours giving them some money. We went for a late dinner at Cuba's Cookin. I had the Ribs and Aaron had the Cadillac platter. The food of course was, the performers great, the service, not so much... $57 US for dinner which I thought was fair for the giant plates of food we were served. After dinner we headed home and now are just chilling in the room about to call it a night. Just another amazing day in Aruba... 
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