Rob O's April 2010 Trip Report

[rob o]

My commentary....with a little help from Cindy O

Day by day, our Restaurant visits, in order, with my personal rating on a scale of 1 to 10:

Plaza Café – 4 food lacking this time, would be off our list if it weren’t so convenient for a first night stop….if Casa Tua is next door as planned next year….gone!
Marandi -7 decent food, great setting
Casa Tua Barcelona (downtown) – 8 good value
Dutch Pancake House (breakfast) – 7 enjoyed it
Madame Janette – 9 great food, second best meal of our trip
Hard Rock – 7 reliable spot for a good burger
Paddock – 1 service horrible, 50% of our party of 6 had stomach issues that night…won’t be back
Pinchos – 8 great setting, food was good too
Marina Pirata – 9 our first time there, very good meal, great setting, great value
Casa Tua Italiano (Arawak) – 7 downtown Casa Tua food/service was better
Hung Paradise – 8 better Chinese food than we get in Rhode Island, reasonable too
El Gaucho – 6 steady, could be better for the price
Madame Janette – 10, best meal of the trip…place as good as the hype
Moby Dicks – 8 our first visit, good value, good food….fantastic chowder
Amadeus – 9 our first visit, we’ll be back….great food and value
Cilo (breakfast) – 5 a little pricey for breakfast….we will go back but it will be for dinner (an 8) or evening drinks (a 10)….both of which are a much better value than breakfast

Aruba by the Numbers:

30 – number of people we travelled with
14 – the number of nights we spent in Aruba this past visit
4 – size of our family
60 – dollars spent per person per day
114 – the number of degrees Farenheit on the thermometer on my beach bag in the sun Thursday
150 – the number of days we’ve spent together in Aruba since 1997
146 – number of days at Renaissance
3 – number of days at Westin
1 – number of days at Marriott Stellaris
0 – number of Palapas available on beach at Marriott Stellaris at 8:00 AM on Sunday morning….absurd and unacceptable (we did a one-day get-away from Renaissance which has prime spots available on their beach all day).


13 – rides with Bully or his brother in law, Hubert (who leads Bully’s “Bull Pen”) this trip…..Thank You gentlemen! You provide great service and you are good friends.

Note to Renaissance Staff – Frans, Lilliana, Tino, Leidy, Brian, Linda, Valerie, Zoe, Dolores, Marcia, Ina, Malushka, Jorge, Vanie, Chico, Rigo, Georges, Legino, Nelson, Elizabeth……and the rest. You keep us coming back. THANK YOU! YOU’RE THE BEST!

[arubamark]

Good job Rob! Welcome back home! Back to reality unfortunately.

You mentioned Zoe, is she back at the front desk? I thought she wasn't there any longer? That's good news if she is.

[KATH2ME]

Welcome home O family, great reports, thanks again

[DANNYO]

Welcome home,great report,short,sweet,and to the point.Glad every one had a great vacation.Hope the girls are OK being back home.If needed Mark and I can still make the trip..LOL. Welcome Home O Family

[Boofer]

Welcome home...GREAT trip report-loved it...the best thing about coming home is going back )

[rob o]

Originally Posted by arubamark

You mentioned Zoe, is she back at the front desk?

Just saw her once. They are moving staff around more frequently, or so it seems.

[Love Aruba]

Thank you so much for the great report! Welcome home, but I bet you are already planning your next trip. Thanks for all of your reports, they were great.
Pat

[Arubalisa]

Welcome home. Always great to hear about another wonderful trip.

[sunworshipperII]

Thanks O's.. great reporting....always love to hear about new restaurants..

[MARK68]

Great report, I love the number stats. You must be happy to be back home in the RAIN!