Rob O's Vacation Reviews

[rob o]

CindyO and I have been back for a week and have just about gotten into our normal routine. It was once again a great trip with perfect weather. Aruba is as close as you can get to a guaranteed vacation.
As promised….I’m posting my brief review of the trip. Ratings are 1 to 10 with 10 being the best. Here goes:
HOTEL
9 Renaissance Ocean Suites. Great staff, great location, well maintained.
10 Renaissance Island. Heaven on earth.
RESTAURANTS
7 The Plaza Café. Basic Menu, but the cheapest restaurant with waitstaff I know.
4 Iguana Joe’s. Out traditional favorite, but losing its luster. Food just OK, service poor.
5 Captain’s Corner at Renaissance, breakfast buffet. Pricey, but food is good.
5 Casa Tua downtown. Price is creeping up for what you get.
5 LG Smith at Renaissance. Disappointing given what we had heard. Not a great value.
4 Laguna Buffet at Radisson. Prices going down, quality going down even more.
8 Pincho’s. Good food, great ambiance.
2 Gianni’s. Pathetic service. Their cheese wheel pasta was so bad you could get better out of a can. Needed a microscope to find eggplant in one entrée. Skip it.
9 Hard Rock Café. Greatly exceeded expectations. Celebrated daughter’s sixteenth birthday there. I did not even want to go (went for her). They won us over.
7 El Gaucho. Consistent, but you pay for it.
6 Hooters. Love the chicken wings!
6 Aquarius breakfast buffet at Renaissance. Similar to Captain’s Corner, but better food.
9 Old Man and the Sea. Best meal I’ve ever had in Aruba. If not for the dessert, they were a “10”.
OTHER
8 Thrifty Rent a Car.
2 Downtown Shopping (more and more they’re going upscale….way too upscale).
8 Ling and Son grocery store. Good selection.
5 Hong King grocery store downtown. OK for basics, but not the cleanest place.
7 Moomba Beach for a day trip, with parasailing. Fun for the kids.
3 Palm Pleasure sunset cruise. Disappointing given prior years. Not worth price. Who needs 70s music in Aruba? Captain made bad decision to go past lighthouse, rough water, lots of people got soaked. I’m not going back.
8 Buster’s Garage Sports Bar. Nice place. Food looked good but had only liquid nourishment. Had to stay outside on deck, too smoky.
2 Amstel Bright (sorry Arubalisa, way too light for me).
10 Weather April 10-24. Maybe 3 minutes of rain. Consistent breeze.
10 Bully Taxi. Great person, great service, great pricing.

[fattypatty]

Nice. short, and straight to the point.

re: the palm pleasure - we rode on that for our 2x last month and was quite disappointed they changed the cataraman from the one they usually used (3 yrs ago) to the one they use for the snorkeling. b/c of the open pit area where people dive off, there's no longer space to dance or anything.

[Arubalisa]

Great summation of a great trip! More Brights for ArubaAmy and I
I only ever drank "lite" beers, so don't know any better and in that Aruban heat...they are just so smoooootttthhhhhhh to me...

[Helmut]

Thanks for the update!

[cyclone promotions]

i like your run down it look great

[~Amy~®]

Originally Posted by Arubalisa

Great summation of a great trip! More Brights for ArubaAmy and I
I only ever drank "lite" beers, so don't know any better and in that Aruban heat...they are just so smoooootttthhhhhhh to me...

I agree with everything that Lisa said...from a great summation to more Brights for the two of us!

Only non-light beer I like is Duvel (don't know why but I do like that one.)

Sounds like you had another wonderful trip!! I also found a few "usual places" that we go to every year slip a little on the food quality which was disappointing.

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by ~Amy~®

I also found a few "usual places" that we go to every year slip a little on the food quality which was disappointing.

In this current state of the economy this surprises me very much. There is more competition between restaurants and prices are higher. We won't even go into the numerous discussions about diner "no service" or poor service.

How do these places stay in business? The only thing I can think of is that they survive on first time visitors. Burn them once, they never come back, do the restaurants just not care because there is always another "first timer" behind them.
<<getting off my soapbox >>

[danadog56]

[quote=rob o;138372]
2 Downtown Shopping (more and more they’re going upscale….way too upscale).

Rob o.......I am sooooooooooooo glad to see someone else disappointed with the way they are making downtown mimic Rodeo Dr.......I used to like to go and shop at the quaint little shops that are barely still there.....I understand the need to entice some upscale shopping, but now you have it up by the highrises and now downtown also.....I used to love to go into town to shop....now I avoid town as much as possible....

[Andrea J.]

like the way you formatted your review

i am sorry to hear giannis did not live up to the hype


andrea

[rob o]

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

like the way you formatted your review

i am sorry to hear giannis did not live up to the hype


andrea

Thanks!

My nephew was particularly upset with Gianni's. 10 of us went at his strong recommendation, and he was thoroughly embarassed. I never had seen him lose his cool....but Gianni's manager did.