Druif Beach Divi's shade huts and lounges

[danadog56]

Do not really have anything bad to say about Divi especially since I own 3 units...however, maybe someone needs to tell thie gentleman to upgrade the beach across from divi village since last time we were there (November) I could not get a beach chair or palapa after 9am. I understand it is 1st come 1st serve, but when ALL of the Divi owned hotels allow resort guests to frequent all the properties it gets to be a free for all. Worse is when I talked to some folks that had a palapa that they were keeping incase it got too hot while they were laying on beach chairs right along the water....AND where on floor level at the Tam and had their own chairs there as well....
Maybe they should assign so many chairs to each room like they do towels.....or something....sorry, just blowing off steam.....

[Andrea J.]

danadog you have a very understandable complaint.
can u address it while you are in the venting mood to the man named in the earlier posts on the other thread?

it seems weird to me that with the hundreds of units at the divi village, divi links, tamarijn, divi all inclusive and those divi links condos that there are only maybe 30 or so shade huts and maybe 100 lounge chairs there.

that being said, lots of folks would kill to be able to sleep til 7 and then go down and get a hut and lounge by 8.......up at marriottville and other places the shade huts are gone by 7 or 7:30 during particular seasons.

[Andrea J.]

michele his name is Mr. Alex Niewmyer he is the "divi guru" and has got quite a good reputation.

drop him a note while you are in the venting mood.
seriously, i think you should.

[Arubalisa]

Unfortunately when we last had this discussion What is the Aruban beach protocol/Palapas etc...? the argument was going in the opposite direction.

It appears the Aruban parliament is taking down palapas and not allowing more.

[artdorko]

Part of the problem, is that Divi is not repairing broken lounge chairs. At Tam/Dutch Village there are plenty of palapas, but not enough chairs. Plus, many 1st floor Tam units have lounges on the patios & then the occupants take more lounge chairs to use under the palapas. To be fair, they were probably not told to use the lounges on the patio. They don't know that others can't find chairs. I did ask a couple of days ago, when I saw a lady come out of her room & go to a palapa, if I could use one of the lounge chairs on her patio. She was very nice & didn't realize they could or should move them to the beach.

As for repairing them, there are many in need of bolts & new seating. I've been coming to Dutch Village for 5 years now & there have always been more chairs than I see this year. Where are they all?

[hatteras]

Another problem with the palapas at Druiff- they are on the back side of the beach, by the road. When I used them, I felt like I was sitting in the street, instead of by the ocean. Its very noisy back there. I have never understood why they didn't add at least one more row in front of the ones they have. Why is the govt. taking palapas down???

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by hatteras

Why is the govt. taking palapas down???

Schnauzerjoy will attest the last time we had this discussion, I don't think anyone had a definitive answer. No one has ever really come out in the open, at least in English, and stated why, just that it was a new policy of the Aruban government.

Some theories I think we came up with in previous discussion were :
Beaches are too crowded with palapas
Beaches are too crowded with palapas and it detracts from their beauty
Locals are excluded from using palapas
Resorts put up palapas without permits

[hatteras]

Do you where they have taken down palapas? Those people who are very fair like me really depend on them, in order to enjoy being on the beach.

[Arubalisa]

Niki's beach, palapas all coming down

I heard rumors about others, but do not know first hand.

Umbrellas unfortunately are not a practical solution. People are going to become impaled by them when the wind starts picking them up and they become missiles.

On the other hand I can empathize with Arubans wanting to keep their beaches pristine.Ultimately their island, their decision.

[Schnauzerjoy]

Like Lisa states it is hard to get a firm answer. From what I been told, read etc this is my personal interpretation:

It is not a new law, this government is just trying to enforce it.
They are probably forced to act because 1 of more "players" have been idiots and have gone over what was silently accepted for many years, thereby messing things up for all others, but that is how most laws and rules are born.
None of the beaches are the property of the hotels, but of the government/the people.
Hotels (and others) are in principle not allowed to put any fixed features on the beach. (Some might have been giving permission to do that in the past, but seems like they cannot always prove their claims which make them worthless).
If someone breaks the law by doing it anyway they waive their rights to them and they become public property.

We can all have our personal opinions about it, but what is interesting is what is actually the law, but like all laws I am sure there are different interpretations of it.
It would be great if the Minister of Tourism would make an official statement about it, so that we know what is what.
Carsten