Spending Budget Suggestions

[Da-Sheaz]

Hello,

First time poster and visitor to Aruba. We (wife and two boys 4yo and 10yo) are staying at the Marriott Resort & Casino for the week. Based on the great input on this bb we have reserved a jeep from Aruba Royal for the week and will hopefully be picked up by Cerry at the airport (awaiting his confirmation to my email request).

We are wondering what a reasonable daily budget would be to cover meals and miscellanious/incidental items would be? We plan to forgo the formal tours and break out on our own via the jeep. We will purchase some items for the room (snacks and beverages) from the local store and have a small cooler to take with up on day trips. We are bringing our own snorkel gear as well.

We have no idea what the typical familiy of four consuming three meals a day, traveling around the island by jeep snorkeling and seeing the sites will cost?

Thought I would ask the experianced travelers for input.

Thanks!

[Andrea J.]

i would allow $250 - $300 per day

maybe cindi or rob could answer better

welcome to the forum!!!

[cindyo]

Originally Posted by Da-Sheaz

Hello,


We have no idea what the typical familiy of four consuming three meals a day, traveling around the island by jeep snorkeling and seeing the sites will cost?

Thought I would ask the experianced travelers for input.

Thanks!

We "blow" thru 200-250 per day easily. Nice dinners average 150-175, lunch 40-60, and breakfast at Dunkin Donuts 25.00...Adds up mighty fast.
By the way, that doesn't include drinks we might get a happy hour..

[Chadd]

It all depends on where you eat. Lunches at some of the places away from the high rise area are often a great value, especially some of the take away joints on the side of the road. My wife and I usually do one "nice" vacation every year and one "low-budget". We've managed to come in at $200 a day including room and car on the low-dough trips without going hungry or eating fast food. I only look at the credit card statement after the "nice" trips and it's usually $150 or so a day for the two of us, just for food and incidentals.

[Arubalisa]

Additional info
http://www.aruba.com/forum/tags/how%20much%20money%20to%20bring.html

[Da-Sheaz]

Thanks all...i was thinking we could get by with $200 a day. Some days we will go less and some days we will spend more I am sure. I was pleased to get a jeep for 6days $310 via Royal Aruba. Haven't heard back from Cerry regarding my emails to him to secure transportation to/from the airport, hopefully he will respond tonight. Thanks again.

[Randi]

Your hotel room should include the buffet breakfast. Check to make sure it does and that will save you lots of money. The buffet is huge and then you only need a small lunch.

If you don't mind going for a short walk, there is a place called Moomba which is right on the beach where you can get food at a much cheaper cost than the Marriott. Moomba is right next door to the Holiday Inn which has great pizza at a better price than at the Marriott. We buy pizza there all the time. You want to limit purchasing things at the hotel as they are very costly. For example, a hamburger is $16. We stay at the timeshares which include a full kitchen so we never have to pay for any of the breakfast and lunch meals plus we stock up on drinks and use a cooler.

There is a fridge in the room in the hotel, if you take out the alcohol then you can put small food items in there. A quick trip to the grocery store and you can pick up a few things including some paper plates, etc. to use. Snack food we also purchase and bring down to the beach to help defray costs.

As an aside, you will have a great time exploring the island but with the age of your kids keep enough time for them to enjoy the other children who will be at the Marriott. Our kids went, years ago, to kids camp and did enjoy being with the other children and gave us some "down time" too. The kids will meet other children at the pool or beach as going somewhere every day can make your trip a little more tiring.

Almost all of the restaurants will certainly make up a kids meal for you. Aruba is a very child friendly island. Just choose your eating time accordingly.

Enjoy!!

[Kenny Maine]

Having always stayed at the Marriott Resort & Casino for extended days. We have 4 in our family also (children on the last trip were 20 and 14). The breakfast is not always included. It depends on the package you buy and then it cover for 2 and under 12 free (looks like you are all set there). If you are going to buy any lunches and/or drinks at the resort that will cost some $$. We always get our drinks at the grocery store and keep them in our cooler. We also will get some sandwich stuff and make sandwiches for lunch. This really helps cut down the cost per day. My best guess is about $250 per day.

Good Luck - you will have a blast!

[princess]

[QUOTE=Randi;161108]

There is a fridge in the room in the hotel, if you take out the alcohol then you can put small food items in there.

I don't know what kind of system they use in the Marriott, but in most hotels these days you are automatically charged if an item is removed from the fridge for more than 10 seconds. It is possible to rent an extra fridge in many of the Aruba hotels!

[corona]

Unless the Marriott Stellaris (if that's the Marriott you're staying at) has changed since the last time we were there (April '09), their small fridges are empty and ready for use. No worries about removing pricey alcohol/water/snacks.