My husband and I just returned from a 5 night stay at the Radisson Aruba. Overall we are very happy with our trip, and hope to return again!

The Radisson Hotel is very nice and overall I would say is average to above average. We booked a garden view room w/king bed/non-smoking. The room size was what I expected, and the balcony was nice. The furniture was nice. I thought they could have taken a little better care of the room itself. It seemed like there was mold growing in certain places. The drop ceiling above the shower was a little weird and like other reviewers have said, there was mold growing there too. On the other hand, the garden view room is not one of the most expensive rooms there, so maybe next time I'd pay a little more money for a little better accomodations.

The grounds are beautiful!! The pool was fabulous, I loved laying by the pool all day sipping tropical (albeit overpriced) drinks. We never had a problem getting a palapa. I've read about people getting up at 7am to get one, believe me, we did not get out of our room until 9-10am each day and it was never a problem. The beach is just gorgeous! It was pretty clean, beautiful warm water, wonderful sunsets! We had a $100 food/beverage credit which was really nice for those tropcial drinks (try a mango cooler!) We only ate at one of the restaurants there, the Laguna, for the breakfast buffet, which was great. very good food, lots to choose from. Was $17/person, a little expensive, but I think worth it. Not just quanity, it was quality.

I like the wildlife at the Radisson, the different birds and iguanas running aroud! Around 11am each day the bird caretaker lets them out of their cages for photo ops in the lobby area. He is very nice. I was standing there snapping photos and he just came up to me and put a bird on my shouler and one on each arm and snapped photos of me.

Walked to some other resorts near ours, the Occidental, Hyatt and Holiday Inn. The Occidental seems to be nearly completely renovated and looks really good! The Hyatt still has a way to go in its renovations and the Holiday Inn looked kinda bad. There is construction going on everywhere in Aruba! I guess it's good for them, but kind of annoying for vacationers! Even at the Rad, they were renovating the beachfront bar, so when we were lying on the beach the construction noise was loud at times so that was a little annoying...but hopefully that would not last too long since it's a bar. They set up a temporary bar/restaurant under a big tent by the beach to make up for it. There is construction going on right beside the Rad and accross the street too. I wouldn't let it stop me from going though, it's not that bad in terms of noise and if you are in the water you do not really hear it at all.

Restaurants - some notables...Tango -- fabulous steaks! The best filet I've had. Very good, fresh food!

La Petite Cafe -- great breakfast - all you can eat for only $7.95!

Bella Luna -- great, cozy little Itailian place. Food was fantastic, people were really nice.

The restaurant at the California Lighthouse - Itailan, we had lunch there one day, it was pretty good. Amazing view!

Iguana Joe's Downtown -- Try the Nachos w/their own HOT sauce. Very good!!

Salt & Pepper -- Good hamburgers!

Amazonia -- Brazillian Steakhouse....I'd say this is quantity, not qualtiy. But worth the experience if you've never had it before.

We did the Aruba Dine Around Program. It has its pros and cons. The Pros are the dinners are really a good deal (you get an appetizer, entree & dessert) and it kind of 'forces' you to try new places. The cons - breakfast and lunch choices are limited and if you are at the Rad, none of the restuarants in the Rad are part of the Dine Around Program. If you can just by Dinners, I would do that and do breakfast and lunches on my own next time.

We rented a car (Hertz right at the hotel, was very convenient) and drove around the island one day. That was a lot of fun, although sometimes we would get lost because the roads are not exactly clearly marked, but we'd figure it out after a while. I highly recommend doing this. Driving is fairly easy and you get to see a lot of neat stuff on your own for a low price (ours was only $42.)

Balashi Beer, the Aruba Beer - very good!!

Finally, the Aruba water is GREAT! Drink it up!!

How was the weather? We just booked the Hyatt going in four weeks. We were originally thinking about the holiday inn but decided we would go to a nicer hotel what the heck its our vacation we work to hard so we almost booked the radison it was between that and the Hyatt. Did you walk thru the hyatt what did you think of the pool there? I heard the Raddison was one of the nicest hotels?

We are going to the Radisson in November and it will be our 4th time at this hotel. I love it there, and in my opinion, they have the nicest grounds, pool and beach area. The pool and beach areas never seem to be as crowded as some of the other hotels. The Tower has the nicer rooms - not sure if you were in those or not.

We have the Occidental Aruba for November 4-11. Nicer than a hotel room, I guarantee. Right next to the Hyatt on one side, the Radisson on the other. we needed to cancel. Room is size of one bedroom timeshare suite, roomy and view of the ocean.