I'm staying at the Wyndham in a few weeks and wanted to know if anyone had stayed there before with/without the AI package.

Do you think that it is worth it?
Are there options for vegetarians?
How is the hotel, overall?


Thanks!

I think you have to consider several things before choosing AI. Do you want to go out and dine at various places around the island? If that experience means a lot to you then I would say no.

Are you big drinkers? If so then I would say consider AI or atleast the drink package.

Are you on a budget? We are on a budget so AI was a good choice for us....but we also have budgeted money so we can try a few of the best places on the island as well.

Our big reason for doing AI was that we like to drink, wanted breakfast, and wanted about half our dinners at the hotel for budget reasons.

well here's my 2 cents worth.

We stayed there last year.

The restaurants are excellent, so you can't go wrong with the food selection if you go AI. I didn't have a bad meal there.

Here are the restaurants. Baci (Italian), Pago Pago (steak), Azuls (beachside romantic), The Terrance (breakfast and sandwiches, closed for dinner), Breakfast Buffett, Blossums (asian).

There is a bar in the lobby, which is usually empty and a bar at the pool, which is usually "full" and service is slow. Drink quality was not impressive either. Overall the bar was the worst thing about the hotel.

The rest of the hotel is great. The rooms are nice. You get US TV stations. The beach is great. Get there before 9am to get a Papala (grass roof sun hut).

Should you go AI or not?
well, If you are going to sit at the hotel all day and don't ever plan on leaving for anything, I would say yes, especially if you like to drink alot.

If you plan on leaving to venture out and explore the island any, I would say don't do the all inclusive, unless you get it for a really cheap price.

We didn't do the all inclusive, mainely because we didn't want to be limited to just one hotels resturants when Aruba has so many great resturants. The main deciding factor here was price. It cost an extra $1,000 for us to go AI for a week. We figured that for $1,000, we should be able to eat where we want. We aren't big breakfast eaters or big drinkers, so we figured out this would be the best choice. In reality we spent about $750 to $850 on meals and drinks at the hotel compared to the $1,000 it would have cost us at the hotel. Of course if we had had the AI plan, we prob would have drank more alcohol, but since I mentioned the drink quality "sucked" we didn't see any sense in payint $6.50 per drink for a drink that "sucked".

If you want to do some comparison of prices, most dinner entree's in Aruba are about $18 to $25 with a few places being about $33. You pay for every coke/soda, even refills. They are typically $2 or so. Add dessert and a few bar drinks and you dinner bill for two people can easily be $60 to $100 per couple per evening.

Don't forget that they add 15% service charge to any food/drink order at any resturant. This is part of the servers tip but is included always. If the server did a really good job, you leave an extra buck or two on top of it.


Lunch entrees are tyically $8 to $10 plus cokes and service charge.

Breakfast at the Wyndham ain't cheap.... it's $18.50 for the breakfast buffett (plus the 15% service charge).

The Wyndham also has a small grocery store in the lower lobby. Prices are kinda high, but it's convient if you want to get a snack or something. They sell canned cokes there for $1. (the ones in your mini fridge in your room are $3 each). There are grocery stores downtown behind the seaport mall and a couple between town and the hotel areas if you want to pick up some stuff while out shopping.


Other options to the AI plan are a drinks only AI plan and a drinks and breakfast plan. I didn't think either of these was that great of a deal as the drinks and breakfast plan was I think about $50/day.

What other things are or are not included in the AI plan there? If you don't have the AI plan, you have to pay to use the floats and kayaks on the beach. Most people didn't use them regardless, so no big deal. Azuls also has a $15 dollar per person surcharge even if you have the AI plan. At Blossums, on the AI plan, you can only eat a certain dollar amount, like $30 per person. Anything above that you have to pay extra. I don't think that the drinks in the mini fridge in the rooms are included in the AI plan. No tours, etc are included.


One last note. If airport bus shuttle is included in your fare and you tempted to take it, then do yourself a favor and pay the extra $20 to take a taxi instead. The bus waits until it has enough people to make the trip. We had to sit on it 30 to 45 minutes. Then it stops and unloads people at every hotel on the way and has to get out their luggage, etc also. It is VERY time consumming. It'll easily add an extra hour to the time it takes you to get to your hotel. It's just very frustrating because after being in the airport and on the plane all day, the last thing you want to do is spend almost 2 hours on a stupid airport bus when a $20 taxi could have gotten you there in 20 minutes.

Hope all that helps. email if you have questions. -mike

I just got back from the Wyndham on Monday, and let me caution you that the hotel is currently under construction.

They are building a ballroom and construction starts every day (excluding Sunday) at 7:00AM complete with hammers and heavy machinary.

We stayed on floor 5 and it was a nightmare. Before you go, tell them that you were warned about the construction and insist on being on a much higher floor.

Friends of ours that stayed on 12 didn't hear a thing.

We did the all-inclusive thing, but my company worked out a special arrangement so it might be much different than your deal.

The resort is nice, but be concerned about the construction if they stick you on a lower floor.

thanks for the warning.
i'll be sure to ask for a higher up floor.

Also ask for an even numbered room. The lower in number the better.

The even numbered rooms overlook the pool and ocean (or have the best ocean view.)

I think there are about 40 rooms per floor, so if you can get one numbered lower like x10 or x12 or x14, (or lower) then you'll get the best view.

I'm sure that X01 isn't bad either since it's on the end of the floor facing the ocean.

mike

00 - 01 - 02 rooms at the Wyndham are suites. 00 is a Jr. Suite (with a double-size balcony) and 01 & 02 are 1-bedroom suites (with a double-size balcony in the bedroom & a standard-size balcony in the living room).

Priya,
My husband and I stayed @ the Wyndham in June and did the A/I. We choose this because we are both big drinkers. We felt it was well worth the $ since drinks are so expensive. We did not feel ball and chained to the hotel either. We figured we were saving so much on the drinks we would visit restaurants outside the hotel as well. If your not big drinkers I dont think you will get your moneys worth. Any questions email me. We ate at all the restaurants in the hotel. We also ate at Madame Janettes & Driftwood. And went to alot of different clubs in the evenings.

We just got back from the Wyndham and did the A/I plan and felt it was worth it for us. The drinks are very expensive and we drank most of the time. The service at the pool bar was fine (not like many people previously reported). We would give the bartenders a tip every once in a while. If you are a drinker they get to know you and take care of you. We were not affected by any construction either. We were in room 1230 and slept late every morning. You do get to eat "out" one night on the A/I plan, but we chose Blossoms which was excellent and fun for the kids. If you have already eaten at a Benihana type place they use the night "out" somewhere else. I heard Twinkletones was fun. I read so many bad things about the Wyndham prior to my trip they I was starting to worry. However, everything was absolutely wonderful there and I would stay again.

No complains about the all inclusive package If you need more information about their
package go to their web site www.arubawyndham.com I had no problems with the construction and I stayed on the 7th floor, uneven room number. They start working at 10:00am not earlier.