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Hi all,
I just got back from my 4th visit to Heaven. I can’t thank you all enough for the updated information I read about on here. It made trip planning easier and helped lessen the unexpected surprises.
Sept 30…11:59pm red-eye flight left on time. 3 hour layover in Dulles…plenty of time, but we were tired.
Flight leaving Dulles to Aruba…was on time, backed out from gate, gaining speed on the runaway and pilot slams on the brakes and aborts takeoff. We go back to the gate for about 1.5 hours. The problem was something wrong with the main door latch. We got into Aruba late and there were no gates open so we sat on the tarmac for about an hour. It was hot and we were tired, but we made it!
Leaving the airport was a breeze but a little disappointed we didn’t get our passports stamped-we went through the automated scanners.
Got our bags and Royal Rental Car was waiting there for us ready to go. I rented a Jeep for the week so we could explore EVERYWHERE ANYTIME and was very happy I did. The Jeep had a few small issues but nothing major. The roundabouts were easier to navigate than I expected and I actually liked them.
We went to West Deck for a late lunch/early dinner and it was absolutely perfect. I was able to keep an eye on the Jeep with all our luggage in it, eat a great meal, and enjoy the beach view and breeze. I had the Balashi Grouper Fingers and Island Fish Cakes. We aren’t foodies but we know good food when we have it.
No issues checking into condo at Oceania. The unit we rented was perfect for the 4 of us (my parents and my best friend). It didn’t have a dining room table, which would have been nice to play games on the rainy days, but no biggie. We did a quick grocery run to Ling & Sons. Then we all crashed and went to bed since we’d been up over 36 hours.
Oct 2: Three of us climbed up Hooiberg. It was so nice to move after the travel day the day before. None of us were terribly sore the next day ������. This was the first time I tried Maps.me and it worked great. We stopped by the first Sunday market at the Ostrich Farm and we’re so happy we did. We loved all the local vendors and bought the majority of our souvenirs there. We would have spent a lot more if we had more cash on us but we didn’t think about taking much for our hike! The rest of the day was spent at the condo’s pools and beach.
Oct 3: my birthday! Spent it on the beach and did nothing at all. We had dinner at Passions and no complaints from any of us…well except for the vegan carrot cake. It was awful. There was a gorgeous sunset and the weather was perfect. I got a little teary thinking how lucky/blessed I was to be able to be celebrating my birthday in my favorite place on earth with some of my favorite people.
Oct 4: Started the day at Murano Art Studio and made myself a blown glass turtle. Best souvenir ever!!! Everybody there was super nice and made it a fun experience. We left there and saw the Gold Mill Ruins and the fallen down Natural Bridge/Baby Natural Bridge. We left there to go to Arikok National Park and see the sights. Welp, that is where MAPS.ME failed us. The directions took us way down towards Baby Beach, which seemed fine since we could start south and go north…but after about 1.5 hours of driving on dirt roads/neighborhoods we came to an entrance with a locked gate that said Emergency Entrance Only. It was definitely the wrong place ������. We turned around and managed to find our way to Baby Beach. We were starving and went to Rum Reef. It was a nice view, but only okay food. We stopped by Rodger’s Beach to take a look. At this point we were tired and frustrated of spending the whole day in the Jeep and not seeing what we had set out to see. We went back to the condo and spent the evening at the pool.
Oct 5: Arikok National Park take two. We found it and saw all the sights. Super glad we had the Jeep! We were hot and tired afterwards so went back to condo pools and beach. We went to Super Foods to restock and buy some Dutch treats. We MUCH preferred Super Foods over Ling & Sons.
Oct 6: Rainy day at the beach. I just got in the water when it rained and chilled under the palapa when it didn’t. Couldn’t complain. We went to Suisse Chalet for dinner and once again no complaints from anyone. The service was excellent. They are missing an opportunity not having outdoor seating, but for a rainy day we were happy to be inside.
Oct 7: last day ������. It was overcast and rainy, but we went down to Baby Beach and spent the morning there. The rain stayed away for the most part, but the waters were pretty rough. The water felt chilly and wasn’t clear, so snorkeling was a bust. Still not complaining! We grabbed a couple gelatos from Big Mama’s Grill, swung by Rodger’s Beach and stuck my feet in the water, and went back to the condo for lunch. Spent the afternoon between the beach and pools. Wanted to go to Arashi Beach but didn’t want to get back in Jeep. For dinner we went to the Islander Grill at La Cabana. Great dinner again with no complaints. The 4 of us agreed La Cabana was too people-ly for our liking and were really happy with the Oceania condo. I will come back for La Cabana’ restaurants and pool bar though!
Oct 8: Check out was 11:00, returned the Jeep with no issues, got to the airport before 11:30. It was crowded with long, hot lines, but we were at the gate by 1:00 for our 3:00 flight. No issues with the flights except for a hard landing in Denver. Got home just after midnight.
Lessons learned: stay for more than a week next time ������
thanks for sticking with me through the long review. Sorry I’m not a foodie and can’t give better reviews. Mainly putting this here for next time I get to go back to Aruba I can re-read this to remember the details ������������
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