Week in Aruba
Sat 30 November 2024
A Week in Aruba
Grace and I scored a great airfare deal back in March to Aruba. We scored tickets for the Friday after Thanksgiving at about 40% discount to normal fares. So, we jumped on booking the flights with United. One part about the flight was that it had an overnight component. We had to fly Saturday afternoon to an intermediate airport and then flights to Arbua seem to all be early morning flights (from Chicago, New York or Houston). We choose the Chicago connection. It seemed the right compromise to get a minimal flight time to Aruba and Chicago is a better city to get near airport accomodations.
Then, the United stress started. Grace booked a hotel in Chicago and United 'updated' our flight. The Chicago connection was cancelled and we were booked going through Newark. Ugh, Grace cancelled the hotel in Chicago and we knew a row of close hotels to the Newark airport. We booked one with airport transfer. Not horrible, but we know those hotels aren't near any services in New York, we'd probably have to eat dinner at the airport before transfering to the hotel. That wasn't the end of it. In the intervening months, United repeatedly changed the flight schedule. Including, resetting the trip back through Chicago, but 2 full days later. Many calls to get the flight we wanted and a full let's ignore flight changes until 30 days before the trip and we ended up with the Newark routing. The hotel's near the airport (Comfort Inn and part of a offsite parking service) are conveinent if you have to overnight. It is relatively cheap and much better than trying to sleep in the EWR airport. And it has an awesome dawn view of the New York skyline.
So, we arrived in Aruba on December 1st (Sunday). Taxis are the only option in Aruba. They have restricted Uber and Lyft from operating there. However, all fares are government assigned to keep a predictable cost.
Our first stay was at the Amsterdam Manor. This is across from Eagle Beach. They hotel was great. It has a beach side bar/restaurant on the Eagle beach side and an 2nd floor terrace restaurant near their pool side.
We found a fanastic breakfast(brunch) place in a Dutch Cheese Shop behind the hotel and before the 'highway'. We found it when we walked to the highway round-about to get some groceries, since our hotel had a kitchette setup.
During our 3 days stay at the Manor, we planned just one tour excursion: a day trip of the highlights of the island. We visited the Aloe factory, Natural Bridges, rock formations and the Lighthouse. Our driver was fantastic with lots of information about Aruba, the people and the history.
We visited the Butterfly Garden on our last day at the Manor. This was our transfer day from staying in the Touristy Hotel Row to our stay in the quiet, serene south. The butterflies were fantastic, but the nature of the enclosure meant the ever prevelant cooling island breeze was blocked. This was only time the constant 80 degree heat was too much for us.
Our second half of the week was at the Serene Hotel in southern (Savaneta Region) Aruba. This was a botique place of about 9 total rooms. The hotel was seaside. We could walk from our room to snorkel, read and relax on hammocks and watch the sunset. The breakfast was on the seaside dock and the owner was extremely friendly. Two restaurants were within a quick walk, the Zeerover and the Flying Bonefish. The Zeerover was a great value find. They have what they catch that morning, you decide which and weight of what you want. Then, you walk around the corner and order drinks and find a see at picnic tables at the dock. The Flying Bonefish was a good upscale restaurant, however, we went Thursday night and it was dry service.
A rub on Aruba: It was Aruba's national election on the Friday we were there. We noticed a bit, that lots of house and cars had Yellow or Green flags during our island tour trip. What we didn't know was the govenment banned all alcohol sales from Thursday through Saturday. This included all tourist venues too. The Zeerover restaurant we were planning on Friday night dinner decided to close rather than have a dry service. We had our friendly host at the hotel cook us a romantic dinner on the seaside. Fresh fish, Beef Tenderloin, Veggies and a homemade ice cream.
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
