Home sweet home.  Darren and I arrived back in New York last night after six glorious days in Aruba.  The weather was picture perfect – blue skies everyday with a few passing clouds that made the heat bearable.  We stayed at the Aruba Radisson upon the recommendation of Aunt Judy & Uncle Bob.  I visited the island in 2003 and again in 2005 but both times I stayed at the Marriott Stellaris Hotel & Casino which is still undergoing renovations.  This was Darren’s first trip to the island so after some research and the recommendations we received, the Radisson was definitely our choice.  We stayed on the Plaza Club floor thanks again to Judy & Bob who spoke to the manager they know there and we were upgraded from our original booking.  By staying on a Plaza Club floor we were entitled to a free continental breakfast, afternoon tea and cookies as well as a cocktail hour which had a fully stocked bar and an array of appetizers that varied each evening.  Special concierge service is also available and they were wonderful.  The staff really took care of us even before we arrived by booking all of our dinner reservations.  They also helped us make any last minute changes we wanted to our reservations once we arrived and were very helpful with recommendations for our island exploration trip.

The hotel is all open air except for the rooms and the main restaurant, Sunset Grille.  From the moment you arrive, you feel you are in the Caribbean.  The check-in and concierge area are part of an open air lobby overlooking the gardens.  Our room was in the main building, known as the Aruba Tower but there are two other buildings as well.  We were on the seventh floor so we had a breathtaking view of the ocean and the pool area.  Our room had many luxuries including a flat screen tv, dvd player, iHome clock radio and twice daily maid service.  The Radisson rooms also feature special comfort beds with adjustable firmness of the mattress.  It took us a while to figure this out but once we did we were both super comfortable.  We laughed so much trying to get the mushy side to firm up but we figured it out in a few minutes so don’t despair if you sit on the bed and sink a bit….it’s all fixable with a click of a button.

The pool area is phenomenal – two free form pools with many lounge chairs and umbrellas for shade.  There are also a few cabanas and chairs that you can put directly in the water to keep cool. The beach area known as Palm Beach was beautiful.  The hotel has tons of little huts (known as palappas) that you can reserve on a daily basis so you have some shade on the beach.  This is a wonderful feature and we made sure we had one every day we were at the beach.  It’s an absolute must as you need to get out of the hot sun some times.  There were also rafts available for rent and we took advantage of that one day.  For $5 a day you can have a flat raft or for $10, a chair raft – both which are fabulous ways of floating on the ocean and keeping cool.

Everyday for lunch we ate at Gilligan’s – the hotel beach bar/restaurant.  They serve a variety of salads, pizzas, sandwiches, quesadillas, and fajitas.  It was the perfect place to break from the sun.  One word of caution though, if you sit on the perimeter expect a few local lizards and iguanas to be playing nearby.  Some people love them, others don’t.

By the time Tuesday afternoon rolled around we were sad to leave.  We really had a great time and would definitely come back.  We both thought this would be a good island to bring the baby to as well as it seemed very family friendly and there were lots of little one’s around.  We are thinking same time next year…..only plus one :)