aruba - all inclusive or not

Dh and i were looking at mexico bc the prices are pretty reasonable - but then decided against it with everything going on there.
We have been to Aruba for the day (cruise) and loved it. I know its a pretty safe place - we rented a jeep and drove around the whole island.

As far as all inclusive resorts - everytime dh and i have traveled weve gone to AI places- but weve gone to jamaica, mexico, and antigua- not overly developed or "safe" areas to be traveling alone (antigua was safe but underdeveloped)

My question is : Is it worth it for all inclusive to aruba or just get a nice hotel and take it from there? The only one drinking alcohol will be dh bc im pregnant - and hes not really a big drinker.
We were looking at places on expedia and all inclusive hotels are about $800 more for 4/5 days.

So question is all inclusive or not - and any recommendations of hotels would be great! THanks!!!

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

I say no. If you are not big drinkers....which is why most go to an all-inclusive, then skip it. There are plenty of wonderful resurants on the island to have your meals in. You do not need to be nailed down to one place.

Enjoy...Aruba is wonderful!

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

I would go for a regular hotel - instead of an AI.

Aruba has a ton of great restaurants.

I love the Hyatt there. We've also stayed at one of the Marriott timeshares and the Marriott itself looked nice.

We also have friends who usually stay at the Radisson and love it.

We have stayed at the Westin as well. Although the hotel itself is really nice - I wasn't impressed by the pool area.

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

DH and I went to Aruba in June and stayed at an AI. We were so disappointed with the food. We ate dinner out every night and wound up spending so much more money on our vacation. There are so many good restaurants in Aruba and we never felt unsafe traveling outside of our hotel area.

We even thought the drinks were pretty bad at our AI. We wound up walking down to the Hyatt and had drinks there every night, which were so good. We are debating on going back again this summer. If we do we are most definitely not doing an AI and will be staying at the Hyatt. It is a beautiful hotel. The restaurants in the HYatt are also really good.

Definitely check out El Gaucho if you like steak.

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

we just went there in dec.. and did the AI.. we LOVED it.. the food and drinks were excellent! so worth the money!!

BUT, since you wont be able to drink, and DH doesnt drink too much.. then i would opt not to do it..

the food in aruba is amazing! but the restaurants are so expensive.. so if money is not an option... then no need for AI

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

I would skip it. They have a ton of great restaurants that are easy to get to.

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

My DH and I were there for 2 weeks on our honeymoon and we stayed at the Hyatt and LOVED IT!!! There are so many great restaurants to go to, that's why we didn't go AI (DH had a bunch of friends from work that went & they all said not to do AI). I've also heard that the Radisson (which is next to the Hyatt) is nice, but I think the prices are almost the same.

We rented a jeep for 4 or 5 days to explore the island and we planned it so we went to the restaurants that were further away when we had the jeep.

Have fun!!!!


I wouldn't miss El Gaucho's steakhouse if I were you!

Message edited 3/27/2009 1:07:15 AM.

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

I think it depends on what type of trip you want. Our first trip to Aruba was not an all inclusive (our HM) and the second one was an all inclusive.

When we were on our HM, we didn't rent a car any of the days we were there and the cab fare to go around to the other parts of the island and out for dinner got expensive after a while. I might be the only one that thinks this, but while I do agree that there are some very good restaurants there, I don't think they are any better than restaurants here and some of them are way too expensive, IMO. Don't get me wrong, I loved the places we ate at, but not sure that's what made the trip for me. We also didn't love the food at our hotel, so it seemed we ALWAYS had to go out to eat. If I were going to do it again, and not stay at an all inclusive, I might stay at a bigger hotel, with more than one choice of restaurant (but I did LOVE the hotel we stayed at - regardless of the food ) If you are looking for great restaurant meals, lots of activities and nightlife, then I would say don't do an all-inclusive and go to one of the bigger hotels on Palm Beach

We are not big drinkers, but we loved the AI on the second trip, because we loved the convenience factor and that there was something open pretty much anytime we wanted to eat or drink. When we booked the second trip, we knew we wanted to just spend most of our time laying on the beach or the pool, and not running around the island. We did rent a car for 2 days, so that was when we went out for dinner. We did go on a sunset cruise, but the bus picked us up for that. I wasn't sure if I would like the AI and as it turned out, I really did.

Re: aruba - all inclusive or not

Aruba is really pretty safe. We went there for the first week of our HM. we didn't do AI. for starters, there are really great restaurants on the island so you would miss out on them. Also, we had priced out AI, and it seemed like a lot considering what everyone was telling us meals would cost. after we went, we were really glad we didn't get it because we actually saved money, and we ate at really nice places