Readers' reviews: the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino
We will never tire of saying it: receiving, reading and publishing readers' reviews fills us with joy. Today is the [...]
We will never tire of saying this: receiving, reading and Publishing readers' reviews fills us with joy. Today it is Francis' turn to take us overseas, to Aruba.
In this article:
Winter is long, and since our children were very young we have made a habit of taking a beach vacation during the cold season. We have been to Santo Domingo, Mexico, the Maldives, and on the day in February 2020 when Italy discovered patient zero in Codogno we were happily in Malpensa departing for Salalah in Oman, the last vacation of the "Avanti Covid" era. For a few years we also stayed at home, but towards the end of October last year my wife said, "Why don't we start going to the sea again in the winter? I have read that Aruba is a nice place.". I frankly thought, "Aruba? Where is it?". For those who do not know, Aruba is a small island in the Caribbean Sea just north of the coast of Venezuela and is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Reservation
As The Flight Club teaches, I opened the hotel app. Hilton and discovered that the Hilton Aruba Resort and Casino hotel could be booked for four people with only 80,000 Hilton Honors points per night. Thanks to the fifth night free promotion (obtained with American Express Plantino's Hilton Gold status), with 320,000 Hilton Honors points I was able to book a room that otherwise would have cost more than €4,000 (so with an excellent conversion rate of about €13 per 1,000 MR points).
Location
The Hilton Aruba hotel is located northwest of the Aruba airport, about 20 minutes away in the Palm beach, where all other international resorts are also located. The hotel consists of three towers, called Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.
The hotel is being expanded because a new tower is being built that will contain super-luxury sea view apartments; the project will also include renovation of all rooms and restaurants. Let's make one key point clear right away: although I had read very worrying reviews about the disturbance caused by the construction site, I can reassure everyone that the works did not bother at all, neither aesthetically nor acoustically.
Check-in
The hotel has a free and secure parking, from which there is easy access to the main entrance and check-in area.
Registration went quickly and we received a free upgrade from room: instead of low floor and garden view, we were offered a room on a higher floor with partial sea view. We also received the list of benefits for GOLD customers, which included: free buffet breakfast for two, two welcome alcoholic drinks, two bottles of water (but we were always left with at least four bottles a day), high-speed (premium) internet, and discounts for spa treatments (10%) and excursions (15%).
Room
We stayed in a room on the fourth floor of the Curacao tower. The room-sufficiently spacious for 2 adults and 2 children, with two queen-size double beds-had the standard amenities, namely minibar and coffee maker; the bathroom, then, very spacious, had a large walk-in shower.
In general, the room was very well maintained (apart from some somewhat damaged furniture), and the bathroom even looked like it had just been renovated.It was explained to me that the Curacao tower is the newest tower, whose rooms are therefore the newest ones.As part of the hotel expansion project, however, they are planning to renovate all the rooms, starting with the oldest ones in the Aruba tower.
The room also included a small terrace with two chairs and a small table that actually provided a pleasant (partial) view of the sea; overall, we had a very good time in our room!
Structure
The hotel, as mentioned, consists of three main buildings: the Aruba tower-which also includes the lobby-the Bonaire tower and the Curacao tower. These buildings are surrounded by a garden with ponds, streams and artificial waterfalls, which is very clean and well maintained.
There are two swimming pools (one of which is currently only partially usable due to the construction site), but still well maintained. Although the hotel was sold out, we never encountered overcrowded situations in the pools, on the beach or in the dining areas.
The hotel also has a beautiful private beach, equipped with palapas. Palapas have to be reserved and almost all of them are chargeable (about $40 per day), but every day from 12:30 p.m. you can reserve some of them for the next day for free. We have never had a problem booking them for free, just remember to log on to the site as soon as reservations open; after 3 p.m., however, almost all palapas are free and you can sit for free even in those closest to the sea. The palapas also include a deck chair for each guest and beach towel.
The beach is very pleasant and the sea is also warm and clean, but there are better beaches in Aruba than this one and, therefore, the recommendation is to tour the island instead of staying put in a hotel. Every day there is a calendar of recreational activities (many of them are free), but in which we did not participate. L'hotel also has a small zoo With beautiful parrots that love to be photographed.
Dulcis in fundo, the hotel has within it a casinos open from 3 p.m. until late at night, which we were unable to visit, however, because children are not allowed even when accompanied by adults.
Food & Beverage
The resort includes three restaurants: the Laguna Restaurant, Gilligan's Seafood Snack and the Sunset Grill. For breakfast we chose the Laguna Restaurant. We had an excellent continental breakfast buffet every morning: the buffet was plentiful and well-kept, with eggs cooked to order, waffles, pastries, and freshly squeezed juices. Breakfast is one of the free benefits for Hilton Honors Gold members, but the gratuity applies only to 2 adults, children on the other hand paid $18 each per day; given the prices of the venues outside outside the resort we were very pleased to be able to have an excellent and hearty breakfast for 4 people for only $50 per day.
For lunch, however, the choice fell on the Gilligan's Seafood Snack: located next to the beach, offers light lunches and snacks; nothing exceptional but good value for money.
We did not, however, try the Sunset Grill, the main restaurant near the lobby. In front of the resort there are many places, with cuisines from every country (Italian, French, Japanese, Asian...) and it was more pleasant to walk among these restaurants and boutiques instead of staying for dinner at the hotel. The area is very safe (like the whole island of Aruba) and there are no problems walking outside the hotel, even with children.
Aruba
Aruba's motto is "Happy Island" and it is certainly apt. If you go, definitely rent a car (we did with Hertz) because, as mentioned, the hotel beach is nice but there are much better ones on the island. Our favorite was Baby Beach, located at the southern tip of the island, reachable in about 40 minutes by car: this beach is a circular lagoon with shallow turquoise water, perfect for children.
Near the hotel, then, there is. Eagle Beach, larger and more spacious but absolutely pleasant.
A warm east-to-west wind (trade winds or Trade Winds) blows constantly in Aruba, which allows you to be in the sun without ever getting too hot or sweaty (but watch out for sunburn!) and is also perfect for kite surfers.
Finally, the northern part of the island is virtually uninhabited and windswept, with a barren, almost lunar landscape that is nonetheless unique and beautiful to see. Some of the wider, beaten dirt roads can be traveled with normal cars (we went to the natural stone bridges without any problems), while other areas can only be reached by off-road vehicles. It is absolutely worth spending a few hours in the northern part as well!
In conclusion
Aruba was a wonderful discovery, and we had a very good time at the Hilton Aruba Resort. Definitely not worth the cash price of more than €800 per night, but taken with HH points it is definitely a great deal. Don't be scared off by reviews comparing it to a highway construction site and enjoy the sun, sea and wind of Aruba!
P.S. If you are wondering how we got to Aruba, we took a Delta flight from Milan Malpensa to New York: we stayed two nights in the Big Apple, in the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square North (unremarkable, but excellently located for a short stopover), after which we continued-again with Delta-on a direct flight to Aruba. On the way back we traveled with Delta again and had a two-hour layover at JFK (Aruba, by the way, has pre-clearance so you do your U.S. immigration in Aruba and in JFK you skip the long lines at immigration). By booking the flights about 4 months in advance we spent about €700 each in economy class.
Do you also want to share a review with TFC readers? Write to us! We will be happy to publish it.
