“Enjoyable First Trip to Aruba”

My wife and I just returned from a weeklong trip to the Divi Tamarijn. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves although we did have a few minor issues, mostly upon arrival. First, our room like all others at the Tam is beachfront. Most of the rooms, however, are in sections where access to the water is blo… Více

My wife and I just returned from a weeklong trip to the Divi Tamarijn. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves although we did have a few minor issues, mostly upon arrival. First, our room like all others at the Tam is beachfront. Most of the rooms, however, are in sections where access to the water is blocked by fairly large rocks that make water access difficult at best. Fortunately, our room was in the first building on the south side of the pool where we could step off our first floor patio, walk maybe 15 feet and step down onto beach sand and walk right into crystal clear Caribbean water, a definite bonus. We sampled various restaurants on-site and at the Divi All Inclusive, about a 5 minute walk or shuttle. Restaurants require reservations, which can be made up to two days ahead of time. We ate at the buffet on our first night, then tried Ginger, Paparazzi, Pure Lime and Red Parrot, then the buffet and finished off the week with Paparazzi once again. All were good, with Paparazzi clearly being our favorite. None of the servings they give you are overly large and, while we ate well, we never felt like we were packing it in. The Tam pool seems to be busiest in the morning through early afternoon, after which it becomes easier to find a lounge chair in the shade. While we were sun worshippers when we were younger, we are far more aware of its long term dangers now. Frankly, even in the shade, one gets a good tan simply from reflection. Also, it’s simply too hot to sit comfortably in the sun for very long. It’s around 85 degrees every day and the sun makes it feel like the mid to upper 90s with moderate humidity. There is generally a DJ around the Tam pool in the afternoon and the music is enjoyable, ranging from pop to country. Unless you’re right by the speakers, it’s not overpoweringly loud. The Tam pool has a bar and food very close to it, and it’s there that we discovered our favorite drink for the week – the Caribbean Temptation. If you love mango and coconut, this one’s for you. There is little to no nightlife so if that’s your thing, this resort may not be for you . Now the minor issues. First, we had booked and confirmed a room with a king bed. We were assigned a room with two queens and, upon questioning, we were told that the first available king room would not be for several days. We settled for the assigned queen room but will be raising the issue with Customer Service now that we’re home. When we got settled in, we found that one of the two sinks had a slow drain and our refrigerator didn’t work very well. Both problems were alleviated while we ate a late lunch so kudos to the staff for getting this fixed quickly. Second, the gift shop requires cash or a room charge but you can’t charge to your room unless purchasing more than $15 US worth of goods. This one’s a petty annoyance with no explanation given other than “that’s the rules”. Finally, on our last morning, we were awakened very early by the sound of construction going on at the Tam pool nearby. They were starting to do some renovations to the small bar closest to us but started well before 7:00 AM. That simply shouldn’t happen. A few tips: 1. Bring lots of sunscreen. You’ll need it and the gift shop is a pretty expensive place to buy more if you need it. 2. Don’t overpack. We put on bathing suits when we got up and they were on all day until we dressed for dinner. Nice shorts can be worn regardless of restaurant, although we dressed a bit more for the Red Parrot since they describe it as “fine dining”. 3. Drink lots of water. It’s hot and you’ll need it. 4. If you’re on Facebook, join the Divi AI and Tamarijn FB group. I joined several months before our trip and found it a good resource for information and tips. All in all, you’ll have a fun vacation unless you want to nitpick and critique every little thing. Relax and go with the flow and you’ll be just fine.

Méně

“Very Disappointed”

The resort was decent however, our group was spread out over the entire resort even with booking together almost 1 year in advance. Very unorganized. Restaurant reservations were booked 2 days ahead. To many kids for my taste also. Booked a tour thru Amstar to snorkel at Baby beach. Bus driver lied… Více

The resort was decent however, our group was spread out over the entire resort even with booking together almost 1 year in advance. Very unorganized. Restaurant reservations were booked 2 days ahead. To many kids for my taste also. Booked a tour thru Amstar to snorkel at Baby beach. Bus driver lied to us and said no gear even though it was suppose to be include. Talked with hotel concierge and was not able to resolve any of my issues. I am most upset about the bus trip because I will never be back to do it again.

Méně

“Just turn up the music…”

This was our first time in Aruba and thankfully the island and excursions did not disappoint! The resort however was a different story. Right off the bat our room wasn’t ready on time. We had requested a lower level room but were assigned a second level one. We were kind of bummed at first but quic… Více

This was our first time in Aruba and thankfully the island and excursions did not disappoint! The resort however was a different story. Right off the bat our room wasn’t ready on time. We had requested a lower level room but were assigned a second level one. We were kind of bummed at first but quickly realized it was much better to be on the second floor. The walking path is so close to the lower level rooms, people could walk by and look in. Also there are lounge chairs outside of the rooms but they’re not assigned to you/your room so random people could come use them literally RIGHT outside of your room. Awkward! We were lucky enough to be assigned to one of the buildings close to the main area so we didn’t have to walk far to get food etc. At night we could hear everything but it all ended by 11ish so it wasn’t entirely terrible. Our room definitely needed some updates but wasn’t awful. The one major issue was our shower. The tile had shifted so the water didn’t drain. We had to push the water down after every shower with our feet if we didn’t want to stand in dirty shower water. Barf! As for food and service, meh. There are 6 restaurants for dinner that you need a reservation for. You can only make a reservation up to 3 days in advance so by the time we tried to make one, they were gone leaving us to eat at the buffet or off property. Between the 2 properties there are 2 buffets and 2 pool bars. We only ate at the Tamarijn buffet which wasn’t bad. To be honest the best food we had was at the Tamarijn pool bar. The tuna fish sandwich was one of the best we have ever had! One thing that was so annoying was no straws! They gave you a frozen drink in a plastic cup and when you tried to drink it, it would come and smack you in the face. There was a mini fridge in our room but nothing in it. They gave us a water bottle upon arrival but the water stations took about a week to fill them and no ice. I came home so dehydrated! (And no it wasn’t from taking advantage of the all-inclusive beverages lol. If my husband and I had 2 a day that was a miracle). Service was mostly slow and lack luster. Nobody seemed like they wanted to be there at all. There was only a handful of staff that actually seemed like they wanted to be there/were helpful/friendly. Most barely said “thank you” when we tipped them. The concierge was completely useless. They didn’t have one answer to anything I asked and one was just flat out rude. I had to ask the front desk and housekeeping 3 times for a blanket. Lastly (and the reason I titled this review as I did), we arrived on a Friday and Saturday morning we headed to the pool in the morning. At some point before lunch, they started construction right next to the pool!! This continued until we left the following Thursday. It was so loud, you could hear it down the beach almost to the DiVi. We laughed because they just turned up the music to mask it. Starting around 7:30 every morning the music was so loud we could barely speak around the pool area. At one point I had little to no voice left just trying to speak to my son in the pool! Our travel agent was shocked and never informed that they would be doing construction. I won’t be returning to the Tamarijn.

Méně

“Paradise ruined by construction!”

Great beachfront location for all of the rooms. Small for a family of 4 especially the bathroom. Cannot recommend staying here for the next few weeks until construction of the new bar is complete. They are trying to play loud banging music to cover the sound of concrete saws and jack hammers. Th… Více

Great beachfront location for all of the rooms. Small for a family of 4 especially the bathroom. Cannot recommend staying here for the next few weeks until construction of the new bar is complete. They are trying to play loud banging music to cover the sound of concrete saws and jack hammers. That has been going on for the last 3 days from ~10 am unti 5 pm.

Méně