Everything you needed to know about the beaches in ARUBA

[StephandFred]

Mitsugirly,

 

Thank you for such a great review of beaches in Aruba!

We will be visiting Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, as well as Cozumel and definitely consider ourselves Snorkel Fans. Have you been to the other islands? If so, how do you compare the quality and/ or quantity of fish and coral?

[mitsugirly]

Mitsugirly,

 

Thank you for such a great review of beaches in Aruba!

We will be visiting Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, as well as Cozumel and definitely consider ourselves Snorkel Fans. Have you been to the other islands? If so, how do you compare the quality and/ or quantity of fish and coral?

 

We were in Curacao during Spring Break this year and we ended up doing a Discover Scuba Dive. Where we went scuba diving was the Tug Boat and this is also a place a lot of snorkeling is done. But I'm unsure about other places that you can snorkel since I have only went there once.

 

 

Cozumel has several places to snorkel. Our favorite so far has been Chananaab Park. (You can find 2 reviews in my signature line with pictures if you are interested). There is another place, called The Money Bar, that is supposed to be similar, but I haven't personally been there (hope to go next month to check it out).

[babs135]

You didn't really say how long you will be in port. If you are in port for a decent amount of time, Baby Beach is a bay/lagoon type of beach and you wouldn't really worry about having to swim much there because the water is pretty shallow in most of the area. But, it's further than the other beaches are located. For a beautiful beach just to cool off I mean you could go to any of them: Eagle, Palm, Arashi.

 

 

You mentioned that DH does not like swimming in the ocean. What other places are you going to on your cruise? It sounds like the type of place you might need (for both of you to enjoy it) is a beach club type of place that has the beach and also a pool on the premises. Aruba doesn't really have this (that I know of) unless someone sells a day pass to one of the hotels located on the beach. I'm not sure.

 

Not sure how long we will have on Aruba. Cunard doesn't publish times and I've yet to start looking to find them (they will be out there!). Other hotspots on our trip - heading for San Francisco - are Ocho Rios and Cabo San Lucas.

[mikel24m]

Hi Mitsugirly I am hoping you can answer a few questions for me

 

We are in port from 8am until 11pm and we are thinking about getting a room for the day at Tropicana to use the facilities and go to eagle beach. We plan on getting there nice and early pre register and go right to the beach. How's the food prices and stuff? Did you gamble how's the casino? We're drinks free while playing? About how far is trop from the cruise port? Is there any shopping close by other than a grocery store?Any tips or thoughts on this plan ,I'm not sure if I'm happy with being stuck at one place until 10 at night ,I want to see and experience as much as we can

 

Thanks

 

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[mitsugirly]

Hi Mitsugirly I am hoping you can answer a few questions for me

 

We are in port from 8am until 11pm and we are thinking about getting a room for the day at Tropicana to use the facilities and go to eagle beach. We plan on getting there nice and early pre register and go right to the beach. How's the food prices and stuff? Did you gamble how's the casino? We're drinks free while playing? About how far is trop from the cruise port? Is there any shopping close by other than a grocery store?Any tips or thoughts on this plan ,I'm not sure if I'm happy with being stuck at one place until 10 at night ,I want to see and experience as much as we can

 

Thanks

 

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Hmm, while I know people sometimes do this in order to have a place to take and shower and such prior to going back to the ship, but I personally would never do this and find it hard to picture why. (Sorry, just me).

 

 

So, Tropicana...it's not located right on the beach. So, you would either have to walk there or they have a shuttle that will take you there. I'm not sure how often the shuttle runs, if it's on a schedule and only runs at certain times, or if it merely waits to fill up before leaving. You could probably inquire with the resort to see how it works. We had a car, so we just drove.

 

 

By "staying" at Tropicana, this gives you free use of the beach chairs and they will put you at a palapa (if available). They can tell you are staying at Tropicana because you have to have a wrist band on. You share that stretch of beach with the people also staying at La Cabana (which is the hotel directly across from the beach/street).

 

 

You mentioned getting there nice and early. Since I have never "rented" a hotel space for a day, I'm not sure if they have other rules or not. I can tell you that check-in time for Tropicana is 3pm (and probably not any earlier than that because we checked in at that time and the room wasn't even ready yet and we had to wait for awhile). However, if you either have no intention on using the room or don't actually need the room when "checking-in" then they may allow you to do that and just not assign a room at that time.

 

 

We didn't see any food along the beach in that area and especially in the area we were staying.

 

 

We did not gamble at the casino because we had our young child with us and no sitter. We did eat in the casino one morning for breakfast and the dining is attached to the casino and looked new and nice. The casino is not attached to the hotel, but on the same lot within walking distance. It did look fairly small and I'm not sure what it had in it.

 

 

I am not aware of any real "shopping" that you could walk to directly around the Tropicana other than the grocery store. It seemed more of a "hotel" district to me.

 

 

The Tropicana is not far from the cruise port at all. I'm guessing maybe 15 minutes if that depending on the traffic.

 

 

Like I said, this type of plan is not something I would personally do (and for that reason I can't really see the benefit in it...especially with using Tropicana). If the place was directly on the beach and you could walk out the door and onto the beach...I could maybe understand. But I would see it more of a hassle to go there, check in (IF you can at that time), waiting on shuttles, just for a free chair on the beach, shuttle back (or walk the distance) and so on. Then taking the time to check out or whatever. It just wouldn't be worth it to me. I see it as paying a lot of money just to rent a chair IMO. They do have 2 nice pools, but still. Just not my thing to rent a day at a hotel for those reasons. I would rather be out experiencing the port/beach/ocean and so on.

 

 

If you want an area that will include a beach and has a lot of places with food choices and tons of shopping, I would find a place along Palm Beach. That's the place you would want IMO.

 

 

Hopefully that helps. Or...hopefully someone else can chime in that can give their experience or suggestions because they do these types of things. :)

[mikel24m]

Hmm, while I know people sometimes do this in order to have a place to take and shower and such prior to going back to the ship, but I personally would never do this and find it hard to picture why. (Sorry, just me).

 

 

So, Tropicana...it's not located right on the beach. So, you would either have to walk there or they have a shuttle that will take you there. I'm not sure how often the shuttle runs, if it's on a schedule and only runs at certain times, or if it merely waits to fill up before leaving. You could probably inquire with the resort to see how it works. We had a car, so we just drove.

 

 

By "staying" at Tropicana, this gives you free use of the beach chairs and they will put you at a palapa (if available). They can tell you are staying at Tropicana because you have to have a wrist band on. You share that stretch of beach with the people also staying at La Cabana (which is the hotel directly across from the beach/street).

 

 

You mentioned getting there nice and early. Since I have never "rented" a hotel space for a day, I'm not sure if they have other rules or not. I can tell you that check-in time for Tropicana is 3pm (and probably not any earlier than that because we checked in at that time and the room wasn't even ready yet and we had to wait for awhile). However, if you either have no intention on using the room or don't actually need the room when "checking-in" then they may allow you to do that and just not assign a room at that time.

 

 

We didn't see any food along the beach in that area and especially in the area we were staying.

 

 

We did not gamble at the casino because we had our young child with us and no sitter. We did eat in the casino one morning for breakfast and the dining is attached to the casino and looked new and nice. The casino is not attached to the hotel, but on the same lot within walking distance. It did look fairly small and I'm not sure what it had in it.

 

 

I am not aware of any real "shopping" that you could walk to directly around the Tropicana other than the grocery store. It seemed more of a "hotel" district to me.

 

 

The Tropicana is not far from the cruise port at all. I'm guessing maybe 15 minutes if that depending on the traffic.

 

 

Like I said, this type of plan is not something I would personally do (and for that reason I can't really see the benefit in it...especially with using Tropicana). If the place was directly on the beach and you could walk out the door and onto the beach...I could maybe understand. But I would see it more of a hassle to go there, check in (IF you can at that time), waiting on shuttles, just for a free chair on the beach, shuttle back (or walk the distance) and so on. Then taking the time to check out or whatever. It just wouldn't be worth it to me. I see it as paying a lot of money just to rent a chair IMO. They do have 2 nice pools, but still. Just not my thing to rent a day at a hotel for those reasons. I would rather be out experiencing the port/beach/ocean and so on.

 

 

If you want an area that will include a beach and has a lot of places with food choices and tons of shopping, I would find a place along Palm Beach. That's the place you would want IMO.

 

 

Hopefully that helps. Or...hopefully someone else can chime in that can give their experience or suggestions because they do these types of things. :)

Thanks so much you have my opinion so I have to let my wife give this a read :)

 

I think she thinks it's more close to everything

 

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[Hatteras51]

Thanks so much you have my opinion so I have to let my wife give this a read :)

 

I think she thinks it's more close to everything

 

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I completely agree with mitsugirly. You will spend a lot less money just renting chairs and an umbrella. There is very little shopping in Eagle Beach, so if that is important, Palm Beach is a better choice. There are beach bars at every resort, along with some free standing bars and restaurants in Palm Beach.

[mikel24m]

I completely agree with mitsugirly. You will spend a lot less money just renting chairs and an umbrella. There is very little shopping in Eagle Beach, so if that is important, Palm Beach is a better choice. There are beach bars at every resort, along with some free standing bars and restaurants in Palm Beach.

Thanks for the help. Would you happen to know how close palm beach is to the cruise port and/or what a taxi should cost ? What about some early nightlife say between 6 and 10pm ? We just want to spend as much time off the ship as possible and see/do as much as we can.This is our first time to Aruba and excited if you can't tell :)

 

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[Regina67]

Hi Mitsugirly,

First off, thank you for all of your well written reviews.Hope you do not mind more questions. We will be in Aruba and are staying at the Tropicana. Did you notice rest rooms and perhaps a bar or restaurant on their portion of Eagle beach? I heard there is a new restroom building near the Paradise Villas. Look forward to hearing back.

[mitsugirly]

Thanks for the help. Would you happen to know how close palm beach is to the cruise port and/or what a taxi should cost ? What about some early nightlife say between 6 and 10pm ? We just want to spend as much time off the ship as possible and see/do as much as we can.This is our first time to Aruba and excited if you can't tell :)

 

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Palm Beach is really not very much further than Eagle beach. It doesn't take long to get all the way to the end of area (by Arashi Beach) and Palm is before that.

 

 

As for nightlife.... stay right there at Palm. There's PLENTY to do, places to go and things to see in that area. The place comes alive at night. The mall there has a water light show, there's carriage rides, music and everything. No worries. :)

 

 

Hi Mitsugirly,

First off, thank you for all of your well written reviews.Hope you do not mind more questions. We will be in Aruba and are staying at the Tropicana. Did you notice rest rooms and perhaps a bar or restaurant on their portion of Eagle beach? I heard there is a new restroom building near the Paradise Villas. Look forward to hearing back.

 

Hi and thank you for your kind words.

 

 

I'm sorry, I didn't notice if there were restrooms or even food there at Eagle beach. I just honestly didn't care too much for Eagle Beach just because of the palapa's and lounge chairs are just so far from the actual water. We only went there a couple of times and since our place was right close by, we would just hop in the car and drive back if we needed anything or to use the restroom and it was usually when we had decided to go to another beach or back to the pool.

[mikel24m]

Palm Beach is really not very much further than Eagle beach. It doesn't take long to get all the way to the end of area (by Arashi Beach) and Palm is before that.

 

 

As for nightlife.... stay right there at Palm. There's PLENTY to do, places to go and things to see in that area. The place comes alive at night. The mall there has a water light show, there's carriage rides, music and everything. No worries. :)

 

 

 

 

Hi and thank you for your kind words.

 

 

I'm sorry, I didn't notice if there were restrooms or even food there at Eagle beach. I just honestly didn't care too much for Eagle Beach just because of the palapa's and lounge chairs are just so far from the actual water. We only went there a couple of times and since our place was right close by, we would just hop in the car and drive back if we needed anything or to use the restroom and it was usually when we had decided to go to another beach or back to the pool.

Thanks again :)

 

Palm Beach it is for us

 

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[Hatteras51]

Hi Mitsugirly,

First off, thank you for all of your well written reviews.Hope you do not mind more questions. We will be in Aruba and are staying at the Tropicana. Did you notice rest rooms and perhaps a bar or restaurant on their portion of Eagle beach? I heard there is a new restroom building near the Paradise Villas. Look forward to hearing back.

 

I vacation on Eagle Beach every winter. There is a restroom building that also had a snack shop on the beach, across from Chalet Suisse restaurant. This is close to where you will be. If you don't want to walk back to Trop. you can grab lunch at Paradise Beach Villas or La Cabana or Amsterdam Manor, which are all located in the same area.

[Hatteras51]

Thanks for the help. Would you happen to know how close palm beach is to the cruise port and/or what a taxi should cost ? What about some early nightlife say between 6 and 10pm ? We just want to spend as much time off the ship as possible and see/do as much as we can.This is our first time to Aruba and excited if you can't tell :)

 

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Sorry, I don't know how much a taxi cost. We vacation in Aruba every year, and the first time that I've ever been to Aruba on a cruise was just a few weeks ago. We didn't head down that way. You'll find plenty of nightlife on Palm Beach. Moomba and Bugaloe, on the pier, are popular spots.

[Keith1010]

I reread your writeup yesterday and wanted to thank you for posting it.

 

Keith

[mikel24m]

Sorry, I don't know how much a taxi cost. We vacation in Aruba every year, and the first time that I've ever been to Aruba on a cruise was just a few weeks ago. We didn't head down that way. You'll find plenty of nightlife on Palm Beach. Moomba and Bugaloe, on the pier, are popular spots.

Thanks for the great info, we'll be going to palm beach

 

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[JLCMOM]

That looks adorable! Is that an entire house and your own pool? Or do you share with others?

 

 

 

Yes, we rented the entire house. It is small. 2 BR and private soaking pool. I cannot wait!!!

[Angela2016]

How do you get to arashi beach or baby beach from the cruise port?

The bus passes by them as well?

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

How do you get to arashi beach or baby beach from the cruise port?

The bus passes by them as well?

 

 

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From the cruise port you just tell the cab that's where you want to go and they will take you to Arashi. Or you could walk over to the bus stop and catch a bus there as well (cheaper of course). It's not too far away.

 

 

As for Baby Beach, it's a bit of a drive (around an hour) and I personally think he easiest way for someone to go there during a cruise (we were staying on the island of course) is to book a tour/excursion or something there. It's about an hour drive there so figure in that time. To use a bus to get there would probably take a long time and I believe I read somewhere that you have to take one bus and then get off and get on a different bus...so, just sounds like a pain to me.

[Angela2016]

Thanks so much.

So we will take the bus to arashi but we'll skip baby!

[Arubababe52]

If you just want to enjoy a nice beach, they recently built restrooms, bar right past Costa Linda on eagle beach. They mot have some food, but I'm not sure. It's a really nice, quiet beach. You can rent chairs and umbrellas. You can take a cab or the bus, which you can get right across from the cruise ship terminal. You can walk next door to Costa Linda or other hotels nearby for lunch.

 

 

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[Sparetiming]

Mitsugirly, Thank you so much for your review of Aruba's beaches. I did notice that you did not review Palm beach in detail so I have a few questions. This will be our first time stopping in Aruba cruise port to go to the beach. We are travelling with 7 adults. We enjoy snorkeling, but not all our party is interested in snorkeling. They prefer the beach, restaurant and bars. We prefer just snorkeling and swimming. Can you or Hatteras51 please tell me the best beach for our group, Eagle or Palm. I don't really like crowded beaches either but this does not seem avoidable. Which is cheaper for chairs and umbrellas and will give you best value for your money with food and drinks. Thank you once again.

Edited January 14, 2018 by Sparetiming
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[Hatteras51]

Mitsugirly, Thank you so much for your review of Aruba's beaches. I did notice that you did not review Palm beach in detail so I have a few questions. This will be our first time stopping in Aruba cruise port to go to the beach. We are travelling with 7 adults. We enjoy snorkeling, but not all our party is interested in snorkeling. They prefer the beach, restaurant and bars. We prefer just snorkeling and swimming. Can you or Hatteras51 please tell me the best beach for our group, Eagle or Palm. I don't really like crowded beaches either but this does not seem avoidable. Which is cheaper for chairs and umbrellas and will give you best value for your money with food and drinks. Thank you once again.

 

 

Hi there, neighbor! We live in the Richmond area. If you are interested in snorkeling, along with chairs, umbrellas, beach bar, you'll only have a couple of options. There is no snorkeling along Palm or Eagle Beaches. Your best bet would be to go to Arashi. The only other option that meets your needs is Baby Beach, but it is a good ways from port, and a very expensive taxi ride. Another option would be to go to Depalm Island for the day. You'd probably have to book that through your ship. Depalm Island is pricey.

[mitsugirly]

I agree completely with Hatteras. Baby beach really is a long drive and Arashi would fit your needs for beach, chairs, restaurant and snorkeling (to the left going toward Boca Catalina).

 

But, depending on how much everyone plans on spending, dePalm Island is amazing and has awesome snorkeling there (with other things to do like zip line, water park...hey, I may be an adult but still enjoy a water park, several beaches and food (breakfast and lunch) is included along with all your drinks (soda or alcohol). But like Hatteras said, it can be a little on the expensive side.

[Sparetiming]

Thanks Hatteras51, the family we are travelling with lives in St. Stephens Church in King and Queen County, Va and we live in Chesapeake, so yes we are neighbors! I guess by your user name you travel to Hatteras a lot. We have a small beach cottage near MP. 55 in Avon. Well anyways, based on your review and Mitsugirly I guess our best bet is Arashi Beach. I just wanted to find a beach area pleasing for everyone. I would be bored if I could not snorkel and they would be bored without bars, restaurants and shopping. We will be snorkeling in Bonaire and Curacao so if Palm Beach wins, I still will not be too disappointed. Thanks to both of you.

[Hatteras51]

Thanks Hatteras51, the family we are travelling with lives in St. Stephens Church in King and Queen County, Va and we live in Chesapeake, so yes we are neighbors! I guess by your user name you travel to Hatteras a lot. We have a small beach cottage near MP. 55 in Avon. Well anyways, based on your review and Mitsugirly I guess our best bet is Arashi Beach. I just wanted to find a beach area pleasing for everyone. I would be bored if I could not snorkel and they would be bored without bars, restaurants and shopping. We will be snorkeling in Bonaire and Curacao so if Palm Beach wins, I still will not be too disappointed. Thanks to both of you.

 

I love to visit Hatteras, and Avon is my favorite place to stay. Just wanted you to be aware that Arashi only has a snack bar with bathrooms. There are no restaurants or shopping areas close by. A compromise might be spending a few hours at Arashi, and then taking the bus to Palm Beach for the rest of the day.