Radisson Aruba with Kids: Hotel Review

January 18, 2015 by

Where: Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa

When: December 2014/January 2015

Who: 2 adults and 2 kids (ages 8 & 10)

How: Using Club Carlson points. Total = 150,000 CC points for 6 nights

Hotel Status at time of stay: Club Carlson Gold

Check In & Front Desk

We arrived on New Year’s Eve at around 9pm. It seemed as though we were the only people arriving at that time. Our plane (which was practically empty) was the only one at the airport, which felt deserted. The woman at the front desk was pretty short with us, and not very friendly. She was probably dying to get out of there to go set off some fireworks. She gave us our room keys & the map and that was it. I asked if there were any upgrades available to the club level (I was willing to pay or use points) & she said no without even checking. I think that the hotel was fully booked, so I understood that it was a longshot.

Since we had booked using the BOGO method, we had to get new keys twice. We did not have to switch rooms or do the whole check in process again. We were able to sign for all 3 reservations on the first check in. But we did have to go back to get new keys for each reservation. The man I spoke with at the front desk when I went to switch keys for the first time was much friendlier. He suggested that I check back on the 3rd key exchange for an upgrade (I tried again, it never happened). TIP: He also suggested that this is something that I should have done ahead of time. He said that I could have paid to upgrade (he did not say how much) or used points to upgrade (he did not say how many) at the time I made the booking, or at least before those rooms had sold out. He told me that the club lounge had been overbooked, so they were not letting any more people access it. I don’t know what I would have paid in cash or points to have access to the club lounge, but I will say that food and drinks in Aruba are very expensive.

What is the Club Carlson BOGO method?

You need to have the Club Carlson credit card in order to get a ‘buy one get one’ deal. I wrote more about that here. I have no financial relationship and get no benefit from anyone applying for this card, I just really like it & have gotten a lot out of it since we’ve had (2 of) them. This is how it worked for this trip:

Night # 1 – paid 50,000 Club Carlson points using my account

Night #2 – free with BOGO

Night #3 – paid 50,000 Club Carlson points using my husband’s account

Night #4 – free with BOGO

Night # 5 – paid 50,000 Club Carlson points using my account

Night #6 – free with BOGO

The key to getting every other night free is to alternate accounts when making the bookings. In the example above, we had 3 different reservations. All we had to do was switch keys for each reservation, but we were able to stay in the same room. The hotel made it seem like this is very common & were not surprised by it at all.

The Room

We were given a standard, 2 double bed room in the Curacao Tower (there are 3 towers). It was a parking lot view, and next to the elevator. The good news was that we had an excellent view of the nightly fireworks that happen in Aruba during New Years week. And we were surprised that hallway noise was not an issue at all (the fireworks were another story!).

Unfortunately I did not take a photo of the room (not sure how that happened!). It was a basic, standard room. Nothing special, nothing terrible. It had a small balcony, 2 beds, desk, bathroom on the small side, and a storage closet. There was a tiny mini fridge and a coffee maker (TIP: there is a small gift shop on the ground floor of the Curacao Tower where you can buy milk, snacks, alcohol, etc).

The Pools

As you can see from the map above, there are 2 pools that are right next to each other & very close to the beach. They are both zero entry and neither are very deep. The smaller pool has a volleyball net, and you can request a ball at the towel hut. You can also rent ($5) pool mats at the hut you see as you walk out onto the beach. These can be used in the pool or the ocean. There are no slides or water features. The kids still had a great time making new friends and playing in the pools. They generally prefer the pools to the beach.

Pool chairs & cabanas – you can pay to rent the pool cabanas, but we did not find this to be necessary. We were always able to get chairs, even the ones that are covered (different than the cabanas). We were even able to use the unrented pool cabanas at times. There are also lots of Adirondack-style chairs and loungers around the pool area. We did not find the pool to be crowded at all, which was surprising considering the resort was at full capacity most of the time we were there.

The Beach

The beach is very close to the hotel and pool areas. You can see on the map the sand that stretches between the pools to the beach. The sand is soft and white (no major shells). The ocean water was the perfect temperature. The waves varied each day from completely flat to some small wave action. My kids prefer some waves, so they were happier on the days when they could play in the ocean.

Beach Palapa System – You can sign up for an assigned beach palapa (umbrella) & chairs for the next day. Starting at 4pm, you sign up at the pool towel hut (see map above). They have a paper with the layout of the numbered palapas on the beach. You chose whichever one you’d like for the next day once you see which ones have not been taken. You just have to go to your palapa by 10am to ‘claim’ it with towels and it’s yours for the day. Any that haven’t been claimed by 10am are up for grabs. We liked this system. It worked well, and we were able to get a palapa and 4 chairs each day, even when we forgot to sign up right at 4:00. If you aren’t there to get in line at 4pm, you can pay a fee ($15, $25, $35 depending on location of palapa) to have it set up for you.

There is also a company that sets up beach chairs and umbrellas on the beach for people. I did not check the prices. I heard some people saying that they had come from a cruise ship & were spending the day on the beach. The beaches are public, so others can use the beach in front of the Radisson.

You can also pay for water sports and activities. My husband and daughter did tubing & it was $20 per person. There are some people that come along the beach selling things, such has hair braiding. My daughter got her hair braided & we spent $20 for 10 braids.

Other Activities

There is a kids club, which we did not use, so I can’t give any information on it (sorry!).

They had an activity schedule posted by the pool & in the lobby. However, it was only updated until mid-December (we were there at the end of December into January).

There are tropical birds in cages throughout the resort. Close to the pool towel hut, the bird handler takes them out most days and people can hold them and take photos with them. Some of them even talk, which my kids could not get enough of. My daughter wanted to hold the birds every day. This was a highlight of the hotel for her.

There is a casino that we did not go in, although we walked by it several times a day. It looked small and dreary from the outside.

There is a gym and spa that we also did not go in. I had every intention of going to the gym while we were there, but I was too busy reading, swimming, and drinking things with rum in them. Oops.

Overall

We really enjoyed our stay at the Radisson Aruba, and I would definitely stay there again if we were to visit Aruba again. The hotel was nice with beautiful grounds, beach, and pools. In general, everything was very family friendly and it was very easy to visit Aruba with kids. The Radisson Aruba hotel itself had tons of kids and families staying there. With that said, we didn’t get the feeling that we are dying to go back to Aruba anytime soon. It was a perfect break from the winter weather, but there are other places that I would visit or return to before returning to Aruba. You can read this post for more on our impressions of Aruba itself.

Other Things to Know

There is a paved path that runs along the beach between the hotels (see map above). You can easily get from hotel to hotel along that path, or just go for a walk or run. There are different places to eat & drink along that path as well.

Directly across the street from the high rise hotels, there are tons and tons of restaurants and shops. There are different shopping plazas with some chain and some independent restaurants and stores. There are also fast food places within walking distance (we saw McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s).

Some people recommend getting a taxi to take you to the large grocery store to buy drinks and snacks for the room. We didn’t do this, but did think about it. In hindsight, I think that we should have packed some drinks & snacks and checked a bag at the airport. The food was very expensive, and I think this would have saved us some money.

One website that was very helpful for understanding what was nearby was wikimapia. We searched for the hotel & could zoom in on the satellite images to get a feel for the area.

Places to Eat Near the Radisson Aruba

Like I mentioned above, there are many choices for food near the Radisson. I am going to list the places we tried & give a brief opinion. This is not a comprehensive list of places to eat, and I am sure that there are better (and worse) choices nearby:

Bugaloe Beach Bar & Grill  – This place is located right on  DePalm Pier (seen in map above). It juts out into the water, and there are some beautiful views. The food is simple and the menu is large. We went for lunch and for happy hour/dinner. It is very casual. The prices (especially during happy hour) are reasonable.

Bread Basket – Mentioned above. Located on beach walkway. Casual takeout food for breakfast and lunch.

Gianni’s Italian Restaurant – Located directly across from the Radisson. This was our best dinner of the trip. Great food and service. Pricey.

Gelatissimo – Gelato shop right across from Radisson. We tried it 3 times. Very good gelato and $5 for 2 flavors.

Bavaria – We had dinner at this German restaurant. It was OK. A bit harder to get to than the others (near the fast food restaurants).

Tango Argentine Restaurant – We had the early bird dinner (about $23 per person), and it was very good.

Salt & Pepper – One of the worst restaurant dinners/experiences we’ve ever had.

Tomato Charlies – Decent pizza and salad, and not outrageously expensive.

Gilligans – Beach/pool restaurant at the Radisson. We ate there for breakfast twice. Large portions and reasonable prices.

Laguna – Breakfast buffet at the Radisson. We ate there once. Decent. $61 for 2 adults and 2 kids.

Room Service – we ordered room service breakfast twice. The prices were more reasonable than we expected and the pancakes were enormous!