Riu Palace Aruba Hotel

Just returned from Aruba with my wife and another couple. This is our fourth trip to Aruba we try to take a trip to the Caribbean every spring and every so often need an Aruba fix, as it is our favorite vacation spot. We usually stay at the low-rise section and wanted to try the high-rise section this year and booked the Aruba Grand. We knew from reviews to upgrade to the 7th & 8th floors/ Ocean Deluxe. Aruba Grand was a prefect fit it had the convenience of a low rise in the middle of the high rise. When we arrived the hotel was overbooked and we were put in a parlor suite on the 8th floor 847 absolutely beautiful with a view overlooking the pool and beach. The next day we moved down the 7th floor just as nice of room without the living area the view was nice but the higher numbered rooms are closer to the beach. The rooms had beautiful marble bathrooms with separate vanity area. Huge walk in closet equipped with iron & ironing board. You could put one chair out on the balcony but it was really just built for standing. The beach has great plenty of huts and chairs and plenty of space between each other not like the other high-rise hotel that you are on top of each other. I was up before 8:00 and reserved a hut as I am not one for spending hours in the sun like my wife but during the day we never saw that they we all reserved. We ate at the resort twice and only for lunch it was very good and the Wyndam and Radisson are only a very short walk. The casino is small but very comfortable a good place to end your evening with 50 cent roulette and $5.00 blackjack. If you want more action and entertainment the Wyndam & Radisson are right there. Of course as everyone knows you have to make a trip to El Gaucho’s, Madame Jeanette’s was very good too. Check out the Kokoa Beach Bar right in front of the hotel. They had a live band on Sun, Tues & Fri. while we were there went each of these nights: Had to leave the first night early for diner reservation, planned around the second night (had a quick bite after at Smokey Joe’s across the street) and missed our reservations at the Amazonia the third night (had a blast) and it gave my wife her dancing fix! (Hi Mary & Tom) I hope this was not too long for you but after we booked this vacation we were very nervous about some of the reviews and/or the lack of them. If you have any other questions you can email me at -----

Just got back from our first visit to Aruba. Great vacation! Overall the Aruba Grand is a clean and well valued hotel. The room service (cleaning personnel) are excellent. The turn down service included a complete re-cleaning and stocking of the room. The outside pool bar featured a cast of Aruba Grand veterans lead by an entertaining gentleman named Booshi! A few negatives include broken lounge chairs and incompetant front desk personnel. The door men, activity director, and misc. staff were excellent. Oh yea, the Danish convenient store located in the lobby is operated by some non-hospitality individuals. Overall the Aruba Grand is a great value and generally a well maintained and operated resort. Now a few dining tips: The best overall dining experience we enjoyed was at Madame Janetes. (spelling?) It featured great seafood specialties includeing an almond crusted grouper and a blackend sea bass. An appetizer, salad, nice bottle of wine, dinner entrees and dessert for two will run you a well valued $150.00. (They also feature steak, pasta, and chicken specials too!) The famous steakhouse "EL GAUCHO" is "EL STINKO!" Do not waste your time or money on this over-hyped tourist trap that features good food destroyed by incompitant service! The service personnel ruined what could have been an over-priced yet delicious dinner. Over-all the Grand Island of Aruba is a wonderful vacation/holiday destination!

We went to Aruba on March 8-15 and stayed in room 739 at the Aruba Grand. ***Best advice is to ask for a room with an updated bathroom and beach view. The rooms are gorgeous and my only complaint is that the balconies are all half-balconies, which didn't matter much. I was expecting a balcony that I could sit out on, but honestly I was either snorkling, relaxing on the beach or taking in some cool air conditioning. We got the bed and breakfast package where we had breakfast included every morning. This was perfect because we knew where we were having breakfast and the food was fantastic. I recommend the Argentinian prime rib, but it's too big for one person!!! Really! **Make sure to rent a 4x4 for at least a day (2Way Rental was very reliable and inexpensive). They will pick you up and drop you off at the hotel. My total bill including insurance and everything else was only $64. Take a tupe of Cheesewiz and bread to BABY BEACH. The fish will flock to you and this is a great place for kids.

My wife, teenage son and I spent a week at the Aruba Grand Presidents week (Feb 19th to the 26th). Overall we were very pleased with the Aruba Grand. We stayed in a deluxe room on the top floor. The room was excellent, beds were very comfortable with firmness adjustment controls. There was a nice feature to have a walk-in closet for privacy for changing and hiding the suitcases and clothes! The absolute best feature of this resort was the beach. On both sides of the Grand were large resorts and the beaches were very crowded. Aruba Grand offers space and privacy for its guests. The shade huts are available to reserve for the week or by day, but if you are willing to get up and out by 8:30 or so it is not necessary to pay $40 to reserve. The attendants are very friendly and provide towels, help set up very comfortable beach chairs and assign you a shade hut. It was humorous to see the dads heading out in the morning to get set up on the beach and then go get breakfast and coffee from one of the places in front of the other resorts. We didn’t want to move from our spot once we got there. Two suggestions if you are going. The Aruba Grand needs to improve it concierge service. They do not seem to work regular hours. I had called and spoken to the concierge two weeks before we arrived to set up dinner reservations for the first few nights that we arrived (which you need to do as it is difficult to call the restaurants directly…several do not answer their phones or respond to email). When we checked in there was nothing with our welcome package to confirm our reservations. No concierge to be found on Saturday or Sunday. We finally got the information delivered to the room on Monday night, which was after two of the reservations had gone by. I did talk to the concierge on Tuesday and asked him to confirm some dinner reservations for another night and cancel others. When we got to the restaurant they had no record of our confirmation. Eventually I wound up going next door to the Wyndham to ask their concierge desk general questions, but you can’t do dinner reservations through them. The second suggestion relates to the spa. The hotel website says that they offer massage services. You book it though the beauty salon, but the masseuse does not work for the hotel, and she comes to your room with her table. We had called a month ahead to make an appointment for my wife. When we arrived there was no record of the appointment. I would suggest trying to get the name of the masseuse directly or book at a spa at one of the larger hotels. I offer these suggestions to help if you stay at the Aruba Grand. Overall we loved this property and would definitely go back again.

I read earlier reviews about the Aruba Grand and I was a little apprehensive when we booked. Our friends booked rooms at the Radisson next door and we booked the Lanai room at the Aruba Grand. I was pleasantly surprised. The room was not new by any means but it was clean and spacious. We had a king size bed, a large closet room with an apartment fridge and safe. There were double sinks and a seperate room for the shower and toilet. We had our own balacony with two chairs and a table. The Lanai rooms are not part of the main hotel, which makes it feel private. Each Lanai room has it's own entrance. When you walk out of your room you are AT the pool. A few more short steps and you are on the beach. We read in the greeting letter that you could reserve a hut for $40, which we thought was steep and decided to take our chances. It turned out we never had a problem getting a hut at the Aruba Grand. Our friends at the Radisson actually joined us on our beach, as their beach was crowded and no huts were available. The staff at the Aruba Grand was fantastic. The breakfast waiters remember you each day and always greet you with a smile. The bell hop was great - when we tried to double tip him the first day, he refused the second tip. The towel hut man was quick to find us a hut and set up our chairs with towels. I can't say enough. Oh yes, I can't forget the maids as well - talk about attentive - they were at our room morning and night providing you with as many towels as you want, making the bed, turning down the bed. I wish I could have that at home!! :) If you are looking for a lively night life or party atmosphere I wouldn't suggest the Aruba Grand. It is quiet at night. We weren't impressed with the Casino but that was an easy fix - just go to any one of the neighboring hotels. We found the Hyatt casino to be lucrative - we won hundreds on the 25 cent slots! Enjoy your trip to Aruba - make sure you check out the rest of the island. I included a picture of the view from our balcony.

This is not a 5 star hotel by any means. However the rooms are very clean and a decent size. The staff is very friendly and willing to do what ever you need. Check in / out was very easy with no wait. The beach at this hotel is by far the best beach in the high rise section of Aruba. The beach was not very crowded and we were always able to get a hut no matter what time of the day we went. All of the other hotels have smaller beaches for way more guests. We spent alot more time at the beach then in our room so a nice beach is more important to us then the room. Our room was on the 6th floor with a great view of the ocean and the sunset. The balcony is only big enough to stand, it would have been nice to be able to sit and enjoy the view. If you choose to rent a car (which I highly recomend even if for only a day to tour the island ) I would stay away from the "Thrifty" inside the hotel. This was the only bad experience we had all week. The car was a peice of junk and employees were not much better. This hotel is in a great location and you are able to walk to all the other hotels and many resturants and shops. The grand is much smaller then the rest of the hotels in the high rise section which makes it more private. When we arrived I was a little disappointed but after spending the week and seeing how crowded some of the other hotels were I know we made the right choice by staying at the Grand. I would recommend this hotel.

Recently spent seven lovely days in Aruba, staying at the Grand. When checking in we were told that the hotel was overbooked, and we would not be able to get the standard of room we had paid for (a Deluxe ocean-view) until the next day. They initially offered us a Lanai unit as a substitute (a more expensive option!), but we felt we would rather hold out for the room with a view and instead opted for a downgrade in room for one night. The hotel were extremely apologetic and pleasant about the whole incident and treated us to a 3-course dinner at the Seawatch restaurant as compensation for any inconvenience caused! The next day we were shown to our new room, with a garden/ocean view. When I insisted that I would prefer a pool/ocean view instead, they politely explained that only thing they had available was a smoking room, but that this did not necessarily mean that anyone had been smoking in the room, abd I was welcome to look at it and make my mind up. We did and although the room did have a faint whiff of cigarettes still present, it wasn't bad and I just asked if they could come up and spray the room with some Febreeze and/or air freshener, which they did immediately. After this the smell never bothered me again. The Grand is a lovely hotel, with a gorgeous beach and pool area. They also have an activity desk on the bottom floor, which is very convenient for arranging daily activities (I especially recommend the whole-day jeep tour with the unforgettable larger-than-life father-figure "Papa", which ends on the private De Palm-island!) The Deluxe rooms are all beautifully furnished, with big bathrooms and large walk-in closets (no rifling through suitcases trying to find what you are looking for!), wonderfully soft sheets. Another nice touch was the wall system that allows you to communicate with the cleaning staff, telling them when you have left the room and that they can entry for housekeeping and letting them know if you require your bed to be turned down at night. The rooms also featured a safe, which you can program with your own combination and a fridge, which you can fill up with your own drinks, which you can pick up from the supermarket down the road. It's not a particularly "young" hotel; being 29/30, we were probably some of the youngest people there (bar the children), but as we came to relax first and foremost, this didn't bother us so much. There are also other hotels on the island that have a more "advanced" hotel lobby area, with little mini shopping malls built in, but we felt that this would only create the sense that you were vacationing at the hotel, rather than on Aruba... The only thing that went wrong during our stay there, was when we asked reception for directions to a restaurant we wanted to try (The Laguna) and were told it was located up by the Marriott (at the top end of the hotel strip). This is a good 15 minute walk, but we got there only to be told by the Marriott that the Laguna was actually located in the Radisson hotel, which is just two hotels up from the Grand... So please ask the reception to double check if they seem unsure - it's a simple phone call.

Recently my wife and I spent 9 days at the Aruba grand Resort on Palm beach. We had a great time.. We had read some not so great reviews of the resort before going and requested a room on the 7th or 8th floor per some of the suggestions. Our room was very well decorated, very clean and was a reasonable size. The location of the resort is outstanding, as you could walk up and down the beach and enjoy the restaurants and casinos at Wyndam, Radisson etc... also located right at the base of the Depalm Pier for various boat tours/excursions. The beach at the Aruba Grand is by far the best of any of the hotels nearby as the newer hotels have been built close to the water and the their beaches seems alot busier and less space. Good value to stay at this resort, we would definitely return!!

Good hotel.Rate about 3 stars.Room was very clean. The bathroom was rather small. Balcony is just a banister.Not even enough room for a small chair. Hotel lobby is clean and not over bearing are extravagant. Incurred only one problem...One of the elevators was out of service during my 4/3 night stay.Long waits but they were not too extreme. Save money by not selecting "Oceanview" Certainly not worth the extra dollars. The fitness center was excellent. Taxi from airport to High rise hotel area about $20.00 one way... with direct service and no waiting ... Sharing with another couple is allowed and cost of the fare is half the price. Bus fare - downtown $1.25 one way. Food is expensive but great.Be sure to dine @ Iguana Joe's (High rise hotel area) and Carlos and Charlie's (Downtown near the pier) Sovenirs..You will find great bargains downtown near the pier ...Flea market type shops. My wife and I had a great time and enjoyed the peacefulness of our stay.

Visit the Caribbean 3+ times a year for past 10 yrs - 1st visit to Aruba. The Aruba Grand was great! Wonderful location - quiet oasis at the end of Palm Beach. Older hotel that's partially renovated. Renovated rooms are gorgeous. The bell staff, restaurant, beach and bar staff are warm and friendly. The food in the restaurant was exceptional - we ate there everyday. At night it's transformed into a very nice, romatic open air restaurant! Casino is small, but has a real Caribbean feel and they play great Latino music! Nice cozy Piano Bar off Lobby. Turn down service every night if you wish - overall what you would expect from a much higher priced hotel. Plenty of room and "tiki umbrellas" on beach. My only suggestion for improvement was the quality of their bar drinks. Rum punches are made from a mix where you simply add rum, frozen drinks are the standard "Oasis"brand that is every where in the states, and the house wine is very, very bad. Upgrade the quality of the bar drinks, and the Aruba Grand would be the perfect vacation retreat for those who do not like "mega resorts"!