After a five day stay I think I can answer honestly although the review will be somewhat clouded as I was tired of being cold.

The airport is one side of the downtown area and the hotels on the far side. The cab was $25 US. Everybody takes US. The exterior of the hotel looks like the new Holiday Inn green accent colors.

Check in was quick and efficient. We were given an oceanview room (one room from straight out to the ocean) We were in 1204. 1200 and 1202 looked straight out to sea. Two queen sized beds, desk, dresser and endtable plus the outdoor deck overlooking the ocean. It was not particularly new and spanking fresh, but clean and functional. The bathroom was average and there was some wear on the sinks and countertops. No mold or nasty stuff.

Onsite there were 4 restaurants, Seafood and Steak, Italian , Chinese Japanese and a Beach Grill. The prices were high but then again we were in Aruba. Surf and Turf was $42, Braised Pork was $33. Katy paid $28 for a Hearts of Romaine, Walnuts and Blue Cheese salad. The breakfast buffet came to $43.65 for two and was very loud and crowded. The hotel seems to cater to groups of families, at least that is what we encountered.

The chicken and beef fajitas with a diet coke and tip was $24. Everything includes a 17% gratuity and there is still a line on the bill for a bigger donation to the staff. There are other choices nearby, but we stayed on property.

The timeshare presentation down the beach was Marriott which offered $200 in dining or activity coupons or 15,000 Marriott points. I was not approached nor did I see any timeshare presentation for Sheraton. We passed on the timeshare deal. It would have worked for me at 25K

Nice pool area but not particularly large. The beach was the selling point of this property. It was soft white sand and shallow drop off with water temperatures very comfortable. The thatched roof Tiki huts were plentiful and in three rows.They could be reserved in the morning for $57 front row, $37 second row or $27 third row. If they had them available you could just walk up and get one free but they appeard to be all gone by 10AM. We did each technique depending on our wakeup time. Back row of course.

Internet was complimentary in the room at a slow speed or $9.95 per day for high speed access. We found it worthwhile to upgrade as when we tried the slow speed in the public areas it was really slow speed.

We have been to Aruba twice before so did not explore this time. Snorkeling, Scuba Diving, water sports, jeep rides, casinos and mopeds are the options of the island.

I never checked the room price nor did I explore Priceline options. This trip was courtesy of the US Mint at 40,000 SPG points with 4 nights at 10K each and the Fifth Night free. It was 6 trips to the bank for me.

The hotel is a Category 4 in the SPG scale. It is properly rated, not a fancy place by any means. It worked for us. We don’t need Cat 6 nor are we interested in paying those prices.

Will I come back? Maybe someday. I still like Hawaii better but we are going there end of the month so no sense in doing that twice in one month. There are so many islands, and so little time.

CreditKarma as a Free Score Choice

I had a reader comment twice yesterday that I had buried the CreditKarma ad in with the pay sites for free credit scores. They are all free if you cancel in the trial period. He wanted creditkarma listed first as it was the only one that doesn’t “trick you”.

CreditKarma is free, but it does not list all your scores and inquiries like some of the other free offers do. But let’s keep peace in the family. Creditkarma is listed first. You have a disclaimer again on the blog indicating that creditkarma is free.

I still use Truecredit and pay for it each month as I think it gives me more valuable information. And myFICO is a free ten day trial and gives your actual FICO score. I’ll be checking that one out next.

Free Ten Day Trial