hi all - my wife and I are planning a Feb/March trip to Aruba (where we honeymooned) to celebrate our 10th anniversary and I'd love some recos here.....

Ten years ago we went all inclusive at the Divi Aruba which we really liked. Best of all was that we could walk out of our room and be in sand within about one hundred feet. On the other hand, with all of the great restaurants Aruba has, we found that we ate out quite often and didn't necessarily take advantage of the all inclusive part of it....except maybe for the bar on the beach right there...

Anyway - this time around, we are ideally looking for a place that:
1) is situated right on the beach with some decent space between people

and

2) includes breakfast (or a kitchenette) so we don't have to eat out EVERY meal

If I remember correctly, no matter where you are, a beach/pool bar and casino is never too far away thus - we aren't tied to the downtown, lowrise nor highrise areas. I also don't think we have a preference for hotel vs timeshare vs apartment....

So with that - where is the best place to look?

Many thanks!
Rich

manchebo or bucuti are wonderful all that you mentioned and manchebo has breakfast daily for two if you get the visit aruba card and book thru the hotel. we did that and saved quite a bit of money.

another great place is aruba phoenix. i just did a sky auction bid and got 8 nights there for $100/night. the smallest room there is a studio with a small kitchen. they are directly on the beach and the beach is amazingly calm and almost private feeling.

those would be my 3 favorites depending on what your tastes are.

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Hi Sherry - thanks so much for the recos. My wife and I looked into all 3 places - it looks like Manchebo is the perfect match for us - basic rooms, but very clean and right on the beach; quiet; beach bars; breakfast options available; right next to where we honeymooned; etc....

Given the relatively small size of Manchebo (71 units), without your post we may never have found it. I knew I should I have expected this from a fellow Marylander Thanks again!

Rich

we marylanders have to stick together. we loved manchebo. it was just so peaceful and relaxed. no such thing as a fancy room but the staff is amazingly caring. i also loved the free breakfasts with the card. it really was a great savings and the breakfast was excellent. now we are spoiled and love the bigger spaces afforded by the timeshares so the phoenix and costa linda are our present choices.

when is your trip?

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I have stayed at the Lacabana twice. Each time we were promised a beach front room but put in the back villas. We raised heck until we were placed in a beach front room. The two rooms we stayed in were ok nothing fancy. One was floor level and the other was on the 2nd flr. I would like to stay somewhere else come March next year.

sorry it's taken me so long to follow up, but the dates weren't confirmed until this morning - we'll be going Weds Jan 11 through Jan 18th. The mid-week dates are a bit odd, but that was when we could get the best flights at the best price - non-stop from Dulles leaving early morning and coming home on a 4:30pm flight...pretty cool.

Anyway - one final question about Manchebo.....people here have said that they get free breakfast by booking direct through the hotel, but when I called them, they said the breakfast package is $12 per day per person......so, unless I'm missing saying the magic word or something, is there any reason why I shouldn't book through one of the online travel services like Orbitz, Expedia, etc and get the discounts offered there?

I believe the magic word(s) your missing is "VisitAruba Card." Of course, you have to actually have one; just saying the words probably won't get you breakfast!

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it depends what the discounts are rich. the visit aruba card gives you free breakfast for 2 daily so that equals $24/day. the card costs $12.50 including shipping or dropping off at your hotel (if i remember correctly) so you need to check out the price with manchebo itself versus the on line deals. for us at the time we went the card was the better bargain.

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The Governors of Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia are ignorant pandering imbecilic jackasses.
Spencer Bachus, you're a breath of fresh air!

Why are they jackasses?

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Me and you go sway back!

I'll let Charlie give you the specifics, but it has to do with their handling/comments re a missing person...

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Actually, I probably went too far. They aren't jackasses; just ignorant pandering imbeciles!

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Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

i think you stated it very well actually charlie.

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The countdown's begun!
January 30th to February 27th!

Hi we are not on the beach but just a few minutes walk to the beach. It is very quiet and secluded. Please visit our website at www.raspberryaruba.com and let me know what you think.

marcia

Your place looks very nice, Marcia! For those of us who can't stay a full two weeks, it is convenient that you accept reservations on a daily basis so we can add a few days to our timeshare week.

I have bookmarked it!

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Your place sounds great! Wish I'd have known about this last year - we really needed a place for 2-3 days and paid too much for too little. We don't have that problem this year, but we'd like to stop by and check your place out for the future. OK? We come to Aruba every year and usually want to extend a few days.