Me and my partner decided to book the Divi Aruba All Inclusive as the location to get married abroad. We had a large party of 36 people with us but also wanted some privacy so all our guests stayed at the sister hotel the Tamarijn and me and my partner at the Divi. The Divi Aruba is a better hotel than the Tamarijn, the rooms are alot more spacious and are better equipped. The Tamarijn is more focused on families whereas at the Divi there are alot more couples on honeymoon. The best thing about this resort is that you can use the facilites at either hotel and the Tamarijn is only a 5-10 minute walk away or the hotel offers a shuttle service which was excellent, golf carts took you there and back and ran from the morning until late at night, past midnight!

The restaurants at the Divi are really great, you have the Pelican Terrace which is your buffet restaurant, it offers a great variety of food and there is always a chef on cooking fresh food to order at all mealtimes. The layout of the Pelican Terrace is really nice aswell as sometimes with buffet restaurants they look a little cafe like but this is set out in a proper restaurant setting. Next to the Pelican you have the Red Parrot restaurant, this in my opinion is the best restaurant the resort has, the food was amazing and the staff were so nice, this is where I had my wedding meal, the staff all helped my family decorate the tables for our reception and we had balloons and all the usual table decorations for a wedding, we took them all ourselves but they were very helpful and let us into the restaurant in the afternoon to setup the tables for the evening. The Red Parrot is only an evening restaurant and is not open during the day. The other restaurants on offer at the Tamarijn are the Paparrazi, which is an italian restaurant, the food here is really nice, big portions! I could never make it to Dessert. The staff in the Paparrzi were not as friendly as the other restaurants. Another restaurant is The Palm Grill, you have round tables of up to 6 people, if you are a couple you cannot have a table of your own, you would have to share with people you do not know but the middle section of the table heats up and you choose some meat/fish and you cook your own food on your table, they also give you some stir fry veg to put with your meat and then you are given some chips and spicy rice to have with your meal. It is fun but you have to make sure you cook your meat properly and all at the same time! Also at the Tamarijn you have the Ginger Restaurant, from the outside it looks really smart, the decor inside the restaurant is lovely, I only ate in there once as I am not a fan of Thai/Chinese/Asian type food but alot of my family went there a few times and they loved it. The buffet restaurant called the Canucu Terrace at the Tamarijn is alot more busy and cafe style, it is better for lunchtime dining rather than evening dining.

There is a snack bar at the Divi called Coco Grill and from 11am to 1am you can get drinks, pizza, toasted sandwiches & baguettes at anytime, there is also a snack bar at the Tamarijn which offers the same and some more kids dinners like chicken nuggets etc.. so you will never go hungry!

Both hotels are excellent value for money, the beaches are amazing, the beach at the Divi is the best. There are not alot of watersports on offer on the Divi beach, at the Tamarijn you can hire kayaks and go windsurfing but if you want banana boats, jet ski's etc.. you have to go round to Eagle Beach, we decided to go on jet ski's one day and asked reception to arrange it and within 5 minutes we had a coach to pick us up and take us to Eagle Beach and were straight onto jet ski's.

Our wedding was amazing, it was all organised by Aruba Weddings for You and Lorraine and her team of girls were excellent, there wasnt any stress or organisation on our part, it was all organised before we got there, I was in contact with Lorraine who organised everything I wanted and then I just had to pick a colour theme and the flowers when I arrived in Aruba. The beach ceremony was really beautiful, it was the best day and one we will always remember. I would highly recommend anyone interested in getting married to do it at the Divi Aruba and have it organised by Aruba Weddings for You.

Overall a wonderful location, a beautiful place and a lovely hotel.

My boyfriend and I stayed here for 8 days. The Divi Aruba is a nice resort for someone looking for an all-inclusive place to stay. The beach at the Divi was wider and the sand was softer than other areas I visited in Aruba. There are huts on the beach that are essential to have because of the intensity of the sun in Aruba. The staff was nice overall..just don't ask the bartender for a drink before the bar opens!!! The pace down there is slow and easygoing. The perfect resort for a relaxing vacation. The breakfast buffet has something for everyone...the lunch buffet was just OK, but if you walk down to the next hotel there is a restaurant called Matthew's that's on the beach and that has a wonderful lunch menu at an affordable price. The dinner at the buffet was just OK too, but the dinners at the restaurants at the resort were very good. If you choose to eat dinner outside of the hotel, there are plenty of fabulous restaurants you can go to. The staff at the desk beside the front desk are very helpful and they will recommend places, make reservations, and call cabs for you! We rented a Jeep from the desk inside the hotel..Very poor service but they are an outside company that have their desk inside the resort. Also, the car was broken into at Baby Beach and all of our belongings were stolen so be very careful about what you bring with you. We only had the car rented for 5 hours before we brought it back and they charged us for a full 24 hours. If you enjoy snorkeling, bring your own equipment (the stuff they sell down there is very expensive and the stuff they loan you is not very good quality). Just snorkeling in front of the hotel we saw a lot of fish, starfish, and found a few pairs of glasses! They play Bingo every day at the pool and the prizes are amazing! One lady won horseback riding trips for her whole family! There is wildlife everywhere...iguanas and lizards and a lot of beautiful birds to watch. We went on the Jolly Pirate Cruise which was really fun but we did the afternoon one and with the wind it got kind of chilly. Overall the trip was fabulous and I would recommend the Divi to anyone over any of the other hotels I saw during my stay there.

This was our third trip to Aruba, over the course of about 10 years. Our kids are now in their early 20’s so after extensive research, we settled on the Divi Aruba which is a little more adult orientated than the Tamarijn.

Since there weren’t any packages from Toronto, Canada to this resort, we booked the air and hotel separately. We used ITRAVEL2000.COM for the air portion, and dealt with Gretchen at the Divi Aruba website. Her knowledge and assistance were invaluable and we sincerely appreciated her help in arranging a quick and easy reservation, at the Divi Aruba.

Following advice found on tripadvisor.com and the forum on aruba.com we arranged for taxi pickup from BULLY TAXI (email bullytaxi79@hotmail.com).
This was indeed a smart move. Bully had us loaded into his large capacity van and out of the airport while the hotel transfer buses were still loading people.

We arrived at the resort on Sunday May 11/2008 at 9:15 p.m. While we going through a fast check-in, the bellman arranged for us to get a late dinner at the Red Parrot restaurant.
No sooner were we seated, when our drink orders were taken. Halfway through the first round of drinks, our dinner orders were taken, for beef tenderloin, coconut shrimp, back-ribs, French Onion soup, etc, and of course more drinks.

Rooms - as we’d requested, in the building called VISTA I, on the ground floor.
This is a two story building, near the north end of the resort property. Although not large rooms, our room (# 112) contained two queen beds, small sitting area, flat screen tv, modern bathroom, and a patio. Everything was clean, no mould, and well maintained. Our daughter stayed two doors down in # 116, had a noisy air-conditioner and a somewhat mouldy smell, but it was tolerable. We paid the extra $2 a night for a room safe – well worth it. We tipped $2.00 a night, leaving it on the pillow, and first two mornings the maid didn’t take it, but left the room spotless.
We caught her in the hallway, and physically gave her the tip, after which point she would take it from the pillow. The rooms were kept spotless all week.

Beach – amazing. Bright white sand, and kept very clean. Rarely would we find a cigarette butt from those too lazy or not smart enough to use available ashtrays. We did not have any trouble getting a palapa hut every morning around 8:30 a.m.. Security constantly patrolled the beach asking anyone not wearing an Aruba Divi bracelet to vacate any loungers or palapas. We did not see or hear of any problems during our weeks’ stay.

Ocean – swimming was great. The water is a little rougher here than at the next resort (Casa del rey) – 100 meters north of Divi Aruba. The waves made it much more fun to swim and float here, rather than the totally flat and calm waters just north of us. You can obtain floating beds or noodles at the towel hut at no-charge. Note there is NO UNDERTOW. We left our towel cards at the hut all week, to avoid having to pick them up every morning. The towel hut closes at 6:30 p.m. so we would pick up fresh towels, for the next day, just prior to it closing.

Activities: daily bingo / volleyball / etc at the pool.

Breakfast - we ate at the Pelican Grill buffet every morning. Basically same menu (fresh fruit / yogurt / cereal / bacon / sausage / beans / potatoes / cereal / etc. Eggs were cooked to order, bacon always cooked properly. If you can’t find something to eat, then you need to bring your own chef with you. Staff were friendly, we tipped occasionally.

Lunch – again we ate at the Pelican Grill most days. Each day they’d have different specialty items ( meat balls / souvlaki / grilled beef / chicken / etc) and a variety of potatoes / noodles / fruit / salads / etc. Note: there is a stand-alone grill that makes personal pizza / panini sandwiches / popcorn / drinks all day until 1:00 a.m. Excellent food, bad for the waistline, as it makes eating all too accessible

A la carte Dinners – Red Parrot - absolutely superb food and service, we tipped each time. Papparazzi - good food – service was generally slow, no followup on drinks, staff seemed to rush the table looking for a tip as we would leave, no tips left. Ginger – asian – good food, service slow at best – no tips left. Palm Grill – cook your dinner – a lot of fun, and good food and service – tip left.

Buffet Dinners – only ate it once at Tamarijin, and even at the buffet, they cooked your rib-eye steak and chicken to order – very good.

Bars – we brought our own 20 oz insulated mugs, and had our drinks in them. Bartenders were great – make the mistake of asking for extra liquour, and that’s the way your drinks are poured from there on in. We had frozen drinks / shots / mixed drinks / beer / all were made with quality liquor, and as strong as you want. Extra applause to Claudia and Mellisa– extremely friendly and fun bartenders.

Entertainment: - music / karaoke / limbo dancing / native costumes. We enjoyed it, seemed to be a little livlier at Tamarijin (but also more younger people). Not as flamboyant as Vegas or at the High Rise hotels, but having the UNCROWDED beaches more than compensated.

Miscellaneous – facilities at Tamarijn and Divi Aruba can be used (food / bars / sports equipment)
Internet access can be purchased at Tamarijn. Golf carts are used to transport guests between the resorts. We rented a car for 1 day about $60 (with walk-away insurance), right at Divi Aruba, toured the island. Recommend this as opposed to bus tours – the island isn’t that big. Snorkeled at Baby Beach, beautiful spot, hard to understand why people would leave litter lying around, and did para-sailing – worth the money ($52/pp)

Summary – excellent resort. The vast majority of the staff were friendly, worked hard, and really appreciated any tips you left. We felt safe walking around at night, or taking the golf cart shuttle between Tamarijn / Divi Aruba / Alhambra Casino. Aruba is a wonderful island, very hot, no bugs / pollution / very little crime. Treat the people with respect, and they do the same, and hopefully Aruba will remain as one of the best vacation spots in the world. We definitely plan on coming back next year

We went to the Divi aruba for a 2 week holiday get away in july/august 2007 with my family. The holiday overall was amazing and i would reccomend anyone with enough money to go, it truely is a piece of paradise.

The room we were assigned was in a block of ground level flats. The room consisted of 2 double beds and a bathroom with a patio door, once you step out the views were to the ocean and we magnificent. The room was very clean and secure with the exception of a small gap at the bottom of the door which allowed small lizards and bugs into the room.

The hotel offered a wide range of resturants which were divied up between the divi and the tamarjin, we only ate at the red parrot and found the service incredibly slow, so we opted for the self service buffet. The buffet had a different theme every night and served loverly food, however it was a good idea to eat inside of the restaurant, because if you ate outside you were pestered by birds and lizards wanting your food. If you did not fancy the buffet you could always go to the italian restaurant or the asian theme restaurant located in the tamarjin. You could also order a snack style food at the grill, where they served sandwiches, toasties and pizza all home made.

The bars offered a wide range of alcoholic beverages along with cocktails and soft drinks, the spirts were the real stuff not cheap paintstripper style alcohol. There is three bars which you could get drinks from, two next to the main pool and one up near the blocks of ground floor flats, Unfortunatly when we were there they were busy constructing/ renewing the third bar near our appartment and bits of sharp wood and nails were left lying around, causing a danger to people walking around with no shoes on.

At night we were entertained by many different acts, mostly dancing acts, but all unique in thier own way. You could never get bored at night as the hotel also offers a casino just across the road if you fancy a spot of gambling.

The beaches were spotlessly clean and even had a restricted area where turtle eggs were nested, the sand was as soft as talcum power and as white as snow. The pool areas were cleaned everyday by a nice old man called charles who was more than happy to give you a demonstration on what he was doing and even let you help if you wanted!

The island itself is beautiful and anyone you come across are more than happy to talk to you.
I would reccomend going to Palm Island for the day as the snorkeling and snuba facitilies and reefs are amazing to look at, along with the small waterpark that can occupie the children.

On the day of our departure we had to vacate our room at mid day, but if you wanted you could ask for another room to get changed and washed in.