Grab some coffee, have a seat and read my trip report about our recent stay at the Divi Aruba Phoenix this past September 1 - 8, 2007. I say this because my reports have a tendency to be a little long winded. I do this because the information I received from the various B.B.'s prior to this trip proved to be VERY informative, especially the longer posts.

After waiting 17 years, my Wife Christine and I were FINALLY able to make the trip to Aruba by cashing in about 52,000 points we had saved up from our two timeshares in Florida we own through RCI. The points used, covered round-trip airfare and the 8 day stay at the "Phoenix". We only incurred a payment of $198.00 for exchange and taxes. We had awaken at 2am on Saturday morning (Sept. 1st) to be out the door at 3am for the 50 minute drive to Orlando airport. We arrived at the airport about 4am, more than enough time to successfully negotiate the security area. We were lucky enough to find an empty kiosk inside the airport and avoided the 30 minute wait to reach the American Airlines counter. We made it through the TSA security checkpoint in about 20 minutes (at that time of the morning, the Airport was a ghost town) and were at the gate waiting for boarding for our 1 hour flight to Miami on American Flight 1053 with time to spare. The flight pulled away from the gate at about 5:55am and we had wheels up at 6am. The flight was uneventful.

We arrived in Miami on-time at 7am to connect to our flight to Aruba (American flight 1047) scheduled at 10:25am. Because it was so early, many of the shops on the secure side of the TSA checkpoints were not opened. We decided that since we knew A.A. was not going to serve anything but beverages on the 10:25 flight, we would venture outside the security area to a Burger King for some quick breakfast. On our return, back through the TSA check-point, the X-Ray screener was unhappy with something he saw in the 1 carry-on bag we had. They took us to the side, used some type of swab machine, patted me down and opened my bag to inspect the contents. It seemed that what concerned them was a printer dock for my Wifes Koday digital camera that was wrapped in bubble wrap. After a 10 minute search of us, the TSA agent closed the bag and apologized to us . I thanked her for what she does and told her the minimal delay was of no inconvienence. I would rather they check bags they find questionable then to ignore the bags. We knew we had more than enough time to make our flight if delayed on re-check in after breakfast (we learned, more time than we thought).We wandered around the airport, keeping close to our gate for about 2 hours before heading to our gate at about 9:45am to wait for boarding. At around 10:10am, the woman at the counter made an announcement that the flight to Aruba was being delayed because the plane required neccessary "Routine, Scheduled maintainence"!! She told the passengers to return at 11am for an update. We were a little upset, but figured "Hey, were on vacation, a 45 minute delay is do-able"!! We walked over near gate 36 and went into the smoking room (we have a bad habit, I know) . We met a guy named Brad that was on our flight and passed the time talking to him. I also went to the Mojito Kiosk that was right outside the smoking room for an adult beverage. I know it was only 10:30am, but HEY, it was 5pm SOMEWHERE and like I said, we were on vacation!! At 11am, we made our way back to the gate and waited for an update of the flight. At 11:05am, the woman at the counter made an announcement that the "Scheduled Maintainence" was taking longer than expected and told us to return at 12pm for an update. OK, now this was NOT funny. Why American Airlines would have a plane assigned to a SCHEDULED flight that required "Routine Maintainance" was unacceptable !! By this point (remember we were up since 2am) we were becoming a little punchy and a bit grumpy!! A 2 hour delay for a reason as lame as "Scheduled Maintainance" was poor at best. They should have had another plane to take us to our destination and did the "Scheduled Maintainance" to the plane assigned on THEIR TIME, NOT MINE!! American Airlines, after complaining to them, "Awarded" 2000 Advantage miles each to mine and my Wifes Advantage cards. BIG WHOOP!!!! We finally began boarding the plane at 11:55am and had wheels-up at about 12:25pm. 2 hours late from our schedule. THEN, they had the audacity to charge $3.00 for a cookie....$3.00!!! They gave NOTHING free for the 2 hour delay to us for something they should have done on their time, not the customers!! We FINALLY arrived in Aruba at around 3pm.

By the time we cleared customs and got a cab, we made it to the Divi Aruba Phoenix at about 4:10pm. At this point, it has been a 14 hour day for us! When we checked in, we were told our room was not ready. At his point, we didn't care and figured we would go to the Sunset Beach Bistro (on the resort property) for a bite because we were pretty hungry (hey, a $3.00 cookie doesn't last long). We entered the Bistro and were told they were closed until 6pm. GREAT!!! We then went to the French Market (next to the Bistro), remembering that they have sandwiches there from posts I had read before the trip. We met Aurita and she explained she was about to close and the kitchen was closed until 5pm. I explained to her our day and how hungry we were and she locked the door and had the kitchen make us a couple of B.L.T.'s . Aurita (Mi Dushi) became our very good friend for the remainder of our stay.

Our room was finally ready at about 4:35pm and were escorted to our room by Mr. Jones. When we got to the room (Rm. 601) we noticed we had a great view of the construction to the 3 new buildings that Divi was putting up. We also noticed that this room had a "RE-DONE" bathroom. Not so much!!! The caulking job on the tub was done VERY sloppy and everytime you closed the balcony door, the front of the tub fell off!! I went on to check the room amenities check-list and found there were 12 items missing from the room. I have learned in the past to review this list because if there is anything missing from the room, the resort WILL try to charge you for the items missing. I brought the list to the front desk so they knew not to hold us accountable. We had dinner on the beach at the Bistro that night and it was very, VERY nice!! I reccomend this to anyone going to Aruba. You don't have to be a guest at the Phoenix to go to the Bistro and they have a $30pp "Soup To Nuts" dinner plan. On Sunday morning, I woke up to hurricane Felix bands blowing onshore. The winds didn't affect me at all on the balcony. What DID affect me was discovering that the sliding door on the balcony had no handle!! I later found that NONE of the rooms had handles on the balcony doors. And these doors are VERY heavy to push open. I had to leave the door ajar a bit when on the balcony to get back in to the room. The problem with this is the door has a gizmo on the inside that turns the A.C. off if the door isn't completely closed!! what a predicament. On Monday morning, at about 6:30 am, while sitting on the balcony drinking my 1st cup of coffee and watching the sunrise, the workers showed up and the banging, sawing and yelling began. We went to the front desk and requested another room then headed to breakfast at the Bistro. We then went food shopping to hop ling's (or something like that) and found the prices to be reasonable and they put both Florin AND U.S. dollar amounts on most of the items. If you buy produce though, you must have it weighed in the produce section. The registers don't have scales. The supermarket even called a cab for us to return to the Phoenix. Upon returning to the Phoenix, we were told that a room (room 1006) to be moved to was ready for us. At about 1pm, they moved us to the new room which was on the other side of the tower overlooking the beach and the Bistro. In this room, we discovered that the wall in the bathroom (it was an older bathroom) between the door and the bath was soaked and damaged. We called maintainance and they came up and discovered it was due to the A.C. unit in the ceiling on the other side of the wall leaking condensation down the wall. We also found that the retractable line in the tub that is designed to be used as a type of clothes line was missing the rope. We like to use this for our wet towels after the beach. They fixed this as well. We then ventured to the resorts beach and had to wait for 2 elevators because the construction people redoing the bathrooms were monopolizing them. We finally made it to the beach to endure the sounds of the new building construction AND the reconstruction to the ceilings on the balconies in the tower. So much for the sweet sounds of the Ocean!!! Why Divi Resorts would schedule upgrading of the bathrooms AND redoing the balcony ceilings at the same time is a mystery to me. Bad planning.

I know this report sounds like nothing but complaints, but information is knowledge. When I work hard all year and look foward to my vacation, I would like it to be as perfect as possible. Aruba is in no means an inexpensive vacation. It is however an island I will return to. The people ARE so nice and the island IS very beautiful. If you are staying in the Hi-Rise resort area, visit the "Strip" which is up by Tony Roma's and the Sunset Beach Bistro on the Phoenix property. The staff at the Bistro, Luella, Tony, Frankie, George, Stanley and Marcos will take good care of you. And while your there, make sure to say hello to Aurita in the French Market for me. Also, do the "Jolly Pirate" snorkel tour which leaves from Moomba beach. It was a BLAST!!


Some food for thought.......

Cabs in Aruba can get pricey, Try the busses. If you rent a car, gas is (was) $4.65 per gallon USD. If you smoke, get your tobacco at the duty-free shop in the airport because they are $5.00 USD per pack on the island. If you are on a budget, shop for food for the week as going out (unless you staying at an All-Inclusive) will drain you pocket book.

Even though this report sounds negative of our trip, it was mostly negative of the Divi Aruba Phoenix. The resort was BORING (unless you like BINGO) but the staff (Except for the bartender "Sandra") became some very good friends we plan on staying in touch with. All in All, Aruba IS "One Happy Island"!!