Society Central

I just got back from Aruba on Friday and I did tour Bucuti & Tara. It is adult-only, EP with breakfast included in all their rates. They are always in the upper 90%'s occupancy, so it can be very hard to get availability there, but I would for sure recommend it as one of the better resorts on Aruba. The Bucuti building is older and has standard rooms and garden views while the Tara is the newer building with ocean view (maybe all ocean front) suites. The beach is HUGE and beautiful and the water crystal clear. They have more chairs and umbrellas than rooms, so no problem getting a place to spend the day on the beach - you can reserve your chairs at 5PM the night before for the next day and obviously the front row are always in high demand and first to go. I'd call it a beach hotel and not so much a pool hotel - it has one simple rectangular pool - nothing wrong with it but pretty basic as pools go. It has a really nice outdoor restaurant with a very small indoor space, right off the beach. It has a very nice gym and wellness activities, including an outdoor yoga space. They have a super cool shop with lots of "kitchy" stuff, including a variety of sex toys (!) if they want that (it was very tasteful...that does not indicate anything about the "class" of the hotel).

We stayed at the Joia by Iberostar (opened DEC 2024), and it was surprisingly nice for an Iberostar (it's their top brand). It is NOT all-inclusive, and everything in Aruba is quite expensive. Rooms were very spacious and nicely decorated. The resort is technically across the street from the beach, but it's not really an issue. The beach is, again, huge and beautiful and they do have beach service. They have a variety of restaurants, with a really great option on the beach front side (again, next to the road, but not super crazy busy road). FYI, there are rates with and without breakfast - if you do not have breakfast included, the rate is $40 per person per day for breakfast!

We toured Secrets Baby Beach that opened just 2 weeks ago. I wanted to love it but didn't. The resort is nice, but the location is quite far from everything else, and the beach was a disappointment in that it was VERY busy. All beaches in Aruba are public, and this one is popular with locals - and the view from the resort includes the parking lot for the beach. It is one of the few all-inclusive resorts in Aruba (and will be one of the last, as it was grandfathered in for AI before the laws changed) and it is one of the few adult-only resorts. It's not a 'no go' but there are drawbacks to it.

The Divi was very nice, with some newly renovated rooms that were really attractive! They are doing more renovations, so the resort will be better in 2026. This resort is all-inclusive and has an amazing beach. The Divi is the higher rated of their sister properties and the Tamarijn is a little lower but supposed to be the better one for those looking for quiet and more private. The Tamarijn side has ocean front while the Divi side has mostly garden and pool views with some ocean views and a very few ocean front. The room categories are a bit complicated, so if you want more information, let me know.

I would avoid the Hilton at-least until 2026 - tons of construction going on, but it should be quite nice once that's all done.

I didn't love the Hyatt, though I was told I would fall in love with it. The grounds are beautiful, but I thought the rooms were nothing special at all. Very simple and plain.

I STRONGLY recommend the VIP service for airport departure. Someone referred to the airport as a sh*t show, and I had no idea how true that was. We had VIP service and walked right by it all. It's a bit pricey but WELL worth it - in fact I might almost say it's a necessity. My arrival was easy-breezy without any VIP service, so I don't think it's necessary on arrival but a must for departure.

Hope that helps. I have more notes ...I'll try to share on the forum reviews section once I clean them up.

P.S. Everyone on this trip was saying that the resort options on Curacao aren't as nice as the Aruba options, but I don't know that from experience...never been to Curacao myself.