Why we chose Barceló Aruba: We found this resort through Costco Travel and liked the location and photos. Comparing rates through their direct website and Costco’s, we found it was about $2,000 cheaper to book directly, so we did that. At checkout, we also added transportation to and from the hotel.
Our favorites: The staff was overall very friendly. A few bartenders either ignored us when we would go up to order or gave us the wrong drinks, but I’m sure they’re overworked and deal with rude tourists most of the time. Out of all the restaurants in the resort, we liked the hibachi grill the most. Every morning after breakfast, David also loved getting a French Vanilla cappuccino from the drink station. He has yet to find one as good as theirs.
Every night, there was a themed show in the ballroom that any of the guests could go to. No reservations were required and lots of seats and tables were available. We only went to one show, but there was also entertainment in the lobby bar with live bands every night.
Our not-so-favorites: It seems to happen at most resorts, especially if they’re all-inclusive, but the pool chairs get taken up SO freaking fast. We’re not the type to wake up at 6 or 7 am just to reserve a chair but that’s probably what all these other people do. It’s not a huge deal to us seeing as how we only stay by the pool for 1-2 hours before either going to the beach or finding something else to do. But it does get pretty annoying not having anywhere to put your stuff or lay out.
The Lobby
The lobby gives off a good first impression. It’s big and spacious with tall ceilings and some seating. To the right of the lobby, there’s a gift shop and some jewelry stores as well as an excursion office where you can reserve all of the activities on the island. Off to the left, there’s a Casino, a lounging area, and a bar with a pool table close by. They also had a gym with lots of treadmills and an area with weights.
The Room
Our booking was for a King Deluxe Room but they gave us a Queen Deluxe instead and said they didn’t have any more King rooms available. I’ve never worked in a resort setting so I’m not sure how that happens, but we pushed the beds together and had even more space so it worked out. The bathroom was nice and had plenty of space. The view from the room wasn’t anything special, mostly of the parking lot with a slight view of the ocean.
One downside of the room, and maybe the hotel overall, was that the walls were super thin. There was one night when the group next door came in at around 3 am and they were being so extremely loud and obnoxious. I waited 10 minutes to see if they stopped or if I could go back to sleep but after a while, I couldn’t help it. I called the front desk and complained and within 5 minutes they sent someone up to let them know there was a noise complaint. After security left, I could hear all the nice words that lady had to say about whoever complained…hehe.
The Food
It can be kind of a hit or miss with food at all-inclusive resorts. I’d say the food here was pretty typical. The two buffet areas had the most common foods and the specialty restaurants with Italian/Mexican food were just alright. The best meal by far was at the hibachi grill. Our only mistake was going to the buffet at 5:30 pm because we were so hungry and couldn’t wait for our reservation at 8 pm. We planned to just eat something light, but somehow had a regular-sized meal so by the time our reservation came around we weren’t hungry AT ALL. The portions at a hibachi are also huge so we were really regretting our decisions. 🥲
The Drinks
The Miami Vice frozen drink was my favorite!! Mostly because I love eating the cherries that come with them. All of the drinks were really good, it was hard to go wrong. During one of the pool games, David ended up winning a bottle of wine which we were planning on trying, but never got around to it.
Summary
Aside from the room mix-up and the loud ass obnoxious person that kept waking us up next door, our stay was so nice! The pool didn’t have many lounge chairs, but along the beach there were plenty. There was always a staff member nearby to help with anything, and everything was so clean. Although the ocean water wasn’t as clear and blue as I had hoped, I think there were other nice beach areas that people recommended visiting. A beautiful resort with great value, I’d stay here again!
Our full Aruba travel diary is posted here. 🙂
