Occidental Grand Aruba

WONDERFUL ENTERTAINMENT ... DAY AND NIGHT ... AND IT'S ALL INCLUDED IN THE ALL INCLUSIVE ...

LOVED THE BEACH, POOL AREA, HOTEL, SERVICE, STAFF, ETC..ETC..ETC...

VIVA ARUBA !!!!!!!!!

Just returned from the Occidential Grand Aruba. Before I went on my vacation I was a little leary about the place because of all the reviews I read, good and bad. Here is my take on my vacation week.

Food: The all inclusive option for $85.00 is great! You can eat 900 meals a day and drink as many drinks as you want all for $85.00 a day. You do have to make restaurant reservations your first day when you arrive for the week because they are small places with a high demand. The italian restaurant food and service was excellent. Was our favorite place. We did not try the Mexican. The Oriental restaurant-regular style was alright. The food was decent but not the greatest. We would have prefered Hibatchi but it was no available. The Palm Buffet food was decent, not superb, but do-able. We ate most of our meals here, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The only problem we had with the buffet was that on the nights they advertised seafood and prime rib, they were out of it within about an hour. If you advertise that it will be prime rib night from 6-11 pm, than you need to have it ready for people when they arrive at 7pm and not be out of it already. The restaurant near the pool was great for lunch. They basically had the same stuff available daily, but was good. The only thing we didnt like was that the birds sometimes sat on top of the fruit---the restaurant has no windows. We just didnt eat it. No big deal. Overall, give the food a B+.

The Drinks: Not a big drinker, but they had decent drinks. Sometimes the drinks were way too strong, sometimes you didnt think there was alcohol in there. However, with non-premium liquior, I didnt expect much. Overall I give their drinks an A.

The Staff: I can say nothing bad about the staff at Occidential Grand Aruba. They were very accomodating and were a lot of fun to be around. They even went above and beyond their job when people were stuck at the hotel due to the snow storm in the East Coast. Rooms were given to people who were stranded at a VERY VERY low rate. Staff A+

The rooms: the rooms were OK. Nothing great. It was a place to sleep. Besides no ventilation in the bathrooms, some of the hallways would look nicer if they had a fresh coat of paint on them. The A/C was great and the view was spectacular! They stocked the fridge every other day with beverages and the cleaning service was there every day. Overall, B-

The Casino: very smokey! They need ventilation in there for non-smokers. That was the only bad thing about the lobby area... you can smell the smoke from the casino. The slots didnt pay jack, but the table games were OK. They had bingo nightly which was fun. Overall: B

Security: A+ saw a LOT of security officers as late as 1 am on premise making sure other vacationers from other resorts didnt roam on the property.

Shows: The nightly shows were OK. The grease show was not good because the dancers lip sanc to Grease. They have great voices and should of sang. That was the only bad part.

The lounge: The music lounge and music is beautiful and great BUT they have it in a bad spot. I think they would get more people in there if they relocated it near the lobby/casino. Nobody knows about it unless the music is blasting late at night.

Overall, I enjoyed this resort very much and the good outweighed the bad. I would definately recommend it to someone else planning to visit.

We stayed at Occidental in May 2009. It was just fabulous! We were in a suite on the 9th floor facing the pool/ocean. We did not take the all-inclusive, as we've been to Aruba many times & prefer to go to our favorite restaurants (Flying Fishbone, Screaming Eagle, Madame Jeanette's, El Gaucho) instead of paying for all-inclusive & then paying more to go out at night to different places. It works for us this way. However, we ate at the restaurant on the beach a couple of times (buffet daily) and it was great. The service was also excellent & the room was spotless! Our maid was very accommodating if we needed anything extra. What can I say about the beach here ... one of the best on the island. We do own a timeshare in the states, but did not exchange it into here. Instead we rented from an owner (on Redweek) with no glitches at all. In fact, it was so great here that we've already booked with the same owner to come back in Oct 2009! We will save our timeshare weeks for 2010.

We also put our friends in touch with Redweek & this resort, and they ended up renting the 1st week in June here from the same owner & absolutely loved it. It was their 1st time in Aruba, so the Occidental was a great place to start.

One last thing, if you want a good beach spot (in front), you do have to get out by 6-6:30 a.m. Otherwise, most of those spots are taken like all the other resorts. The pool also fills up early. My husband is an early riser & liked getting his coffee at the Dunkin on the beach & would then read the newspaper or take an early morning walk until I rolled out of bed.

Everyone should experience this place!!

Just back from another great trip to the best resort on the Island. Located between the Radison and Hyatt Hotel with the best strip of beach on the island. Being that only 1/3 of the resort is Timeshare Ownership, the top three floors, makes for the best guest service and daily maid service in each of the units. Much easier and less expensive to book a timeshare owner unit for a guaranteed room. The all inclusive is like none other. Five restaurants to choose from for dinner in addition to the nightly theme buffett. Even if you want to eat off the resort a night or two, you will see that its a great value for the money with all top shelf liquor at the 5 bars. See you at the resort soon !!! Bon Bini !

We stayed at the Occidental in November 2008. The rooms we had were very spacious and clean but a little dated. The kitchen had the basics (cooktop but not oven). The staff were very pleasant. The on site restaurants were good. ( We especially liked the breakfast buffet.) We also found the beach in front of the Occidental much nicer than up by the Marriott. We would definately stay here again even though the facility itself is a little dated. It seemed quieter, the beach nicer and the staff were very accomodating.