Tamarijn Aruba All Inclusive Resort — Hotel in Oranjestad (city)

Where do I begin. the beach was beautiful, water was blue, sand was powder, sunset was amazing.That’s about all the resort had going for it. From the moment we arrived, we asked for a room at the quiet side of the beach, it was just me and my husband so we had booked a supreme king room.After some back and forth, we were told we got the location we wanted with a king bed but it was on the second floor,so we took that.We arrived at the room to see two queen beds.We asked if we could change back to the initial room, but after some discussion we decided to stay in that room, as we were exhausted from traveling and being awake since 2am that morning for our flight. We got settled and went down to the beach, which was beautiful. After some time swimming we went back to the room and our key didn’t work. Since we were exhausted we thought maybe we had the wrong room, so sandy and wet, we walked around looking for the correct room. We did have the right room after all, but could not find any employees to help us or call for a ride, so we had to walk all the way back to the lobby and they “re-programmed” our key. We walked all the way back to our room and the key still didnt work. We were still wet and covered in sand. we had to walk all the way back again and have them fix it.Because all of this time had passed,we missed our dinner reservation. We finally get back to the room to get cleaned up and discover that our balcony sliding door was broken, so we called the desk to let them know, they said someone would be right down, which they didn’t.Day 2 our keys didn’t work again, so my husband went to the desk and the gave him new tags, which worked. We had reservations for one of the restaurants,which wasn’t bad but you had to cook your own food on the table. I thought it was like hibachi where they cook it in front of you, but they give you the food and you do it yourself,I cook every day of the week, so I didn’t want to also cook on vacation. That night my husband was washing his hands in the bathroom sink and burned two of his fingers- no regulator on the temperature- he was fine but immediately got red and swollen. We are at the Red Parrot, which was okay but the food was very salty and not much of a selection. We got back to the room and we were going to go for a walk but the maintenance guy showed up to fix the balcony door so we had to wait and then he disappeared for 20 minutes to get a new handle. The buffet is only open at certain times so you can’t just get food if you’re hungry, you have to wait. The room had sand and potato chips on the floor so you could tell it hadn’t been cleaned properly prior to arrival. We went to Paparazzi Italian restaurant one night, it was NOT Italian food, not even close. Everything was overly salty, no flavors, loaded with cheese. That was the end of our restaurant experience for the week, we ate sandwiches at the buffet for the rest of the week.The eggs for breakfast were watery and had a sweet taste to them and everything took 5-10 minutes for them to cook. The bathroom door was off so you had to slam it every time you shut it and around day 3-4, my husband got trapped in the bathroom because the door broke.He was able to finally pull it open but if there was ever a fire, that is definitely a safety hazard. When we would try and call the concierge or the front desk to book something, they didn’t answer most of the time.Everywhere you turn, someone is in your face looking for a tip.There is a small coffee station but it looked dirty so we had to wait for the buffet to open in the morning to have our coffee.There are bare minimum activities, not much was offered. The pool table sticks were filthy dirty like never been cleaned, ever.The gym had all old equipment.The activity center had floats, no frisbee, the volleyball net was set up but no ball.when we complained to the desk they said none of it was logged, like we were lying.We changed our flight and left a day early.running out of space but if I could give a zero star I would.Don’t...

Feedback from our Stay in Aruba

Room towels: The room towels are either old or cheap. They feel like sandpaper when you dry off, and since getting sunburn is a real issue for many, it’s not helpful to feel like you’re rubbing sandpaper over your skin. For a highly marketed all-inclusive, I find this very lacking. Dinner reservations: I mentioned it to the concierge manager at the end of our stay (who was very helpful) but we were unable to make 6 pm reservations for most of the restaurants. You can only make them 2 days in advance using the DiviApp, so I got up Sunday morning at 2 am to try to make reservations at the Italian restaurant for Tuesday, and already it stated there were not available tables. a. I also mentioned to the manager that the way you set up reservations was archaic, and very inefficient in making reservations. You should follow the cruise lines that have an early and late seating. This would ensure tables were filled much of the time. When we did a “walk-in” to the Italian restaurant a little after 5:30 pm, almost half the tables were empty until 6:30 pm, when more customers started to show up. b. If you had a 5:30 pm sitting, then a 7 pm sitting, and then an 8:30 pm sitting (or 10 pm sitting as well), more guests could get reservations. This assumes the normal eating time is 1.5 hours, but it could be 2 hours, so you would do seatings every 2 hours. c. o understand the current process used, if everyone made reservations at 6:30 pm and filled all the seats, the restaurant would be completely empty from 5:30 pm until 6:30 pm…because they would overlap with the 6:30 reservations. Venue schedules: On your schedule of daily activities/entertainment, we were unsure exactly where in the resort these events would be located, especially since it was our first time at your resort. Can you add a specific location within Tami or Divi in your flyers so guests don’t have to wonder? Arrival: We stood in line for almost a half hour to check in. Not what we expected for a top-tear all-inclusive. At an all-inclusive in Mexico, when we arrived, they had mimosa’s ready for us, and check-in was a lot quicker. If you really want to make a first impression, this was not it. Departure: Checkout is 12 pm and since our transportation with El Tours did not leave until 2:30 pm, we asked if we could checkout a little after 12 pm (our flight was the last flight leaving Aruba for the US). The front desk’s initial response was NO–there was no flexibility to accommodate any change. While I realize they need to clean rooms for the next guests, there should be some flex in certain cases. Entertainment: You really don’t have an amphitheater, etc., but when you had entertainment, seating in areas was very limited. This included the fire limbo show, synchronized swimming, etc. It would be good to include somewhere for these events so people didn’t have to stand to watch these shows. I realize space limitations are a factor. a. Maybe because of COVID, but we found entertainment to be lacking on many nights. Sometimes it was just a DJ, or a couple musicians playing the tin drum, etc. While we did enjoy these events, there were few larger venues which we’re used to at other resorts. Room location: Having our room located on the beach was really appreciated. Staffing: We found almost all the staff and attendants we met were very helpful and went out of their way to help us when they could. This was very much appreciated. Recommendations/hints to help newbies like us: a. Tell guests upon arrival that dinner reservations fill up quickly, so make them ahead of time (2 days out). b. Tell guests to make excursions early since they fill up also. c. While COVID testing is required upon departure, tell guests not to schedule shore excursions the last day if they are also scheduled for COVID testing (most excursions would apply since local testing was from around...

Check-in: unnecessarily long process/wait. Our room wasn't ready so they had us check back at check-in time as we arrived early. We did so and the room still wasn't ready - we basically had to beg to have it cleaned or move us because otherwise you have to get back in line and wait (again, long process). I'm not sure why they cannot text you when your room is ready to make this process a little smoother. Rooms: We were at the far south end of the resort where it is very torn up and everything is far away. Disappointed with the location as everything was far and you couldn't enjoy the beach outside your room. Room is nice, but the bathroom is very tight (particularly toilet is right against the wall) and difficult for more than one person to use at a time. Pool: Tamarijn pool was disappointing, we found the Divi Divi pool much nicer (and the bars around it). Nothing to write home about, simple hotel pool and no music playing, entertainment, etc to speak of. Didn't feel very "resort" like and all the pools close early. Towel game is ridiculous. You get one towel in your room per person and have to go to a towel hut to exchange it daily - not only was it not close to our room but was always closed when we wanted to exchange. Left our towel in our room the first day and felt like a criminal asking for another. I'd prefer to have one towel for pool and one for beach, but they make it a chore to do that. Wish there was better access to towels and you could at least obtain them outside of pool hours. Food: Restaurants were great. Other than palm grill (experience was weird but food was great) we enjoyed the ambiance, food, menu options, and service at each. Buffet is decent, nothing too exciting but plenty of options. We found it good for breakfast/lunch options. Hard to get restaurant reservations so if you don't you're eating the buffet (which after 3 days gets old and repetitive). Drinks: Meh. Few beer option (heineken, balashi, miller lite). Weak, watered down drinks. Inconsistent...mojitos listed under their frozen drink menu - ordered them daily and they came frozen but one time I received it on the rox and was scolded by the bartender because I didn't specify frozen. Alcohol options are mid-level American, except tequila options were horrible and limited. Service: This was hit or miss. We had good service at restaurants and a few great bartenders. A few crappy bartenders too and check-out at front desk was very uncomfortable. Shuttles: Inconsistent. Sometimes it takes 30 seconds, sometimes you wait 10 minutes. Again, we were at far end and unfortunately had some mobility issues and had to use the shuttle more than we typically would so it made it frustrating. We essentially had to shuttle everywhere. You can call shuttle from your room, but elsewhere you just have to wait for them to come around. Entertainment: Limited. Pool is quiet most of the day (not even light music?) and there are just a few hours of entertainment in the evening...while the pool is closed!? Not much to do all around, which is fine for the most part but when you shut down the pool early it seemed like there was nothing to do after sunset. Cleanliness: Overall pretty clean, could use improvement. Other/Overall: Lots of large groups and kids when we were there - unsure if this is normal - but wasn't what we were expecting based on reviews we read. No acknowledgement of birthday/anniversary/etc despite having you list your bday on reservation at restaurant. Seems odd compared to other resorts we go to where they usually celebrate anything and everything. It was also Valentine's Day while we were there and you would never know. Heard Super Bowl was equally as underwhelming. We found the Divi Divi areas much nicer than Divi Tamarijn. We enjoyed the sunset, pool time, people we met, and relaxation. Met so many return guests and honestly we were shocked.

Would we stay...