Renaissance Mall — Local services in Oranjestad (city)

Don't get me wrong, it's beautifully done and staff so pleasant but we visit for culture, NOT more of the same.

I can easily buy designer this and that in London and for us a vacation is about experiencing a country in it's natural state. In just 7 years this area has changed beyond recognition.

We loved to mooch round La Linda's and down the roads to locally owned stores.

The local department stores were so charming, all higgledy piggledy with unusual, beautiful and very reasonable items to buy PLUS the joy of interacting with locals who had worked for the same employers for decades!

There is little job security for locals now, we have spoken to many and they struggle to find the job security that we all need and this makes us very sad. The big boys are doing very nicely from the tourists but what about Arubans who have to earn their way year in year out?

For us, it's a big no thank you to the big brands so sadly this may be our last time on the island after 7 glorious visits as the condition will only worsen...

We went there for our anniversary. The the ambiance was very nice, the service staff is friendly and the food is good, just good. For such an expensive restaurant, one would expect the dishes to be garnished a little more professionally - a lemon as garnish? A few sprinkles of chopped chives? That isn't even worth two stars, really. Anyway, we enjoyed our evening till it was spoiled when they turned down my gift certificate; granted - it had expired, but aside from the pandemic and other personal issues, I hadn't expected a multi-million dollar hotel to take my $140.00...

Stopped by this location as a result of walking down the main street area after returning from an activity on the other side of the island. We checked out some of the offerings available here in Aruba and in comparison to the USA stores as far as Costco and variety of selection. We selected items of interest and walked onto another location. This was an orderly spot with no music playing and security workers outside to assist in...