We have been going to Aruba for the past 25 years but haven’t been back in eight years due to retirement and COVID. We usually stayed at Tierra del Sol in one of their Villa homes and did the golf package. Since we now play a lot of golf in retirement, we wanted something different and decided on the Radisson Blu.

Even though we rented a car, we chose the Radisson Blu based on location: walking distance to restaurants, casinos, beaches, etc. We also liked the idea of a two bedroom/two bath suite (with a limited kitchen, which we knew).

Here is our review:
Hubby dropped me off at the lobby while he parked the car. A bellhop met us to help with the couple of suitcases we had. Check-in had three desks, one of which was busy. One of the other two greeted me and asked for the reservation info. I asked for a microwave to be brought to the room, no problem. We were given silicon wristbands, which were our room keys and two pool towel passes. Check-in took 15 minutes and by that time hubby was back and we walked outside, around the pool, to our room. Plenty of parking in the guarded lot.

The wristband/key opens the outside doors to the building which was a nice security feature. The two elevators were fast and they were always parked on floors one or eight making for a quick wait time. Wristbands also open room doors. Our luggage was up to our room right away.

Microwave was already in the room. Refrig/freezer with ice cube trays was big and clean. Coffee maker - ok, here we had an issue. We had to Google/YouTube how to work the darn thing, lol. Plenty of coffee pods, sugar/whitener/creamer and tea bags which were replenished with housekeeping or by request. There is a button beside the door: red for no service, green for service. The hair dryer didn’t work and I requested another one. We got tired of waiting and thought they could just drop it off. The maid was outside our door waiting for us. She wouldn’t knock since the red light was on even though we were expecting her. Oops… I knew from reviews that the kitchen had paper plates and plastic utensils, so I brought utensils, reusable plates/bowls from home. They did have two ceramic coffee cups and two glass wine glasses, which I thought was odd. The room sleeps four, four chairs at the table but cups and glasses for two??? Whatever.

Like other reviews, the unit is big and clean and yes, could use a couple of living room chairs (seating for four?). Bedrooms are big and closets have plenty of hangers and space for folded clothes. Safe is big enough to hold a laptop. Beds are very comfortable with plenty of pillows and extra blankets. Two AC units kept the place nice and cool. Our room faced the street and was very quiet. The second bedroom was against the hallway. The hallway was very noisy, everything echoed. If someone wants to sleep in that room, bring a sound machine. The second room did not have a light on a switch, just a nightstand lamp. There was no window to the outside so no natural light. It was hard to see in the dark to find the lamp. A light on a switch would be helpful.

Bathrooms have small vanities with no surface to put your stuff BUT, they had two huge drawers under the sink that were convenient and more than adequate. Great water pressure and plenty of hot water. Towels as needed and shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and lotion are in big bottles.

The rooftop infinity pool was running. If you think Aruba is windy, the rooftop pool is crazy windy. We saw one of the big sturdy umbrellas take off up there! I didn’t go into the pool below much because it was really cold (and we have a pool cooler on our pool at home, but this pool was cold). Plenty of loungers and umbrellas all around. Towel attendant was great, always helpful in putting up the umbrellas. We didn’t go to the restaurants or the pool bar. Overall the pool was quiet with music dj’d by the bartender. We used the shuttle service, to the beach, the first day to see where it went and where the chairs, etc. were located. They have an attendant to help you and to make sure you are a Radisson guest. Umbrellas can be rented for $15 a day. The shuttle ran on the hour and was clean and convenient. After the first day, we walked. There is a sidewalk and it’s an easy walk.

Check-out was quick and no problems.

We will definitely stay at the Radisson Blu again. Next time, I’d like a room facing the pool. We didn’t change our room this time because we thought the pool area may be noisy and annoying, but it was not. Thank you for reading

American Airlines put us up for a night at his hotel when our flight out was canceled. I was disappointed that it was about as far away from the airport as one can get in the highrise hotel section, so that concerned me about returning to the airport the next morning on time. It was new, yet was a little cavernous. My understanding was this was to be a condo highrise. For some reason, that fell through and Radisson bought it for hotel space. In that regard, we had a two-bedroom condo for the night. The rooms were minimalist, all white, with cement floor, echoey, and the appliances did not function in the kitchenette with the exception of the fridge. It smelled new like drywall and cement. The bed was comfortable. Since it was an overnight, we did not use the pool but did like the proximity to Eagle Beach shopping and restaurants. Personally, I would not book this place for an Aruban vacation. Prior to our canceled flight, we stayed at an amazing Airbnb that was 10 min inland for Eagle and Palm beach and about 25 min from Baby Beach. The compound was amazing, and if going to Aruba in the future, I'd do the Airbnb route with car rental again. It was the perfect blend of staying off resort row, being closer to some local dining and shopping, yet only a quick drive to most places we needed to go.