[ 2013 + 2014 ] Carribbean Trip Log

[dioxide45]

We are just starting out our first trip of 2013 which will take us through New York City for a single night then to Aruba, through Panama City Panama and then to Cancun.

I thought it would be neat to keep a travel log of what we have done and what is to come.

Our first day saw us taking a half day off of work. We have a morning flight today from Columbus and we opted to spend the night at Easton the night before flying out, a large outdoor/indoor mall in Columbus. So yesterday afternoon we watched The Great Gatsby at the AMC 30 here and then ate dinner at Max and Erma's. Gotta love their Garbage Burger.

We have a single day ahead of us in NYC. We fly in to Newark and have to find our way to midtown Manhattan where we have a double deck bus tour booked. We know we won't see even a small fraction of what we could, but the taste of NYC will give us a good idea if we want to come back for a longer trip some day.

Today: New York City tour.
Tomorrow: Off to Aruba

 

[GrayFal]

I love the NYC HOHO Bus - and what a beautiful day you have for it.

Wear your sunblock and have fun!

 

[arubanut]

Have a GREAT time!!!

 

[dioxide45]

Day 2, 3 & 4

Day 2: We had to be up by 5:30 Friday to get ready to catch our flight out. Our flight on ended up being delayed out of Columbus by about 45 minutes, so that delayed us getting to NYC. We ended up getting to our hotel by about 1:45pm and finally made it to Times Square after a long train ride from Newark Airport and short subway ride from Penn Station by 4:00pm. Enough time to catch one of the last hop on downtown bus tours for our day tour. That tour took almost 3 hours given that much of it was during the Friday afternoon rush. We then got off that, bought a few souvineers and $9 worth of two tiny hot dogs and a soda. What a scam they have going there.

Then about 7:45 we got on the night tour. Both tours were fantastic. We didn't have a chance to get off at any of the stops as this was a tour NYC in 8 hours trip. After the bus tours were over we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe Times Square to eat and buy a couple of pins. Plus we needed a visit credit for DWs Pin Collectors Club. At the end of it all we we left downtown Manhattan at 11:52pm and were in bed by about 2:00am after the train ride back and shuttle from EWR.

We would definitely go to New York City again. Best would be to stay downtown if we are willing to fork over the big dollars they want for a nights stay. The commute from Newark is simply too far/long to make it easy to commute in to downtown each day.

Day 3: Saturday saw us flying out of Newark headed for Aruba. The flight, other than long was uneventful. After picking up our rental car, we headed out from the airport. Our first stop was Taco Bell. Now some may find that odd, but if you haven't been to a Taco Bell in Aruba, you need to go. They actually still care here about the stuff they make in Taco Bell. Not just slapped together stuff like back in the USA. Most important, they have Fiesta Fries Supreme. Pretty much just like in Canada. We have to go to Taco Bell whenever we visit Canada.

We then checked in to the Surf Club and were in our room not long after. Went to the pool for about a half hour and then headed to the Superfoods for some groceries.

Day 4: Poor selection of Island Oasis mixers at Superfoods, so we didn't get any of those there and instead went to Ling and Sons this morning to stock up on those. We picked up a bottle of Bacardi at the Duty Free in Newark and were surprised that it cost the same at the duty free at the Aruba airport. However far cheaper than at the grocery stores in Aruba. So it will be piña coladas and Curious George's for us for the next 6 days. Spent some time at the beach for some sun and sand. Headed to dinner shortly at Texas de Brazil.

Tomorrow: Some sightseeing and snorkeling around Aruba.

 

[dioxide45]

Day 4 and 5

Day 4 (continued): We ate at Texas de Brazil for dinner, we were not impressed. Everything was supposed to be cooked to a medium rare temperature but we found everything much closer to medium well or even well done. We did ask for some filet to be cooked more rare and DWs was better, but the pieces they gave me were almost raw. So it doesn't seem that they cook it on the skewer when you ask for a custom cooking temperature.

Day 5: We opted to go snorkeling in the morning. Since there was a lot of clouds we determined that driving around taking photos wasn't idea. My wife wants a nice blue sky of photos if possible. We hit Boca Catalina and jumped in. The water clarity wasn't great, but there were a lot of fish to see and they would come right up to you. It seems they are used to people feeding them while snorkeling. We had a lot of fun and met another group of people there that were also staying at the Surf Club.

In the afternoon we hit the pool and I couldn't keep myself out of the lazy river at the Marriott Surf Club. My wife started to say that I was addicted to the thing, she was right. That lazy river is fantastic.

Dinner was at Blossoms down at the Westin. We opted for the Hibachi and were not disappointed. A great show and the filet was great! Much better than the prior day at Texas de Brazil.

Today: Palapa!

 

[GregT]

Dioxide,

Thanks for posting the log -- it's fun following the adventures of others (in a familiar place) while working away at the office. Sounds like a great trip thus far -- and not sure what my wife will say when I tell her we have to stop at the Taco Bell.

Best,

Greg

 

[ilene13]

Hi Dioxide,
If you want a very special dinner try getting into either Carte Blanche or Two Fools and a Bull. They are both incredible restaurants--5 course meals with or without wine pairing. They only take about 15 patrons a night for a 7-7:30 seating. You are there until about 11. They are fantastic.
ilene

 

[dioxide45]

Day 6: This day saw me up fairly early to stand in line to reserve a palapa. I was about 15th in line when I arrived at about 20 minutes till 7 and got one in the sixth row. It wouldn't have been such a bad palapa except that it was behind the Red Sail Sports hut so the view was partially blocked by that. Though it was still pretty good. We used the palapa and turned our card in at about 12:30 to head out on the island. We have decided that we probably wouldn't go to a lot of trouble to reserve a palapa. Just pulling a chair up on the beach, sans palapa, would be fine with us.

We headed out to tour the island, heading for Baby Beach. We got there and DW took many photos. Also stopped at Rogers Beach to take some more. Our return saw us hit a Wenndy's for lunch sat about 3:00pm or so since we hadn't eaten since breakfast and then we wen to the Alto Vista Chapel and stoped at a small graveyard that we had seen a few days earlier.

Here are just a couple of photos:
Graveyard

Rogers Beach

 

[dioxide45]

Day 7: Our morning started out with a timeshare presentation at the Marriott Aruba Ocean Club. The presentation was rather painless and we learned a lot about the island. Our presenter was a certified dive instructor and gave us some tips on places to snorkel. We are also looking at a trip to Curaçao next year and we were asking him about the snorkeling there over Aruba. He indicated that the snorkeling in Curaçao and Bonaire are far better than Aruba. So we are excited about going. He also gave us the names of a couple other snorkeling spots on Aruba that we will try out when we make it back here. The first hour of the presentation was talking about stuff completly unrelated to Marriott pionts, the last haf hour was about the point product.

One bad tip he gave us was that we would be able to traverse the Arikok National Park in a compact rental car. So after thhe presentation, we headed out that way. Even at the visitors center they circle all the placed one can get to with a compact car. So after forking over $20 ($10 per person) we headed out. After navigating our way through about five of the drainage gullies and several bumper scrapes we turned around. They have no business telling people in a compact car that they can get through. These drainage gullies are deep and steep, you really need a Jeep (hey that rhymes ). So we consider this a $20 lesson learned, rent a Jeep for a day or take a guided tour.

We made it back to the resort earlier than expected and decided to hit the pool and lazy river. I probably floated in that thing for 3 hours, with only one short break. That lazy river is addicting. I know my wife thinks I am addicted to it.

Today: More pool and beach and pack to checkout of the Aruba Surf Club on Friday.

 

[am1]

How long are you staying in Panama? Not really the Caribbean unless your going to the seaside.

 

[dioxide45]

How long are you staying in Panama? Not really the Caribbean unless your going to the seaside.

We are only in Panama for an overnight layover on our way to Cancun.

 

[am1]

We are only in Panama for an overnight layover on our way to Cancun.

There is still a lot you can do in one day there. Have a great time.

 

[dioxide45]

Day 8: We found ourselves starting out at the Surf Club beach, after a couple hours in the sun we headed to the pool and lazy river where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Pretty uneventful and relaxing day. For dinner we went to La Trattoria El Faro Blanco for dinner. We had made reservations for 6:15pm so we would have a great sunset dinner up by the California Lighthouse. Initially it looked like the sunset would be a dud, but after the sun went down, the sky lit up bright red. It didn't disappoint. We had a great meal too and some great Tiramisu.

Today: Heading to the Renaissance Aruba to spend some time on their private island.
Tomorrow: Saying goodbye to Aruba, hello to Panama.

 

[ilene13]

How long are you going to be in Cancun? Try the following restaurants if you have time:
Du Mexique-----owner is French and his wife is Mexican. Exceptional restaurant but you definitely need reservations--only 7 tables.
John Grey's in Puerto Morales--it's about a 30 minute drive from the hotel zone
La Habituala Sunset
Sasi Thai---which this year was much better than Thai Lounge
Harry's
La Parilla
Have a great trip

 

[dioxide45]

Day 9: We checked out of the Marriott Aruba Surf Club early to head down to the Renaissance Aruba. Surprisingly they had a room available for us to check in to by 8:30am. Which was great. Of course they have renovations going on here at the moment, so the constant sound of saws and hammers told us why it was available. This was a free stay on a free night certificate and we weren't planning on spending much time in the room during the day anyway, so we were fine with it.

We headed for the water taxi to take us to the Renaissance private island. We had a great time for the few hours we were there, did a little swimming and saw their famous pink flamingos. You can see a picture below. We then returned to the hotel and went shopping in downtown Oranjestad. After that we still had time to kill so we went to see a movie at the cinema at the Rennessance Marketplace. After the movie we ate dinner at The Dutch Pancakehouse. The cinnamon poffertjes were delicous. We also had banana with piña colada crepes.

Today: We leave Aruba for Panama City, Panama.
Tomorrow: Off to Cancun.

 

[GregT]

Dioxide,

Thank you for the reports and I'm so pleased that you enjoyed Aruba. That is really a bad tip about the compact rental car -- we participate in a tour and our tour was in Land Rovers -- that was hairy enough, I can't imagine what they were thinking in letting you go in the rental car.

Rogers Beach looks beautiful (like many Aruban waters)!

Enjoy Cancun and please keep posting. If I recall correctly, you are staying at Westin Lagunamar, so I will be very curious to hear your summary of the two different locations.

Best,

Greg

 

[dioxide45]

Day 10: We got to sleep in a little this day as our flight out of Aruba to Panama wasn't until 1:30pm. After getting up and getting ready we headed out to fill our rental car up with gas and drop it off at the airport. We realized at the airport in Aruba that we had to go to a completly different section than our last trip. They have a different checkin area for non-USA bound flights. After checking in we headed for our gate.

We met a couple other people there that were headed for Chicago. They were under the impression that the flight was connecting through Panama City Florida. Not sure why, not like Panama City Florida was a major hub for United. They were a little surprised when we told them that no it wasn't Florida, but rather the country of Panama. We boarded our flight and had a short 1.5-2 hour flight to Panama City.

Our flight in to PTY landed on time but there was a huge line at immigration. I had read online that sometimes immigration at PTY can get backed up. It probably took us an hour or more to get through immigration and customs.

After making it outside our tour driver from My Friend Mario was waiting with a sign with our name on it. I had arranged the tour in advance through e-mail. Our city tour was to include; the Old Panama Ruins, modern part of the city, Amador Causway, and Panama Colonial. Unfortunatly we opted to visit during rainly season, so it was pauring rain by the time we started our tour. We were unable to stop at the ruins but did see them as we were driving my. The modern part of the city is amazing. More sky scrapers than one could possibly count. There are also many times when in the city that you could be led in to thinking that you were in Miami instead of Panama. Some very expensive real estate.

We then moved on to Panama Colonial. We were able to stop here and walk around a little bit as the rain had subsided some. A very buitiful area. We then drove our and back on the Amador Causway. We then got a bonus to the tour where the driver took us over the Cenntenial Bridge that crosses the canal.

After our tour the driver took us to the Hard Rock Megapolis where we were staying the night. We opted to ead dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe which is connected to the hotel via a very large and modern shopping mall.

One thing we were a little surprised about (but shouldn't have been) was that very few Panamaians speak english. We thought that with the large US influence in Panama as well as the fact that Panama uses the US Dollar as their official currency, that english would be spoken mush more widly within the city. Our driver spoke very good english, as well as the bellman and hotel checkin clerk. However, at the cafe and within the hotel Rock Shop, the employees didn't speak english. We managed though and got by fine with our very little knowlege of spanish.

In all we had a great visit to Panama. If we were to return again, it would probably only by for a few days within the city on the same type of extended layover that we did this time.

 

[dioxide45]

Day 11: We had to be up at 4:30am to leave for the airport by 5:30. We had a flight out at 7:52am for Cancun. The flight was rather uneventful. Good to see though that Copa Airlines still provides in flight meals though. Something that is all but forgotten in US airspace.

We landed in Cancun and the wait for immigration here was huge. After getting through immigration we collected one of our three bags. The belt was stopped and we were worried that our other two didn't make it. However the belt ended up starting again and our bags appeared. The wait for customs was very short and were quickly out of the airport and in to our USA Transfers van. After a short stop at Walmart we made it to the Westin Lagunamar.

When we first checked in we were told that our unit was cleaned but required inspection, so it would be 30-40 minutes. We returned 50 minutes later to be told it would be another 20 minutes. 30 minutes later we were told another hour. I get the 4:00pm checkin time, but if the room isn't going to be ready until 4:00 just tell people that, don't jerk them around to try to appease them as it only makes them angry. We weren't the only people getting these same stories and from reviews we have read, it isn't uncommon.

After the last 1 hour story, we decided to go to dinner. Though we though perhaps one last gasp would work as we didn't really want to trek across the street with the couple of bags we had decided to hold on to. Unfortunately the unit they had assigned us in building 6 had maintenance issues and that was apparently why there were issues. We were instead offered a unit in building 14 on the fourth floor. When we saw where it was located, we jumped at it. This is right beside the beach with a great view of the ocean. Pretty good given this is an II exchange. We were able to get in to our room by 2:30 or 3:00pm. This is a great resort, HUGE can be the first word to describe it.

We then headed out to dinner. After a stop to see our concierge, and to sign up for a timeshare presentation, we ate at La Madonna across the street in the La Isla Shopping Mall. A great meal. Then a little over a hundred dollars later at the fragrance store next door for DW to buy some Cartier fragrance that she found out about from a woman that was in front of us in the immigration line in Panama. We then returned to the room to get some much needed sleep after a long day.

Today: Pool and beach.

 

[GregT]

Dioxide,

Thank you for the notes --- did you want to see Panama, or was it the most convenient routing to get from Aruba to Cancun?

Just curious...I hope to see the Canal one day on a cruise ship...

Enjoy Lagunamar and please post thoughts -- especially in comparison to Aruba Surf Club.

Best,

Greg

 

[dioxide45]

Dioxide,

Thank you for the notes --- did you want to see Panama, or was it the most convenient routing to get from Aruba to Cancun?

Just curious...I hope to see the Canal one day on a cruise ship...

Enjoy Lagunamar and please post thoughts -- especially in comparison to Aruba Surf Club.

Best,

Greg

We didn't necessarily have specific plans to go to Panama, but when we saw that the routing from Aruba to Cancun through Panama only cost 10,000 United miles on Copa Airlines, then we opted for the two week stay between Aruba and Cancun. We then noticed that one of the routings through Panama had an overnight layover, getting in at 2:30pm with a morning flight out at 8:00am. So we decided to book the overnight routing and do a one day quick stop in Panama. So it wasn't initially on the plan, but the routing worked out so we had a chance to see something we had never been before. We are very happy we did.

Initial thoughts on Lagunamar compared to Surf Club, is that there really is no comparison. There are about the same number of units, about 450 I think. However, Lagunamar is on a much larger footprint with a much larger ocean frontage. There are 14 buildings here none higher than 7 stories. I think Surf Club has 13 or 14 floors. Three huge pools, one that has the infinity feature. There look to be a few huts (palapas) on the beach, but nothing like in Aruba, there are really very few chairs on the beach by comparison. I think most people hang out in the pools since the water in the sea is much more wild than the very calm waters of Aruba.

There is also a very large shopping center across the street from Lagunamar, within easy walking distance. Much like the high rise hotel area of Aruba. We didn't really walk the shops of the high rise area in Aruba, but from driving through, the La Isla Shopping Mall in Cancun is similar but different. A huge modern shopping area with lots of restaurant and shopping choices. Though it is really a place people get to by walking or taking a bus from the hotel zone hotels. There is no street you drive along, much more like an outdoor mall in the USA. Where the high rise area of Aruba is a street with stores and restaurants.

We still haven't really checked much or the resort given we are on our first full day, so I will most more thoughts once I have a better feel for the resort.

 

[ilene13]

You are across the street from La Isla. Thai Lounge and la Madonna are two good restaurants in that mall. Most of the others on my list are down the street from you.

 

[am1]

Visit Panama in October if you want to experience the rainy season. Up until 2 weeks ago there was electricity rationing due to lack of rain.

Hardrock hotel is an RCI resort although I have never seen inventory in it. All Inclusive mandatory resort and who wants that in a city? It is also a condotel with a lot of people losing money. Not much to see in the old city except a few ruins.

Around when Noriega was in power english took a back seat. It is being taught in schools but the students have to want to learn it to get much out of it.

A lot of people do speak english but they are lawyers, bankers, real estate etc. Bus drivers, taxists, servers on the most part will not speak english. It is better for the country this way.

Before Miami real estate started to come back Panama City was more expensive. Very little housing bubble because most are cash buyers. There is a lot more money in Latin America then people think.

Glad you had a great time. There is much more to see than the city/canal. It can be as cheap os expensive as you want. It is for people wanting to explore.

 

[dioxide45]

Day 12: Today was an easy day, sitting by and in the pool for most of the day. Dinner in the evening outside at Oceano (restaurant in the Westin Lagunamar). Tonight was their Mexican themed dinner bufet which was surprisingly pretty good. Lots of differnent fresh made taco options with plenty of toppings and guacamole. They really should label some of the sauces though based on their heat level. Something was very hot that I put on a couple of the tacos, though I could never figure out for sure what it was because I always put lots of sauces on them all. I think it was either the green sauce or on of the red chili sauces, though it could have very well been all of them. I can handle a little spiciness in my food, but at one point it was very hot.

Tomorrow: Early ferry to Isla Mujeres where we will rent a golf cart for the day and tour the island.

 

[shagnut]

Am enjoying your trip report. I do the same thing at ts4ms under travel tales. You are welcome to stop by and read my blogs and put yours there too. I love doing logs because I can relive my trip. shaggy

 

[dioxide45]

Day 13: We got up early to take the ferry over to Isla Mujeres. We were taking a ferry from Porto Juarez as they leave earlier from there than they do from the Cancun Hotel Zone. One tip on this is to get to the main street of the hotel zone to catch a bus very early. It seems that the buses to the Porto Juarez ferry dock are very few and far between. We waited between 30-40 minutes for a bus. Of course being constantly approached by people for timeshare tours. Those people were waiting to meet other people that had signed up for a tour but of course were willing to recruit more. A bus finally came through at the same time we considered taking any R-1 bus and then a taxi to the dock. We made it just in the nick of time to catch the 8:30 ferry.

After a short ferry ride we got to the island and rented a golf cart and were headed on our way with our trusty Map Chicks Isla Mujeres golf cart tour map. This map was pretty good, but it is very hard to rely on it for some land marks. We were suppsed to turn right after a certain cafe, but appearently missed it and were in Punta Sur before we knew it. We paid the $30 peso pp to go through the scuplpture garden and pathways at Punta Sur. This was fantastic and well worth the admission.

Durring our stop here it started to rain, it had been threatening up until that point. It rained pretty hard and then slacked off some and never really stopped drizeling for the rest of the day.

After leaving Punta Sur we headed to the Turtle Farm where it cost us another $30 peso pp. We only spent a short time here as we had visited here on our last visit to Isla Mujeres.

We also made some other stops for some general sight seeing and toured pretty much most of the island. We found our way back to the golf cart rental place to drop our cart off and headed back to the ferry. After another ferry ride back to the main land we proceeded to the bus station to ride back to the hotel zone. Of course here there was the same constant nagging, though this time to take a taxi instead. We must have been approached 10 times to ask if we wanted a taxi ride. We only waited about 15 minutes for the bus here. We ere back at the Westin Lagunamar by 3:00pm.

Dinner out was nothing special, Italiano's at La Isla across the street.

Today: Our first non-Marriott timeshare presentation at the Westin Lagunamar. We will see how it goes.
Tomorrow: Taking a bus to Tulum[/B]