Aruba - - First Timer's Trip Report

[tombo]

We can all have our own opinions but based on statistics the ABC islands including Aruba were recently considered among the safest in the world. See the MSNBC article here;

msnbc msn.com id 31209850

It is great to know that the ABC group of Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) makes the list of the safest destinations in the world. Even though that is the case, nowhere is completely safe. I felt very safe everywhere I went on the Island except for St Nicholas, and I only went there because I was determined to explore the whole island. Simple solution, don't go to St Nicholas because it is seedy, and there is nothing worth seeing there anyway. I have never vacationed anywhere that my wife and myself felt safer than we felt in Aruba, and I will gladly return to Aruba again.

On the other hand I have vacationed many place in the US that I felt very nervous for good reason (Los Angeles,New York, San Fransisco, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans etc). I have seen many fights in New Orleans and a good friend's son was robbed at gunpoint as he sat in his car at a redlight last fall. I almost had my pocket picked in New York (felt his hand and grabbed it but he ran away) and I have seen a mugging victim laying on the sidewalk after a mugger had attacked. My wife had a company trip to San Fransisco and 4 people from her company (about 1000 people attended) were mugged or robbed at gunpoint in a 4 day period, with 2 robbed within a block of the Hyatt where we stayed. They announced at the meeting that no one should travel in groups of less than 4 and the company said they would never meet there again. I had massive fraudulent charges placed on my Credit Card after I returned from a trip to Miami where someone got my CC number. A lot of the places I love to visit in the US are very dangerous, and much more dangerous than Aruba IMO. If people based their travel plans totally on the crime rates, the US would have a very limited tourism industry. Here is the USA's ratings in the same article:
"Reading from most dangerous to least, the U.S. is the least safe of the big Western nations. The U.N. study ranks the U.S. at No. 24 in per capita murder, well head of France (No. 40), Britain (No. 46), Germany (No. 49) and Japan (No. 60)."

Sometimes we expect Utopia and a total lack of crime from vacation destinations. Nowhere is crime free, but Aruba and the Hawaiian Islands are locations where I have felt as safe as anywhere I have ever visited. If I had to choose between walking around in most major US cities alone late at night, or walking alone late at night in Orajenstad Aruba, I will bet my life on Orajenstad every time.

 

[jimf41]

The reason we like Aruba better is StT has a very heavy crime rate (we have friends that live there and carry guns as there are so many carjackings and home invasions of the more affluent people), heavy poverty, dirty, no potable water and very high restaurant costs. Here in Aruba I drive everywhere by myself - would not on STT. I can go downtown (Oranjestad) at night but would never do so in Charlotte Amalie (have been escorted to a taxi by restaurant owner even though DH is with me as he said "it wasn't safe"). I was in STT 3 years ago so it isn't old news. Our friends say it has gotten worse, not better.

I haven't come across this much misinformation in one post in a long time.

First, there is virtually no tourist involved crime whatsoever. USVI residents are well aware of who brings the money to the USVI and what it does for their livelihood.

Heavy poverty? I've been going to STT since 1995 and haven't noticed it yet. Certainly the poor sections are no worse than the refinery side of Aruba but I wouldn't say that was really heavy poverty either. You should visit someplace like Honduras or Costa Rica or even Mexico and get a feel for what heavy poverty looks like.


Dirty? Well it's not as nice as the town I live in but then not very many places are. CA is a city, a small one but a city none the less. With the amount of daily traffic it gets from the cruise ships I'd say it's pretty clean actually.

No potable water? I don't know about that. I drink an awful lot of Gin & tonics while I'm there and I haven't run out of ice yet. They get their water from rainfall as do many Caribbean Islands but the big resorts all have desalinization facilities. Lately the USVI has been desalinating water a selling it to the resorts. I understand that Bluebeards castle has always had problems with water though. It's not a problem in other resorts.

High restaurant prices? As compared to Aruba, surely you're kidding on that one right?

As to the gun issue I can't say I've ever seen or heard of anyone carrying one outside of the Police. There are definitely some areas of the Island I would not chose to visit in the wee hours but nowhere that a tourist would likely want to visit. Your friends probably feel very threatened in some of those areas and that's why the like the comfort of a personal weapon. Permits to carry are hard to come by in the USVI so they must carry a lot of valuables.

I guess you tell that I'm not an Aruba fan. I don't have anything bad to say about it but I much prefer the USVI. I do have one critical comment. Don't ever visit any of the Aruba Marriott's during week 3.

 

[tombo]

crime rate articles

A couple of articles about crime on the USVI. I am not scared by what I have read and still have the USVI on my future travel wish list. I routinelly visit some of the most dangerous vacation spots in the world, and they are big cities on the US mainland, so why would I expect total safety in the USVI?

If you want to go to the caribbean to experience real crime and real fear, go to Jamaica "Mon". The resort's safety introduction will make you excited to get on the plane and go home. When the resort welcomes you with warnings to not leave the resort area (and this was all inclusive so they weren't trying to keep us there to get our money), to never travel at night, to never travel in small groups or alone, and when they talk about areas that you will probably get hurt and might get killed, now that is a caribbean Island with a crime problem and one that I will never visit again.

This article says that St Thomas has the highest crime rate of the USVI:

http://virginislands-guide.info/travel.basics/crime/

http://www.vimovingcenter.com/island_living/crime.php

http://www.city-data.com/forum/u-s-territories/50565-u-s-virgin-islands-live.html

This article says:
As far as crime goes, the U.S. Virgin Islands experience a higher level of crime than many Caribbean islands, but still less than major metropolitan areas like New York City or London. However, a little common sense goes a long way. Keep your visit fun by following basic traveler's rules: Never walk alone at night and keep an eye on your belongings.

http://caribbean-guide.info/why.not.go/us.virgin.islands/

 

[jimf41]

The articles you cite can be very misleading. The last states that the crime rate in the USVI is less than NYC. For people that don't live in the NYC area that's not very reassuring because as everybody knows New York is a dangerous place right? Wrong, of the largest ten cities in the US NYC is #7 for homicides and # 6 for violent crime in general.

That really doesn't say much either until you realize that NYC violent crime rates are about 1/3 of Philadelphia and Dallas and about 1/2 of LA, Chicago, Phoenix and Houston.

This quote from the 2nd article you cite is interesting;

"Crimes against visitors and tourist are very low, with an infrequent occurrence of bags being stolen." Doesn't sound like a real crime infested place to me.

As I stated in my first post I have nothing bad to say about Aruba except for week 3. I have noticed that that folks who like it there tend to bash other Caribbean destinations, STT in particular. I just like to keep the record straight and add some perspective to misleading statements.

 

[Conan]

I have nothing bad to say about Aruba except for week 3.

I was going to ask what's the issue with week 3, but I did some Googling and found it out. It seems there's a large group of Jewish Orthodox or Chabad-Lubavitch types (large families and swarms of young kids) who stay at the Aruba Marriotts every year in week 3 and pretty much take it over.

Someone posted about it on TUG in indelicate terms ("the little hats they wear") which led to painful accusations of intolerance and prejudice. Maybe I should mention I have a cousin who converted from typical Jewish-American to Lubavitch. She had eight children, all boys as it turned out, shocking our family. On the other hand most of them are now doctors and she's a University professor so you could say they've had the last laugh.

 

[jimf41]

I was going to ask what's the issue with week 3, but I did some Googling and found it out. It seems there's a large group of Jewish Orthodox or Chabad-Lubavitch types (large families and swarms of young kids) who stay at the Aruba Marriotts every year in week 3 and pretty much take it over.

Someone posted about it on TUG in indelicate terms ("the little hats they wear") which led to painful accusations of intolerance and prejudice. Maybe I should mention I have a cousin who converted from typical Jewish-American to Lubavitch. She had eight children, all boys as it turned out, shocking our family. On the other hand most of them are now doctors and she's a University professor so you could say they've had the last laugh.

Do some more research. The disaster of the annual week 3 visit has nothing at all to do with race, religion or politics. It has to do with an incredibly rude and destructive group that uses the Marriott facilities during that week.