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Island Seas Resort
- Thread starter JillC
- Start date
We went the last week of November last year! We were a little worried because most reviews we read weren't so glowing...but we had a great time. We found the people friendly and helpful (many reviews refer to rude resort employees--not our experience).
The setting is fabulous--sugar-white sand, and glorious water. While we were there we had "Aruba weather" with warm sun and constant breezes. It was heaven! There are some vendors that will annoy you on the beach, usually in the morning, but after a while they stop bothering you. The resort provides free lounges at the beach. The beach was very uncrowded, but while we were there many of the nearby buildings were still closed down from the previous hurricanes so I don't know if that will still be the case.
The resort had very few sponsored activities, and it is sort of in the middle of nowhere. They do, however, have a shuttle that will take you into the small tourist area (I can't remember the name) where you can do a little shopping and visit many nice restaurants. If you want to rent a car be aware that they drive on the "wrong" side of the road
You can negotiate with taxi and bus drivers, and ask around the resort for anyone who wants to hire out their services as a driver. One fellow there, Mitch, seemed to do a lot of this.
We had a 2-br with a fabulous view over the pool and ocean. Daily maid service was a nice bonus! The air conditioning is done with individual units in the various rooms, not a central system. There is an on-site washer and dryer building that is free to use, but no in-unit washer/dryer.
We really were in the mood for a laid-back relaxing vacation and that is what we got at the Island Seas. The only night-time activity we tried was a weekly "fish fry" where you could get all sorts of seafood, and some bars were open and appeared to be really hopping.
There is a bar in the center of the resort complex where they have a daily happy hour (be careful, not all drinks are offered for happy hour), and they also serve food. We only ate there twice--once for lunch, and once for a special buffet dinner they put on as a resort activity. Food was okay, not great, but not bad, I would rate it expensive for what you get. They have a very tiny convenience store, very expensive and extremely limited selection--but food is also much more expensive in the Winn-Dixie than we are accustomed to at home. They import everything and the cost reflects it. The only other meal option within walking distance was Zonk's Conch shack a short distance down the beach--I liked it, but my traveling companions didn't. We ate all breakfasts and most lunches in the unit, and had dinner out at the tourist district a couple of times (Greek restaurant where the owner is a Steelers fan was good and very reasonably priced). We only made one grocery shopping trip the whole week--we took the Island Seas shuttle into the tourist area, and from there hopped on a "public bus" (which is a van) to the Winn-Dixie. We could've done the same thing going back but a taxi driver offered us a great rate to take us back to the Island Seas with our bags. The public bus driver gave us her card and said she would come pick us up, and drop us off at the end of the Island Seas street (not a scheduled stop) which would have been a good option too.
We were able to use US money everywhere. Everyone spoke English.
I would definitely go back!
The setting is fabulous--sugar-white sand, and glorious water. While we were there we had "Aruba weather" with warm sun and constant breezes. It was heaven! There are some vendors that will annoy you on the beach, usually in the morning, but after a while they stop bothering you. The resort provides free lounges at the beach. The beach was very uncrowded, but while we were there many of the nearby buildings were still closed down from the previous hurricanes so I don't know if that will still be the case.
The resort had very few sponsored activities, and it is sort of in the middle of nowhere. They do, however, have a shuttle that will take you into the small tourist area (I can't remember the name) where you can do a little shopping and visit many nice restaurants. If you want to rent a car be aware that they drive on the "wrong" side of the road
You can negotiate with taxi and bus drivers, and ask around the resort for anyone who wants to hire out their services as a driver. One fellow there, Mitch, seemed to do a lot of this.We had a 2-br with a fabulous view over the pool and ocean. Daily maid service was a nice bonus! The air conditioning is done with individual units in the various rooms, not a central system. There is an on-site washer and dryer building that is free to use, but no in-unit washer/dryer.
We really were in the mood for a laid-back relaxing vacation and that is what we got at the Island Seas. The only night-time activity we tried was a weekly "fish fry" where you could get all sorts of seafood, and some bars were open and appeared to be really hopping.
There is a bar in the center of the resort complex where they have a daily happy hour (be careful, not all drinks are offered for happy hour), and they also serve food. We only ate there twice--once for lunch, and once for a special buffet dinner they put on as a resort activity. Food was okay, not great, but not bad, I would rate it expensive for what you get. They have a very tiny convenience store, very expensive and extremely limited selection--but food is also much more expensive in the Winn-Dixie than we are accustomed to at home. They import everything and the cost reflects it. The only other meal option within walking distance was Zonk's Conch shack a short distance down the beach--I liked it, but my traveling companions didn't. We ate all breakfasts and most lunches in the unit, and had dinner out at the tourist district a couple of times (Greek restaurant where the owner is a Steelers fan was good and very reasonably priced). We only made one grocery shopping trip the whole week--we took the Island Seas shuttle into the tourist area, and from there hopped on a "public bus" (which is a van) to the Winn-Dixie. We could've done the same thing going back but a taxi driver offered us a great rate to take us back to the Island Seas with our bags. The public bus driver gave us her card and said she would come pick us up, and drop us off at the end of the Island Seas street (not a scheduled stop) which would have been a good option too.
We were able to use US money everywhere. Everyone spoke English.
I would definitely go back!
Twenty years later... We needed a last-minute snorkeling trip with cheap award flights. This resort is almost always available on certificates. So we decided to try it.
From the Tripadvisor reviews, I was worried there would be no hot water and black mold. But it’s a solid 3.5 star. We did have an issue with a window, but maintenance fixed it within an hour. Plenty of hot water, new dishwasher, granite counter tops, no daily housekeeping but every day they have called and asked if we need anything (towels, trash service, etc.)
However, it’s a bit like Grandma’s house. They really needed to update the cabinets when they did the counter tops, some paint needs touching up, the faucets and fixtures are all entry-level contractor grade. The dishes are Corelle, and the kitchen is missing a few things that I would normally expect (paper towels? coffee maker but no filters or starter pack of coffee). No laundry units in individual rooms. Window unit A/C in both bedrooms and the living room.
They have a happy hour from 4-6 each day where drinks are $5, and the regular prices are like $8-10. The restaurant food has reasonable prices, comparable with restaurants in the area.
There are daily activities like beach yoga, shell collecting, fishing in the marina behind the resort. Overall the resort is very quiet. No umbrellas on the beach but plenty of loungers given the crowd levels.
The pool has inexplicably cloudy water, I need to ask about that. Not many people have been swimming but it has been 60-70 degrees and rainy for the first two days we have been here. I prefer the ocean anyways.
The snorkeling directly offshore is some grass beds, with soft coral, occasionally some encrusting coral, brain coral and sponges, with lots of juvenile fish. I did run into a turtle. There is a grass bed in very calm water that is close to shore and has a ton of colorful juvenile reef fish and a few urchins - it would be great for novice snorkelers. The beach is called Silver Point Beach on Google Maps.
I wouldn’t plan a luxury trip here, but considering how close the flights are to Miami and near-permanent availability in short stays and/or certificates, it was great for a very last-minute trip on a peak travel week in March. If I had a long weekend and just wanted a beautiful peaceful beach, I would do a trip here again.
Also, apparently the internet everywhere on the island is bad. Usually our T-mobile plan gets us free 3G or 4G service everywhere international... but it's throttled to 256k in the Bahamas. The resort wifi is super slow and spotty in the room, and that is apparently common to most of the resorts. I would definitely recommend an e-SIM data plan with several GB of data for a weeklong trip. We found unlimited 4G/5G data for $30 for a 5-day plan on holafly.
From the Tripadvisor reviews, I was worried there would be no hot water and black mold. But it’s a solid 3.5 star. We did have an issue with a window, but maintenance fixed it within an hour. Plenty of hot water, new dishwasher, granite counter tops, no daily housekeeping but every day they have called and asked if we need anything (towels, trash service, etc.)
However, it’s a bit like Grandma’s house. They really needed to update the cabinets when they did the counter tops, some paint needs touching up, the faucets and fixtures are all entry-level contractor grade. The dishes are Corelle, and the kitchen is missing a few things that I would normally expect (paper towels? coffee maker but no filters or starter pack of coffee). No laundry units in individual rooms. Window unit A/C in both bedrooms and the living room.
They have a happy hour from 4-6 each day where drinks are $5, and the regular prices are like $8-10. The restaurant food has reasonable prices, comparable with restaurants in the area.
There are daily activities like beach yoga, shell collecting, fishing in the marina behind the resort. Overall the resort is very quiet. No umbrellas on the beach but plenty of loungers given the crowd levels.
The pool has inexplicably cloudy water, I need to ask about that. Not many people have been swimming but it has been 60-70 degrees and rainy for the first two days we have been here. I prefer the ocean anyways.
The snorkeling directly offshore is some grass beds, with soft coral, occasionally some encrusting coral, brain coral and sponges, with lots of juvenile fish. I did run into a turtle. There is a grass bed in very calm water that is close to shore and has a ton of colorful juvenile reef fish and a few urchins - it would be great for novice snorkelers. The beach is called Silver Point Beach on Google Maps.
I wouldn’t plan a luxury trip here, but considering how close the flights are to Miami and near-permanent availability in short stays and/or certificates, it was great for a very last-minute trip on a peak travel week in March. If I had a long weekend and just wanted a beautiful peaceful beach, I would do a trip here again.
Also, apparently the internet everywhere on the island is bad. Usually our T-mobile plan gets us free 3G or 4G service everywhere international... but it's throttled to 256k in the Bahamas. The resort wifi is super slow and spotty in the room, and that is apparently common to most of the resorts. I would definitely recommend an e-SIM data plan with several GB of data for a weeklong trip. We found unlimited 4G/5G data for $30 for a 5-day plan on holafly.
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