I stayed at Divi in October. We did not go all inclusive and it was a bit of a pain. I enjoyed the restaurant at Divi (Windows over Aruba) and there's some beach restaurant just north of the resort that's got great reviews.
Flying Fishbone is so damn far away. We probably made our last trip there. There are other restaurants affiliated with the all-inclusive, but I didn't want to have to mess around with wristbands and the like, so have no input there. The Divi beach was solid and if you can get ocean fronting cabins, that'd be the way to go.
ETA: I was very unimpressed with the Alhambra casino (sp?), but I was looking for a book. Sports betting down there looked awful, with the country taking a healthy rake. There were half a dozen BJ tables between 3-10 bucks, but we went during the afternoon. Seemed to get busier in the evening.
The Divi shuts down hard about 9-10. If you want nightlife (possibly outside of the casino), you're going off site.
Nice, I'd like to PM you when we're closer to pick your brain on a few things. For now though, how is it getting chairs in the morning either at the beach or the pool (preferably beach)? Some of the reviews were saying you hadda get up real early on to claim them.
Also, obv you went in October but anybody got anything on weather in mid-June?
Weather shouldn't vary too much year round. Highs around 90, mainly sunny, some wind.
We stayed in Divi Village, near the front pool, so my pool/beach experience probably would be different than yours staying in the all-inclusive.
We wandered down that way a few times and the Cabanaesque places near the pool did seem to fill up early. There's enough beach that I didn't see an issue there at all. Both for the strips of beach immediately in front of the all-inclusive or the larger Divi Beach across from the golf course.
If you have to get up early, I think it would only be for the two trendy pools (one at Tamarinj, one at the all inclusive.)
Cool - are there more than two pools? What we looked up it looked like just the two. Sorry for the total ignorance, but what is Divi Village? Is that the same thing as Tamarinj?
I have stayed at the Links at Divi. The area around the Divi All Inclusive, has the Divi and Tamarijn which are All Inclusives, plus there is Dutch Village, Divi Village and the Divi Links Golf Villas
http://www.mappery.com/maps/Divi-Resort-Aruba-Map.jpg
It is one property but 5 different places. Dutch Village, Divi Village and the Golf Villas are Time Shares. A friend of ours owns a time share in the Golf Villas, that is where we stayed in 2011 and 2012. Since we did the time shares, we did not go All Inclusive, but we did purchase a meal plan, 5 breakfasts/5 dinners for a 7 day stay. Even with the time shares, you can purchase an all inclusive package. We basically just followed the lead of our friends, took some food with us as well as some bottles of booze, then went to the local grocery stores and (IGA and a couple others that i can't remember the names) to buy mainly easy to make snacks and beer. Balashi is the local Aruban beer and is pretty good. I actually like the Polar beer which is from Venezuela. The beach is beautiful, although, from what our friend has said, some erosion has taken place since we were there. but that was mainly at the water's edge.
Between the Tamarijn and Divi there was an opening of beach that went from the road to the water, this is where we went. They had tiki huts with chaise lounges, you would need to get to these in the morning as they do get taken quickly. They were not close to the water, maybe 75yds away, but they did help protect you from the sun. The sun can be brutal. Temps would be about 90-95 rarely any cloud coverage, low humidity and windy (say 10-15 and at times will gust up.)
If you got Irish skin, plan on using at least SPF45 and maybe higher. The water is awesome, clear and warm (say in the 80s) with very little waves, Clear enough that you can see ripples in the sand when you are neck deep. We took those foam noodles with us and would use those to float in the water. I can't remember if you said that kids would be with you, but at times, you may see topless sunbathers/swimmers. Remember, this is more of a European culture than American.
Never went to the Alhambra Casino, but if anything, it is gonna be more slots and table games (my guess as the people that i know that have went there are slot players)
Right off property on the other side of the casino is a little joint called Pizza Bob's, nice little outdoor pizza joint. They do a Chicago style thin crust (not deep dish)
Another restaurant we went to was called the Promenade. If i can remember correctly, it would be like a Tapas place, all you can eat appetizers, but not buffet style.
Can't remember if it was only on the weekend, as we went there usually the 1st/2nd day there (saturday/sunday) but there is an outdoor flea market to get trinkets and shirts/hats/dresses, Cuban cigars. you can usually do a little bit of haggling.
Oh, one other thing about the Divi property, they have, i guess you can call them porters, that will drive you around in golf carts, you can even call the front desk to have them come around to pick you up. This is a great way to get around the property (they only stay on property) But for the grocery store/flea market they will take you close and then it was just a quick walk across the street to some of these places. Then you can tell them what time to pick you up and the will come back to get you.
We wanted a more relaxed vacation so we mainly stayed on the property. Our meal plan was for one restaurant, The Sea Breeze, but we didn't eating here everyday, food was good. Outside seating. There are quite a few pools, (looking at the map) but we only went to the pool in the Golf Villas as that was close to us and right out our balcony door. It did have a swim-up bar, not sure of the others. There was a pool near the Sea Breeze that was smaller, but it did have the bar at Sea Breeze right there.
