Aruba Trip Part Nine

Call it a religious experience.............no other words can describe the feeling I get while on the beach at sunset. It had been a good vacation overall. Unfortunately there are things that happen which try to distract and take away from good times like this. No big deal, really...........in spite of any kind of problems we kept focus on the importance of enjoying ourselves.

The Occidental Grand Hotel in Aruba may have been pretty grand at one time in the past. For some reason.......our experience at this resort was a bit disappointing. Having travelled to other resorts throughout the Caribbean, we found that the Occidental left much to be desired. In the grand scheme of things I am easily pleased and I am not the kind of person to nitpick over the details........but some things must be mentioned. The island of Aruba is called "One Happy Island".........it is even on their license tags.............but it became evident immediately upon our arrival at the Occidental Grand, that happiness is not always the case. I could not help but notice the lack of smiling faces on the employees of the resort. Often, I had to encourage or prompt a smile out of the staff. The entire staff, with the exception of the bartenders, seemed to be depressed or bored............they give the impression that they are not happy to see us. Mind you, I do not travel to see the people necessarily, but the location...............but the people should very much be a part of that location. They are the ones that greet you, take care of you, help you find your way, and serve you. You are paying good money for all of this. Maybe the difference is that Aruba is not a third-world kind of place. Maybe they are not so grateful as people in the Dominican or Jamaica.....or even Mexico. At times, it seemed that only the numerous iguanas that roamed the resort were willing to even greet you. This is NOT how a resort should be operated.

Usually, I would only expect the minimum of service and accommodations.......that way, if after I arrive and things are way better than that.......well........then I am pleasantly surprised. But this time, I was expecting a bit more than the minimum. This was a mistake on my part.

Ordinarily, when I write about my travels, I include photos of the hotel lobby and various rooms. This time, I did not even bother to take pictures of that. Maybe I should have taken pictures of the hallway outside of the elevators and how the staff laid numerous towels to soak up the water from the leaky windows and roof. Maybe I should have taken a picture of the terrible view from our balcony...........well........we could see the ocean, but we had a much larger view of a parking lot strewn with debris and loaded with flooded areas of water. It was just not a pleasant view. I would not have minded the location but obviously somebody doesn't know that they ought to take care of the landscaping in this area as they do the rest of the resort.

The beach.........Palm Beach.........is a public beach.............thankfully. The beach is clean and tidy and the resort has no authority over it. Overall, the grounds of the resort is rather nice.......the pool is well kept. Many in our group had problems with their rooms and had to request other rooms. Our room was just fine, however..........the maid service was minimal. At other resorts you would always find a towel on the bed, folded into the shape of a flower or animal........it's a nice touch.............but not here at the Occidental..........none of that. On one day we had requested more washcloths and it took four hours to get it. I went to the front desk in the lobby to request an ashtray and was told by the clerk to go back to my room and call housekeeping. Imagine that. Anywhere else and the clerk would make the call right there for you. Apparently, from what others had told me, the number one answer to any problem in the hotel was to "call housekeeping". It is obvious that the Occidental has management problems.........I do not understand why that is, but it is something that should be easily corrected........and I hope that they do. Without a doubt, all resorts eventually show signs of age and wear, and that repairs and improvements must be made. Either the Occidental could care less or they are some slow movers, because I did not get any impression of effort being made. There are no apologies from staff for anything. That is a shame, because this place could be a complete gem.

Usually I take tons of pictures of the food and the people that serve the food. I did not do that at the Occidental. There was nothing fancy here......nothing that I would even call impressive.......nothing "Grand" about it. I would have to rate the food as being "good", yet mediocre when compared to other resorts that we have been. Sure there was plenty of food......but presentation is 80% of the deal.............no food carving or fruit sculpting. No ice sculptures, no happy smiling faces on the servers. It seemed that nobody that worked here was glad to see us. At each sitting for a meal, we were only served a drink once. After that one drink, we never saw another unless we went and asked for it. Other places would have the server keep your drinks full as you sit and eat..........SERVICE!..........but not here at the Occidental. Without a doubt this is a management problem.........maybe even more than that.........maybe it is a corporate policy problem and I cannot fault the managers.

Would I go back to the Occidental?............maybe. Would I try some other resort in Aruba..........more likely.

Now about Aruba itself. We primarily kept ourselves to the resort and as a result did not get to experience what all Aruba has to offer. Those that did venture out and about had good things to say about their experiences. I can say that if there is a next time, I would want to check it out. From what I could see, Aruba appears interesting and yet it also appears to be a work in progress. If all we would know about Aruba was what we have seen on the news, I doubt most people would go there for a vacation. From what I have seen on the news about the authorities in Aruba, they are inept and worthless, not to mention corrupt as all get-out. From what I have seen with my own eyes, the police handle a situation in a very limited fashion.......in other words........you might be better dealing with a problem in your own way. It is no wonder that the Holloway family has gotten no justice. Maybe these Aruban police are way too "happy".

To sum it all up, I would say that Aruba's Palm Beach is one of the best that I have been and worth the trip. As to the Occidental Grand.............other than it's location and it's wonderful pool...........you might want to stay at the Hyatt or the RIU.

The ride home was long. In all of my travels, I never had the opportunity to see the sunset from the plane. I was always on the wrong side of the plane or the plane was heading in the opposite direction. This time, I got to see something I had never seen before...........and it was awesome. This picture does nothing to show you what I saw.......it was way better than this.


So we are a bit toasted than ever before......hehehe.........but that's okay...........we will do it again someday soon.

That's it for now, folks.........until I return from our trip to Florida.

Stay tuned!

Aruba Trip Part Eight

There is one special aspect to every vacation that I go on that must be mentioned here. Whether it is the Dominican, Jamaica, Cancun, or even Aruba......as wonderful as these places are, I would not enjoy being there without my wife Supernurse.

Nothing makes me happier than to spend these times with her.

I am a lucky man. Here we are cavorting around in the pool at the Occidental Grand Hotel in Aruba. It just doesn't get much better than this.

As to the rest of the group...........it was decided that everyone would meet on the beach for the annual vacation photo for Chesapeake Medical Staffing. They do this every year. It was Monday, right before the majority of us loaded up onto the Rumba for that snorkeling excursion.

This is a great group of people and it is always a pleasure to be in their company.
Nobody ever takes a picture of the people that take the picture.........that is until now. You have seen the group together and now you can see what they were looking at......hehehe. If I remember correctly, the dude in the dark blue shirt was not a part of our group......he was a NY Giants fan. Even though he knew everyone in our group were Raven maniacs, he offered to help out with the pictures. Nice guy...........and a testimony that no matter where you go....you will encounter people that you become friends with..........even if they are Giants fans......hehehe.

Okay.......so I didn't take the final group shot........I was part of the group.........but I did take a side shot...........yes.........yet another "action photo" moment. Get the impression that these folks enjoyed themselves?

I know that my wife, Supernurse, was enjoying herself. Nothing makes me happier than to see her doing what she loves to do. One of the things she loves to do is lay on the beach.......soaking up the sun......while reading a book. Occasionally, she will pick up the camera and aim it in my direction.

Of course that direction would be in the water where I loitered around with a bubba-keg full of Balashi. I spent alot of my time in Aruba, right there doing exactly as you can see in these pictures.

When I wasn't in the water, I was under a palapa taking a break from the hot sun. I did not want to burn into a crisp, as others did. This was my view as I looked straight in front of me.

This is the Rumba.........the 70 foot catamaran that took our group snorkeling. It was docked at a pier located in front of the Hyatt Hotel........right next to our hotel.

Along the beach there was the Rumba................

.......and the rump-ba..........hehehe.

There were these small huts located on the beach.....very colorful.

The only hut that really mattered, though, was the beach bar. Since this is all-inclusive, we could continually get refills all day long. "More Balashi, please!". I managed to get the bartender to give us an "action photo" pose..........click!

There was one creature that probably drank more than the vacationers...........this bird. It is called the "Sugar Thief".......and it loves things that are sweet........particularly assorted flavors of booze. These birds swoop down and perch themselves on the tops of the liquor bottles and go for the gusto. I wonder how they are even able to fly......is there such a thing as flying while under the influence? These are brave and daring little birds and are found throughout the isand of Aruba.

Meanwhile, back on the beach.................can you spot Ole Signtopia in the water?

...........yeah......that's me........the smart one in the t-shirt.......hehehe.

Balashi gets to tasting pretty good after a few days.............and I had more than my share of it.

This is the life!.........No stress...........No problems.......beautiful weather..........warm water.........no rocks..........no seaweed.............no sharks..............no undertow..............I am a lucky man.

No.......I wasn't staring at the woman walking along the beach.........I was looking at Supernurse as she clicked away on the camera aimed in my direction.

Hmmmm......it looks like I was thinking hard about something.......nahhhhhh......I had just realized that I needed a Balashi refill......hehehe.

Some people go swimming.....some people actually float in the water effortlessly.......me?........I simply did whatever I could do to enhance the pleasure of the moment...............I headed for more Balashi.

Ahem..........I know it is difficult for some of you readers out there to see the "pond scum" ......but I assure you that it is there.

I really like this beach....it is one of the best.

Okay.......here is a closer look at the "pond scum". Often, while in the water, large numbers of the Chesapeake Medical Staffing group would interlock their floats and gab away as they drank and burnt in the tropical sun.

This ain't no Ocean City. This is MY kind of beach.

And look at God's artwork..................if I never go anywhere again, at least I can safely say that I saw this with my own eyes.

It can be a cruel world out there..........but seeing this kind of thing gives me more "hope" than an Obama speech to a group of ACORN workers. I would not hesitate to make another trip to this place.

So here I am, writing on this blog, at home, preparing for yet another adventure. This one won't be anywhere outside of the United States and it certainly won't be a strange place unknown to me. I am heading to Florida for a week beginning Friday.

I can only wonder what I shall encounter.

Aruba Trip Part Five

While in Aruba, each evening was spent socializing, feasting on the abundant assorted foods, more socializing,..........and then finding my way to the hotel casino. It was very convenient to have a casino on the premises of the hotel. Even though the casino was not huge in size......way smaller than what you would find in Charlestown, WVA.....but much larger than what you would find on a cruise ship. Along with slot machines, there was poker, craps, and roulette. In the casino there is a bar and each night a three-piece band would perform. They were pretty good actually............except I got tired of hearing "Sweet Caroline" every night. It seems that "Sweet Caroline" is very popular in Aruba......I do not know why that is........for all I know it could be their national anthem.......hehehe.

For some reason I did pretty good on the slot machines. Ordinarily, one would hope to maintain.....or at least be able to spend alot of time enjoying the games with only spending a minimal amount of money. If you only intend to spend 40 dollars per night and you can win enough to play for 4 or 5 hours before you ultimately lose that 40 bucks....well.....you did pretty good. Think of it as reasonable entertainment costs. The slot machines at this particular casino, though, seemed to be a bit looser than at other places that I have been. Not all of the machines were loose, but it appeared that I was fortunate enough to sit at the few that were.

It has been said to look for the slot machines located nearest to the entrances or stairs or elevators. Those are alleged to be looser so that passersby might be lured into spending some time in the casino themselves...........if they see somebody winning they will want join in. If they hear a machine making alot of noise, that does the trick as well. Obviously there is a science to the operation of a casino.....they have it all figured out. Ultimately, the odds will be that the house is hard to beat............they will get every dime that you bring and they will get every dime that you have won.........unless, of course, you are very lucky or at least are able to find a strategy that works for you. I am not so stupid that I cannot figure out that these slot machines are computerized and computers are PROGRAMMED to function in certain ways. I keep that in mind whenever I play a slot machine. While I would love to rake in a lot of cash every time I play, I am realistic and know full well that the likelihood of anyone getting rich participating in gambling of any kind is the equivalent of getting hit by a bus while selecting ground beef inside your local grocery store.

But I can safely say that I was fully entertained each night in the casino. If I lost any money, I would win it back. For some reason I was calculatingly lucky. I DID sit at the machines nearest the entrance of the casino. It was those particular machines that I was able to "maintain" and then some.

Here was one where I ended up hitting for $118.75.......not bad for a penny machine.

And there was the one slot machine that I nailed for $332.00!

This machine paid out in nickels. The machine only holds $120 worth of nickels at a time. I went way over that and could not cash out unless an attendant came and handed me the cash.

I really enjoyed the casino at the Occidental Grand hotel in Aruba :)

It was a great vacation and this was icing on the cake.

Stay tuned........more to come.

Aruba Trip Part Four

Sometimes, even when you are away on a trip far, far, away from home, certain things are necessary for some of us to do in order to satisfy the urges to root for the home team, the Baltimore Ravens. We tried hard to find some way to watch the football game on Sunday against the Oakland Raiders. Our hotel, the Occidental Grand, has several tv screens in the lobby, the casino, and two at the pool bar.....not to mention the tv's in each of our rooms. The problem was, the hotel did not have a satellite or cable subscription that actually had a channel that would broadcast our particular game. The only game showing at the hotel was to be the NY Giants game.........sorry.......that ain't gonna work for some of us folks from Baltimore.

We were told that TGI Fridays.......just a short walk down the road from our hotel.......would be our best bet to see our game since they have numerous screens. It was a no-brainer.......a small contingent of us proceeded to hit the road and find that TGI Friday place..........it is GAME TIME!

Upon our arrival, we immediately queried the bartender about our game........he checked with someone, came back and said "Yes!, we can get it!". Ooooooh Yeah!. He proceeded to put our game on one of the screens and we sat down at the bar. Soon a few others from our hotel showed up to join us.

One of the staff at TGI Fridays, while standing at the front door, greeted me as returned from stepping outside for a moment. She points to my shirt and smiles and says "My last name is Raven!".........Imagine that!.........this has to be an omen............what are the odds that we are in Aruba at a TGI Fridays so far away from home and somebody says their name is Raven? I just had to get a picture.
I gotta tell you, the people who work at this particular TGI Fridays were extremely friendly and helpful. I wished they had worked back at the hotel.

The two at the end of the bar were Oakland Raiders fans..........us vs. them....hehehe.....we had them out numbered. Actually they were also very friendly and appeared to have enjoyed the game even though the ultimate outcome was disappointing for them.

Don't be fooled by the guy with the Bears jersey on......he was with us..........and the Bears had a bye week. We all cheered and watched the game as we drank our drinks and ate our food. I must tell you.............these women got into the game more than the guys did............and much much louder too.....hehehe.

So what did I drink while watching the big game?..............Balashi, of course.

The game ended......the Ravens won.......we were all happy........and we headed back to our hotel.

TGI Fridays is located in an outdoor shopping center. This is how it looked from the front door of the restaurant. At the center of the photo, just past those columns, is a swimming pool.......imagine that. Also, in that same pool, is a fountain which incorporates pyrotechnics. Nice.

This is the entrance arch to the shopping center.

This is what it looks like as you approach the TGI Fridays.

Apparently, this place is rather new. It is very clean and certainly not low-budget.

One of the other restaurants in the center.

When on vacation, you have to take a photo of one of the buses.

It is very upscale and interesting here........much to look at.

This is a view along the sidewalk in front of the shopping center. I enjoy seeing good landscaping and signage.

Oh well........we stood for a few minutes and then headed down the road.

Speaking of down the road.........this is the Holiday Inn where Natalee Holloway was staying. As you probably know, she went missing......never to be found. After seeing this area and spending some time here I never ever got any impression of danger. Unless one puts themself in a dangerous situation where you are vulnerable and away from your group.......it is safe here.

As I look down the road, everything is tidy.............at times it felt like the set of that old tv show The Prisoner.

As I walked, I looked everywhere around me..........in every crook and nanny.

This is a Yellow Bus. My guess it is a cab more than it is a bus. Why don't we have these vehicles here at home?

As some of you may know, I spent a decent part of my life making signs. I also made alot of traffic signs but I never made any such as these.

Here is an employee of the shop behind her. She was just standing there and I told her that I wanted to see a nice big smile. She smiled and I snapped the picture. Sometimes you have to make people smile................perhaps she was having a bad day.

The Playa Linda hotel was two doors away from our hotel. From the front it looked rather nice.

Along the way there are various establishments such as Smokey Joe's.

We kept marching back towards our hotel............it seemed a bit different heading back......maybe it was the Balashi......hehehe.

I noticed the trees were very unusual.

Ahhhhh we are almost there........the Hyatt was next door to our hotel.

Now here is an odd looking tree.

Hooters is right across the street from the Occidental Grand......so is the Benihana. I didn't bother with going over there.............everything was paid for where we were staying.


Finally.........we are back at the Occidental Grand hotel.........it was a nice walk and even better.........the Ravens won!

Just inside these doors and across from the front desk is the hotel casino.

And guess who nailed the Harvey Korman & Tim Conway slot machine for $80...?????

I did.

Stay tuned......more to come.