As promised here is a quick Spring Break Aruba trip report.
We booked this trip in February so only about 6 weeks before our trip. I booked our flights through the CSR UR Portal. I could have transferred points to Jet Blue and paid with less points, but the taxes and fees were high so I decided to just the portal. Total cost for airfare was about $2620 so we used 174,908 UR points. We each earned over 1000 miles True Blue points for our points. I love family pooling on Jet Blue! We also love flying Jet Blue. I feel like the seats are comfortable and the televisions are reliable. I love that they give you as many snacks and drinks as you want. We have always had good experiences with them.
We decided to rent a car so we could have more flexibility exploring the island. We rented from Drive 4 Cheap and it was $195 for our 6 days. They met us right outside the airport we signed a few papers and we were on our way. It was so easy and I would definitely use them again!
We stayed our first night at the Renaissance Aruba Resort. The resort is 35,000 points and I had a free night certificate from my Marriott Bonvoy card. This resort is actually 2 hotels the Marina which is adults only and the Ocean Suites. Because we have kids we stayed in the Ocean Suites and there was an extra $102.50 charge. We really enjoyed staying here. It is really close to the airport and has lots of shopping and restaurants nearby. They also have a private island with flamingos which was our main motivation staying here. (I feel conflicted about this because I know their wings are clipped, but once my kids saw pictures it was a must do.) The island is beautiful and we spent a fun day there. The pools at the hotel were good too and their happy hour has $4 drinks and $2.50 smoothies for the kids which was fantastic.
The next 5 nights we stayed at the Aruba Marriott Stellaris. It is 50,000 points per night and with the 5th night free we used 200,000 points. There wasn't any extra resort or parking fees which was nice. This resort is located in the high rise section of the island on Palm Beach. The hotel is great and even though I think we must have had the worst views in the hotel (they checked for an upgrade, but said there wasn't anything available) I loved our location. We could get from our room to the pool in 1 minute and only another 2 minute walk to the beach! It is busy and if you want a seat by the pool in the shade you need to be down fairly early. They have an online system to reserve a Palapa on the beach which worked out really well for us one day. You have to be on the resort at 4:00 to reserve for the next day so it's not super convenient, but if you are there it is easy to do. The pool was fun with waterfalls, a volleyball net and a bar in the pool. The beach was gorgeous with white sand and warm water.
We also used 19,200 UR points to go snorkeling with the Jolly Pirates one morning. This was one of the highlights of our trip. The workers were fun, there was an open bar, the snorkeling was meh, but the rope swing was awesome.
We rented a jeep to explore the other side of the island one day. We rented from More 4 Less for $160 for the day. You need a 4x4 to get to the natural pool in Arikok National Park and it was an awesome day. We visited the donkey sanctuary, went off roading down to the natural pool and visited the caves.
The rest of the time we spent at the pools and the beach. We went parasailing right from the Marriott beach and walked to dinner most nights. Because we have kids we didn't do as many nice dinners as we would like, but we enjoyed the Bugaloe Beach Bar and Moomba's Bar was fun also.
This was such a fun Spring Break and it was a fun and easy island to explore with kids. Let me know if anyone has any questions!