My stay at the Aruba Radisson was absolutely spectacular. The staff is second to none, from Grace at the reception desk to Rosa and Theo at the Laguna Restaurant, to Louisa of the housekeeping staff. Each and every one of them could not have been more helpful. We first stayed at the property in 1974 when it was the Aruba Caribbean hotel. We returned in 2004 and have been coming back almost every year since. The one thing that brings us back is the consistency in the accomodations, service and attentiveness of the staff. At the Radisson you don't have to get up at 5:30 am reserve your palapa on the beach. At 4 in the afternoon you get on line, a short one, and pick your spot for the next day. The biggest improvement I saw this year from last year is the availiability of WiFi access the rooms. The property is lush with vegetition and it is truly a tropical paradise. There is no question in my mind that we will returning next year. In 2 years it will be 40 years since my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Aruba. Maybe we will take our family there and renew our vows.

I am not sure I have ever stayed at a Radisson before, but it was incredible! The rooms are so nice, newly renovated and comfortable. The resort is located on a beautiful beach and across the street from some great restaurants and evening entertainment. Their spa is so nice, big and new! Great pool ..really everything was nice. I looked at all of the hotels in Aruba and I would say that the Radisson and the Hyatt are hands down the best options.

This was my fifth Aruba vacation and second stay at the Radisson, the first being almost eight years ago. My, how things have changed! In 2004 the Radisson was the clear winner among the high rises. The competition has become fierce, however, and one would think everyone would step up their games. Not so. It's clear that the once-impeccible grounds and beach have taken a hit. Here are some of the shortcomings of my most recent stay:

The grounds are not unkempt, however it is not the perfectly manicured and groomed property it once was. I observed several minor maintenance issues, though they did not detract from our stay.

We reserved a room with a king bed, yet were given twins. We switched to a room two doors down the next day. No big deal.

The remote for the king size AeroBed was malfunctioning and difficult to use. I did not report the issue.

A dead bird appeared right next to the walk at the outdoor elevator lobby and remained there for two days until we reported it. We reserved a beach umbrella one day and found the area littered with lipstick-stained cigarette butts. There was also an empty beer bucket stuffed up in the umbrella. Though still a beautiful resort, the goundskeeping was definitely not up to par.

The pool cabana rental ($25) on another day was a complete bust, as it turns out the cabanas are favored by both cigar smokers and families with young, screaming children. Also, one of the zippers for the side closures was broken and would not allow us to block out the cigar smoke from our neighbor. The coup de grace was the fact that the cabanas surround the pool that seems to attract the kids. Heads up.

Some of the same things that personalize this resort can also become annoyances. Take the pool area; the beautiful and entertaining parrots are quite loud in and can be heard over headphones and inside the rooms with doors/windows closed. Poolside Bingo and music-driven exercise classes disrupt the otherwise tranquil afternoons. Happy Hour at Gilligans runs daily from 4 to 6 and features live music. While far from a Spring Break blowout, I was surprised by the amount of activity at the lagoon-like pools.

The concierge staff refused to book our prepaid airport return transfer for anything that would not allow for at least three hours at the airport. This forced us to leave the hotel at 1:30 for a 5:40 flight, then sit around for more than two hours at the gate. There was some traffic, and customs is slow, but you need no more than two hours to get through it all. Do yourself a favor and forgo the prepaid transfers - a taxi ride to the airport is ~$25 with tip and well worth it.

The breakfast buffet was excellent in 2004. Unfortunately, the new casino took about 2/3 of the space previously alotted for the restaurant. The new buffet area is not unlike the free breakfast you might encounter at a Quality Inn. For $25+ a head you will be disappointed and quickly figure out that the walk across the beach to Dunkin' Donuts or across the street to Five Burgers is well worth it.

We called down at 8am on departure day and requested a 1pm checkout. It was granted. The room phone rang at 12:15. The employee asked if we had a late checkout, and if so, for what time.

The itemized food/beverage bill was incomprehensible. The staff explained that they "break up" the charges to better suit the allowance credited on our account. With no receipts from the bars/restaurants we were left to accept this explanation. Beware.

Despite all these negatives, I give the overall experience an average rating based on the friendly staff, clean rooms, excellent beach, and convenient location. I'll be back to Aruba but may try another place next time.

This was our fourth time at this resort, the first in the late fall/early winter. We greatly enjoyed our stay here, except as noted by the beach situation below. The weather was great, except for a few passing storms and even then the skies cleared up. The resort itself is beautiful, with parrots, iguanas, and fish (a great favorite of ours). Service is excellent and the our room was always clean and in great shape. The breakfast package is ideal and the breakfast restaurant is located near the fish pond, which is fantastic. We spent the majority of our time on the beach, which is generally very clean and well maintained. As others have mentioned the Palapa system requires you to stand in line, often at 3:30 PM or earlier to get an ocean-view space. The view was amazing and the ocean warm and beautiful.

Unfortunately, for three days during our stay cruise ships would discharge dozens of passengers and send them to the Radisson beach where vendors would place rows of umbrellas in front of us. An entire side of the beach was filled with noisy, inconsiderate people from the ship who would block out access to the waterfront. What is the point of standing in line to get a beach front Palapa if you are going to be behind two rows of people not even from the hotel? Many people during our stay complained that this was extremely inconsiderate and irresponsible on the part of the hotel, since the cruise people seemed to be exclusively concentrated en masse on the Radisson beach. Although in the past some people have come to visit the beach, it has never been in such numbers. Even though the beaches are "public," clearly the Radisson beach was getting excessive attention by the cruise lines. We did not appreciate paying the hotel for upkeep of the beach so that 30 + people could come lie in front of us.