I just recently came back from my first trip to Aruba and I stayed at the Divi All-Inclusive for 10 days. Overall, I enjoyed my stay there, but am not positive that I would stay there again if I were to go back to Aruba. The Divi is in a fairly good location, it's right on the beach, which is beautiful, and is in between the downtown area and the high-rise hotels. Here are some of my thoughts on the resort. The restaurants, of which you have 4 to chose from between the Tamarijn and Divi, were really good. I wasn't sure what to expect from an all-inclusive restaurant, but all were really good, my favorate being Ginger. I relaxed by the pool most days rather than the beach, and I found that the pool was always extremely clean and the lounge chairs were fantastic! They are cushioned and extremely comfy. There are 2 pools at the Divi, one main one and another smaller, more private one. I stayed at the main one, which isn't that big either, but there were always available poolside seats. I never had to wake early just to get a seat as I have had to do at other hotels. Besides the restaurants that I mentioned, there are also 2 snack bars and 2 buffets between the Divi and Tam. The buffets were so-so. Nothing too great, but eatable. The snack bars were great - good for lunch and especially for late-night snacking! They are open until 1am. Both have wood-fire ovens and make great pizza! The rooms were probably the worst part of the hotel. The bathrooms were border-line gross. They always seemed clean but you could tell they were old and not well maintained. I was also disappointed that there were not swim-up bars in the pools, but there were plenty of bars right next to the pool to accomodate my drinking needs. The hotel had a wide range of types guests - MANY were from Boston (like myself), there were honeymooners and other young couples, middle-aged couples, and families (many from Holland as recognized by there foreign tongue). It wasn't really the party place (from what I heard the party hotel in Aruba is the Holiday Inn suprisingly enough), but there was always entertainment and people out and about. Like I said in the beginning, the overally impression I had was good but not great. I wished the room was better eventhough I was barely in it. Also, I was originally in a garden-view room, and switched to a beach-side, which I highly recommend. There's no "garden" in the garden-views, there's really no view at all.

My husband and I decided to go back to Aruba and celebrate our 20th anniversary. We had honeymooned at the Divi and that is why we wanted to stay there again. I knew it had been refurbished and was now an all inclusive so we wanted to give it a try. Well, we weren't disappointed. It was terrific. We had an oceanfront room with a balcony that faced the beach and water. The view was spectacular. The rooms are very plain, so don't expect luxury. They are clean, though and you don't spend much time in your room anyway. The food there was also great. You could eat at any of the bars and restaurants at the Divi Aruba or at the resort next door, The Tamarijn. You never get tired of the food because of the variety. The bars serve top shelf liquor and have many "drinks of the day". It's alot of fun. We went to see some friends down in the high rise hotel area one afternoon. Their beach was crowded and small. The beach at the Divi is wide and really spread out so people aren't all clumped together. We decided we liked the feel of the Divi resort better than staying at some huge high rise with a small strip of beach. We would definitely stay there again. Aruba is a friendly place that you must get to visit at least once in your life.

Just got back from 6 nights at the Divi. We celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary with children and grandchildren so we booked 4 rooms. We were steps away from the beach in the Vista I and never had any problems with checking in or the staff, we had a 7 year old with us and everyone down to the bartenders got to know him and treated him wonderful.

We renewed our vows on the beach at sunset which Lorraine at the Tamarign handled in advance. She did a wonderful job in setting everything up for us down to offering us a photographer who wanted to take pictures for free since he was just starting out. He gave us a CD the next day, and yes, we tipped him.

Rooms - When you read these reviews you get worried. All I can say is my husband and I travel alot and stay in 5 star hotels. So I prepared myself for the worse and I was surprised when I got there. Our bathroom was clean and no mold they talk of. Our linens and towels were changed everyday and swept. We did tip the maid in the beginning 20 bucks for the week.

Bartenders - Eric, Charles and John were the best, they always took care of us and yes with having 2 granchildren and 8 of us adults we tipped them very good.

Golf carts - Never had to wait less then 4 minutes for one and when we got there Filo told us "he would take care of us and he did" Nice man and yes we tipped him in the beginning.

Buffet - the food was very good. It changes with each theme every night. At lunch they had the crispiest lettuce for not growing lettuce on the island. Yes, we tipped the staff there and when I left I tipped the cooks $5, each for the week.

Restaurants - Keep in mind we had 10 of us but we always had reservations early on even before we left home.
Red Parrott - food good, people not so nice or friendly.
Paparazzi - very rude all of them, food good.
Palm Grill - not friendly but they are not rude, cook your own food.
At these restaurants dont even try to be nice cause they dont know how to smile. I sure hope the hotels take care of this problem we tipped for 10 of us anywhere from 30 - 40 dollars to these people. Never again unless they smile and quit ignoring people. Not just us everyone.

Tipping - You dont have to tip. But you find out quick that it works.
These people work for low salary and thats what they live for there so you have to understand this before you go. Think about it you would be tipping in a great restaurant somewhere else so even a small tip is good to them. We were prepared for the tipping end of it so all 8 of us put money aside for that reason.
When we ate at the buffet for breakfast we would tip then 2 bucks and lunch nothing cause it was the same people, but if we returned at night we would tip at the buffet again. Again this is all entirely up to the individuals. We chose to do this.

Beach - You can not beat the beach at the Divi, absolutely clear blue water and white sand. It was great. Huts, well we took turns getting up because it s just like the reviews say, you wont get one by 7 a.m. for the whole day. We got up at 5:45 a.m. along with most of the people there to reserve one. Pool you can get a lounge chair any time of day. It was a great vacation and we will be returning there for our "family vacations"

My girlfriend and I just returned from our trip and I must say we had 7 nights of FUN! The restaurants were all good. I loved the asian one and we enjoyed the Italian restaurant too. Our server, Jack was excellent and most accomodating!
Another Jack was a bartender at the Divi and he was the best bartender there! For some reason the bar was always filled when he poured.
The rooms were lovely. We were in 520. Everything is close to either the bars, restaurants or water.

I would recommend this place again and most likely will return next year with folks we met. A truly great time!!!!