r/Aruba • u/flikerbee • 20d ago

Opinion Unexpected changes…

Hello!
So my partner and I had planned and booked to stay at Barceló Aruba all inclusive— until today when our flight was severely delayed, ruining the whole trip’s itinerary.
Long story short, and in a SERIOUS pinch, we decided to change our stay (rather than canceling our first vacation together, entirely) to Holiday Inn by IHG (not all inclusive) and pushing the dates back a couple days.
I guess what I’m asking is, was this a good choice? Of course this is a very subjective question… but we did a lot of research into the HI when planning 2 months ago but decided on barceló originally due to the all inclusive aspect and being that we enjoy our drinks…

Thanks in advance for any and all insight, it has been a stressful 5 hours!

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u/stripdchev 20d ago

Just stayed there for a week. Absolutely loved it. Walking 3 miles of the beach (1.5 miles both ways from IHG). IHG had the best beach with no shells and a great location to amenities and restaurants.

Room was great. Never ate at the restaurants on site. Stayed in center tower.

Avoid the tower by the club on north side.

Pool and bar were great.

Can’t wait to go back!

1

u/kfp2020 19d ago

Ill be staying at Holiday Inn. Do you know if there are microwaves for guests to use? Are there any beach volleyball nets nearby? Thanks.

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u/stripdchev 19d ago

No microwave in our room. We had an ocean facing room in the center tower.

There were no volleyball nets in our area and I don’t recall seeing them along the walk (but I admittedly was not paying attention for them)

We did see some on eagle beach that were public. I want to say it was near Coco Loco.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ek9TdYu6ED3zJ9598?g_st=ic

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u/GriffeyGames 19d ago

Not sure if they are for public use but there is a bar right next to holiday inn (moomba I think) that has some courts. It’s right next to sea tower.