Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort Aruba - Beach Resort & Casino Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Aruba

The pier

With plenty of beachfront, the hotel is a prime spot for families toting kids and young teens. Baby oglers, book your tickets now -- I've never seen more cute kids in a concentrated area.

The Holiday Inn is a beach scene. Guests head to the sand early in the morning and stay there all day, availing themselves of the outdoor Iguana Pool Bar (open from 11 a.m. to midnight) and maritime-themed Sea Breeze Grill. On the beach, four-post thatched structures give shelter to fully reclined blue-and-white beach chairs. Some guests migrate to the two connected pools during midday, either to be closer to the restaurants or to soak in the twin bubbling Jacuzzis.

The lobby, an open-air ode to light pink tiles and waist-high crowd-control stanchions, is not air conditioned. The Canastas Lobby Bar is the hotel's most popular spot for Aruba's native Balashi beer.

Although it took me more than a half hour to check in, the time allowed me to hear the lobby staff speaking Spanish, English, and Papiamento, the local Creole dialect. The guests I met were mostly from South America, the northeastern United States, Canada, and Europe.

Some guests went for the all-inclusive package, but others -- like me -- preferred to forgo the cheap rum punch and pay my own way through the breakfast buffet.

Directly across the street is the High-Rise shopping complex, which includes restaurants, the Mr. Jazz music venue, a movie theater, and a variety of shops.

The Holiday Inn gained considerable notoriety for being the hotel where Natalee Holloway was staying in when she disappeared in 2005.

Resort staff updates the welcome board

Upon arrival, I dragged my bags through the main entrance while a team of bellmen sat idly nearby. I waited to check in for more than 30 minutes in the lobby, which was not air-conditioned. After I spent another 10 minutes filling out paperwork, I was instructed to show myself to the room. So I schlepped my bags in the hot sun all the way to the Curacao tower, the furthest building on the property.

When I asked staff members for walking directions, they remained seated on whatever stone or sidewalk they were on and either pointed or mumbled the way. My waiter at breakfast was more than cheery, but forgot to bring me milk for the coffee. Eventually, I got some milk.

It was impossible to order towels to the room. I called housekeeping at 11:30 a.m., and then again at 12:30 p.m., and then again at 12:45 p.m. Eventually, I gave up and headed to the casino. The dealers were the most hospitable personnel I met.

View on a Larger Map

The Aruba airport is farther from the Holiday Inn than it is from most hotels -- about a 30-minute, $30 cab ride (depending on traffic).

The hotel's main entrance is just seconds off Aruba's main road, the thruway that leads directly to downtown Oranjestad, 15 minutes away. The beach is in back of the property, while Tony Roma's restaurant -- highly recommended by locals -- is across the street.

The location feels very safe. Between foot traffic from the High-Rise complex and tourists from a number of neighboring hotels -- the Hyatt, Occidental, Radisson, and others -- the area is well populated at night. For added security, hotel personnel frequent the street outside the hotel.

The High-Rise shopping complex is directly across the street. The High-Rise has many restaurants, including the fabulous Hostaria da Vittoria. There are also a number of nightlife haunts, such as a movie theater and a samba club misleadingly named Mr. Jazz.

The beach

The beach is the Holiday Inn's main attraction. Families spend the day sunning on the hot, fine sand and wading into the warm water. The water is clear and clean but surprisingly aggressive -- every third or fourth wave bowled over at least one hapless kid (or the sand castle thereof).

Plastic lounge chairs, available all over the beach, are set in full recline underneath the hotel's numerous thatched cabanas. Drink service was pretty slow during my visit, but most guests simply get their own drinks, rather than waiting for a staffer to come around.

The view of the horizon from the sand is excellent. At night, as lit cruise ships pull away from shore, the oval yellow glow of the cabin lights recedes like fading stars.

The Ocean View Superior Room

The room's aqua blue bedspreads, clumsy, aged TV, and inadequate yellow lighting looked like something from the '70s. The room had a lingering musk and the bathroom had traces of rust. But overall, the digs weren't dirty so much as dated. As an astute traveler noted on TripAdvisor, the rooms are "your basic Holiday Inn room with carpet and TV."

The carpet, rock-hard from wear, matched the bed's pattern, but was even darker. The few pieces of furniture, most notably a table with a coffeemaker sitting atop, looked like they hadn't been replaced in a very long time.

The massive, king-size bed was plenty comfortable, as was the lounge chair next to the minifridge.

All rooms come with a balcony. Mine peered directly over the cabanas below and into the water. At night, when Aruba's tiny coastline glistened with hazy yellows and whites, the view became all the more outstanding. While my balcony was small, it was nonetheless private. Even with the balcony door open at night, I didn't hear any noise from the common courtyards or beyond the hotel property.

The bathroom boasted the full Garden Botanika lineup: oatmeal and peppermint body soap, peppermint shampoo, and peppermint conditioner. The bathroom sink was a bit grimy, and the caulking around the bathtub was coming up in spots. Still, the bathroom was reasonably clean and had plenty of towels. It's a good thing, too, as my requests for more towels went unanswered (despite calling housekeeping three times for more than an hour).

The 26-inch Philips TV had terrible reception, but it got all the major American networks. The coffeemaker worked, and the coffee wasn't half bad.

Underwater breathing apparatuses

The pool area is split into four sections -- two separate Jacuzzis, a shallow family pool, and a standard pool. The standard pool has a small circular island with beach chairs on it. The chairs are deep enough to get wet, but shallow enough to keep drinks chlorine-free. The Jacuzzis bubble like stew pots, and many guests rotate between both tubs. Why choose? You're on vacation!

A National car rental desk is stationed in the lobby, near the casino. Pelican Watersports occupies the next desk over. VanDrop Sundries & Gift Store, Deli-Dorp Delicatessen, and a fragrance and cosmetics shop highlight the shopping concourse.

The fitness center and Intermezzo Day Spa are next door to one another. The fitness center has a small selection of treadmills and cardio machines, with some looking out onto the beach. The Intermezzo Day Spa offers facials, massages, and various beauty treatments.

During my visit, the Excelsior casino, a one-room gaming spot, was swarming at midnight. Blackjack and craps drew the spectators. The meditative poker section was filled but nearly silent, with one table spilling over with 10 players. I heard the familiar chiming of the slots at 9 a.m. the next morning.

Save a few rusty fixtures and a musty smell, my room was certainly clean. The hallways and elevators were dark and a little shoddy, but dirt-free. In fact, just five minutes after someone broke a glass in the elevator, the mess was cleared and the floor washed.

The lobby and shopping concourses were neat and tidy, but they smelled like a stale mixture of oatmeal and pasta.

Corals Restaurant

The Iguana Pool Bar serves decent burgers, dogs, and other simple American fare. It -- unlike the maritime-themed Sea Breeze Grill -- actually catches most of the sea breeze.

The breakfast buffet at Corals Restaurant is a mob scene. Swarms of breakfasters claw through the food, whether it be omelets, cereal, or pancakes with fruit. Murals of swimming fish hang on the dining room's bright white walls.

During my stay, Cafe Da Vinci was almost empty during breakfast; however, it is the main spot for fine dining in the evenings.

Tony Roma's restaurant, advertised as "famous for ribs," is right across the street. The High-Rise shopping complex is also across the street and has a number of places to dine, including the excellent Hostaria da Vittoria.

• Wedding Size: No clear limit on the number of guests; the property is huge and the hotel has 600 rooms.

• Extra Fees: Extra decorations can add up the final price of a wedding, be it an extra $1.50 for a bag of confetti to $225 for fresh tropical flowers on a wedding arch.

• Wedding Packages: The free, basic wedding package includes a wedding coordinator, minor decorations, a bottle of champagne, one-tier wedding cake, a bouquet and a boutonniere, a dinner for the bride and groom only, and a nondenominational pastor. Other packages range from $800 to $1,990 and include extras such as one hour of photography, one hour of music, breakfast in bed for the bride and groom, and a catamaran sail for the bride and groom.

• Ceremony Location: On the beach or in the garden

• Photographers and Videographers: Photo packages start at $295 for one hour of photography, and each additional hour costs $230; each hour of video costs $295.

• Music: From $50 for recorded background music during the ceremony to $1,650 for a four-piece dance band for three hours

• Food and Drinks: Menu options start at $38 per person per hour for a cocktail reception with hot and cold hors d'oeuvres and an open bar; a plated dinner with wine starts at $50 per person.

• Cakes: From $105, prices vary based on flavor, decoration, and number of layers

• Spa Treatments: The Intermezzo Day Spa offers massages, facials, and hair and nail treatments.

• Honeymoon Suite: There's no special honeymoon suite, but newlyweds usually stay in an Ocean Front Superior Room or a Lanai Room with a beach and ocean view.

• Airport Transportation: Some packages include transporation from the airport for the bride and groom, but all wedding guests will have to take a 30-minute, $30 taxi to the resort.