Caribbean Palm Village Resort

This is our third year visiting CPVR. We believe this is a hidden treasure. While the resort is not very close to the beach, there is a shuttle that takes you down to several of the beaches. The staff are amazing- Mislady and Laura in activities, and Nia at the pool bar are all especially awesome. I HIGHLY recommend CPVR if you want a relaxing trip to Aruba.

The rooms were very outdated (1985) and there is no shampoo/conditioner in any of the showers. We had a lockoff unit. The people that work there are all super friendly and nice, the pool area/bar area is very nice, but everything shuts down very early. The shuttle bus to the beaches is very deceiving as they DO NOT take you to any of those beaches listed! They take you to their “Reflexions” sister resort which is an extremely run down building with a very dated (1985 again) bar area and pool with trash and broken glass all over the beach. That was Nikki Beach. Then they bring you to Moomba beach which is a tad bit nicer, but nowhere near as nice as Eagle Beach or the others. Our only complaint was the room itself. Our back patio was overlooking the resort’s laundry facilities!!! Oh and maintenance graveyard. Very disappointed in the room itself, but the workers were great and very nice.

Arrived to first room (2 bedroom unit not like set up shown), in back corner of lot very unsafe. We requested new room and they switched us to new room over looking pool (again not like pictures shown) but better area. We noticed bugs, called office and were told was “rain bugs” and requested maintenance come spray, we came back from dinner to find a can of spray by door. There were more bugs when we entered, we sprayed (only in living room and kitchen) and went to bed. Woke up to being swarmed by termites. Went to office, they insisted it was just rain bugs, “it happens”. We showed them pictures. Didnt want to do anything. I called Jetblue vacations, as we booked through them, they called office and insisted we be moved as termites swarmed. Went back to office and they switched us to new room. Maintenance and head of house keeping showed up as we were packing to see what the fuss was. Maintenance head took one look at window were wood eaten away and says “those are termites” New room was fine, not great. Room needs to be updated. Only saying grace was Nia at the pool bar, she was amazing. Resort did nothing to say we are sorry for what happen, really wanted to sweep under rug.

I’d been to numerous Caribbean islands and wanted a Time Share that was safe and did not have a bunch of wild, drunken parties. I fell in love with the people on Aruba, who all speak English, and are very friendly. However, the beach resorts were just too busy. Then I found CPVR (Caribbean Palm Village) that was off the beach (two beautiful pools, one disabled accessible), and they still had free access to a beach. Restaurants at the resort and at the beach as well. The rooms are being refurbished, new air conditioning, and new Wi-Fi better than I have back home. Plus, you can now rent directly or by Air B&B without having to buy weeks. Try it! You will fall in love like I did!

This place was picked for us by our travel club for a last minute get a way. Was a little concerned about some of the reviews but upon arrival found a clean, spacious unit with full kitchen and king size bed. Daily house keeping was great and worthy of a daily gratuity in our opinion. As expected, one pool was shut down for maintenance however reopened during our stay. Pool maintenance is done daily. Did not use any of the guest services as we had our own car but did find they have an ice machine for our cooler, very handy. Beach chairs were available for $5 a day, taking them to Baby Beach & Arashi. The on- sight restaurant served us a super diner and a breakfast with great service, would recommend it. All staff were very friendly and accommodating as was the ever- present security. Outside gate is locked when we got back after sunset, must use room key to open, Liked that ! As for some of the reviews mentioning outdated furniture, rooms ect, our unit in the E building was very satisfactory. What the hey, my furniture isn't new either. The only complaint I can muster is CPVR is not ocean front but guess what, I don't think that's possible. Would stay here again.

My husband and I just returned from staying at this resort for a week with another couple. We stayed in building C in a double unit. The first day our toilet kept backing up and we needed to call maintenance. On day 2 we came home from dinner to find about two inches of sewer water in our shower with about a half inch to three quarters of an inch of water throughout both units. It turned out that the flood had occurred over two hours before we got back and in those two hours the resort did nothing but “call the supervisor on duty.” We found this out because when we went to the office to report it we met people from two other units experiencing the same thing and they had been waiting for over two hours for some sort of cleanup or something to happen. The resort expected us to return to our unit and sleep there! We literally had to argue with them that we would not sleep in a room with standing SEWAGE water throughout. It also smelled like you can only imagine. They finally agreed to move us but to a one bedroom with a pullout couch for the four of us. UNACCEPTABLE. After MUCH persistence they miraculously found two single units for us but told us we needed to be out first thing in the morning because people were checking into those rooms. In the morning we checked our unit and nothing had been cleaned and there was still inches of standing water throughout both units. One cleaning lady finally arrived at about 10 am. At 11am they deactivated the key card to the rooms they put us in for the night so we couldn’t get back in to retrieve our stuff.We told them we did not want to go back to our original room because it smelled like raw sewage. They told us we had no choice. After moving back our toilet continued to back up. On Thursday we complained to the general manager but he was just a talking salesman full of excuses. Then he said he would need to check his emails because he didn’t want to deal with “ he said she said”. This happened on Sunday night and by Thursday you haven’t checked emails!!! He finally gave us our own plunger for the toilet so we didn’t have to keep calling maintenance, two bottles of wine (we don’t drink so we gave them away), and erased our $200 tax fee due at checkout. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very good experience. The buildings are very old, need MAJOR updating throughout. Our safe didn’t work and neither did the fan in our bathroom. Our light switch also had no plate covering so it exposed the wires which were behind the window curtain, major fire hazard.

15 years and it just continues to be special. The staff and bartenders are very friendly. Still dated with many small painting projests that shouuld not be overlooked. Attention to detail would improve the overall appearance. Comfy and clean rooms. The pool was beautiful and the water clear. There are more places being put up around us. (markets, dept store, places to eat) that make not renting a car not so painful. We had a large family that was there take over the pool near easter and it discourage the older guests from going in the water. Security was notified and they made on the spot corrections when needed. (Just wish the parents did). I still recommend renting a car if you are their for a week or more. it will be cheaper than caps. Go to the Highrises or town for excitement, people , and noise. Come home the the CPV for peace.

Our 4-night stay at CPVR was part of a last minute JETBLUE VACATION package for us. So I write this for anyone with that experience in mind too. “Resort” implies more than we experienced but for the price, I suppose some tradeoffs are to be expected. You decide for yourself. PROS: *Friendly, accommodating staff (towels refreshed daily) *Large room (studio had well-stocked kitchenette) *2 decent-sized pools with hot tubs *Good, local, less-touristy restaurants within walking distance *Grills on property *Nice, friendly security CONS: *No table in room to eat at (but there’s a kitchenette?) *No toiletries other than bar soap (no shampoo, no conditioner, no lotion) *LOCATION. North central - 1.25 mile walk to Palm Beach area (closest beach), through busy, hot unshaded commercial area. Car rental or taxis STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. Resort shuttles to Moomba and Palm Beach area are not consistent and only run 2 or 3 times a day (ie, this Monday they only offered their shuttle at 10am and 12:30pm- how do you get back from the beach?) There is one public bus (7/7A) that stops at unmarked stops near CPVR which goes near Malmok & Catalina Beaches (north) and Oranjestad (South). *Poor to no WIFI in room. (Uh…welcome to the 20th Century?) *JETBLUE VACATION NOTE: There was not a dedicated JETBLUE VACATIONS Concierge on site. More often than not, there was NO ONE to help re: booking information. *$5 charge for rubber security/room key wristband. Otherwise, you get an uncomfortable, unremovable plastic wristband that makes you look like a hospital escapee (my companion’s words) and plastic room key that can good bad easily. The programmed rubber wristband is removable and handy. Upon check-in they encourage you to buy the $5 band, telling you that the plastic id band is uncomfortable and that some people have trouble sleeping with them. *I heard unsupervised lounge chairs at Moomba beach (the beach CVPR offers) are hard to acquire and find as many others use them since they are not carefully watched. We did not try to avail ourselves of this. *Our experience: Our room developed a funky odor 3 days into our stay. Companion said it was a sewage smell, like you would get if a plumbing trap wasn’t working properly (but what does she know from designing sewage and septic systems as an Engineer for 25 years?). She reported it to the front desk and specifically asked that they NOT spray cover-up in the room. So of course they did. *Our experience: Companion developed a painful, itchy, unsightly rash on her legs after using the hot tub by the North pool (family friendly side). Not sure if that was the cause, as I used it too and felt a slight burning sensation but did not get a rash. But we did not do anything else that would appear to explain it. Overall, despite the friendly staff, the “resort” has limited offerings and amenities and could use a good upgrade. It appears popular with retirees (and a few families) who have come there year after year who like to have th

I stayed here after my flight cancelled and my main resort is time shared so we couldn't stay there so it was a blessing to book 1 night last minute. The only huge disappointment even if for only one night was the gym. I am a personal trainer so I can make do with free weights but there wasn't any. The treadmills are out of date and it was very small space with no air flow. If I were to stay longer that would be beneficial to myself and others. Other than that Christmas Day brunch was delicious. ! Friendly staff who worked on Christmas Brunch.