Take four days and three nights to explore the beaches and fairways of this island in the Lesser Antilles using the “Desert Golf” package at the Aruba Sonesta Resorts at Seaport Village, good Dec. 19-April 9. (800-SONESTA).
THE DEAL
$1,128 per couple ($564 per person).
Includes: three nights in a standard room at Aruba Sonesta Resorts at Seaport Village; two rounds of golf per person at Tierra del Sol Golf Course; cart rental; casino freebies; all tax and service charges.
THE ALTERNATIVE
Done on our own (prices are for two):
Hotel: $759 (three nights at $215/night, plus $114 for 17.66 percent tax and service) for a standard room at Aruba Sonesta Resorts at Seaport Village, Dec. 19-April 9.
Golf: $600 ($150/person per round, morning tee times, cart included) for two people to play two rounds at Tierra del Sol, Dec. 15-April 15.
Total price for package-equivalent items, purchased on our own, per couple: $1,359.
Difference: $231 less with the package.
PLUSES AND MINUSES
We have to confess that we’re looking at Aruba in high season. If we could just hold our birdies until mid-April, prices take a swan dive: $720/couple for the Desert Golf package; or $512 for three nights’ lodging (including tax and service), plus $300 ($75/person per round, morning tee times) for the golf, for a total of $812 on our own. Even then, off-season, the package still saves us $92 at this high-rise resort that has a shopping village, a casino — gambling freebies are another package perk — and a motor launch that runs every 15 minutes or so over to its own, 40-acre private island.
Of course, first we’ve got to get there. Best airfares are going to be midweek, a Thursday departure with a Monday return, say. United’s fares were running $1,294/couple for January, but we would have to change planes twice, departing at 7:44 a.m. and not getting there until 6:20 p.m. — a long travel day. American’s was shorter, leaving at 6 a.m. and arriving at 2:30 p.m., with only one change of planes — but at a price: $1,544/couple.
THE VERDICT
We saved the best for last: Anyone who doesn’t want to play golf can deduct $76/person per night high season, or $50/person per night low season so that they can spend their time chasing giant iguanas (instead of little white balls) among the divi-divi trees or identify some of the 300 or so bird species that winter here — one reason we picked a January travel date. But maybe we owe it to the pluckiness of the course to play a round at Tierra del Sol. After all, it did take over 30 years to get the par-71 18-holer built.
