The St Regis Aruba Resort threw a swanky party on January 23rd to commemorate its opening just one year ago. The party was enthusiastically attended by tourism movers, and shakers.

The resort showed off its culinary excellence and entertained its VIP guests in great style, in line with its storied legacy.

The St Regis international hotel chain embodying upscale luxury is almost 100 years old.

It’s first hotel in NY was built by multi-millionaire John Jacob Astor in 1904. He made his fortune through animal fur trade and real estate investments. Imagine, each room had its own telephone which was the height of technology. Over the years it was home to the NY rich and powerful who dropped in for high-tea, and sipped champagne.

Astor’s wife, Carolina, a true diva, the Queen of New York high society, during that Gilded Age, allowed only 400 of her richest friends to attend the glitzy parties she hosted at the hotel and her legacy of glamour lives on today through many of the St. Regis exclusive partnerships with world-class couture designers and global tastemakers.

The modern version of the St Regis brand was launched in 1998, in Colorado.  Then in 2016 the Marriott chain took over the St. Regis brand as part of its acquisition of Starwood, which is how the idea of building a St Regis, in the empty lot to the left of the Riu Antillas, was born.  

The St Regis Aruba is a gorgeous beachfront resort. As you recall, the terrain is privately owned by the developer. The spectacular views are framed in oversize glass windows, on almost every floor, offering 252 rooms including 52 suites. Guests enjoy all that Aruba has to offer, plus, plus — private cabanas at the infinity pools, the St Regis Spa, with sauna and Hamam, and the exclusive rooftop Akira Buck restaurant, delivering a super-luxurious experience.

The resort delivers traditional St. Regis practices, with great passion and excitement. An Evening Ritual featuring champagne, opened with a saber, which involves hitting a very cold bottle neck with a sword, to dramatically slice off the cork part of the neck, unfolds every day.

The cork flies open if the properly chilled bottle is hit it at the right angle at the right place — on the almost invisible bottle seam.

That tradition hails back to Napoleonic soldiers, who used their swords to open bottles in victory.

The French also repeat a Napoleonic quote: “Champagne: in victory, one deserves it; in defeat, one needs it.”

The original Bloody Mary cocktail was created at the famed hotel, at the King Cole Bar, in NY in 1934, perfecting the relationship between vodka and tomato juice. It stayed a signature cocktail in over 40 St. Regis hotels and resorts around the world and is prepared and served at the St. Regis Aruba, as Bon Bini Mary, with elaborate garnishes for breakfast, and during the day. After more than 80 years, the iconic Bloody Mary is still bold, spicy, savory, and the cure for hangovers.

The St. Regis Aruba Resort’s additional dining experiences include Eskama, an Italian-accented Mediterranean restaurant, and Nuba, an Aruban-inspired pool and beachside restaurant. In addition to the property’s restaurants, The St. Regis Aruba Resort features two bars, The St. Regis Bar and Ventura, in the casino, and a coffee shop, Grano Café.

The St Regis Casino has in just one year become a local gaming favorite.

The resort’s 20,000 square feet of elegantly appointed indoor and outdoor function spaces combine with exceptional service, have been hosting a great number of executive functions and celebrations. The Astor Ballroom is a quintessential venue that suites every occasion.

We wish the St Regis Aruba Resort grace by timeless glamour with a vanguard spirit, continued success in its second year!!

Fundashon Stimami Sterilisami is deeply grateful for Setar N.V.’s continued support over the years, and their generous donation of Afl. 7,500 to kick off 2026.

Led by Mr. R. Croes, Ms. Ho, and Ms. Donata, and supported by the Setar team, this contribution is more than financial support; it is a meaningful recognition of the foundation’s ongoing efforts to humanely control Aruba’s stray animal population through its island-wide spay and neuter program.

Thanks to the donation from Setar N.V., together with the continued support of our loyal contributors, 6,405 puppies and kittens were sterilized in 2025, increasing the total number of sterilizations between 2016 and 2025 to over 46,000 animals.

Setar N.V.’s donation will be matched florin-for-florin by Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, and together these contributions will help cover free sterilizations and animal welfare support for dogs and cats across Aruba.

With this support going into 2026, Stimami Sterilisami can continue its mission to spay and neuter as many cats and dogs as possible, improving animal welfare and humanly reducing the stray overpopulation—an issue that impacts animals, our community, and visitors alike. We are grateful for Setar N.V.’s partnership and look forward to continued collaboration.

Fundashon Stimami Sterilisami is a non-profit organization dedicated to humanely reducing the number of abandoned dogs and cats in Aruba through its island-wide spay and neuter program. The foundation uses 100% of donations to help cover the cost of sterilizations for individual pet owners and volunteer organizations caring for stray animals. The organization’s books are open and audited regularly to ensure full transparency.

To contribute to this cause, donations can be made via bank transfer:

Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Aruba, has once again earned Green Globe recertification, reinforcing its more than two decades of verified environmental leadership and proving that exceptional hospitality and uncompromising sustainability go hand in hand. The carbon-neutral resort remains the only hotel in the world to have achieved two perfect 100% Green Globe scores and continues to hold Green Globe Platinum status, recognized for excellence across environmental, social, and economic performance. The resort is also the only property designated by Green Globe as “The World’s Most Sustainable Hotel/Resort.” This latest recertification followed a comprehensive remote audit confirming continued compliance with Green Globe’s rigorous international standards.

A Legacy Built on Action

From the beginning, Bucuti & Tara has focused on tangible, measurable action rather than aspirational statements. Sustainability is integrated into every aspect of operations, from energy efficiency and water stewardship to waste reduction, ethical sourcing, staff education, community engagement, and biodiversity protection.

Over nearly four decades, Bucuti & Tara has developed more than 400 action initiatives, supported by certifications including Green Globe Platinum, CarbonNeutral, LEED Gold and Travelife Gold, and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The resort’s leadership has also earned international recognition, including the Global UN Climate Action Award, with the United Nations calling its sustainability program “highly replicable and scalable.”

Key Sustainability Accomplishments and Goals for the Year Ahead

Bucuti & Tara continues advancing ambitious goals grounded in transparency, verification, and measurable impact, including:

Proving Sustainability and Excellence Go Hand in Hand

Bucuti & Tara is the Caribbean’s most eco-certified hotel and continues to dominate globally recognized travel rankings, proving that memorable vacations and sustainability can go hand in hand.

The resort is ranked No. 5 Hotel in the World and No. 1 Hotel in the Caribbean by Tripadvisor, while its signature Elements Restaurant earned the No. 1 Best Fine Dining Restaurant in the Caribbean distinction. Bucuti & Tara continues earning annual accolades from leading travel authorities, including Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, and Forbes, consistently receiving recognition for service, romance, wellness, and overall excellence. These honors reflect a guest experience defined by tranquility, personalization, and laidback luxury, all delivered within one of the most advanced sustainability frameworks in global hospitality.

A Guiltfree Vacation That is Better for the Planet Than Staying Home

As the Caribbean’s first and only certified carbon-neutral hotel, Bucuti & Tara offers guests a truly guilt-free escape where romance, comfort and sustainability stewardship coexist seamlessly—supporting a healthier planet with every stay.

Learn more by visiting Bucuti.com.

We continue to talk about the traffic, and consequent accidents. I drove to exercise recently past a collision, at the entrance to the Marriott Surf Club between a visitor and a local car, the V car airbags deployed. It must have been a powerful bang.

Last week, the prosecutor published the results of a fruitful day in court in which 30 traffic offenders were tried. Those who did not present in court were sentenced in absentia, along those who did, and those who refused the breathalyzer test were deemed intoxicated, subject to a higher fine on the pay scale.

One of my readers sent me a reel by Dimitri Halley, a psychologist, which presented an interesting perspective of our traffic situation.

Halley suggests we are paying for price for viewing ourselves as One Happy Island. People, he says, must experience both ends of the spectrum, the ying and the yang, happiness, and sadness, both are equally important in term of the human experience. We must know one to recognize the other.

Yet we deem happy good, and anything south of that in need of medication, in need of a fix. In our happy universe, sad is bad.

Halley explains that when negative feeling and melancholy, are banned, looked down on, it creates frustration. When sadness is verboten, and everyone tells us to take a pill and chill, we ignore part of our totality. And individuals tired of stuffing their feeling, denying what they experience and suffering shame over their so-called weakness, become destructive, and act out their frustration.

One Happy Island should be replaced by one tranquil island, Halley suggests, seeking equilibrium for us all, the sweet spot between happy and sad. Not denying one at the expense of the other.

Tranquil is sustainable, he says, always happy is not, the high is always followed by a low!

I though it was interesting and worth trying, Aruba, One Tranquil Island!

That would keep the excitement junkies out.

Arthur Dowers, AVP, Minister of Justice, Integration and Public Transport reported yesterday, in an interview on TeleAruba that in 2024 the island counted more than 1,000 hit and run accidents and that as a result it is now a crime to leave the site of the accident. What seems logical and normative to people with good judgement is now anchored in law. In case of an accident, stay put, wait for law enforcement to arrive. The minister also announced that punishment in hit and run and reckless driving cases, has become more severe.

At my garage, Garage Central, the experts rate the causes of accidents the following: Alcohol, Alcohol, Alcohol, in the first three places, then phone use, dark tinted windows that do not give drivers full visibility, the poor mechanical state of cars, and the fact that not enough cars visit DTI for inspection – while the process at DTI is not complicated, they add.

Regarding stuffing our feelings, one of my friends, a headmaster, disagrees, he says schools now teach their students to talk about their feelings, and to feel them, not stuff them, but then there is nowhere to go with their issues. The system is not set up to provide solutions, it is bureaucratic and deficient.

The Minister of Labor in his role as Most Powerful Rookie granted us a Monday off, endorsed by a decree, because Dia di Betico falls on Sunday, he figured we deserve a day off on Monday, with holiday pay.

He is a lawyer, yet he did not read the language of the law carefully, creating confusion. His generosity had no legal basis. So he pedaled backwards. But still government employees get a day off while the private sector must work.

He did ask employers to let workers go pretty-please, which is an unreasonable, and unprecedented request.

Public holidays in Aruba are established by nation legislation, there are no exception, except exceptional circumstances. During the pandemic, which was a justifiable special circumstance, we got an extra day off.

This blunder is not first, it happened before, as an all-mighty minister decides to grant an extra day off. My friends reminded me of Otmar Oduber, after children carnival parade, and during the MEP government in 2021.

Yesterday, it turned out, the government did not have a legal basis to move the Betico Day official holiday from Sunday to Monday. But as I said, government employees get a break.

This blunder is a reminder that government is not almighty, and we hope this humbles the future leader of AVP — according to a poll and the current party leader. Our government cannot make decision and change laws in the afterthought, to match its wishes.

Same rules apply to the Kackling Pega Pega. Some song rules were not followed and despite huge acceptance the song did not qualify. Not to worry we will all be kackling on parade. Lord Lally has participated in Carnival music festivals since the 60s, he was the youngest participants and because the island did not host child and youth competitions he went in as an adult singer, with some of our best past calypsonians. Lord Lally has contributed for decades but never got the attention he deserves, and now he is the talk of the town.

The Kackling can still be picked as Road Jam, if the song holds its popularity in the next 3 weeks. I liked the fact that the lyrics include the protected status of the Pega Pega, it cannot be killed. Pa Bien to the Hot Ones, the band, and to Divi Links, where Lord Lally works.

In another instance, we were told in the media that the Aruba House director in the Netherlands, is under investigation, suspended with pay. I asked around trying to find some more information out, but everyone’s lips are sealed. This is another one, in a string of public employees getting in trouble, then chewed up and spit out by the system.

In the case of the suspended director, it smacks of a politically motivated falling out of love. She was appointed by the previous government and did not find favor with the current set. She is a lawyer so we can assume perhaps an administrative investigation not a criminal one.

However, if indeed, you are investigating an administrative issue, why give it headlines? You should be discreet and hasty, careful not to commit character assassination and you should not clump it in with a convicted previous director, because then you imply guilt by association.

Investigate all you want, rules are rules, but respect privacy because one day, when it happens to you, you would wish you were more careful.