Mandara Spa Aruba, one of the island’s best established luxury spas located at Marriott’s Aruba Ocean Club on Palm Beach, was recently reopened for business, following a complete redesign.

Traditional spas, massages and facials have become more popular than ever because people are increasingly focused on wellness, stress relief and the desire to look and feel younger. The way we rush around these days, a spa offers a moment to slow down, recharge and invest in oneself. The growing interest in anti-aging, healthy living, and the idea of staying youthful—both physically and mentally—has turned spa treatments from an occasional luxury into an important part of many people’s regular self-care routines.

I believe that around 2016 Aruba formally began giving wellness a prominent, organized focus within Aruba’s tourism product, with the inauguration of the Aloe Wellness Month. The initiative brought together hotels, spas, yoga, fitness, healthy cuisine, outdoor activities, and Royal Aruba Aloe, explicitly presenting Aruba as a destination for relaxation, regeneration, and holistic vacations.

But spas have been on the island two decades earlier, before we declared ourselves a Wellness Destination.

Mandara Spa opened around 2003–2004, with the opening of the resort and was recently extensively renovated, offering upgraded and updated thermal amenities which include steam and sauna facilities, an indoor co-ed relaxation lounge, an outdoor thermal area with a hot turb, cold plunge pool, with hydrotherapy features, and comfortable loungers. The outdoor area is especially pretty, fully landscaped, shady, and restful.

As Mandara spa reopened recently, the media was invited to visit the 6,500-square-foot wellness sanctuary with 12 treatment rooms, including private couples’ rooms, full-service salon, and a boutique.

While the former design of Mandara spa was dark, and woody, the updated version is light and cool, with brighter colors and more daylight, streaming in through glass windows.

No wonder it was dark and woody. The original Mandara spa hailed from Bali and its concept combined Balinese healing traditions with European techniques and influences. Its name came from an ancient Sanskrit legend connected with the search for eternal youth and beauty. In 2026, the spa draws inspiration from the destinations where it operates, Aruba, and features Caribbean coffee, coconut oil, and local style botanicals, such as Aloe Vera.

But still, the spa’s Balinese heritage shows with its use of exotic oils, and botanical extracts from flowers, fruits and herbs, by the professional skincare line Elemis. Frangipani and Monoi oil hail from the pacific islands, along with marine algae loaded with antioxidants.

The spa offers an expected range of massages, facials, body treatments, manicures and pedicures, and its menu of treatments projects an international and tropical character. Treatments include Balinese massage, coconut poultice massage and sound-wave therapy, alongside Aruba-inspired treatments.

Mandara Spa welcomes couples, honeymooners, locals, and resort guests, with private couples’ treatment rooms. Its strengths are its long-established international Mandara brand, Balinese identity, extensive treatment menu, salon services and—especially following its redesign—the thermal and hydrotherapy experience.

Make a reservation and take a few hours off. Ines, one of the spa massage therapists is highly recommended!

A report by the name “Vertel het hele Verhaal,” translated as Tell the Whole Story, describes a major plan for the proposed National Slavery Museum, Nationaal Slavernijmuseum, in Amsterdam. The Dutch government and the City of Amsterdam commissioned it.

The report suggested that the Netherlands should tell the entire history of Dutch involvement in slavery, rather than presenting slavery primarily as a story of Suriname and the Caribbean. The report argued that Dutch slavery extended across more than 30 countries and regions, including: Suriname, Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, the wider Caribbean, Indonesia and the Indonesian archipelago, the Indian Ocean, South Africa, and other parts of the Dutch colonial world.

As a particularly interesting aspect, the report explicitly says the voices and experiences of Aruba and the other Caribbean islands must not be forgotten. It recognizes that slavery physically occurred in these territories and that its consequences remain visible and felt today.

This week Aruba received a delegation of three Dutch dignitaries, in charge of that project. They came to Aruba on a recon tour, met artists and curators, exchanged ideas, and perspectives, in the context of their mission to put the museum together.

The meeting at the National Library in San Nicholas was followed by a collective exhibition at Artisa Gallery in which the local artist community showcased works related to that dark period of history.

The dignitaries, Dutch politician John Leerdam, the museum director, former Minister Franc Weerwind, the chairperson of its supervisory board, and colonial history specialist Alicia Schrikker, came to Aruba as part of their research. They spoke to more than 6,000 people to put their report together and are now talking to communities in their quest to shape the project with the input from the community, soliciting feedback, and creating a network, which will help with original programming, once they open in 2030.

The philosophy behind the museum is not simply telling facts, it intends to tell a much broader human story that would cover the era before slavery, slavery, resistance, abolition, emancipation, the diaspora, and present-day consequences with a look at the future.

The museum emphasizes resilience, creativity, resistance, culture, and identity, rather than portraying people of African descent only as victims. The museum also wants to explore African civilizations and cultures before Europeans enslaved Africans.

The planners conducted extensive consultations with people in Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, and Suriname, as well as in the Netherlands, the United States and Benin. Thousands of people contributed firsthand experiences and perspectives. There is even a Papiamento version of the participation report.

This is important because the museum’s concept is explicitly “with us and by us” — meaning descendants and communities connected to the history are supposed to help determine how their history is represented.

I understand that the report deliberately broadens the national story beyond the familiar Dutch focus on Suriname and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The museum is intended to tell the history of slavery across the Dutch colonial world, including the Caribbean islands and the Indonesian and Indian Ocean regions.

That means Aruba is not treated as an historical footnote simply because it did not develop the enormous sugar, coffee or cotton plantations found in Suriname. It is treated with a focus on the underlying message, different forms of slavery were still slavery.

The scale and economic organization differed from Suriname, but Aruba’s population, land system, labor relations and economy were also shaped by Dutch colonialism and slavery.

The report’s approach is therefore multi-regional and multi-layered: the museum’s chronological periods are designed so that visitors can zoom in on particular places and communities. This is specifically intended to prevent one region—particularly Suriname—from becoming the implicit “standard” for what Dutch slavery looked like.

In the past WEEKS all members of parliament, on the opposition benches, MEP representatives, whined about our Vice Premier, the Minister of Education, Youth, Innovation, Sport & Kingdom Affair, Gerlien Croes.

They all talked about a single issue, a private plane ride to Curacao she reportedly took over 8 months ago. When they are not condemning that flight, they are bad-mouthing much-needed HOFA the financial supervision consensus law.

Why a trip across the pond gets so much attention? It is seen as a golden opportunity to prove the minister gave untruthful information and as such she must resign and take the government down. As a minister she cannot be getting free perks, and the owner of the private jet cannot be collecting for the ride, thus she could not have paid for trip. Admittedly, the issue is opaque – the minister was vague about it.

This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, highlighting hypocrisy, where the MEP parliamentarians criticize the seated minister for a fault that’s regularly practiced in their midst.

This is an incredible waste of time. The parliamentarians in the opposition are supposed to be working on our behalf yet they are only working on THEIR behalf hoping to torpedo the coalition so they could sit back on what they perceive as their thrones.

As members of parliament you are supposed to work on our behalf, to be strong advocates for the community because your job is not to administer government—it is to represent citizens and propose ideas to better our lives.

All whiners, Dangui chief among them, Edgard, Xiomara, Evelyn, Rocco, you all voice endless frivolous criticism instead of exercising your power to introduce legislation and propose amendments.

Enough with the whining. Here are some areas that might need your help: Housing, Healthcare, Cost of living, Education and youth, Infrastructure, Government finances, Tourism and economic development, Environment, Crime, and public safety.

I am opting for stability in government.

Club Margot is one of the resort’s newer and more upscale dining choices. It just celebrated its second anniversary. Club Margot opened in August 2024. It was introduced as a more sophisticated dining venue with a beach-club/lounge atmosphere, totally different from what we conventionally think about an all-inclusive restaurant.

The restaurant theme is Mediterranean, with Caribbean influences. Everything is served family-style, and is perfect for sharing. The dining terrace sits directly on the water, making the sunset and ocean view a significant part of the experience.

The menu includes all my favorites: Prosciutto di Parma, tomato bruschetta, mozzarella, Calamata olives and sun-dried tomatoes, Spanish chorizo croquettes with avocado mayo, tuna tataki with passion-fruit dressing and coriander emulsion, albondigas, meat balls, in tomato and scallion sauce, shrimp piri piri with garlic crostini, slow-cooked short rib with caramelized onion and potato gratin, and layered, baked eggplant with mozzarella, tomato, pine nuts and basil. The colossal selection of desserts, on just one plate, includes a chocolate bomb, passion fruit and mango panna cotta, orange/vanilla ice cream and chocolate cake.

The antipasto arrives at the table on a beautiful multi-level wood platter, the main course and sides join as a progression of shared dishes, accompanied by a freshly baked cluster of brioche buns

Not surprisingly, Club Margot won a Gold 2025 Travel Weekly Magellan Award for Restaurant Design.  Managing Director Marin Bijl describes the design as combining tropical elegance with modern lounge elements—teak, copper, sophisticated finishes, custom lighting, and a large three-dimensional statement bar. This is not simply another restaurant, this is an experience, with live piano entertainment, at its heart.

Club Margot’s menu was developed under Executive Chef Frank Uphoff, whose background includes work in Michelin-rated restaurants. Frank collaborated with his team and with other resort food & beverage professionals, to add several show elements to the presentation of the appetizers and dessert – the tuna tataki is smoked, the dessert bomb melted. Cocktails are also a key component of Club Margot. The resort brought in New York cocktail personality Natalie Migliarini, co-author of Beautiful Booze and a participant on Netflix’s Drink Masters, for the opening and she helped develop the special cocktail menu, complete with excellent mocktails.

Guests are praising the food, cocktails, service, décor, and exceptional ocean setting. Club Margot is now the most successful among the resort’s restaurants.

All guests of Tamarijn and Divi all-inclusive have access to restaurants across both resorts. You do too, providing you make a reservation. Buy your restaurant pass at the front desk and enjoy a unique evening.

AHATA organized a session at the Hyatt Regency last week, focusing on how to fix tourism. The event started with a presentation by international destination management expert, Doug Lansky, a repeat visitor to the island – he was here twice before.

In 2015, Lansky was keynote speaker at World Tourism Day, and this is what I wrote: Doug Lansky’s entertaining speech, warned us against over-crowding, and recommended growing our tourist product to maximum comfort capacity. Though not a scientific term, everyone in the audience understood what he meant, as he pointed our noses in the right direction.

Then in 2020, just before the pandemic, Lansky visited again, as a guest of the AHATA General Assembly, and I wrote a blog titled: Kiss Cruise Ships Goodbye, inspired by his words of wisdom.

This is what I wrote: Lansky stated that cruise tourism represents about 50% of all Caribbean tourists but results in just 8% of tourist revenue. The message was clear: They are not spending. His research shows that over 80% of a cruise ship passenger’s discretionary spend is on board. The cruise ships companies hog all the cash, declining to share it with the destination. So, while they do not spend any money on shore, they require services in the form of water/fuel, trash removal, and en route harm the ocean with oily bilge water and sediment that damages reefs and water clarity. And just think about their emissions, that equals to 1 million cars per day. According to Lansky, they are more trouble than they are worth it, they want everything for free and the legend that cruise passengers fall in love with Aruba and return as overnight tourism, is indeed just a legend. Then Lansky asked: Can we earn more without cruise ships?

Lansky was back again in week, with the exact same message only more radical because by now we are suffering from the effect of overcrowding and congestion.

Apparently, Lansky has enjoyed a fantastic career travelling around the globe repeating the exact same message. He built a career on delivering a single cautionary note, but Aruba did not listen.

He described the phenomenon in which the adz advertising Aruba feature a picture of Tres Trapi with just two lovers in the water as hyperstability. Or when you take a nice photo from the best angle with few people on Eagle Beach. That happens when you aim at keeping occupancies high, no matter what the situation really is.

He showed his audience that in 1975 we enjoyed 120.000 visitors; 1, 250,000 in 2024, and if we do nothing, we will reach 3,735.000 visitors in 2055.

Lansky wanted us to focus on getting more value out of our visitors while protecting resources, and not measure success by growth.

But you already know that.

According to Lansky, the hotels deliver high value guests. If we regulate STRs so that only locals may operate them, they will greatly benefit the island. Timeshare owners are high value guests, while the cruise ship passengers are not.

The FIX? Regulate STVs and reduce the number of cruise visits, limit the size of the ships. Cla bo ta.

The Lanky presentation was followed by our Minister of Tourism’s presentation of his Tourism Policy and vision for how Aruba’s tourism strategy should be adapted moving forward. It was a run-on speech with many repetitions that went on and on. He stated fixing tourism was a complex issue and not that simple to resolve, several times, as a mantra.

At the end of his narrative he implied that while he is not making any hasty decisions, he will be looking at development holistically — he did not say that, but I believe that is what he meant. Which is something that our ROP already set in stone in 2019. Maybe before. We have always been required to weigh the economic benefits against all the added pressures and costs; The ROP asks developers to answer if their investment is still good for Aruba as a whole, after taking all challenges into consideration.

This is NOT NEW.

The Government was always supposed to think strategically. When weighing how many rooms added, also consider how many workers are required, are those workers available locally, or will they come from abroad? If so, where will they live, and what can they afford? Can the roads manage the added traffic and vehicles? Is there enough capacity for water, electricity, and wastewater processing capabilities? What additional infrastructure will the government eventually have to provide? That is coherent planning: before saying yes to anything, ask what the consequences would be, on all fronts.

The Hyatt Regency prepared a great spread, amazing butler served hors d’oeuvres, wines, and cocktails but the disillusioned audience quietly dispersed, heading back to their salt mines, uninspired, the hors d’oeuvres remained untouched.